I just use a standardized 50/50 solution and Nicotine, and then I mix it, to my needs.
E-cigarettes: research - experiments - ideas
- Thread starter broken.english
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broken.english
Jedi Council Member
Congratulations, extraction pioneer iamthatis and friend!
May your songs always be sung!
Last week, I bought XROS 4. Had 3 puff's until now. I bought 50/50 (VG/PG nicotine liquid ) as a test until home making merchandise arrives. I was scared to put it in mouth, as it leaks.
Some articles say if it is over saturated with the liquid, liquid comes into mouth. Article suggested to blew air into air path way. I did it and got some liquid on the face.
Leakage might have reduced little less.
Ok the vape arrived today and I had 3 atomizers to try out with distilled water. Sadly, none of them work with pure water. I purchased a standard 18mg/ml liquid and mixed it 50/50 with distilled water and such a mixture does work very well. It is a temporary solution till I purchase a better base liquid (50/50 VG/PG) to mix with pure nicotine and water. So, for the next 2 weeks, I will mix 20mg/ml and dilute it to 10mg/ml and use this. I guess it is a good start.
Well, after a few days, both Chu and I ended up with a sore throat - again! 
Not as bad as last time, but still there.
We also heard from a few other who also abandoned water due to the harshness.
So, for now, we are puffing 50/50 PG/VG with 6mg/mL nicotine. I ordered some nicotine salts and more 50/50 PG/VG since what we have was stolen from Elliot at the Farm.
Even with slightly sore throats, when we puff on the PG/VG stuff, it's almost soothing rather than irritating... So we are starting to conclude that maybe water in e-liquid for vaping is just a bad idea all around. It might be healthy, but if we're any indication, it's not easy!
We're gonna try nic salts, which only come in 50/50 PG/VG. But that means we have more experimenting ahead since we could mix it like so:
- 2 x 10mL nicotine salt (50/50 PG/VG)
- 50 mL VG
That would give 70mL of 6mg at 85% VG, 15% PG.
And variations thereof (point being, we could still minimize propylene glycol if desired/possible)
It's possible the alkaline nicotine is just too harsh for both of us, so we'll see how the nic salts work.
Incidentally, the French web site where I bought the nic salts has a lovely explanation of "nicotine base" vs "nicotine salts". It appears there is no magic involved. It's basically just nicotine (which is very alkaline) and either they plop it in a bottle and you get "nicotine base", or they add benzoic acid to pH balance it, and that's what they call "nicotine salts".
That's what the Frenchy site claims, anyway.
So technically, our pH-balanced solution with Vit C should be as gentle as "nicotine salts", but maybe not... Benzoic acid vs ascorbic acid?? Maybe it's not JUST about the pH.
Anyway, just wanted to give a heads up in case some of you out there are experimenting and having similar issues!
Not as bad as last time, but still there.
We also heard from a few other who also abandoned water due to the harshness.
So, for now, we are puffing 50/50 PG/VG with 6mg/mL nicotine. I ordered some nicotine salts and more 50/50 PG/VG since what we have was stolen from Elliot at the Farm.
Even with slightly sore throats, when we puff on the PG/VG stuff, it's almost soothing rather than irritating... So we are starting to conclude that maybe water in e-liquid for vaping is just a bad idea all around. It might be healthy, but if we're any indication, it's not easy!
We're gonna try nic salts, which only come in 50/50 PG/VG. But that means we have more experimenting ahead since we could mix it like so:
- 2 x 10mL nicotine salt (50/50 PG/VG)
- 50 mL VG
That would give 70mL of 6mg at 85% VG, 15% PG.
And variations thereof (point being, we could still minimize propylene glycol if desired/possible)
It's possible the alkaline nicotine is just too harsh for both of us, so we'll see how the nic salts work.
Incidentally, the French web site where I bought the nic salts has a lovely explanation of "nicotine base" vs "nicotine salts". It appears there is no magic involved. It's basically just nicotine (which is very alkaline) and either they plop it in a bottle and you get "nicotine base", or they add benzoic acid to pH balance it, and that's what they call "nicotine salts".
