this is new amsterdam vape and in this video i'll be reviewing the diy starter kit by the liquid barn. this is a great kit, designed specifically for beginners to get into mixing their own e-liquid and comes equipped with all the gear and ingredients necessary to start mixing right away. the starter kit is comprised of three separate kits that are bundled together. the flavor kit contains the flavors for the e-liquid. the liquid kit contains the vegetable glycerin, propylene glycol and the nicotine. the labware kit contains all of the items necessary for mixing, such as
syringes, graduated cylinders and bottles. the combined kit comes with a diy manual that goes over all the basics of making e-liquid. this is a great piece of information to provide for beginners to help reduce the constant search for information all over the internet and keep the information all in one place. they break down the math involved, the ingredients used and everything else involved in the process making it a very great hand guide for every beginner. the flavor kit comes equipped with 10 flavors. these flavors are rotated out with other flavors periodically so you'll never get the same flavor kit twice.
all of the flavors by the liquid barn are manufactured by the liquid barn in their facility in california. included in the flavor kit is a manual that breaks down the flavor profiles of some of the flavors they sell in the manual they recommend mixing all of their flavors at 8% which i find odd since every flavor is different and they require different amounts when used. though flavor is subjective, it at least provides a good starting off point for beginners who don't know what flavors to begin with. i mixed all of the flavors that i received in this kit
and i'll review each of them, making not of their flavors recommended percentages and whether these are flavors that i would actually seek out to buy for myself. the blue raspberry flavor is a candy raspberry flavor that is similar to a blue raspberry jolly rancher candy. this is not an overly sour raspberry and is very sweet. i've found this flavor to be very enjoyable over other raspberry flavors that i've tried that have been too sour, like the raspberry from the flavor apprentice. this is a flavor that i would likely purchase on my own.
the liquid barn recommends this flavor to be mixed at 8% but 4%-5% is a good area for this flavor. candy green apple is a very sweet apple flavor with a slight tartness from the apple. this reminds me of green apple lollipops i used to get as a kid. i find this flavor to be very sweet tasting almost like sugar, with green apple on top. i would likely purchase this flavor since candy flavors are always hard to resist. liquid barn recommends to mix this flavor at 8%
but i find 5% works just fine. too much of this flavor and its sweetness can be overwhelming. to me, cherry blossom tea is a deep fruit punch flavor that is very heavy on the cherry. it has this almost flowery exhale to it, hence the blossum in the name. the cherry really does stand out in this flavor but i really do get a sense of other fruits in this. i would likely purchase this flavor
since it stands out pretty well on its own. liquid barn recommends this flavor at 8% but 6% satisfies my tastes. chocolate roll is a flavor that i had high expecations for and it definitely met them. this is a rich chocolate cake roll flavor with a creamy exhale. this flavor really reminds me of a swiss roll snack and really nails the taste of the chocolate cake and cream.
i would definitely purchase this flavor in the future and i've started to use this flavor as a base to build off of. this is a chocolate that i've enjoyed very much they recommend this flavor to be used at 8% 4% is really all you need. especially if you'll be using other flavors in combination. the chocolate is strong and stands out so there is no need to use too much. coconut milk is a flavor i knew ahead of time that i would not enjoy. and i was very right.
this is a coconut cream flavor, but i just don't like coconut at all. this smelled and tasted like coconut tanning butter that people use at the beach and i found this flavor to be all around unpleasant. if you are a fan of coconut flavors then maybe this could be for you. there is a creamy exhale to it, but i was just turned off from the flavor.
this is a flavor that i would not purchase at all and do not plan on vaping ever again. but i would do less than 1% is necessary. coconut stands out to me immediately so it would have to be used in small amounts and drowned out by other flavors to be enjoyable but that's just my personal preference. coke freeze is a flavor that i had very little expectations for i've tried other soda flavors in the past
like root beer and mountain dew and i was all around disappointed with those flavors but this flavor really blew me away. this is a real cola taste and somehow it has a carbonated fizzy and chilled exhale. but there isn't a trace of menthol flavor this tastes just like sipping from a real glass of cola with ice. you taste the ice and it chills your mouth on the exhale. i found this surprising and enjoyable
and i'll definitely be purchasing this flavor in the future. they recommend to use this flavor at 8% and i would agree. this is a really good flavor for a single flavor mix and it makes for a very great vape. i've tried creams from other manufacturers and this one fits with the rest. this is a smooth and milky cream that is non-custard. i prefer milky, almost vanilla creams over custard and this one makes a good addition to other flavors to give it a good creamy taste.
