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How to make vape juice

How to Make Vape Juice Step By Step

November 2, 2021

Weed consumers are familiar with vaping since it’s one of the preferred methods for cannabis consumption. Vaping is regarded as a healthier method of using pot and less expensive. Learning how to make vape juice is a handy skill next to learning how to roll a joint.

When you make your own vape juice, you get the highest levels of cannabinoids in your system. You also get to feel the effects of the weed strain almost immediately. Mixing your own weed-based vape juice can take some time, but it’s worth it. 

In this guide, we’re going to learn how to make vaporizer juice using weed. You also get to know the tools you need to make it and all the items you need to store your vape juice. It may sound challenging, but we assure you, this is no rocket science.  

Let’s get started.

Marijuana vape juices
Marijuana vape juices

Why make your own homemade vape juice?

The best reason to make your own vape juice is that the mix created by you will suit your needs like nothing else. Inhaling weed is a deeply personal experience. Some people do it for recreational reasons, while many use it as medical treatment.

By making your own e-liquids with cannabis, you create a personalized way to get the most out of your strain of choice. Sure, you need to make a little investment in materials and tools to make the mix, but once you’re set, you save a ton of money in the long run.

A quick online search not only proves that making vape juice it’s cheaper, but it’s also likely the only route you’ll have to enjoy vaping for the foreseeable future. The federal government has been pressing hard with its ongoing regulations regarding vaping products. It’s unlikely this will change in the immediate future.

DIY vape juice: is it cheaper than buying?

Once you learn how to make vape juice, you’ll save money and won’t have to deal with legal issues. Many people expose their health to untested products to keep a stash of vaping liquid. Why not go the safest route and do your mix at home? This way, you know exactly what’s going into the liquid.

Certain products are expensive, and once you get the hang of mixing your own, you won’t need to burn a hole in your pocket to enjoy a vape.

Is it safe to make your own vape juice?

Searching for homemade vape juice and whether it’s a good idea online can be discouraging. However, it’s very safe if you know what you’re doing. When you visit dedicated pages such as seed banks and blogs, you can find accurate information from people with experience.

If you want to make your own vape juice, you can buy many of the ingredients online. You can even find many video tutorials telling you how to do it. Open forums offer many people a space to learn from others and trade information about safety. 

The safety concerns reflected by most news outlets center around the use of dangerous ingredients. Anyone looking to learn how to make vape juice should clearly understand the list of ingredients to avoid, such as artificial flavors and non-organic oils.

What is vape juice made of?

One of the most pressing questions asked is, “what is in vape juice?” There’s a lot of misinformation in this regard since many folks seem to think e-liquids are made of water vapor and nicotine.

When you buy a bottle of e-liquid, many of the names listed on the ingredients are chemical compounds. You start wondering how you can make such a thing. Making your own e-liquids is easier than you think. The following is a list of the basics contained in all the commercially available brands of vape juice:

Natural flavors

If you’re making vape juice, you need to avoid any brand of food flavoring sold in the supermarket. Most of the flavors found in commercial e-liquids are made using chemical agents that simulate the natural taste of a food favorite. Artificial food flavoring isn’t meant to be inhaled.

If you’re making homemade vape juice to enjoy weed, you can get all the flavors from your strain of choice. You don’t have to worry about adverse reactions or deal with chemical agents that could harm your lungs.   

Nicotine

Nicotine is the active ingredient of commercially available e-liquids. It’s what made vaping so popular among regular smokers over the past decade. When you make your own vape juice with weed, you don’t need nicotine because you intend to enjoy the effects of marijuana. This is an optional ingredient.

Contrary to popular belief, nicotine isn’t a toxic substance by itself. Most of the dangerous components of regular cigarettes are found in tobacco. Nicotine does have a certain level of toxicity, but e-liquids don’t have enough of it to do much harm. 

Propylene glycol

Propylene glycol is a fancy name for odorless alcohol. The substance is usually called PG, and you’ll need some of it if you’re learning how to make THC vape juice. This substance is mostly used in certain foods, medicines, and other products that need to keep specific moisture levels to last. 

