Average cost of DIY juice

[beedee]

Hi collie2011 , according to my calculator 20% mixes are costing 50 - 60p per 10 ml, this is probably an overestimation as I got several flavours 'on offer' or in samplers but put the full cost into the calculator (so I know the real cost if I want to make them again).



Then again, I spend too much on flavours....

icon_shoppingm

[VapingBad]

Buying in bulk (nic 2.5 l, PG 5 l, flav 0.75 l +50% off) 25.4p per 10 ml, previously before getting such a good deal on the flavouring it was about 44p. I mainly vape one flavour @ 10 mg and 12% flavouring.

[spacey]

Oct 2, 2015 11:08:55 GMT collie2011 said:

I thought it'd probably cost about £1-£1.50 per 10ml depending on the cost of the base concentrates.

We are currently paying £4.50 per 10ml so it will represent a massive saving really.

In my head I think of it as around 80p to a £1 for 10ml at the absolute most.

For example, I worked out once that 100 mls of Castle Long Clone costs me about £8 to make.

Like everyone else has said, it all depends on whether you buy bulk amounts of stuffs (like pg, vg, nic). And then there's the whole concentrate addiction to consider!!

I say just go for it - once you're making juice you're happy with, the thought of spending £15/£20 on 30ml of so called 'premium' juice seems shocking (plus it's good fun)

[thatguy]

A lot depends on the concentrate used and nic stregth. At the 3mg we vape at these days, concentrate is the main cost

Some juices cost us 21p/10ml (some of the stronger chefs vapour rebranded range concentrates) and can go up to £1 a bottle for some ranges such as t juice. On average about 50-60p would seem right.

[collie2011]

We vape at 3mg so that obviously keeps the nic cost down

Doing my own very crude calculations even using T-juice I get it in at under £1 for 10ml.

I don't need to factor in bottles just yet though, as we have saved all the 10ml bottles from the store bought juice haha

[yourgurnard]

There's really no contest!
I only vape My home-steeped baccy, & even paying £2/5g. for tobacco samples...I'm under £1/10ml. Using Wholeleaf; it's about 60p/10ml. Using ready-made concentrates & at such a low nico. level; it's GOT to be even cheaper!....it'll only get pricey if You keep buying loadsa concentrates & only use 'em the once....or make stuff that gets thrown away 'cos You got 'creative'!!!

[unclegromit]

Been down the DIY route twice. Just couldn't seem to make a juice with the full rounded flavour that I get from pre mixed.

[Arrowmunda]

Oct 2, 2015 20:28:32 GMT unclegromit said:

Been down the DIY route twice. Just couldn't seem to make a juice with the full rounded flavour that I get from pre mixed.

The main reason I haven't gone down that route yet, quite a lot of money to get set up and I reckon I wouldn't be able to get that "premium" taste.. I'm a right fussy bugger... still think I'll give it a go soon though.

[phatfil]

fwiw if i tot up the cost of the concentrates/flavours ive bought and divide it by the mls of juice ive mixed, vaped, AND kept vaping as i like it, ive probably paid way over the cost of your vape shop premiu juices for every ml vaped so far;)

But i have learnt a lot about what i dont like to vape had some fun n games too.. so the average cost of juice i vape Should continue to drop

[poochops]

I thought I'd write this copy and paste note because the question of how much homemade liquid costs appears so often. So let's say firstly that it requires a little bit of advance investment, that could be low volume or larger volumes, let's work it out on larger volumes....

5 litres of VG or PG averages £20 off of eBay (lubrisolve or minerals-water or classikool are all trusted sources) If you like VG heavy mixes as a lot of cloud chasers do these days, you might just order 5L of VG and 1L (or none) of PG.

5L of bulk VG is a few quid more than PG but £20 is an average.
1L of 72mg PG nic costs £38 off of Darkstar say, never used it myself; but it gets good reports as clean, quality, nic base.
30ml of one shot concentrate, say Red Astaire or Heisenberg or about 500 others! costs £10

Say you want to make 200ml of 3mg 80vg/20pg Red Astaire at 15% flavour (15% is good for RA, but you might like less or more flavour in your juice)

You need to use
161.7ml of VG/PG (depends on your mix) = 65p
8.3ml of nic base = 32p
30ml concentrate = £10.00
Total = £10.97. Divide that into 200ml x 10ml = 54.85p per 10mls! Ok let's call it 55p per 10mls.

