So I Want To Get Into Mixing Juice....

[VaperJay]

I'm interested in mixing juice. Starting as a hobby and just as a thing for me and my friends but how should I go about it if I want it to evolve into a business? I keep seeing people making comments on how all new vapers want to work in a shop or find some way to make a living out of it. I DON'T want to fall into that category, this is something I really want to pursue, I've been interested in becoming self-employed since I was young and this sounds like something I'd be willing to dedicate myself to and actually get good at doing.

Do I start online on etsy or ebay or my own site? When do I start promoting myself to local vape shops and groups? When do I need to evolve past just making juice and open a physical store for vaping?

What mixes of PG/VG do popular brands use? How much dilution is necessary? What are the basic materials I need? And how do I go about finding a reputable flavor vendor with high quality flavor? Is it necessary to buy flavors/is there any DIY methods for flavoring itself?

I imagine there has to be others here doing this for a profit and others who are interested in how they should go about it so what are your tips and tricks?

 

[Thunderball]

I can't wait to hear answers to all of these questions.

Not trying to be mean , but you have asked enough questions to keep me talking to you for several days. As a business owner ( not ecigs) and as an avid juice maker ( not for profit)

There are thousands of juice makers. What's going to make you special ?

Do you have the cash to start up this business and support yourself and family while you attempt it ?

How will you market you juice among thousands of would be juice makers ? Many sell them dirt cheap just trying to break even cause nobody likes their juice or they find out that it's harder than they thought to make a profit.

What if you turn out to be a poor juice maker? Do you just steal others juice recipie s and sell their concoctions ? How will that make you feel ?

And if you aren't a super taster, how will you know if the stolen recipies are any good ( many listed on the internet are crap)

What do you do when the EPA outlaws nicotine and you have all your eggs in one ecig basket ?

I don't mean to be negative, but just want to give you some food for thought.


I say read some good DIY threads ( we are talking hours and days here) and go from there. Pick out some recipies that sound good to you and order the listed juices and get the rest of your supplies. ......, then see how your friends like the flavors. See if your friends will buy your juices. If they won't buy them, you may have your answer there.

You could always open up a store and sell others juices..... And hopefully there aren't 12 others in your town doing the same thing.

Anyway, start your DIY journey. If your serious about it, it will come. It may not be quick , but you will get there.

Hopefully everyone else will have positive feedback for you. I just wanted to throw some real questions out there for you that anyone may want to consider .

NEXT.......



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Heabob]

Patience Grasshopper...

You will need to learn how to crawl before you can run.
And will most likely take year/s to get there.
Have you even made any good recipes yet?
Many have started DIY as a hobby, or to cut the cost of buying expensive pre-made juice.
And some, after a long time, and experience, and getting some good recipes, have started selling them.
But it "is" going to be a slow process and it won't happen overnight.
Sorry to sound discouraging, but these forums are a good place to get started in DIY.

 

[bluraff3]

Check out @Botboy141 's posts. He's just getting his business going and has laid out a lot of the gritty details that he's had to consider. It sounds like a long road.

Also, I agree with all the posts above. First step is to learn how to make juice, which I don't think will happen overnight. I just got into DIY myself and while I don't have aspirations to start a business, I realized very quickly that I don't have the taste buds to make anything that would sell.

 

[Thunderball]

Check out @Botboy141 's posts. He's just getting his business going and has laid out a lot of the gritty details that he's had to consider. It sounds like a long road.

Also, I agree with all the posts above. First step is to learn how to make juice, which I don't think will happen overnight. I just got into DIY myself and while I don't have aspirations to start a business, I realized very quickly that I don't have the taste buds to make anything that would sell.

Stick with it and you will get there Blueraff3


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[kiwivaper]

that is freakin the best advice Thunderball - u hit the nail on the head there!!!

I can't wait to hear answers to all of these questions.

Not trying to be mean , but you have asked enough questions to keep me talking to you for several days. As a business owner ( not ecigs) and as an avid juice maker ( not for profit)

There are thousands of juice makers. What's going to make you special ?

Do you have the cash to start up this business and support yourself and family while you attempt it ?

How will you market you juice among thousands of would be juice makers ? Many sell them dirt cheap just trying to break even cause nobody likes their juice or they find out that it's harder than they thought to make a profit.