Propylene glycol has a very delicate sweet flavor and a mild level of viscosity. When you make your own vape juice, you need PG because of its anti-freezing properties. It can keep your vape juice compound stable for months at a time.

Vegetable glycerin

Vegetable glycerin is the second-largest compound by volume contained in your homemade vape juice. In commercial e-liquids, it’s the ingredient that releases most of the smoke after a single puff of a vape. 

It’s also referred to as VG, and it has an oil-like texture resembling a tincture. If you’re making vape juice, you’ll need a lot of vegetable glycerin as a base liquid. The compound is made using vegetable oils from various sources and is processed from many forms of natural fat. 

Smoking weed with vape juice
Smoking weed with vape juice

3 vape juice ingredients & 6 tools you’ll need

Don’t let a label in a commercial product deter you from your goal of making vape juice with your means. You can get started with three basic ingredients:

Your favorite strain

There are so many to choose from; make sure to visit Homegrown Cannabis Co. and pick your favorite. The higher THC content, the better!

USP grade propylene glycol

It’s the first half of the base mix—make sure to buy the purest form of PG you can find. Don’t replace this component with anything else. Don’t even consider isopropyl alcohol.

USP grade vegetable glycerin

This is the second half of the base mix. You also need to buy the purest version you can get of this product. Avoid any vegetable oil used for cooking.

Tools you need to make weed vape juice

To make your juice, make sure you have the following materials to hand.

Dark jar with a tight-fitting lid

Your mix needs to be stored out of the light, and a dark jar helps keep these conditions. Have at least two of them when you make your own vape juice. One for the storage period, another for the distilled mix.

Cheesecloth

After the storage period, you need a cheesecloth to distill the mix and get clean THC vape juice.

E-juice bottles

If you’re making your own e-liquids with weed, the last thing you want is to carry a big bottle around each time you vape. Buy a set of e-juice bottles of 60ml each. 

Labels 

You only need these if you’re making vape juice with different strains at the same time. It helps you keep things organized

Syringes

You need plastic syringes if you make your own vape juice. The last thing you want is to make a mess when you place the distilled mix in the e-juice bottles. With a 30ml syringe, you can be more precise and keep the area clean

A scale for mixing by weight

If you want to work with precise measurements of ingredients, you need a scale. You can weigh the amount of PG and VG you need based on how you’d like your mix to turn out. 

Cannabis vape juices
Cannabis vape juices

How to make vape juice: easy step by step guide

Depending on your location, you might be able to pick up THC vape juice in any store. Not everyone has the money to keep replenishing a stash, though. By making your own e-liquid, you can save money and get as creative as you want with different strains.

Your DIY vape juice gives you full control over the potency and purity of your mix. If you have your strain, the ingredients, and the tools we already mentioned, then it’s time to make your own vape juice. This is what you should do:   

Step 1: Decarb your weed buds

To make your own vape juice, your weed has to go through decarboxylation first. The process to decarb weed is simple enough; break down the buds and place them on a baking sheet. This process aims to bring out the maximum levels of THC and CBD contained in them. 

You need to preheat the oven to 110°C and place your tray inside for at least 30 minutes. You need to do this until all buds look brown and feel toasted to the touch. Be careful where you choose to do this. When you decarb weed, it emits a strong smell that’s difficult to hide.

Step 2: Prepare the infusion

The next step of how to make THC vape juice is creating an infusion, which sounds a lot like making tea. You need to take two parts of propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin and combine them using the scale. Make sure to stir the mix well. 

Leave the solution settling in the recipient for a few moments while placing the crispy buds in a dark jar. Pour the mix of PG and VG on top of the buds to make your homemade vape juice. You need to close the lid tightly shut and keep it in a dark, cool place.

Note that we haven’t talked about measurements during this process. That’s because when you make your own vape juice, you can play with the intensity of the formula. You can add 5ml of the mix for every ounce of weed you have for an extra concentrated high.

If you’d rather go with something lighter, you can add 7ml of the mix for every ounce of weed. You still get to feel high, but the effect is less intense.  