And! you'll have enough nic left for your next 12 litres!!! of juice and enough VG/PG left for your next 5.8 litres of juice. Just need to buy more concentrates.



What if you can't spend a load of money upfront.....?

200ml VG from Boots costs £1.25
100mls of nic base costs £10
30ml concentrate costs £10

You need to use
161.7mls VG = £1.01
8.3ml nic base = 83p
30ml concentrate = £10.00
Total = £11.84. Divide that into 200ml x 10ml = £59p per 10mls

And you'll have enough nic left for your next 1.2L of juice. Just need to buy more VG and more concentrates.

Hope this all makes sense, it does to me but I'm happy to be corrected. Just stop buying £4 and £5 juice and start mixing. I know I'm not far off!
If you up your nic to say 10ml you're looking at approx 65p per 10mls, just do it!

[phatfil]

1L of 72mg PG nic costs £38 off of Darkstar say, never used it myself; but it gets good reports as clean, quality, nic base.

its +£38 in the dropdown box on the darkstar site so add the cost of the listed item (£16.99 for 250ml) and you get a cost of £55 per litre,

Otherwise a well presented and informed post poochops

[VapingBad]

Other bits for bulk mixing that can be used again and again:
100 ml measuring cylinder a couple of quid IIRC from the home brew section in Wilkos, I also got some Pyrex 250 ml ones on eBay for about £12 a pair.
300 ml brown glass bottles with child proof caps about 60p from the local chemist, don't go to Boots for these they want too much for them.

[Perpetua]

Oct 3, 2015 0:53:24 GMT Arrowmunda said:

Oct 2, 2015 20:28:32 GMT unclegromit said:

Been down the DIY route twice. Just couldn't seem to make a juice with the full rounded flavour that I get from pre mixed.

The main reason I haven't gone down that route yet, quite a lot of money to get set up and I reckon I wouldn't be able to get that "premium" taste.. I'm a right fussy bugger... still think I'll give it a go soon though.

It truly isn't difficult to achieve a ' premium ' taste with DIY . . . . start out with a couple of ' one shot ' concentrates from somewhere like Tjuice, to get a feel for the process and the confidence to progress. Then move on to more complex tried, tested and well recommended recipes on the forum that take your fancy.

There's never a shortage of helpful, knowledgeable Mixers on the Mixology Boards who will be only to happy to offer advice.

allaboute-cigarettes.proboards.com/board/18/mixology-general

Even if you don't mix absolutely everything you vape, there is something extremely satisfying about using eliquid you've created - as well as the savings to be had.

[johnstrangey]

I've been mixing a few weeks now I'm a bit buy happy when it comes to doing something new I've spent around £35 on diy bits and bobs so far I've got 50ml of nic 800ml of vg and about 15+ flavours and at 3mg I'll need to buy another 1l of vg to use up the nic and that is only 1.39 from boots I would say it's going to cost me about £42 to make 1.9litres of juice so around 22p for 10 ml

[hijack]

I Never worked out the actual cost of my juice. I just know its way way way less than I was spending on premade.
The initial cost seems high but I have the same 500ml bottle of Nic I first bought and I have used just over half in the last year.
PG last a long time as well because it kakes up 25%ish of the mix on a 50/50 mix.(flavorings add the rest of the PG).
VG is so cheap and easy to get if you nip into Boots when running low...as johnstrangey says 1.39 for a 200ml glass bottle.
You can save on flavoring as well if you are willing to use CCW in recipes instead of Cap or FA etc. At £7ish per 100ml from Amazon.(use at around 20-25% for single flavor)
I dont use too many plastic bottles as I put the empties from Boots to good use.

I'm an ADV'er so I just mix up new bottle when 1 is empty. I do alter the mix a bit,now and again, but dont label so its a surprise when I get to try it a few months later
Have a CCW irish cream to try....As this is totally new to me I will make a sample to test 1st before deciding if it will blend ok with what I like, so I'm not totally 'Hit'n'Miss.