DIY E-Liquid Mixing: Can You Make Your Own Sweetener?
Every DIY e-liquid mixer knows sweetener. You can simply buy a ready-made sweetener, or, if you’re feeling brave, you could theoretically mix your own – but, 
as with everything in life, you do so at your own risk.
First things first – sugar has no place in a vape sweetener. Sugar would gunk up your coil wire straight away, and it simply isn’t meant to be inhaled.
The sweeteners sold in vape shops usually contain sugar substitutes. That means they don’t clog things up, and you only need a tiny amount to get plenty of sweetness. The Perfumer’s Apprentice offers a sucralose-based sweetener.
Ethyl maltol is a popular option. You can buy it as a powder or as crystals – so, much like menthol crystals, you can actually mix it yourself – and it counts as a flavouring rather than an artificial sweetener.
Another advantage of ethyl maltol is its delicious cotton candy flavour. There is a downside, though – anything that tastes that much like caramelised sugar will gunk up your coils if you use more than 1 percent! So it needs to be dosed sparingly. Personally, I find the flavour really tasty.
Other than that, ethyl maltol is prepared in the same way as menthol crystals.
Stevia is extremely sweet, and there’s no real reason not to use it to sweeten e-liquids. You should only use the tiniest amount, though – after all, stevia is 300 times sweeter than sugar. Whether stevia’s taste comes across as unpleasant is a matter of personal preference. In any case, I’d rather dissolve stevia in PG, and I probably wouldn’t leave e-liquids sweetened with it sitting around for too long. In theory, it could recrystallise and form streaks.
The safest bet is definitely to simply buy a ready-made sweetener. Personally, I also think some vanilla and chocolate flavourings work really well for adding sweetness. Some biscuit flavourings can work as sweeteners too. Either way, sweetening ultimately always comes down to taste.
