How I Made Chocolate and Chocolate Covered Cherries

Bill's Magic Vapor;14122827 said:

How I made Chocolate, step by step.

Start with a good deal of patience. First I thought through what ingredients I wanted to start with. In the case of chocolate, I thought this 14% flavoring would be a good start:

1. Double Chocolate - 2%
2. Bittersweet Chocolate - 2%
3. Milk Chocolate - 2%
4. Vanilla Swirl - 2%
5. Sweet Cream - 2%
6. Cotton Candy - 2%
7. Sweetener - 2%
8. PG - 16%

I would make up 6 test beakers, adding 64 drops (64%) of VG and 6 drops (6%) VG Nicotine (100 mg/ml) to each of the 6 beakers:

View attachment 377289

I added each of the ingredients, 7 at 2% (2 drops ea) plus 16 drops of PG to get to my 30/70 PG/VG ratio. This is always the same for me. I filled up my newly coiled and wicked Taifun GT and vaped for several minutes and made the following observations:

1. I can detect chocolate, but it's a little weak. Noted increase overall chocolates to 8%. Increase milk chocolate by 2%
2. A little more milk chocolate than the other two chocolates, which is interesting since the other two are 4% combined and the milk chocolate is 2%
3. The whole mix is flat. It doesn't pop at all. Noted increase sweeteners by 2%, Add vanilla Swirl to 4% to see what that does. Pop? We shall see.

New 20% flavoring recipe now looks like this:

1. Double Chocolate - 2%
2. Bittersweet Chocolate - 2%
3. Milk Chocolate - 4%
4. Vanilla Swirl - 4%
5. Sweet Cream - 2%
6. Cotton Candy - 3%
7. Sweetener - 3%
8. PG - 10%

I throw on a new mini tank on the GT, fill with the new mixture, and vape. It'll take a few draws before the new flavoring comes through. Between tastings, I vape a different flavor, something that will reset the palate. I have many, many mini tanks, and for just this reason....taste testing. I also have 5 GT bases coiled and wicked and ready to go if I need them. I am ready....all these setup measures require me to have patience. I remind myself it's the journey, not the destination, though I have a good idea where I want to go with this, i.e., a chocolate covering for a fruit, such as cherry or strawberry. I'm thinking dark chocolate with fruit, but I still like the taste of that milk chocolate. Maybe adjust chocos on next batch. I vape....

1. Chocolate is more pronounced....good, but it's still not popping.
2. Not as flat, was it the vanilla swirl or the sweeteners?
3. Something is missing.....but what?
4. I ask myself, would this be good with fruit? Answer: so-so, it's not great...
5. Think I'll punch the vanilla and see if that helps. Increase vanilla swirl to 6%, so

New Test Batch will look like this:

1. Double Chocolate - 2%
2. Bittersweet Chocolate - 2%
3. Milk Chocolate - 4%
4. Vanilla Swirl - 6%
5. Sweet Cream - 2%
6. Cotton Candy - 3%
7. Sweetener - 3%
8. PG - 8%

Notice the mini tanks, perfect for these little approximate 2.5 ml batches (38 drops per ml with these droppers):

View attachment 377290

I start vaping the new batch in the new tank. Definitely chocolate. Not as flat, but still not popping for me. Missing something....but what? Caramel? Also, I'm kinda wanting that chocolate syrup flavoring. More sweetener? Maybe, but it seems sweet enough, and getting sweeter with the vanilla swirl anyway. Yeah, let's add caramel, but how much? 2% maybe? What else is missing? Maybe butter? Butter scotch? Hmmm....Ok, let's add 2% butter and 2% caramel. See if that pops better. Now:

1. Double Chocolate - 2%
2. Bittersweet Chocolate - 2%
3. Milk Chocolate - 4%
4. Vanilla Swirl - 6%
5. Sweet Cream - 2%
6. Cotton Candy - 3%
7. Sweetener - 3%
8. Butter - 2%
9. Caramel - 2%
10. PG - 4%

Both the caramel and butter smell wonderful! These may be POP nuances. We shall see. Stir for 30 seconds. Smells better too. I vape a couple. Ok, that is better. I taste the caramel now. Do I want to? I wanted POP, now I have a new flavoring. Reduce to 1%? Probably. Interesting. The butter and caramel added a nut taste. That's pretty good. Did I want nutty? No, but this is tasty now. The chocolate is diminished now. What is this? This is a candy bar, and it's pretty good, too. I'm going to add this to my candy bar collection. Not sure which one, but this is not a new flavoring, I've tasted it before. Lucky me. Another accidental discovery! Why is it nutty? But, wait, I want chocolate. Where is the chocolate? This would be good with a little coconut, huh?

Whoa, Nellie....reduce caramel to 1%, add chocolate....the double chocolate I think. If 2% caramel can kill the chocolate primary, maybe I need more? Ok, add 2% double chocolate. What else? There's a lot of flavoring here now, just not chocolate flavoring, I smile.

