On the surface, making your own homemade e-liquid – also known as “DIY vape juice” – seems like a great idea. The main ingredients of vape juice – propylene glycol, vegetable glycerin, flavors and even nicotine – are very inexpensive when you buy them in bulk. With a small investment, you can buy enough supplies for years of e-liquid making.
You might be in for a nasty surprise, though, when you try making DIY e-liquid for the first time because it may not taste the way you’re expecting at all.
So, why does homemade vape juice taste bad? The answer is that it doesn’t have to taste bad at all. In fact, some people prefer the taste of DIY e-liquid compared to commercial vape juice because making your own means that you can customize the flavor to your liking. It’s likely that a mistake was made somewhere along the line – and reading this article, you’re going to learn what the most common mistakes are. If you don’t like the way your homemade vape juice tastes, it’s probably for one of these reasons.
You Tried to Invent Your Own Recipe
If you’re new to DIY e-liquid, here’s the first lesson for you: It’s a very bad idea to simply throw a bunch of ingredients into a bottle and hope for the best. The flavoring ingredients used in e-liquid are extremely concentrated, and they can sometimes interact with one another in unexpected ways. Commercial e-liquids often contain large numbers of different flavoring agents, and some of those agents are added in extremely small amounts. The only way to find out what works best for your personal preferences is through experimentation, but the process is much easier if you have a starting point. It’s best to look for a database of established recipes – there are many of them online – and try making several of those before you begin creating your own flavors.
When you do begin inventing your own e-liquid recipes, one of the most important things to remember is that the flavors often comprise a fairly small percentage of what’s in a bottle of vape juice. Even in the most heavily flavored e-liquids, the flavor is usually only about 10-15 percent of the mixture. Some flavoring agents are so powerful that you should only use a drop or two at a time. A flavor that tastes good in small amounts can often taste horrible when it’s overused, so use flavors sparingly. Start with an established recipe and work from there.
You Didn’t Measure Precisely Enough
Another reason why a batch of homemade vape juice may not turn out is because of imprecise measurements. When you make e-liquid, you can’t just throw your ingredients together and hope for the best – you need to have a plan. If your measurements are imprecise, there’s no way to tell what the result will taste like.
When you look for e-liquid recipes online, you’ll usually find that the different ingredients are expressed by weight, by volume and as a percentage of the total mixture. Unless you have a very precise beaker and eyedropper, it’s usually easiest to use the weight measurements. To measure your DIY vape juice ingredients by weight, though, you’ll need a reliable scale. Use a digital scale that’s at least capable of measuring in tenths of grams. If you can find a scale capable of weighing in hundredths of grams, that’s even better. Also, it’s important to use a scale that doesn’t shut off automatically to save power. You don’t want your scale to turn off while you’re in the middle of combining your ingredients.
You Tried to Rush the Process
One of the most important things to remember as you explore the world of DIY vape juice is that you should never try to rush the process – and we’re not just talking about mixing your e-liquid. Very few e-liquids are ready to vape immediately after mixing. Almost every flavor profile tastes best after you’ve given it at least a few days – or even multiple weeks, in some cases – to rest. People in the vaping community call this process “steeping,” and it basically means that you’re giving the ingredients in the e-liquid some time to interact and meld with one another.
During the steeping process, flavoring compounds that are very strong or harsh will begin to soften, and the overall flavor profile of the e-liquid will become more cohesive. If you’re new to DIY e-liquid, you may not have heard of steeping before because commercially produced vape juice has always had plenty of time to steep before you buy it. When you make your own e-liquid, though, you’ll have to steep it yourself. Simply give the bottle a good shake each day until it’s ready to use. When you find e-liquid recipes online, they’ll almost always include steeping advice telling you how long the vape juice should rest before you use it.
You Didn’t Sweeten Your E-Liquid
If you’re used to commercial vape juice and have just started trying to make your own e-liquid, it’s possible that you’ve neglected one very important ingredient: liquid sucralose. Almost all of the vape juice that’s on the market today is sweetened. If you’re used to that type of flavor, it’ll be a bit of a shock to you when you try unsweetened e-liquid for the first time. Ultimately, you may grow to enjoy vape juice without sucralose very much. Unsweetened e-liquid can often have more complex flavor profiles, and your coils will also last much longer if you don’t vape sucralose. In the beginning, though, you should sweeten your DIY e-liquid if that’s what you’re used to tasting. Remember that just a few drops of sucralose will provide plenty of sweetness for an entire bottle of vape juice.
If You’re New to DIY E-Liquid, Always Keep Some Commercial Vape Juice on Hand
If you’re new to DIY e-liquid and are frustrated by the process, it’s probably because you’ve neglected to give yourself a fallback option. After all, a foul-tasting homemade vape juice is going to be twice as unpleasant if you don’t have anything else to vape. While you’re still getting used to mixing your own e-liquid, it’s a very good idea to have some high-quality commercial vape juice available as well. That way, you’ll always be certain that you have a good e-liquid to use if a DIY experiment doesn’t turn out.