DIY e-liquid calculator: nicotine, PG/VG and flavour dosing

août 22, 2026
News

DIY e-liquid has exactly one hard part: the dosing. Once you know how many nicotine shots to pour for 3, 6 or 12 mg/ml, and how much flavour to add, everything else is just filling bottles. This guide is a DIY calculator on paper: one formula, ready-made tables, a complete worked example and the real cost. If you're brand new to mixing, start with our DIY beginner's guide, then come back here for the numbers.

The three ingredients, and how much room each one takes

Unflavoured base — a blend of PG and VG with no nicotine and no flavour. It's the bulk of the bottle. See our bases and accessories.
Nicotine shots — in the EU, 10 ml bottles at 20 mg/ml. One shot therefore holds 200 mg of nicotine, and that's the only figure you need to remember.
Flavour concentrate — 5 to 20 % of the final volume depending on the concentrate. See our flavours and concentrates.

Final volume = base + shots + flavour. Shots and flavour take up space: the base tops up to the target volume, it is never the first thing you calculate.

The DIY calculator formula

Number of shots = (target strength in mg/ml × final volume in ml) ÷ 200.

Example: 100 ml at 6 mg/ml → 6 × 100 = 600 mg of nicotine → 600 ÷ 200 = 3 shots (30 ml). Then the flavour (say 15 % of 100 ml = 15 ml), and the base fills the rest: 100 − 30 − 15 = 55 ml of base.

Table 1 — how many shots by volume and strength

20 mg/ml shots (10 ml). Half shots are 5 ml, measured with a syringe.

Final volume	3 mg/ml	6 mg/ml	9 mg/ml	12 mg/ml
50 ml	0.75 (7.5 ml)	1.5 (15 ml)	2.25 (22.5 ml)	3 (30 ml)
100 ml	1.5 (15 ml)	3 (30 ml)	4.5 (45 ml)	6 (60 ml)
200 ml	3 (30 ml)	6 (60 ml)	9 (90 ml)	12 (120 ml)
500 ml	7.5 (75 ml)	15 (150 ml)	22.5 (225 ml)	30 (300 ml)
1 litre	15 (150 ml)	30 (300 ml)	45 (450 ml)	60 (600 ml)

Two things stand out. First, at 12 mg/ml, 60 % of the bottle is nicotine shots: above 9 mg, classic DIY hits its limit and nic salt shots at 20 mg become the better option (same formula, same table, smoother vape). Second, the old rule of thumb — one shot per 50 ml of base — does give roughly 3.3 mg/ml over 60 ml. Handy, but the table is what counts once you're aiming for an exact strength.

Table 2 — flavour percentage

Type of concentrate	Typical dosing	Per 100 ml	Per litre
Single 10 ml flavour (fruit, mint, tobacco)	5 to 10 %	5 to 10 ml	50 to 100 ml
30 ml "recipe" concentrate (dessert, complex)	10 to 20 %	10 to 20 ml	100 to 200 ml
60 ml large-format concentrate	10 to 15 %	10 to 15 ml	100 to 150 ml

The maker always prints a recommended percentage on the bottle: start there and adjust two points at a time. Under-dosing can be fixed (add more); over-dosing can't.

Table 3 — PG/VG: picking your base and your shots

PG/VG ratio	Which hardware	Result
50/50	Pods, MTL tanks, coils above 0.8 Ω	Balanced, good throat hit, clean flavour
30/70 (or 20/80)	Sub-ohm, DTL, coils below 0.5 Ω	Dense vapour, softer hit
70/30 (or 80/20)	Older small pods, thin wicks	Very thin liquid, strong hit, little vapour

Pick shots in the same ratio as your base — that's why our Unicorn Boost comes in 50/50, 80VG/20PG and 20VG/80PG. Concentrates are usually pure PG, so a 30/70 base ends up around 40/60 once flavoured — no problem at all, it's expected.

Full example: 200 ml of a dessert liquid at 6 mg

Nicotine: 6 × 200 ÷ 200 = 6 shots → 60 ml.
Flavour: a 30 ml concentrate dosed at 15 % → 15 % of 200 ml = 30 ml (the whole bottle).
Base: 200 − 60 − 30 = 110 ml of 50/50 base.
Mix: shake for a good minute, then let it steep — 2 to 3 days for fruits, 1 to 2 weeks for desserts, 2 to 4 weeks for tobaccos.

And the cost? A 1-litre base at €9.90 → 110 ml ≈ €1.10; 6 shots at €1.50 → €9; a 30 ml concentrate around €11. That's roughly €21 for 200 ml, a little over €10 per 100 ml, and noticeably less at 3 mg (3 shots instead of 6). Compared with ready-to-vape bottles, DIY is still the cheapest way to vape a liquid you chose yourself.

Unicorn Base 1 litre — unflavoured base at the best price per ml
Unicorn Base 500 ml — to get started without committing to a litre
Unicorn Boost 20 mg — 50/50, 80/20, 20/80 and nic salt shots, single or packs of 30/50/100
Red Astaire T-Juice concentrate 30 ml — the red fruits / menthol classic
Heisenberg Vampire Vape concentrate 30 ml — cool red fruits, a cult flavour
Tallak Vape Institut concentrate 60 ml — mixed nuts coated in sweet, lightly vanilla milk, 60 ml format

The Unicorn tip: always dose the nicotine first and against the final volume, not the base volume. It's DIY mistake number one: you pour 3 shots "for 100 ml of base", add 15 ml of flavour, and end up at 4.1 mg/ml instead of 6. With the formula (strength × final volume ÷ 200), the mistake disappears.

Frequently asked questions

How many shots for 1 litre at 3 mg?: 15 shots (150 ml), topped up with 850 ml of base and flavour. At 6 mg you need 30.
Can DIY go above 20 mg/ml?: No: 20 mg/ml is the legal maximum in the EU, and it's already the strength of the shots themselves. A DIY liquid is therefore always below 20 mg/ml.
Do I need scales or syringes?: Graduated syringes are enough for small volumes. For a litre, kitchen scales accurate to the gram are more practical: 1 ml of base weighs about 1.1 to 1.2 g depending on the VG content, and a 10 ml shot about 11 g.
One 10 ml shot in 50 ml of base — what strength is that?: 200 mg of nicotine in 60 ml → about 3.3 mg/ml (before flavour). A handy benchmark for a 3 mg liquid.
How long should it steep?: Allow 2 to 3 days for fruits and menthols, 1 to 2 weeks for desserts, 2 to 4 weeks for tobaccos. Bottle closed, away from light, shaken now and then.