Zen And The Art Of Mixing Eliquid

There are two guides below, one for mixing with eliquids that contain Nicotine, and one for Nicotine-free eliquids.

It is important you understand that Nicotine liquid is toxic and is potentially harmful/lethal to humans and animals. Keep the eliquid out of reach of children and animals, preferably in a secure place. When mixing, make sure you have a clear area to work in to avoid any cross-contamination and keep children/animals out of that area while you are handling the liquid.

Always wear the Nitrile gloves (Nitrile has the best Nicotine-resistance) and cover any exposed areas on your arms as a precaution - some people are sensitive to Nicotine on the skin. It is worth buying a pair of safety glasses to avoid any splashes in your eyes. Have a ready supply of cold water in case of spillage and rinse the affected area thoroughly with cold water. If you feel at all unwell, seek medical attention and show them the label on the bottle. We do not wish to scare you, neither is this overkill, we just want you to be aware and to have the confidence to mix safely so you can enjoy vaping what you create.

Please do not try to clean the PET bottles or Syringes by boiling them as it can affect the structural integrity of the bottles and the syringe markings. Hand-hot water is sufficient for rinsing, anti-bacterial or sterilising liquid can be used for more thorough cleaning but always rinse well.

The first thing you will need is a fully charged device with a tankful of an eliquid you like; you will find this reassuring as you go through the process, read a bit then sit back and have a vape while you think about it. Vape breaks are a good idea as they help you to settle into a relaxed but focused mood, conducive to creating nice eliquid.

Now we can get on with mixing. Your eliquid (Nic Shot) contains 0% to 1.8% Nicotine, which equates to 0mg/ml to 18mg/ml. You will often see a figure shown as 18mg on bottles, but that is not the correct format as it implies the bottle contains 18mg of Nicotine when it really contains 18mg per ml. Your PG and VG, Propylene Glycol and Vegetable Glycerol (Glycerine), are to dilute the Nicotine liquid to the strength/concentration that you prefer. If you mixed equal parts VG-PG-1.8% (18mg/ml) Eliquid, you would have an eliquid at 0.6% (6mg/ml). That figure would be slightly lower as you add flavouring, usually between 5% and 10%, with the average around 8%. If you are using a 'Sub-Ohm' device that has a low resistance coil, less than 1 Ohm, the optimum flavour percentage is likely to be between 2% and 7%.

There is a very useful and easy to use Mixing Calculator at http://www.todmuller.com/ejuice/ejuice.php
you simply enter the Nicotine Base Strength, the Target Nicotine Level, the Amount to Create,
Water Added (optional) and the Flavour Percentage. The required amounts will be displayed in the lower table and include, PG or VG with nicotine (your base eliquid), PG or VG (no nicotine), Water (optional), Flavouring.

There is another easy to use calculator called Steam Engine, which has more features such as VG/PG ratio and multiple flavours. There is also a lot of other good information on that site covering, wire, coils, Ohm's Law etc.

If you need an even more in depth Recipe Calculator there is one available for free here:- eJuice Me Up.

Use the syringes to accurately measure out the required amounts, place the lid on your bottle and shake to mix. You might come across many different suggested methods that involve 'steeping', leaving the eliquid to develop, from three days to three months! Some leave the lids off for a week; some leave on a windowsill, whatever their choice. I have been creating eliquid since 2008 and have been blending custom flavours since 2009; here is how I do it based on my knowledge and experience.

If you are adding just one flavour to your eliquid, once you have given it a good shake you can vape it. The flavour might develop a little more over time but I have found it is hardly discernible, except for Custard-based flavours, which seem to develop slowly and can take several weeks to reach their optimum flavour.

When mixing flavourings together to create a new flavour, I always work with the flavour concentrates first and I might mix many recipes until I smell that it's right, then I allow the concentrates to steep and develop - flavourings react with each other to produce new background flavours.
The goal is to be able to recognise the original flavours and taste the background flavours that fill in the gaps. You can mix several flavourings straight into your eliquid and VG/PG, but if it is not right, you have wasted a lot of liquid! I work with small amounts of concentrate first and even when I am happy with them I mix a small sample batch of around 3-5ml so that I can test it before making lots of the stuff. That allows you to start with a lower flavour percentage and then increase it as you sample the vape; you can add more flavour but it is hard to remove it! Too much flavour can often result in the eliquid being overpowering and sickly, like putting too much sugar in your tea or coffee.

There is one key ingredient I have not mentioned yet, and it is the most important, PATIENCE. It is not always easy to temper the excitement of making your own 'brew' but believe me that patience is indeed a virtue. Next to patience is thoroughness, particularly when blending concentrates or making your test samples; have a notepad and record every single ingredient in every recipe you try, and then make sure there is a label on the bottle referring to its recipe! When you hit the jackpot with a perfect flavour, you want to be able to recreate it exactly repeatedly.