Step 3: Storage time

No one tells you that when making vape juice with weed, you need patience, particularly during the storage stage. You’ll have to leave your mix to take hold for at least two months

During that time, the decarb buds release the THC and CBD on the mix of PG and VG. You need to open the jar at least twice a week to stir the infusion. If you see the levels of PG and VG decreasing, make some more of the base compound and pour it inside the jar.

Step 4: Strain out the solid remains

Once the storage time ends, you need to strain the infusion. If you’re making your own e-liquid with weed, you don’t want any bits in your tincture when you take a puff from your vaping device. 

Use the cheesecloth to strain out the solids—keep another dark jar below to catch the liquid.

Now you have a great DIY vape juice stash to last a long time. You can run this same process as many times as you like to get rid of any impurities. The texture of the mix depends on how much of the base formula you used and the amount of weed included. 

Step 5: Process the vape juice and store it

Now that you’re finished making vape juice, it’s time to store it. Get the e-liquid bottles and use the plastic syringes to fill them. Store these recipients in a dark space and get ready to vape the stress away.

An alternative method to make homemade vape juice

If you don’t have the patience to wait two months to make your own vape juice, there’s an alternate method in which you cook the infusion. It’s not a difficult process, but it can get tricky if you don’t know what you’re doing. Here’s what you’ll need to do:

  • Decarb your weed using the same process as described above, and then place it inside a cooking pan. Put this pan inside a larger pan with water inside it to create a bain-marie.
  • You have to pour propylene glycol into the first pan. Be careful when you do so; if you’re making vape juice, you’re dealing with flammable substances. Stir this mix until you see the buds go darker. Since this is alcohol, it evaporates quickly, so you’ll have to replenish constantly.
  • You need to strain the solids and place the infusion in a dark jar and let it sit for at least 24 hours. You’ll notice how the infusion is green and dense. You can add vegetable glycerin to make it more soluble. Once you’re done with this step, your homemade vape juice is finished. 
Weed vape juice
Weed vape juice

6 pro tips for nailing it when making your own e-liquids 

Congratulations, you’ve learned how to make your own vape juice. There’s still a long road to go if you want to get better at this. The only way it’s by practicing as much as you can. Everything you’ve learned so far is flexible, and there’s room to improve your own recipe.

You can follow these tips to avoid mistakes and ruin a perfectly good stash of weed by making your own e-liquids. 

1. Avoid flavor concentrates

You’re not making a nicotine substitute. You’re making vape juice with weed. Marijuana plants have their own unique flavors, and by using flavor concentrates, you’re ruining the experience.

2. Avoid using food ingredients

If you’re making your own e-liquids, it’s very tempting to mix them with some foods to experiment. Please don’t. If you use candies or fruits, you’ll be introducing oils to the mix that shouldn’t be making their way into your lungs.

3. Don’t use spices

Never include regular household spices in any vape juice ingredients list. Cinnamon irritates your lungs. Sugar damages your vaping device. Pepper damages your vocal cords and shuts down the filters on your vape.

4. Don’t use any form of sweetener

If you’re using vegetable glycerin to make your own vape juice, avoid using any sweetener. You don’t need stevia or anything that resembles these substances. VG is the best natural sweetener for weed vape juice. 

5. Let it darken

The darker your homemade vape juice is, the stronger it’ll be. Let the mix breathe for a while before storing it. The liquid will get darker, making it more powerful, which means a much better high when you take a puff. 

6. Store it in the dark

Don’t let the sun hit your newly prepared homemade vape juice. It’ll diminish its properties. Place your bottles in a dark space at room temperature. Stir them up every once in a while.  

Smoking in a vape
Smoking in a vape

Key takeaways about making vape juice

Now that you’ve learned how to make vape juice, the only thing you need to do is try it yourself. As you can see, the list of ingredients isn’t complicated at all. You still need some tools, but you should have most of them at home already.

Keep in mind that making your own e-liquids with weed is a way to save money in many ways. The amount you smoke in one sitting can easily cover a few days of vaping. Just make sure to follow the steps indicated on the guide and control the intensity of the mix to your liking.

If you wish to learn more about the best strains to make your own vape juice, make sure to visit Homegrown Cannabis Co. You can consult the expertise of many growers in our forums and check the opinions of our resident expert Kyle Kushman.

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