I was a long term smoker. Over 10 years. I tried almost everything to quit, medications, cold turkey, patches, the list goes on and on. I was finally able to quit using electronic cigarettes. I can't make any claims about the effectiveness of e-cigs as smoking cessation devices, but I can say that they worked for me.
Here is how to make one.
510 sealed battery connector - They can be a pain to solder so Madvapes offers prewired ones for $2.99 that I recommend.
Horn Switch - $.89 they come in many colors and have been very sturdy for me with a nice clicky feel when pushed.
18350 Battery - $4.79 great battery, long lasting, fits into other vaping gear that you might have.
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| So pretty... So very pretty. |
You will also need some wire, solder iron and solder, a drill, and a box to put everything in. I used a box I made myself, but there is nothing stopping you from using something like a plastic project enclosure from Radio Shack. Here is a photo of the box I made.
Ok, here are the ultra simple directions.
1. Drill a hole in your box that fits the Horn Switch.
2. Drill a hole that fits your 510 Connector.
3. Seat both the Switch and the 510 Connector.
4. Connect one wire from the 510 Connector to the Positive Battery Plate. That is the one without the spring.
5. Connect the other wire from the 510 Connector to one of the leads on the Horn Switch.
6. Attach a wire to the one remaining lead on the Horn Switch. Connect the other end of that wire to the Negative Battery Plate. That is the one with the spring.
7. Mount the battery plates in the box so they are stable.
8. Insert the 18350 Battery.
9. Close up the box.
10. Enjoy. Screw in your favorite clearomizer, or pick up some Blu Cig Refill Cartridges from your local convenience store. Push the horn switch to vape. When it stops producing vapor, you need to charge the battery.
And that is it. Believe it or not, an ecig is no more complex than a flashlight. Now get out there and get creative!
Now that you know how to make your own e-cig, it is time to teach you how to make the fluid.
NEWS FLASH - This is not chemistry. E-cig fluid is nothing more than a mixture of ingredients. So you will not need any complex chemistry gear to make it, and there is only one substance that can be considered dangerous. Here we go.
To make the fluid that you will be vaping, there are several ingredients. Here they are.
Nicotine Solution - Here, use this. It is diluted enough that it should be safe, but wear gloves when using it, and only use it in a ventilated environment anyway. Safety first.
Propylene Glycol (PG)- Use this. This will be one of your fillers and flavor carriers. This stuff is almost perfectly safe.
Vegetable Glycerin (VG)- Use this. This is your other filler. If you want huge clouds of vapor, this is what you want.
Flavors - I get my flavors from here. What you get depends entirely on your personal taste. One caveat though, make sure that the flavors your order are not 'oil based'. As long as you obey that one rule, you are good to go.
Now you just need some small measuring devices, and a container. I use small bottles for the container, and blunt tipped syringes for the measurements.
Here is how you proceed. Each time you do this, it will be different because of wanting different amounts of PG, VG, Nicotine, and flavoring. So for this example, I will assume you want the following set amounts.
Amount to make - 15ml
Nicotine level - 12mg
50% PG, 50% VG
20% flavor
What these mean... The amount is obvious. At the end, you want to be left with 15ml of solution. You want there to be 12mg of Nicotine per ml in the bottle. You want the final solution to be about 50% PG, and 50% VG. You want there to be 20% flavoring in the solution.
I find that these values work well for me. Adjust them to your taste.
Now go here and enter the values.
For Nicotine Base, enter 60.
For Target Nicotine Level, enter 12
For Amount to Create, enter 15
For Flavor Percent, enter 20
You should get something like this as a result:
Recipe
| ingredient | ml | % of total |
|---|---|---|
| PG or VG with nicotine | 3.0 ml | 20.0% |
| PG or VG (no nicotine) | 9.0 ml | 60.0% |
| Water | 0.0 ml | 0.0% |
| Flavoring(s) | 3.0 ml | 20.0% |
All you have to do now is to get your bottle, and using different syringes for each ingredient, extract the ingredients from their bottles, taking care to measure the amounts properly, and add them to your own bottle.
TIP: Add the nicotine LAST. The reason for this is that the nicotine is the most expensive ingredient. If you mess up somewhere, at least you are not out the big expense.
Now that everything is added to one bottle, cap it, shake it for a few minutes, and enjoy. Make sure to wash and rinse your equipment thoroughly. You are now making e-cig fluid the same way the big suppliers do!