i did some research and this flavor is only listed as containing ethyl alcohol but not diacetyl, acetoin or acetyl propionyl. i know that other manufacturers make diacetyl free cream flavors but they use butric acid. and this isn't listed as an ingredient either. i'm very curious about this and would like to know if they would disclose this information. they specify these flavors are created just for vapers so knowing what we're consuming is becoming more and more important. overall i did enjoy this flavor, but it's not a standalone flavor
it's really to enhance other flavors this is a flavor that i would purchase and it's a must have for anyone who loves cream flavors but this is a sideshow flavor, not a main attraction so i would put this flavor between 3-4% pacific cooler is a very sweet, fruit candy flavor this reminded me very much of gushers or fruit by the foot candy. by the name, i was expecting something more along the lines of
a capri sun juice but this flavor was very enjoyable and reminded me of snack time when i was a kid. this is a flavor that i would likely purchase it works as a solo flavor but it's too much of a candy flavor to be thrown in with other flavors in my opinion. but 6% is a good fit for this flavor. pink lemonade is the flavor that i found to be the most straightforward of all the flavors in this kit. this is a natural pink lemonade flavor that's
not overly sour or sweet this is a refreshing flavor because of its natural taste and really tastes like a glass of cold, pink lemonade. i got exactly what i was expecting out of this flavor and i would purchase this one. they recommend this flavor at 8% and i would agree with that percentage as a standalone flavor it works just fine. rainbow sherbert is another flavor in this kit that i just did not enjoy at all. i found this flavor to be overly sweet
mixed with citrus and sour flavor i like real rainbow sherbert ice cream but this didn't come close in my opinion. the citrus was there but the rest of the juice just fell flat for me. this is a flavor that i would not purchase at all. but 4-5% is more appropriate for my palette. overall i enjoyed the flavors in their flavor kit quite a bit out of the 10 flavors given, i enjoyed 8 of them. some more than others.
i'd say that most beginners will take on to these new flavors and start mixing with several together to create something new. it's also nice that the flavors change every so often so the kit evolves over time. the liquid kit comes with one 500 milliliter bottle of vegetable glycerin a 500 milliliter bottle of propylene glycol and a 250 milliliter bottle of nicotine. they provided me with a vg based nicotine
but they also offer the nicotine in a pg base. this nicotine strength is 48 milligrams per milliliter. the liquid kit also comes with two dropper caps to go onto the bottles of the vegetable glycerin and propylene glycol. this is very handy, and makes transferring the liquid in your mixing very accurate. the liquid kit comes with a manual that explains the different liquids. as well as breaking down what's in the nicotine. this is really handy for understanding the different liquids that are necessary in the mixing process.
i decided to test the liquids that were given in the kit against liquids that i've used consistently in the past that i've bought from amazon. as well as nicotine from nude nicotine. i made four flavorless batches with the liquids. the first batch is a fifty fifty blend of the vg and pg from liquid barn. the second batch is a fifty fifty blend of the vg and pg from amazon. the third batch is a fifty fifty vg pg blend using the liquid barn nicotine at a strength of six milligrams per milliliter
the last batch is a fifty fifty vg pg blend using the nude nicotine also at a strength of six milligrams per milliliter. comparing the liquid bases of the kit to liquids i know work well i found that there's no real noticeable difference in throat hit or cloud production. the vegetable glycerin gave both a naturally sweet taste though they are flavorless liquids. the liquid barn nicotine
is a strength of 48 milligrams per milliliter in a vg base and my nude nicotine bottle is a strength of 50 milligrams per milliliter in a vg base i mixed both to a strength of 6 milligrams per milliliter. which is normally higher than i prefer but i wanted to see if there were any noticeable differences in the two over the course of a day. i found that the batch with the nude nicotine
has a stronger throat hit and gave a darker taste to the liquid. my bottle from nude nicotine is a few months old and has been kept in the refrigerator mostly but it has had time to oxidize with the liquid barn nicotine i definitely noticed a nicotine buzz that was comparable to the nude nicotine but there wasn't much change in the flavor and there was a lighter throat hit.