Where's the rich chocolate syrupy yummy goodness? So, now reduce caramel to 1%, add double chocolate by 2%. I know that Bavarian Cream is very rich. Maybe with the extra chocolate, that I can taste with 1% less caramel, that might do something good? Do this now:

1. Double Chocolate - 4%
2. Bittersweet Chocolate - 2%
3. Milk Chocolate - 4%
4. Vanilla Swirl - 6%
5. Sweet Cream - 2%
6. Cotton Candy - 3%
7. Sweetener - 3%
8. Butter - 2%
9. Caramel - 1%
10. Bavarian Cream - 2%
11. PG - 1%

Now I'm running out of room. I don't like to make mixes over 30% flavoring as it messes up my 30/70 PG/VG ratio. But first, let's mix and vape this new juice.

First vape....chocolate.....good. Caramel dropped off as a secondary....good. This is a fuller chocolate....good. The Bavarian Cream did add richness and thickness and body. This is not leaning toward the milk chocolate any longer. This is a darker chocolate....good. Vaping, vaping.....this is good. It's not the syrupy sweet chocolate that I crave, but I'll bet I'll get that more with steeping. Works that way with everything else. Bavarian Cream and Caramel always adds a nice richness to the mix. I don't know that the bittersweet chocolate is doing anything, and may be flattening me out. May POP better without it....so, remove bittersweet chocolate. Creaminess is good, maybe 1% too much, but I'm not worried about it. I'm now thinking this will be a 30% flavoring, no PG added. What to adjust? Maybe this:

1. Double Chocolate - 5%
2. Milk Chocolate - 5%
3. Vanilla Swirl - 7% ) Let's just see, increased 1%
4. Sweet Cream - 2%
5. Cotton Candy - 3% )
6. Sweetener - 3% ) Go with 7% cotton candy, increased 1%
7. Butter - 2%
8. Caramel - 1% ) Do we even need this now? Drop and see if it hurts us...
9. Bavarian Cream - 2%, so now:

A new 30% Chocolate Flavoring for a fruit (cherry/strawberry)

1. Double Chocolate - 5%
2. Milk Chocolate - 5%
3. Vanilla Swirl - 7%
4. Sweet Cream - 2%
5. Cotton Candy - 7%
6. Butter - 2%
7. Bavarian Cream - 2%

Ok, this is good...with a steep, it may improve, who knows? Great? Possibly, I'm thinking good, not great. Time will tell. Adding the fruit may also add that syrupy yumminess I'm looking for. I'm going to add maraschino cherry to it now. 4%? Okey dokey. So, here now is:

Chocolate Covered Cherries:

1. Double Chocolate - 4%
2. Milk Chocolate - 4%
3. Vanilla Swirl - 6%
4. Sweet Cream - 2%
5. Cotton Candy - 6%
6. Butter - 2%
7. Bavarian Cream - 2%
8. Maraschino Cherry - 4%

Notice I reduced the chocolates, the vanilla and the cotton candy all by 1%. But remember I increased them to sorta hit my 30% flavoring on the chocolate. I don't think they are required at the 1% higher, and the cherry is sweet too, and needs "Room" in the mix, so we added it. Now to vape.

Ok this is too much cherry and not enough chocolate. So, I'll reduce cherry to 2%, increase chocolates by 2% (1% each), and see if that's the ticket. I know I'm close now. I want more a hint of cherry with the chocolate. Regarding Maraschino cherry, you could use cherry extract, or black cherry, as well. All about YOUR taste. I will try again with cherry extract to see if that's better for me.

Ok, tried the cherry extract and it was better for me, so I have a final recipe:

Chocolate Covered Cherries

1. Double Chocolate - 5%
2. Milk Chocolate - 5%
3. Vanilla Swirl - 6%
4. Bavarian Cream - 4%
5. Cotton Candy - 6%
6. Butter - 2%
7. Cherry (extract) - 2%

I consolidated the Sweet and Bavarian Cream into just Bavarian Cream. Just a personal preference. Ok, vaping now. Good. Happy with this now. Needs to steep. At the moment, I'm getting cherry primary on inhale, chocolate on exhale. Interesting. Those will likely blend out with steeping into a homogenous flavoring. This one is ok good out of the can. It will hopefully improve. I've made better chocolate covered cherries/strawberries with LorAnn and Lorann Naturals before, but I'm trying to stick to TFA flavorings on this thread. Also, keep in mind that I'm a little vaped out on this at the moment.

As an experiment, it went pretty well. 800 drops, 8 toppers, 15 droppers, 11 different flavorings, 8 beakers....I have some clean up to do now! As I'm vaping, I'm not 100% happy with the cherries at 2%. I could probably go 1 - 1.5% and be fine. It may need more cream to cut the cherry a bit as well, but I'm going to let this one steep for a wee bit. It's good out of the can, and that's my goal. Maybe it becomes really good, maybe not. Only time will tell. But, I wanted to walk through this exercise with you to show how I arrive at flavorings in 800 drops or less, and usually less.

No doubt this can be improved, but not by me, tonite! I'm ready to move on for the moment. Good luck to you all in your vaping endeavors! Ciao!

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