Mixing your own e-liquid: a step-by-step method

Mixing your own e-liquid has more in common with cooking than with chemistry. You need five things: a base (the PG/VG mix that makes up most of the volume), nicotine shots if you want nicotine, a flavour concentrate, an empty bottle at your target size, and a syringe or graduated bottle. That is the whole list. This guide walks through it: which base suits your device, how many shots you need, what percentage of flavour to use, and the order to pour it all in.

If you are completely new to this, our DIY beginner's guide sets the scene. And if you only want formulas and numbers, go straight to the DIY calculator: this page is the method, that one is the maths.

What you need to mix your own e-liquid

• A neutral PG/VG base — no nicotine, no flavour. It is the bulk of the bottle. Everything is in Bases and accessories.
• Nicotine shots — 10ml bottles at 20mg/ml, added according to the strength you want. Optional: a 0mg mix works perfectly well without them.
• A flavour concentrate — this is where the taste comes from, between 5 and 25% of the final volume depending on the recipe. The full aisle is in Flavours and concentrates.
• An empty graduated bottle at your target volume.
• A graduated syringe for the flavour, or a graduated bottle if you mix straight into it.

If you already know how a Longfill works, none of this is new: our concentrates work on the same principle, except you pick the base and the shots yourself. The whole range sits in our DIY section.

The base: understanding PG/VG

A base is a mix of two liquids. PG (propylene glycol) is thin, carries flavour and gives the throat hit. VG (vegetable glycerine) is thick, slightly sweet, and produces the vapour. The ratio between them mainly decides one thing: whether the liquid suits your hardware.

In practice: a pod wants 50/50, a sub-ohm kit wants 70/30. Our Unicorn Base 1 litre is a ready-to-use neutral base made in France, available in 50/50 and 80VG/20PG; the 500ml size is the right calibre for a first attempt. To start without calculating anything, the Mix&Go PURE Base Pack bundles base and nicotine shots, with a formulation from the Pure laboratories that cuts steeping time sharply: the mix is ready within a few hours.

Worth knowing: concentrates are almost always pure PG. An 80/20 base therefore lands around 70/30 once the flavour is in, exactly what a sub-ohm kit wants. That is normal and harmless.

Nicotine shots

A shot is an unflavoured base carrying nicotine. Ours, the Unicorn Boost, comes in 10ml bottles at 20mg/ml, in 50/50, 80VG/20PG, 20VG/80PG and nic salts, singly or in packs.

Two rules are enough. Use shots in the same ratio as your base, otherwise you shift the PG/VG of the finished mix. And always calculate on the final volume, never on the base volume: that is the mistake that lands you at 4mg when you were aiming for 6.

Which strength to aim for? Our nicotine strength guide settles that before you pour anything.

Dosing table: how many shots?

The formula is one line:

ml of shots = target strength (mg/ml) x final volume (ml) / 20

Then divide by 10 for the number of 10ml shots. Example: 100ml at 6mg/ml gives 6 x 100 / 20 = 30ml, so 3 shots.

The second figure is what is left to fill, flavour included. For 100ml at 6mg with a concentrate dosed at 15%: 30ml of shots, 15ml of flavour, 55ml of base. Half a shot is 5ml with a syringe.

The table also shows where the exercise runs out of room: at 12mg/ml the shots take 60% of the bottle and dilute the flavour heavily. Above 9mg, nic salt shots are more comfortable, and the maths is identical. For variants and edge cases, the DIY calculator covers the detail.

Flavour: dosing, choosing and steeping

The concentrate is what turns a neutral base into an e-liquid. It is dosed as a percentage of the final volume, and that percentage belongs to each recipe: always follow the figure the manufacturer gives on the product page. As an order of magnitude, a single-note flavour sits around 10 to 15%, a full recipe concentrate rather between 15 and 20%.

A few classics from our range, with the dosing and steeping time stated on their product pages:

• Red Astaire T-Juice 30ml — black grape, eucalyptus, aniseed and menthol, a fresh blend with real character. Recommended at 15 to 20%, steeping three to seven days.
• Heisenberg Vampire Vape 30ml — a secret recipe of mixed red berries with its trademark freshness. Recommended at 10 to 20%, steeping two to three days.
• La Chose Le French Liquide 30ml — salted butter caramel, roasted hazelnut, coffee, pecan and vanilla. Recommended at 15 to 20%, steeping one week.
• Ragnarok Sweet Ultimate 30ml — strawberry, raspberry, blackcurrant and blueberry with a blast of freshness. Recommended at 5 to 10%, steeping three to seven days.
• Tallak Vape Institut 60ml — nuts under a lightly vanilla-sweetened milk, in a 60ml format. Recommended at 20 to 25%, steeping four weeks.

This is where DIY gets interesting on volume: a 30ml concentrate at 15% yields roughly 200ml of finished liquid, and 150ml at 20%. A 60ml one at 20% reaches 300ml. Pair it with a large-format base and the cost per millilitre drops sharply, exactly the logic behind our large formats of ready-to-vape liquid.

Steeping lets the aroma molecules bind to the base. The time is on the product page and runs from a few days to several weeks depending on the recipe. Bottle closed, away from light, shaken now and then.

To build your own recipes rather than reproduce a brand, Unicorn Flavors are single-note flavours and additives made in France, dosed around 15% for the single notes.

Step by step: your first bottle

1. Set the final volume and take a graduated bottle of that size. Everything is calculated on that number.
2. Pour the shots first, following the table above. They are easy to measure: a full bottle is 10ml.
3. Add the flavour with a syringe, at the percentage on the product page. 15% of 100ml is 15ml.
4. Top up with base to the target graduation. The base comes last, it is there to fill.
5. Close and shake hard for thirty to sixty seconds.
6. Label it and let it steep: date, flavour, percentage, nicotine strength. Without a label you will not remember what you did.

Common mistakes

• Calculating nicotine on the base volume. Three shots "for 100ml of base" plus 15ml of flavour is not 6mg/ml, it is about 4.1.
• Over-dosing the flavour. More concentrate does not mean more taste, it means a harsh mix and coils that gunk up faster.
• Tasting too early. A dessert judged on day one will seem flat. Wait for the steeping time first.
• Getting the ratio wrong. A thick base in an MTL pod starves the wick; a thin base in a sub-ohm tank leaks.
• Writing nothing down. Without a label, a recipe that worked cannot be repeated.

Frequently asked questions

How long does e-liquid need to steep?

It depends on the recipe. Many fruity mixes are good immediately or after two to three days; a creamy dessert often gains from one to two weeks; some recipes want several weeks. Each product page states the recommended time. Bottle closed, away from light, shaken now and then.

How much flavour for 100ml?

Whatever the manufacturer states on the product page. At 10% you pour 10ml, at 15% 15ml, at 20% 20ml. When in doubt start at the bottom of the range: you can always add more.

How many shots for 100ml at 3mg?

1.5 shots, so 15ml. That leaves 85ml to fill with flavour and base. The formula: strength x final volume / 20 = ml of shots.

Which base for my hardware?

50/50 for a pod or an MTL tank with coils above 0.8 ohm; 70/30 VG/PG for a sub-ohm kit in direct lung. Use shots in the same ratio as the base.

Do I need scales or syringes?

Graduated syringes are enough for small volumes, and a graduated bottle even lets you mix straight into it. For a litre, kitchen scales accurate to the gram are more comfortable.