What if you turn out to be a poor juice maker? Do you just steal others juice recipie s and sell their concoctions ? How will that make you feel ?

And if you aren't a super taster, how will you know if the stolen recipies are any good ( many listed on the internet are crap)

What do you do when the EPA outlaws nicotine and you have all your eggs in one ecig basket ?

I don't mean to be negative, but just want to give you some food for thought.


I say read some good DIY threads ( we are talking hours and days here) and go from there. Pick out some recipies that sound good to you and order the listed juices and get the rest of your supplies. ......, then see how your friends like the flavors. See if your friends will buy your juices. If they won't buy them, you may have your answer there.

You could always open up a store and sell others juices..... And hopefully there aren't 12 others in your town doing the same thing.

Anyway, start your DIY journey. If your serious about it, it will come. It may not be quick , but you will get there.

Hopefully everyone else will have positive feedback for you. I just wanted to throw some real questions out there for you that anyone may want to consider .

NEXT.......



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Botboy141]

Since I was referenced here, I'll tailor this advice to someone new to mixing. First things first, order every flavor from FA, TFA, CAP, FW and maybe INW. Have a huge supply of high quality PG/VG/Nic. Then test every flavor at multiple percentages to learn how it is on it's own and how it interacts with other flavors.

Then start mixing. Once you have 10 amazing recipes that no major vendor sells as a flavor profile, shoot me a PM here or on Reddit and I'll clue you into the next steps. I would expect 3 months at the absolute earliest.

EDIT: I should also add in case it's not obvious, take meticulous notes. I have about two dozen tabs on my master spreadsheet, notes on flavors, notes on recipes, notes on others recipes and what's wrong with them, notes on orders, pricing, shipping, bulk discounts, market analysis.

I would also recommend putting together a detailed business plan with timelines for your plan. You can't accomplish any goal without writing it down and sharing it with others first.

Just my two cents.

 

[VaperJay]

I agree, it isn't an overnight thing that you suddenly perfect, I get that. =)

I want to DIY and develop recipes first and do that for at least a couple of months before I start selling or giving out samplers and then after that start actually selling product. I understand that it will take practice and time to start getting it right.

But where do I start is the real question here. Where do I start if someday selling my juice is a goal? I imagine I want to use my friends who vape as testers but do I start diy'ing for myself or do I jump right into trying to make juices the average vaper will enjoy? What materials do I need to start tinkering and experimenting well before I'm ready to start giving out samples to people? When do I decide to even start having others sample?

I just answered with even more questions. I apologize.

I asked my closest friend who is a vaper though about getting into it with me and his biggest concern wasn't even the end product, he seemed fairly confident that with our experience we could make a decent end product. His concern was building reputation, which I hadn't even thought about and when I thought about his concern it made sense to me. So how do you go about making a good reputation for yourself as a new juice vendor?

Really hoping to hear from some of the guys on here who actually sell and make a profit from ejuice.

I know it won't be an overnight thing and I also know that what I'll make will either just cover the expenses or be pocket change at first (And yes, I do have a day job that I wouldn't quit unless this really took off) but any start is a start, and I want to know how those of you on here who sell ejuice got their start and what equipment I really need to start making my own juice.

 

[VaperJay]

Since I was referenced here, I'll tailor this advice to someone new to mixing. First things first, order every flavor from FA, TFA, CAP, FW and maybe INW. Have a huge supply of high quality PG/VG/Nic. Then test every flavor at multiple percentages to learn how it is on it's own and how it interacts with other flavors.

Then start mixing. Once you have 10 amazing recipes that no major vendor sells as a flavor profile, shoot me a PM here or on Reddit and I'll clue you into the next steps. I would expect 3 months at the absolute earliest.

EDIT: I should also add in case it's not obvious, take meticulous notes. I have about two dozen tabs on my master spreadsheet, notes on flavors, notes on recipes, notes on others recipes and what's wrong with them, notes on orders, pricing, shipping, bulk discounts, market analysis.

I would also recommend putting together a detailed business plan with timelines for your plan. You can't accomplish any goal without writing it down and sharing it with others first.

Just my two cents.