on the liquid barn website they list the certificates of authenticity for their nicotine, vegetable glycerin and propylene glycol i found the certificate matching the batch number of my nicotine and saw that my nicotine was manufactured in january of 2015 this is nice information to know so you have an idea of how old your liquids are and where they originated from. the nicotine was manufactured in india
while the vegetable glycerin was manufactured in indonesia the propylene glycol came from dow chemical here in the us these certificates verify the purity of the liquids and list any impurities that have been tested it's always good to know exactly what you're consuming into your body. the labware kit comes with many mixing accessories there's a 25 milliliter graduated cylinder and a 10 milliliter graduated cylinder these are both made with polypropylene
which is a plastic i always prefer glass over plastic because plastic can absorb flavorings and break down overtime the kit comes with two 100 milliliter beakers that are also made from polypropylene these are great for mixing larger batches there's ten 15 milliliter plastic dripper bottles that come with caps and the dropper tips the website provides some information about the dexterity of these bottles but i always prefer glass over plastic
the labware kit comes with syringes of all sizes there's ten 1 milliliter syringes two 5 milliliter and two 10 milliliter syringes these are great for measuring out exactly how much flavoring you'll need for your mix you can place the flavoring directly into your target bottle without having to go into the cylinders with these syringes the labware kit also comes with a milk frother while this is traditionally used for frothing milk for coffee
this makes for a great mixer for larger batches you should be careful with this mixer if you over mix your flavors it will put too much air into your liquid which can cause the nicotine and flavor to degrade quickly when i use the mixer i do a few pulses to get the mix stirred well and it's all set this mixer requires two aa batteries that are not included in the kit.
there's ten nitrile gloves that are available in this kit that are handy for keeping your hands safe from nicotine. safety is always important and the nicotine provided with the kit to cause some sickness if you come into contact with enough of it the nitrile gloves provide better chemical resistance than latex and if you have a latex allergy these gloves are perfect. the labware kit also comes with a manual
that goes over each item in the kit. on the back they show the glass dropper bottles they have available as well as blunt needle tips for the syringes i do wish they included at least one blunt needle tip in the labware kit with the syringes but you can use them just fine without the tip. one of the features i like the most about this kit is the mixing card that comes with it. this is a fantastic convenience for beginners
to calculate their mixes there are calculators available online but i see this being a great tool for older diyers who may not be so knowledgable of liquid calculators online or for anyone who's a fan of physically writing things out. the card is laminated so you can use an erasable marker to write down your calculations and then just erase them when you're done. the back of the card breaks down each of the steps in the calculation process
and does a great job of explaining how to do each calculation and what they mean they also offer some handy tips for calculating percentages for flavors as well as some common pg vg ratios there was one error that caught my eye about the pg vg ratios they state a neutral mix has a 50% pg to 50% vg ratio a cloud producing mix is 75% pg to 25% vg
and a throat hit mix is 35% pg to 65% vg this is obviously a typo because the values are reversed. a cloud producing mix has higher vg and a throat hit mix has higher pg i'll be making a mix with the tools provided in this diy kit. and i'll start with the mixing card. i've decided to make a 15 milliliter batch
of the pink lemonade flavor at a ratio of 50% vg to 50% pg my target nicotine strength will be 3 milligrams per milliliter i've decided to go with the recommended percentage of 8% for the flavor using the flavoring formula i found that 8% of 15 milliliters
is 1.2 milliliters and this is a pg based flavor. using the nicotine formula i divided the target strength which is 3 milligrams by the base strength which is 48 milligrams next multiply this by the batch size which is 15 milliliters.
this gives me 0.94 milliliters of nicotine to use in the mix. this nicotine is a vg base so i checked off the vg. in the pre mix breakdown you list the vg and pg based ingredients on either side and add them up. since i only have one on each side there's only 1.2 milliliters of pg based ingredients and .94 milliliters of vg based ingredients.
for my vg to pg ratio i first multiply the batch size by 50% for both vg and pg which gives me 7.5 milliliters in the next step, they have you subtract the total amount of pg and vg from the total amount of vg and pg based ingredients this gave me a negative value in the difference between the vg and pg measurements
since i'm using vg and pg based ingredients while the math is technically correct i feel like using negative values will really confuse beginners and the values in the equation should be reversed. not that the math portion is out of the way i'll move onto the mixing for this mix, i'll be using the propylene glycol vegetable glycerin 48 milligram per milliliter vg based nicotine
pink lemonade flavoring the 10 milliliter graduated cylinder a 15 milliliter bottle with the cap and spout as well as two of the 1 milliliter syringes. starting with the flavor i'll extract 1.2 milliliters of the pink lemonade flavoring since the syringe i'm using only measures to 1 milliliter i'll have to do two extractions you can see the plunger is pulled to the 1 milliliter line
deposit this first milliliter of flavoring into the bottle. now we'll extract the remaining .2 milliliters of the flavoring. you can see i pulled the plunger to about the .2 milliliter mark. deposit the remaining .2 milliliters of the flavoring into the bottle you'll now want to open the second syringe to use for the nicotine. when i use a syringe for a flavoring i like to marry that syringe to the flavoring so i can reuse it a few times.
