More and more cigarette smokers are converting to the much less harmful electronic
alternative to get their nicotine ‘fix’. Known as ‘vaping’, as opposed to ‘smoking’,
there are a variety of PV (Personal Vaporizer) products that are available to achieve
this. They range from ‘cigalike’ devices to advanced ‘Tank’ models, and specialised
rebuildable models (known as ‘Mods’).
The thing they all have in common is the liquid (known as ‘e-liquid’ or ‘juice’)
that provides the nicotine, flavour, and vapour. This liquid is available commercially
in a wide variety of flavours and nicotine strengths, but many seasoned vapers are
turning to producing their own (referred to as ‘DIY’) from base ingredients, easily
obtainable on-line and from pharmacies. Doing this can reduce the cost by as much
as a factor of five, and provides unlimited scope for experimenting with new flavours,
nicotine strengths, and glycol ratios.
If you are a vaper, and have resisted mixing your own juice for what ever reason,
then think again. It is very easy to do, and the equipment you need is very simple
and cheap to buy. An adequate setup would cost less than £2 (approx $3). It is also
fun and very rewarding, takes little time to do, and will save you lots of money.
There is a section in the Ez-Mix help file containing mixing advice which could be
useful for beginners, or those who wanted to know more about the subject.
Very simple recipes can be estimated fairly easily without any assistance, but as
soon as glycol-ratios and additives are included, the calculation becomes intricate.
That is where dedicated mixing calculators like Ez-Mix are essential.
Ez-Mix Main Screen in ‘Landscape’ Mode
To cater for computer monitors of various resolutions, the main screen is available
in two formats - Portrait and Landscape (default), and it is possible to switch between
these two from within the program. (If the monitor is less than 800 pixels high,
then only Landscape is available). Which format is used is up to the user, and may
be dictated by the way they like to work, and how many Ez-Mix screens are open at
any one time on the desktop. The height of the Landscape format has been specially
chosen to allow use with Netbook computers, which generally have screens only 600
pixels high
There is a useful ‘Notes’ facility for adding comments about the mix - this can be
used whilst formulating the mix, or added later after physically performing it and
having sampled the result. These notes are stored along with the recipe when the
mix is saved.
A recent addition to Ez-Mix is the ability to remix existing liquids, changing the
nicotine strength and/or the PG/VG ratio very easily. Checks are made to make sure
the new mix is possible, and advice given if not.
Printing options are very flexible, and it is easy to adjust the output to fit anything
from small index-cards to full size paper. There is a Print Preview screen that allows
adjustments to be made, and accurately preview the output on the chosen paper.
Ez-Mix Main Screen in ‘Portrait’ Mode
To download Ez-Mix, click on the button below
Download...
Reviews
Before it was released, Ez-Mix was previewed and tested by a focus-group comprised
of over 80 volunteers from a leading vapers forum. Here’s a selection of their comments
-
- Very very nice...
- Bl––y AWESOME!!!
- Great job Jeff!!!
- I REALLY like your calculator!
- Excellent work!!
- I don't just "like" your calculator.. I LOVE your calculator.
- You have a beautiful start to a beautiful calculator here!!!
- This is awesome!!! I absolutely love it.
- It looks bl––y great, best I've seen by far.
- Very impressive calculator.
- I think you have done a brilliant job with this!
- I really like using this calculator... works like a charm
- Ran it through its paces. Gotta say, its solid, didn’t run across any anomalies.
- The best calculator I have ever seen cant blieve its free
Operating System Compatibility.
The program was written to be compatible with all MS operating systems from Win98
onward. To date it has been tested on XP, Vista, Win7, and Win8.
Ez-mix does not require any add-ons (such as MS .net) to run, which means it aught
to work on any non-MS systems if the required facilities such as Wine are installed
to enable Windows programs to be run.
The Focus Group tried this out on Linux and Mac OSX. Linux with Wine worked perfectly,
but Mac systems were more problematic. It seems that Mac systems need to be Intel-based
to stand a chance, but even then, no-one was successful using Wine or WineBottler.
The reason for this is not understood. There appeared to be no problem with Macs
using VM (virtual Machines) like Parallels, but this is a costly option. If you have
a Mac, and are using a VM, then you should find Ez-Mix runs perfectly. It is still
worth trying out the Wine approach again if you are a Mac user, you may have success.
If you do, please contact me (details under Support below), and I will add your solution
to this page.
It looks too good to be Free - are there any hidden catches?
No, there is nothing of that nature in any of my software. It has also been thoroughly
virus checked using MS Security Essentials.
Ez-Mix is free because…
Four years ago I gave up smoking. I was a heavy smoker - 50/60 per day, and it took
a lot of willpower to give up. I gained some respite by using NRT products (Patches,
Gum, Inhalators, Lozenges etc.), but these were not particularly successful and I
became dependent on them, and they were costing me a fortune (why are these things
so expensive?).
Then I discovered the gentle art of vaping and it literally changed my life, and
I was happy again. I immediately gave up the NRT, and enjoyed the new freedom of
vaping virtually anywhere - particularly at work, where my productivity increased
dramatically.
About 6 months ago I started mixing my own juice - out of curiosity mainly, but I
soon realised the cost benefit. I tried using various DIY calculators which, in the
main, worked OK, but I decided to write myself one of my own, which ticked all my
boxes. Over time I embellished and improved it and, after showing it to a fellow
vaper who immediately wanted a copy, I realised it may be useful to a wider audience.
So here we are, and here it is, and it is free because it is my way of adding something
back into the vaping world as a token of gratitude for making my life so much more
pleasant.
The Future Of Ez-Mix
This is just the beginning. I have a few exciting features that I plan to add in
the future to enhance its usefulness, and make recipe creation a faster and more
enjoyable process. There may also be something in it for mobile (cellphone) / tablet
users.
I plan to release the first update in October 2013.
I have no plans to produce a mobile (cellphone) version. I experimented with creating
a version for Android, but found the operating system to be bizarre from a programmers’
perspective, and lacking the functionality in its visual controls that are available
to programmers in Windows. This would have made porting the design from Windows to
Android a difficult and time-consuming process which, since users would have demanded
it to be free, offered little incentive to proceed. There was also the problem of
creating, sharing, and storing compatible Ez-Mix recipe files, and the difficulty
in printing formatted results. Besides this, there are already apps available, no
matter how basic, to create DIY recipes, so I abandoned the idea.
Support
If you wish to contact me about any problems you have with the program, or just want
to say ‘Hi’, there is an e-mail link on the main screen, and in the Help file.
Ez-Mix is a new free DIY mixing calculator for creating e-liquid recipes. It has
been designed for ease of use, yet has many advanced features essential for accurate
and error-free mixing.
- Easy to use.
- Caters for both PG and VG Nic bases or PG-VG hybrids.
- Easily modify an existing mix to change Nic level and/or PG-VG ratio.
- Handles up to 8 flavours, each with their own PG-VG or water/alcohol bases.
- Scratchpad for making notes about the mix.
- Calculates the cost of a mix (optional).
- Extensive error checking.
- Status of Costs and Volumes for confidence that all is OK.
- Flexible printing options.
- Extensive Help and mixing advice.
Ez-Mix A New Free e-juice Mixing Calculator