DIY vape juice – the practice of making your own e-liquid for vaping at home – has been a popular practice as long as vaping has existed. The ingredients of vape juice are very inexpensive when they’re purchased in bulk, and making your own e-liquid is also an opportunity to create unique flavor profiles that don’t exist commercially.
Making your own e-liquid requires extreme care, however, because an error can result in a product that’s unusable because it tastes horrible or has the wrong nicotine content. So, some people decide that making their own e-liquid isn’t actually something that they want to do.
There is an alternative, though, if you don’t want to try DIY vape juice but do want to try customizing your e-liquid to suit your preferences – you can add things to store-bought e-liquid.
For example, you might be curious about what would happen if you added water to vape juice. Maybe your last bottle is running low, and you’re thinking about adding a bit of water to stretch your supply. Maybe you bought a bottle of vape juice that’s high in vegetable glycerin, and it’s a bit too thick for the small vaping device you’re using. You could have an e-liquid that’s too strongly flavored or too high in nicotine, and you’re looking for a way to make the experience a bit less intense.
So, can you add water to vape juice? The answer to that question is “yes.” In fact, water is actually an ingredient in some commercial e-liquids. You can only add a very small amount, though, or the result may be so thin that it’s impossible to use. Because of that, adding water to e-liquid only works in a limited set of circumstances.
In this article, we’ll explain everything that you need to know.
Why Would You Want to Add Water to Vape Juice?
Let’s begin this article by talking about why you might want to add water to e-liquid in the first place. We touched on this topic in the introduction, but you might find it worthwhile to think about the reasons why you’re interested in customizing your vape juice. We’ll also tell you which of these are valid reasons to add water to vape juice and which ones aren’t.
- You might want to add water to stretch a bottle of e-liquid that’s running out. This won’t work because you’d need to add so much water that the vape juice would no longer be usable. We’ll explain why in the next section. The only way to stretch a bottle of e-liquid is with plain vegetable glycerin or propylene glycol, which you might not have.
- You might want to add water to dilute an e-liquid that’s too thick to work in a small vaping device like a pod system. This can work.
- You might want to add water to dilute an e-liquid that has too much nicotine for your needs. This won’t work because the only way to significantly reduce an e-liquid’s nicotine strength is by diluting it significantly. This is another situation in which you’d need to use plain vegetable glycerin or propylene glycol.
- You might want to add water to dilute an e-liquid that’s too strongly flavored. This can work.
Why Can You Only Add a Small Amount of Water to Vape Juice?
If you want to dilute a bottle of e-liquid only slightly, you can add a small amount of water and will probably be happy with the result. If you’re trying to stretch a bottle of e-liquid or want to reduce its nicotine content significantly, though, water won’t work because you’d need to add too much to accomplish the result you’re looking for. Here’s why you can only add water to vape juice in small amounts.
- Water is much thinner than vegetable glycerin and propylene glycol. If you add too much water to vape juice, it’ll be completely unusable because it’ll leak out of your vaping device.
- Water is conductive. If it leaks and contaminates the internal electronics of your vaping device, it could cause a short circuit that ruins the device.
How to Add Water to Vape Juice
If you want to add water to vape juice to make it less viscous or to make the flavor a bit less intense, you’re in the right place. We’ll explain how to do it.
- Get some distilled water and an eyedropper. Because any other type of water may contain added minerals and other impurities that you wouldn’t want to inhale, it’s very important to use distilled water only.
- Open your e-liquid bottle and remove the nozzle from the top. To remove the nozzle, you can insert a butterknife under the lip at the top of the bottle and pry gently.
- Use the eyedropper to add just a few drops of water to the bottle. The final mix should contain no more than about 5 percent water. If you have a full 60 ml bottle of e-liquid, for instance, you should add about 3 ml of water at the absolute most. Start well below that, though, because if you add too much, there’s no way to remove it.
- Replace the nozzle and close the bottle. Give it a good shake. Test the e-liquid and add more water if necessary.
Vegetable glycerin and propylene glycol both absorb water readily, so your solution may maintain coherency on its own. Shaking a bottle manually, however, doesn’t accomplish the same result as the commercial mixing machines that e-liquid companies use. It’s a good idea to give the bottle a good shake each time you refill your tank or pod.
What Other Things Do People Add to Vape Juice?
Did you know that water isn’t the only thing you can add to vape juice? Here are a few other things that people use to customize off-the-shelf e-liquids.
- Pure grain alcohol: A few drops can enhance the throat hit of a low-nicotine e-liquid.
- Menthol crystals: If a menthol e-liquid isn’t quite cool enough for your liking, a small menthol crystal can greatly enhance the coldness.
- Sucralose: Sucralose is the most common e-liquid sweetener, and it’s a popular ingredient for many different flavor profiles.
- Other e-liquids: The easiest way to create your own flavors is by mixing two different e-liquids together. The only limit is your own creativity.
Before you begin adding ingredients to vape juice, it’s a very good idea to consult one of the many DIY vape juice discussion boards that are available online. In most cases, these additives need to be used in extremely small amounts, or the result will be unusable – so it’s helpful to have some advice from the community before you begin.