If you are blending concentrates to create a new flavour, make small samples first and allow them to steep at least a few days; sweet flavours are usually fully-steeped in 7 days but tobacco flavours tend to take 14 to 21 days to fully mature, that's where patience comes into its own! More complex blends, using 5 to 10 flavour concentrates, also take longer to develop. Only when they are ready would I try some in eliquid to test how they vape. I have created around 60 new flavours over the past 5+ years and many of them, particularly the tobacco and more complex ones, take three to four months from the idea stage to being market-ready.

So, record everything, keep your equipment clean, be patient, and be careful when handling and storing eliquid.

Now here is the version for mixing Nicotine-free eliquid, similar but with a few changes.

This guide is designed to help you get the best from your mixing kit and save you money at the same time. Always wear the Nitrile Gloves and cover any exposed areas on your arms as a precaution - some people are sensitive to liquid on the skin. Have a ready supply of cold water in case of spillage and rinse the affected area thoroughly with cold water. If you feel at all unwell, seek medical attention and show the label on the bottle. This is not meant to scare you, we just want you to be aware and to have the confidence to mix safely so you can enjoy vaping what you create.

Please do not try to clean the PET bottles or Syringes by boiling them as it can affect the structural integrity of the bottles and the syringe markings. Hand-hot water is sufficient for rinsing and anti-bacterial or sterilising liquid can be used for more thorough cleaning but always rinse well.

There is a very useful and easy to use Mixing Calculator at http://www.todmuller.com/ejuice/ejuice.php You simply enter the Nicotine Base Strength (Zero), the Target Nicotine Level (Zero), the Amount to Create, Water Added (Zero) and the Flavour Percentage. The required amounts will be displayed in the lower table and include, PG or VG (no nicotine), Flavouring.

Use the syringes to accurately measure out the required amounts, place the lid on your bottle and shake to mix. You might come across many different suggested methods that involve 'steeping', leaving the eliquid to develop, from three days to three months! Some leave the lids off for a week; some leave on a window sill, whatever their choice. I have been creating eliquid for over 11 years and have been blending custom flavours for 9 years, here's how I do it based on science and experience.

If you are adding just one flavour to your eliquid, once you have given it a good shake you can vape it. The flavour might develop a little more over time but I have found it is hardly discernible. The only exceptions are Custard flavours which do benefit from up to 12 weeks steeping in the bottle with the lid on. When mixing flavourings together to create a new flavour, I always work with the flavour concentrates first and I might mix many recipes until it smells right, then I allow the concentrates to steep and develop - flavourings react with each other to produce new background flavours. The goal is to be able to recognise the original flavours but to also taste the background flavours that are created and which fill in the gaps. You can mix several flavourings straight into your VG/PG, but if it's not right you have wasted a lot of liquid! I work with small amounts of concentrate first and make up just 1ml or 2ml of blended flavourings, that’s where the 1ml syringe comes in handy.  Even when I'm happy with them I mix a small sample batch, 1.9ml VG/PG with 0.1ml Flavouring to give 5% flavour strength, so that I can test it before making lots of the stuff. That allows you to start with a lower flavour percentage and then increase it as you sample the vape; you can add more flavour but it's hard to take it out!

Too much flavour can often result in the eliquid being overpowering and sickly, like putting too much sugar in your tea or coffee, along with a perfumey taste. More flavouring in does not mean more flavour out, there is an optimum percentage, the sweet spot, which is why you need to sample each blend you make.

There is one key ingredient I haven't mentioned yet, and it is the most important, PATIENCE. It's not always easy to temper the excitement of making your own 'brew' but believe me that patience is indeed a virtue. Next to patience is thoroughness, particularly when blending concentrates or making your test samples; have a notepad and record every single ingredient in every recipe you try, and then make sure there is a label on the bottle referring to its recipe! When you hit the jackpot with a perfect flavour you want to be able to recreate it exactly over and over again.

If you are blending a number of flavour concentrates to create a new flavour, make small samples first and allow them to steep at least a few days; sweet flavours are usually fully-steeped in 7 days but tobacco flavours tend to take 14 to 21 days to fully mature, that's where patience comes into its own! More complex blends using 5 to 10 flavour concentrates also take longer to develop. Only when they are ready would I try some in eliquid to test how they vape. I have created over 60 new flavours since 2012 and many of them, particularly the tobacco and more complex ones, take three to six months from the idea stage to being market-ready.

Many vapers miss the throat-hit that they were accustomed to when smoking, especially when using low Nicotine strength eliquid; Flash (formerly BiteXtra) Enhancer can be added at whatever quantity suits your taste and can even be used as a zero Nicotine eliquid in its own right as it is virtually flavourless and can be flavoured as with any eliquid. Adding Flash Enhancer is simple; you can add a small amount to your ready made eliquid, or if you are blending from scratch you can incorporate it into your recipe, just as you would with PG/VG. We recommend making small samples first to determine your required level; that will save you wasting eliquid and will give you a figure for future reference. We suggest using 3% Flash in your small sample as a starting point.

So, record everything, keep your equipment clean, be patient, and most of all be careful when handling and storing eliquid. If you have any problems or are not sure, email or call us before proceeding and possibly wasting your liquids. We will always do our best to answer whatever queries you might have.

Best wishes and happy mixing! John & Bethany, FlavourArt UK.