Thanks for the response and sorry about the double post (I haven't been here long enough to know if that is frowned upon here yet, but in some other forums I've been a member of it has been something that bothers people). I'll take note of your advice and I will contact you if/when I reach this point. My closest vaper friend and I might go into this together so I'm hoping that with two of us working on actually earning something out of this that it will actually stand a chance at actually happening.

I agree on the planning aspect. I need to sit down and write out a timeline for what I desire to achieve out of this. I feel like having goals is a necessary for a successful startup.

Which vendors do you classify as a major vendor? Up here in Portland, being someone who shops at local B&M places it is hard to find any brands classified as major. Almost all of the juice I buy is local except for when I pick up something like njoy at 7/11 which I only ever do if I'm in desperate need and all the local places are closed (I work nights and get off around 1 or 2 in the morning so this happens sometimes).

Should I be finding out what the major brands are and ordering them online to try them out since they don't really exist here in Portland, OR, since most B&M vape shops here only stock juice that originates in the NW?

 

[Galaxyrider]

Patience Grasshopper...

You will need to learn how to crawl before you can run.
And will most likely take year/s to get there.
Have you even made any good recipes yet?
Many have started DIY as a hobby, or to cut the cost of buying expensive pre-made juice.
And some, after a long time, and experience, and getting some good recipes, have started selling them.
But it "is" going to be a slow process and it won't happen overnight.
Sorry to sound discouraging, but these forums are a good place to get started in DIY.

You seem to have at least more experience than I.. I'm trying at present to take a single (Blackberry or mango) flavor mix, (70 VG-30 PG) and work the sharp, almost acrid taste to a smoother taste. Whats lacking, I've had cream suggested, or would I use a something else to do that? Someone else actually mentioned graham cracker crust. Ive tried small amounts of sucralose, with no luck. Ive also gotten a coffee flavor, and a latte blend that are both extreamly strong, and need to take the edge off them too. I know coffee and fruits are going to take different techniques, but Im at a loss of how to do it. What types of cream to use, or just what else to use. I'd like to try others flavors, but I have no intention if "stealing" them, I want to actually learn to make my flavors, and to be able to tweak the flavors to what I want. I'm using a RDA now as a taste testing bed. Im using a Nimbus with a single, 5 wrap, 28 ga coil (1.1 ohm) @ 20 watts which seems relatively cool to me. No prob with any burnt taste, but the berrys, and the coffee both have a very sharp taste. I'm mixing in the berry flavors from 10-20%, no nic. I've decided to back away from the coffee flavor till I can find someone that has the experience to show me how to at least start where I don't have to be peeled off the ceiling after tasting.
I dont know if you've ever had any exposure to "Lotus" flavors, but their Mango Blast, and Irish Latte are 2 flavors Id like to try to copy, as they were favorites when I was using an EGO, and not making my own juice.

 

[Galaxyrider]

Since I was referenced here, I'll tailor this advice to someone new to mixing. First things first, order every flavor from FA, TFA, CAP, FW and maybe INW. Have a huge supply of high quality PG/VG/Nic. Then test every flavor at multiple percentages to learn how it is on it's own and how it interacts with other flavors.

Then start mixing. Once you have 10 amazing recipes that no major vendor sells as a flavor profile, shoot me a PM here or on Reddit and I'll clue you into the next steps. I would expect 3 months at the absolute earliest.

EDIT: I should also add in case it's not obvious, take meticulous notes. I have about two dozen tabs on my master spreadsheet, notes on flavors, notes on recipes, notes on others recipes and what's wrong with them, notes on orders, pricing, shipping, bulk discounts, market analysis.

I would also recommend putting together a detailed business plan with timelines for your plan. You can't accomplish any goal without writing it down and sharing it with others first.

Just my two cents.

That sounds like excellent advise... a darned sight more than 2 cents tho.. lol
I don't aspire to mix for others, but making my own is where I'm at, and would really like to learn to control the flavors I'm buying now, The most recent have come from One Stop DIY (FA super strong) thinking that I would be able to use less and stretch the flavor content out. I had been using Lor Ann prior to that, but was only able to get that in 8 ml bottles. Any advice you could give would be greatly appreciated, but.. please try to bear in mind, I am working on a budget. I'm not "cheap" I just don't have a lot of money that I can sink in at once.