that way the syringe will only be used for that flavoring for nicotine i use one syringe for a mixing session and then i discard it after using. using the syringe extract the nicotine to the .94 milliliter mark. you can see here the plunger is a bit passed the .94 milliliter mark but there is an air bubble in the syringe i compensated for the air bubble by pulling the syringe a little further.
while this isn't exact, it's pretty close to what i want. deposit the .94 milliliters of nicotine into the bottle. now i'll be using the graduated cylinder for the vegetable glycerin and propylene glycol starting with the vegetable glycerin i'll pour it straight from the bottle using the spout cap, into the cylinder make sure to read the cylinder at eye level and measure at the meniscus of the liquid
or the bottom of the curvature of the liquid. pour the vg until you hit the 6.56 milliliter mark. take the graduated cylinder and pour the vg into the bottle. one thing i do with this kit contained is a small funnel for pouring the liquids from the cylinders and beakers into the bottle. after rinsing out the graduated cylinder with water i'll measure the propylene glycol i'll pour the pg directly into the graduated cylinder from the bottle with the spout cap.
measure the liquid to 6.3 milliliters and make sure you read this at eye level once you're done measuring, pour the pg into the bottle now that the mixing is done place on the dripper tip and the bottle cap and you're all set with your mix. now it's time to give the bottle a good shake. one thing i wish this kit came with is labels these are really important for identifying your mixes
and you can record your pg to vg ratio nicotine strength, flavor percentage and date created on the label. this is a very basic and essential thing i think this kit is missing. overall there are some great pros to this kit you can literally start mixing out of the box. the moment you get this kit you have everything you need to make quite a few batches of e-liquid. when i first began to mix e-liquid it was a stop and go process
because there was always something i needed and i had to order and wait for it to arrive. the flavors and liquids in the kit overall are very excellent quality for a beginner, they're getting very good quality materials to start off with. the amount of information in this kit is really important without it, the kit is just a box of stuff. each kit has its own manual that goes in depth about what each kit is for. as well as the diy manual that breaks down every piece of information a beginner will need. not to mention the mixing card which completely guides the user through the mixing process and calculations
in my opinion, this makes the kit stellar the cost is a big pro of this kit which i'll be going over in just a minute while this is a fantastic kit there are some cons that i must point out this entire kit is based on volumetric measuring which is great for beginners in my opinion when i began mixing e-liquid the gear i used is almost exactly what's featured in this kit
but after a while it became messy and time consuming and i eventually moved on to mixing by weight. this seems like something most seasoned diyers agree on and seeing an advanced weight kit in the future would make this kit even more amazing. the labware included in this kit is all plastic and not glass. while this is for beginners who will most likely move on from these tools
i just prefer glass because it is a tool that can be reused over and over and it never degrades in quality. also the lack of labels in the labware kit is very disappointing to me. i'm not sure what they expect the people using the kit to label their bottles with. the mixing chart does need some improvements it's the greatest tool in this kit and having typos and confusing math can drive people away from using it.
that's something i would really like to see fixed. with all that said this is still a great product and i give it one big gloved thumbs up while there is still room for improvement as it stands now this really is a perfect kit that caters to a beginners every need. i highly recommend it for its convenience, accessibility and price. individually, the flavor kit is available for $29.99
the liquid kit for $17.99 and the labware kit for $32.99 the diy starter kit is a combination of all three kits and it's available for $63.99 this is a great deal for an all in one package to start diying immediately i went back over all the purchased i made when i first started diying and it added up to about $102.75 and these costs are added up from different flavor manufacturers amazon.com, as well as other stores where i purchased everything i needed to start mixing.
if i knew a kit existed a year ago when i started, i would have bought it in a second. this has been new amsterdam vape, and if you found this video helpful please like, comment and subscribe.