Make Your Own Smoke Fluid

This is my first instructable so please bare with me. I have also decided to make it a relatively short one.

In this instructable I am going to show you how to make your own smoke fluid for any smoke machine. This does not include fog machines which use dry ice. Perhaps obvious to most, but just wanted to point that out.

Step 1: What You Will Need

- Glycerol, Glycerin or Glycerine (same thing)
- Distilled water
- Measuring jug
- Container to store solution

Step 2: Where to Get Your Ingredients From

Gylcerol, Glycerine and glycerin are the same thing. It is easily and cheaply obtainable from your local chemist. Either behind the counter or on the shelf, you will find it next to the throat medicines as this is one of its uses -- eases discomfort from harsh coughing. It will also make you more than regular if you drink too much of it!

Distilled water should be easy to come by. Places like Halfords (England), or outlets which sell car consumables should sell this. At a push you can get away with dionised water. The aim here is to get a water that is about as free from lime and other impurities as possible.

I'm hoping I don't need to talk about the measuring jug and container.

Step 3: Method

For high density smoke...
Make a solution of 30% glycerol. The remaining 70% is made up with the distilled water.

For medium density smoke...
Make a solution of 20% glycerol. The remaining 80% is made up with the distilled water.

For low density smoke...
Make a solution of 15% glycerol. The remaining 85% is made up with the distilled water.

-------------------------------------------------------
For purposes of clarity, should I want to make a solution of high density smoke fluid I would simply pour all of the glycerol into my container. I would then fill the empty glycerol bottle with water and pour that into my container. I would then do this a second time to achieve (roughly) a 30/70 mix of glycerol to water. You don't have to be exact with this.
-------------------------------------------------------

Once you have poured the required amount of each liquid into your container, shake for a few minutes to ensure that the two have completely mixed. You now have your own smoke fluid at a fraction of the cost of commercial smoke fluid.

Step 4: Preservation

You may find that you want to keep your smoke fluid for a period of time. If your container is clean, and your smoke machine doesn't already have traces of mould in it then you should be ok for about a month. Less if you have made up a solution that is less than 30% glycerol.

Anything past a month and you may want to add a preservative (antibacterial agent) to extend its life. Given that this solution will eventually be aspirated and breathed in, it is important that you don't add too much of something, or the wrong thing for that matter!

I would recommend simply adding 2-3 drops of bleach to every litre. This will keep any chance of infection down and will still be safe to people in the concentrations given out when it's used.

Step 5: Make It Smell!

You can also add a few drops of essences to your fluid to make it smell. Typically your smoke will smell / taste ever so very slightly sweet. The emphasis here is again; just a few drops.

Comments

[tadiokas19]

Can you put essential oil as the “flavor” ?

[spoonstorm]

Thanks for this! I'd like to make a small portable smoke machine using a vape. Does this smoke fluid leave a residue? I'm hoping to find a way of producing smoke without requiring any cleaning, as the tube carrying the smoke will be quite long and difficult to clean.

[chesterdeguzmansagun]

hello sir may i ask one thing which better to use organic or chemical base glycerin and which kind of essence can be use to fogging without harming the machine? still newbie and planning to make my own solution to use for my fogging tia

[NTT]

Hi

Glycerine, be it synthetic or natural in origin is still glycerine and as such I shouldn't worry which one you use. Your concern should be ensuring it's pure.

Essences are tricky to comment on in terms of specifics without knowing which one you're thinking of using.

In general, most essences such as perfume will be fine to use. Remember that you're only going to add a few drops meaning that the dilution factor will be quite high.

It is possible to add favourings like those you'd add to a cake mix. This works because the smoke will be drawn over your tongue when you breath in. This is now starting to near vaping territory now so I'll leave it there.

[chesterdeguzmansagun]

thanks a lot, do you have any recommendation regarding essencials? coz i just want to put lemon essences on it? is essential oil are ok? o only water base?

[Vulcanator]

could you add food coloring?
coloured smoke?

[Gintaras1963]

If you try to put something into a fog machine that will cause solid, colored particles to be created, you will ruin your fog machine. Similarly, if you add a colorant to Fog Fluid, in order to try to create liquid droplets that reflect white light as a color, it will a) ruin your fog machine, and b) not work anyway (due to the amount/concentration of dye that would be required in order to get a visible colored fog effect).
Unfortunately, when it comes to colored fog, coloring with light is the only solution.

[NTT]

I'm not sure. I don't think I've heard of it being used before. Sorry.

[markomo531161]

I herd that you needed a ton and it made if not toxic very unplesent smoke.

[DimitraX]

what kind of fog machines is this suitable for? is it okey to be used
with one of those who are usually need water so i can have a dense
smoke?

[NTT]

If you're referring to the ones that only use water then I can't comment. This Instructable is purely for liquid - fed smoke machines.

If you want to try using this on a water mister then be sure to let us know how it goes.

[sadixit]

Will this work with a smoke generator machine that works with "atomisers" rather than heaters?

[boobal]

Thank you so much!

[LuiseS]

omg this is EXACTLY what I've been looking for!!!! thank you a million!!

[NTT]

You're welcome :)

[AlexM19]

It has to be food / high grade gycerol otherwise it would never pass COSHH regs etc and be able to be used commercially. All fluids require a Safety Data Sheet to be sold / used too. So you're okay to play around at home but actually using your own fluid in public is a bad idea. There's also a lot of importance of the boiling points and speed of boil etc which can effect the molecular structure of the smoke ie: you do it wrong you get a bad result that can smell a bit.

Anyway, if you really want some fun then cook some castor oil up!! :)

Or do it Redneck style!! :

https://www.instructables.com/answers/HOW-TO-BUILD-AN-AUTOMOBILE-SMOKESCREEN/

[Jang246]

that is so cool, and funny. What does castor oil do??

[joshualeewm]

i managed to do it and filled my entire house with it... however, it does make everything in the house rather sticky to a certain point... i made in a very small amount and placed it on a aluminum foil container with 6 candles under it. it took about 3minutes before smoke shows up.

[smarty1973]

so when the liquid is mixed, how does it turn into smoke??? sry about noob question.. would it start smoking when exposed to fresh ari or would i need to heat the mixture up??

[NTT]

Hi smarty1973

There's never a bad noob question, so relax :-)
The liquid vaporises when it is suddenly heated in the smoke machine or fogger machine. This means it enters a gas phase just like water does when it boils. So despite the name(s) smoke machine, or fogger, they just very quickly boil liquids into a vapour.

The mossy compact example you can find right now if you wanted to would be an E-cig. They use exactly the same method to turn a nicotine laced glycerol and water mixture into a vapour which people breath in.

Hope this helps.

NTT