 

[wllmc]

spend the next year blowing all your spare cash tasting flavors and different nicotine and VG and PG , then spend another year getting good at mixing ORIGINAL recipes lol.

 

[wllmc]

oh and read like crazy, and then to do it proper so you can have each and every recipe tested be ready to have at at least 30 grand or more to build a real business and web site rather than a bathtub in your house lol.

 

[wllmc]

not trying to be a dick but trying to be realistic. some of the reason I do not sell juice are as followed.

1. I dont not have a clean and sterile retail location or kitchen. why does this matter ? health reasons. ill tell you a little story before i hop into the rest. I had a hot dog cart. bought it for the summer for the kids to have fun with. just to sell a hot dog in this town it cost me $10, 000 to get started up. I had to rent a commercial kitchen. you would think i could store all my winnies and buns at my house. nope. to comply with all local and state health codes I needed to have a commercial kitchen . thousand bucks a month just to have a place to keep my bread. is this necessary for ejuice ? no , not yet but I guarantee soon . I have dealt with the dept. of health before and they are dying to get their grubby little mits on juice. I dont even want to know what it going to take pretty soon to sell just one little bottle of homemade eliquid. is your kitchen just as clean as a commercial kitchen. hell no I dont care what anyone says , the carpet in your spare bedroom is filthy disgusting pool of nastiness.

2. you need to provide full testing and disclosure of every single juice you make. you might say thats not required either. well for the moment it is not but will be and its a very hot topic in the DIY/vaping world and you will find out after heavy reading its not just anti ecig groups that want all this testing done its the vapers also. you have to provide to the masses proof what you are telling them to inhale into their lungs is safe enough. thats going to cost a pretty penny. people who vape made a conscious decision to quit smoking to live longer. are you willing to live with yourself when the day comes that you realize that special ingredient you dont want everyone to know about is the reason all your customers have pneumonia or popcorn lung or maybe even dead because you wanted to skip out on testing your liquid? even if all your supplies ( nic, pg, vg, flavors) all test safe alone science still happens after you mix something and chemicals change into other things. you will never know if you dont get those things tested.

3. money . any business is not cheap. you need to plan for a full year of total losses. I know everyone is confident that they are the next big thing. Im the type of guy to always be doing something on the side. I have had 3 other real business and so many small ones that I have learned my lesson. YOU WILL lose money at first . are you financially secure to live on what you have right now ? can you take a 50 thousand dollar hit and be ok ? to take a business seriously every minute of every day must be spent on your new company. you cant slack and say im the boss i can take a day off. nope , you need to be figuring out how you can fit more things into one day. nothing is fun when you make it your work. it might be "fun" but its not. I have talked to these guys who sell the flavors and nicotine and asked them what they mix up with all those flavors on hand and they dont even have time to have fun with them ! I seriously thought about opening a vape shop. once I went through everything and realized I would need about 60 grand to do it right for the first 2 months i decided to put that on the back burner lol.

hobbies are a great way to make extra cash but this hobby has real consequences that come with it. I wish all the bathtub mixers would realize these things. there are some guys out there who do all this and my hats off to them . right now without regulations the market is flooded with half ass juice made in some of the most unsanitary places and everyone claims to be the cleanest but how can you believe that ! haha. this business is a very serious and I say if you have that passion and ready to take those risk then go for it for full steam ahead and dont look back. nothing but the best of luck to you in your vaping journey. I understand the passion of a healthier alternative to smoking. I would love to start my own vape company and sell juice and build mods. I might someday but I will do it right. but if your passion is as big as it sounds take it seriously and do it the right way. millions of smokers and their lives are counting on all of us to bring vaping to the next level without someone fucking it up along the way.

 

[UncleRJ]

All of the above is great advice.

The only thing I have to add is that you can forget about selling E-Liquid on eBay. They got a bug up their butt with anything that has nicotine in it. For hardware, you gotta be real careful about how you word your listing or it will be taken down and you and your account shown the door.

 

[bluraff3]

Stick with it and you will get there Blueraff3


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks man. There's really no issues on my end. Everything I've made I've enjoyed, but I think that's the issue. 3% of x mixed with 1% of y tastes just as good to me as 3% of y and 1% of x. It's really fun to play with this stuff, I just know I don't have discerning enough tastes to make anything marketable, which is fine since it's all for me anyway.