That's what the Frenchy site claims, anyway.
So technically, our pH-balanced solution with Vit C should be as gentle as "nicotine salts", but maybe not... Benzoic acid vs ascorbic acid?? Maybe it's not JUST about the pH.
Anyway, just wanted to give a heads up in case some of you out there are experimenting and having similar issues!
broken.english
Jedi Council Member
I tried using 50:50 VG:distilled water and when I would wake up in the morning I would have a sore throat as well.
A day or two ago @dugdeep and I added ascorbic acid infused distilled water to the vape mix so that the ratios were probably more like 35:65 and I don't know about him but I still woke up with a slightly sore throat.
One thing we both did notice was that the vape mix started to turn brown in our pods and we don't know why as the mixture in our filler bottles is still clear. The vape mixture in the pod changed after the addition of the Vit C. Maybe heating the Vit C is causing some kind of chemical reaction?
I have some "natural" vape juice from Black Note, their Virginia Tobacco extract 70/30 VG/PG mix with 18 mg/ml of nicotine, that I'm going to use for the next couple of days and see if I still have a sore throat in the morning.
Edit: Want to add that before the distilled water experiments I was using Kai's Virgin Vapors Tobacco flavored 100% organic VG vape juice at 18mg/ml. I liked it a lot and I don't remember having sore throats in the morning with it but that may not be reliable. Unfortunately, I don't have any more of their tobacco flavored juice to test out but I do have a menthol flavored 100% VG juice from them that I can use again at some point. I'll wait and see on it though because as much as I enjoyed the tobacco flavor is how much I don't like this menthol flavor of theirs.
Last edited:
broken.english
Jedi Council Member
Possible.
In my DIY liquids I have been using small amounts of Vit C only, just enough to extract the nicotine from the oil. There is no discolouration nor do I have a sore throat.
IMO some devices are just appalling for leakage. My experience suggests SMOK are in the category and I have head bad reports about the XROS series. If you are looking for a simple and effective pod vape, have a look at the Innokin Trine. Top filling pods, replaceable battery, and it just works.Last week, I bought XROS 4. Had 3 puff's until now. I bought 50/50 (VG/PG nicotine liquid ) as a test until home making merchandise arrives. I was scared to put it in mouth, as it leaks.
Some articles say if it is over saturated with the liquid, liquid comes into mouth. Article suggested to blew air into air path way. I did it and got some liquid on the face.
thank you for letting me know. I already ordered Luke XR Max 80 and I should receive it in a day or two.
Have you tried mouth-to-lung inhaling instead of 'direct-to-lung' ? That might avoid a lot of the tiny liquid droplets that hit the back of the throat when doing 'direct-to-lung' which might in turn reduce the throat soreness. Just a thought, maybe worth a try.
Yeah, I tried for a day, but it didn't seem to make much difference.
This might be a dumb question but what about 50% water 25% VG and 25% PG?
I found some info about vaping and reduced plaque or tartar on the teeth. Have any long-term vapers who were also long-term smokers noticed a reduction in tooth plaque?
www.healthline.com
This was my main beef with smoking - more regular dentist visits for cleaning. My mouth chemistry already produces more plaque than average despite good dental hygiene. So I'm looking forwards to (perhaps) having reduced plaque and also stain from vaping.
Out of curiosity I tried smoking a cigarette today and did not enjoy it. I couldn't finish it!
Is Vaping Bad For Your Teeth?
Vaping may pose fewer oral health risks than smoking cigarettes, but is it actually safe? Here's what you need to know about juice flavor, additives like nicotine, and more.
www.healthline.com
This was my main beef with smoking - more regular dentist visits for cleaning. My mouth chemistry already produces more plaque than average despite good dental hygiene. So I'm looking forwards to (perhaps) having reduced plaque and also stain from vaping.
Out of curiosity I tried smoking a cigarette today and did not enjoy it. I couldn't finish it!