 

[Heabob]

You seem to have at least more experience than I.. I'm trying at present to take a single (Blackberry or mango) flavor mix, (70 VG-30 PG) and work the sharp, almost acrid taste to a smoother taste. Whats lacking, I've had cream suggested, or would I use a something else to do that? Someone else actually mentioned graham cracker crust. Ive tried small amounts of sucralose, with no luck. Ive also gotten a coffee flavor, and a latte blend that are both extreamly strong, and need to take the edge off them too. I know coffee and fruits are going to take different techniques, but Im at a loss of how to do it. What types of cream to use, or just what else to use. I'd like to try others flavors, but I have no intention if "stealing" them, I want to actually learn to make my flavors, and to be able to tweak the flavors to what I want. I'm using a RDA now as a taste testing bed. Im using a Nimbus with a single, 5 wrap, 28 ga coil (1.1 ohm) @ 20 watts which seems relatively cool to me. No prob with any burnt taste, but the berrys, and the coffee both have a very sharp taste. I'm mixing in the berry flavors from 10-20%, no nic. I've decided to back away from the coffee flavor till I can find someone that has the experience to show me how to at least start where I don't have to be peeled off the ceiling after tasting.
I dont know if you've ever had any exposure to "Lotus" flavors, but their Mango Blast, and Irish Latte are 2 flavors Id like to try to copy, as they were favorites when I was using an EGO, and not making my own juice.

Too much fruit flavoring (20%) might taste sharp, bitter, flowery, or like chemicals, try it at lower percent.
I sometimes add like 10 drops of CAP NY Cheesecake to soften up some sharp mixes.
Or adding 10 drops of TFA Cheesecake Graham Crust.
Some like to add some CAP Vanilla Custard also, the v1 has "custard notes", and v2 does not, but they're quite different.
TFA Marshmallow at 1-2% will help too sometimes, as will TFA Vanilla Swirl @ 3% (sometimes I use both).
TFA Brown Sugar Extra + FA Meringue for a sweeter baked effect.
Most Coffees and Tiramisu I start at 1% or less, very strong flavoring.
TFA Sweet Cream, FA Fresh Cream and FA Vienna Cream are some decent Creams.
VZ Blackberry is good IMO, and only needs around 2.5% flavoring.

 

[AmandaD]

Just want to add a point here. With the upcoming unknown FDA regulations I would be very, very wary of putting any money into an ejuice business yet. It's possible the restrictions will shut down all small ejuice businesses or make it prohibitively expensive for them to continue.

If you haven't even started mixing yet, you should probably wait and see if it's something you actually do better than the average Joe LOL This isn't something you start and in a couple of months turn into a successful business - it takes a long, long time to develop a good juice line.

 

[UncleRJ]

IMHO, if you wish to, just pick it up as a hobby and be creative throwing caution to the wind with your creations.

ENJOY yourself!

And if you get good at it and folks (not your immediate friends) start telling you that your stuff is great then start thinking about thinking about a business. Do it on the internet first before you even think about opening a B&M.

 

[toughguitar]

You need to just start mixing up some recipes and start giving samples away to local vapers. If they come back to you wanting more, you will start to build up a reputation. When you have a bunch of good recipes and a lot of people who want it, you will be ready to start a business. If you don't have anyone coming back to you for more of your recipes, do you think they will buy it on a regular basis? It will not be easy with the competition out there already, but if you can come up with something special, it will be a start.

 

[Smoky Blue]

Just want to add a point here. With the upcoming unknown FDA regulations I would be very, very wary of putting any money into an ejuice business yet. It's possible the restrictions will shut down all small ejuice businesses or make it prohibitively expensive for them to continue.

If you haven't even started mixing yet, you should probably wait and see if it's something you actually do better than the average Joe LOL This isn't something you start and in a couple of months turn into a successful business - it takes a long, long time to develop a good juice line.

I second and third this..
unless you think you will be able to take care of the fda fees too..
I have heard they range from 1k on up.. per juice, per change..

 

[UncleRJ]

I second and third this..
unless you think you will be able to take care of the fda fees too..
I have heard they range from 1k on up.. per juice, per change..

Listen to Miss Blue.

She knows what she is talking about.

But if the FDA (photo attached) gets their nose up my behind I am going straight to the Black Market.

 

[Smoky Blue]

if you have a day job, dont plan on quitting it, not for at least a year or 2, if not even longer.
find someone that can help you market, give aways, and make a brand out of your product.
(oh, you might have to pay them in juice, or that green stuff that flies out your pockets)
realize really quick.. everyone is out to either save money, or make money off you..
carry a lot of juice..

Not trying to discourage people here, but face it.. between everyone wanting to be a ejuice seller, the fda, and everyone looking for samples..
you either better come from money, or have the money to back yourself up for a while.
Feasibly.. you wont even get up and running before the fda and not even a full year, to even think you are going to be successful -
that i learned the hard way after business 101 in college.

 

[Sigmardin]

not trying to be a dick but trying to be realistic. some of the reason I do not sell juice are as followed.

1. I dont not have a clean and sterile retail location or kitchen. why does this matter ? health reasons. ill tell you a little story before i hop into the rest. I had a hot dog cart. bought it for the summer for the kids to have fun with. just to sell a hot dog in this town it cost me $10, 000 to get started up. I had to rent a commercial kitchen. you would think i could store all my winnies and buns at my house. nope. to comply with all local and state health codes I needed to have a commercial kitchen . thousand bucks a month just to have a place to keep my bread. is this necessary for ejuice ? no , not yet but I guarantee soon . I have dealt with the dept. of health before and they are dying to get their grubby little mits on juice. I dont even want to know what it going to take pretty soon to sell just one little bottle of homemade eliquid. is your kitchen just as clean as a commercial kitchen. hell no I dont care what anyone says , the carpet in your spare bedroom is filthy disgusting pool of nastiness.

2. you need to provide full testing and disclosure of every single juice you make. you might say thats not required either. well for the moment it is not but will be and its a very hot topic in the DIY/vaping world and you will find out after heavy reading its not just anti ecig groups that want all this testing done its the vapers also. you have to provide to the masses proof what you are telling them to inhale into their lungs is safe enough. thats going to cost a pretty penny. people who vape made a conscious decision to quit smoking to live longer. are you willing to live with yourself when the day comes that you realize that special ingredient you dont want everyone to know about is the reason all your customers have pneumonia or popcorn lung or maybe even dead because you wanted to skip out on testing your liquid? even if all your supplies ( nic, pg, vg, flavors) all test safe alone science still happens after you mix something and chemicals change into other things. you will never know if you dont get those things tested.

3. money . any business is not cheap. you need to plan for a full year of total losses. I know everyone is confident that they are the next big thing. Im the type of guy to always be doing something on the side. I have had 3 other real business and so many small ones that I have learned my lesson. YOU WILL lose money at first . are you financially secure to live on what you have right now ? can you take a 50 thousand dollar hit and be ok ? to take a business seriously every minute of every day must be spent on your new company. you cant slack and say im the boss i can take a day off. nope , you need to be figuring out how you can fit more things into one day. nothing is fun when you make it your work. it might be "fun" but its not. I have talked to these guys who sell the flavors and nicotine and asked them what they mix up with all those flavors on hand and they dont even have time to have fun with them ! I seriously thought about opening a vape shop. once I went through everything and realized I would need about 60 grand to do it right for the first 2 months i decided to put that on the back burner lol.

hobbies are a great way to make extra cash but this hobby has real consequences that come with it. I wish all the bathtub mixers would realize these things. there are some guys out there who do all this and my hats off to them . right now without regulations the market is flooded with half ass juice made in some of the most unsanitary places and everyone claims to be the cleanest but how can you believe that ! haha. this business is a very serious and I say if you have that passion and ready to take those risk then go for it for full steam ahead and dont look back. nothing but the best of luck to you in your vaping journey. I understand the passion of a healthier alternative to smoking. I would love to start my own vape company and sell juice and build mods. I might someday but I will do it right. but if your passion is as big as it sounds take it seriously and do it the right way. millions of smokers and their lives are counting on all of us to bring vaping to the next level without someone fucking it up along the way.

I don't know what you actually do for a living, but I do know this; that was the best fucking response to an honest laundry list of questions I've EVER read!
It's best to get the toughest questions answered first, the other questions will be answered along the way.

 

[DarkJester89]

you can make it to save yourself money, or sell to friends or etc.