What do you put in your Reos ?

[Spydro]

I use unflavored 3mg 50/50 and still purchase from Nicoticket and That1Vape. I have experimented with DIY flavored concoctions, but I am a terrible cook and a terrible bartender, so my ejuice favors tend to be, well, terrible, too.

The best/fastest method to success in DIY is to start by getting to know your individual flavor concentrates all by themselves before trying them mixed with other flavors in "recipes". Simply start with your base of choice (PG/VG/Nic) and a percentage by volume of a flavor to get a feel for it, work up or down from there to suit your tastes. Realize that some flavors are very intense, a little goes a long ways with them. But it's easy enough to add more base to dilute flavor or more flavor to intensify it, find "your" preferred taste for it with the first batch. In the interest of time a quality UC is indispensable for DIY... mix and be vaping mostly aged within hours instead of weeks. Many flavors can be so good stand alone that you just might start vaping them as they are with no other flavors added. I do mostly intense liquids, but some of my often used ADV's are also stand alone. FWIW

 

[Kh888]

The best/fastest method to success in DIY is to start by getting to know your individual flavor concentrates all by themselves before trying them mixed with other flavors in "recipes". Simply start with your base of choice (PG/VG/Nic) and a percentage by volume of a flavor to get a feel for it, work up or down from there to suit your tastes. Realize that some flavors are very intense, a little goes a long ways with them. But it's easy enough to add more base to dilute flavor or more flavor to intensify it, find "your" preferred taste for it with the first batch. In the interest of time a quality UC is indispensable for DIY... mix and be vaping mostly aged within hours instead of weeks. Many flavors can be so good stand alone that you just might start vaping them as they are with no other flavors added. I do mostly intense liquids, but some of my often used ADV's are also stand alone. FWIW

I agree and definitely appreciate the input! I tend to like complex flavors, so I have been mixing and well, back to my above statement, I guess the expression, "run before walking" might apply?

 

[Rossum]

One way to experiment with flavors: Fill your bottle with unflavored. Mix up small batches of single flavors. Drip a few drops of some flavor from the top. Vape. Squonk in unflavored until the you can't taste the flavor anymore. Drip a few drops of some other flavor in. Think this flavor might mix well with that one? Drip in a couple of drops of each at the same time and find out. Yes, it's not entirely the same as mixing and letting a combination of flavors steep and meld, but there's no commitment to a particular recipe either.

One thing I found using unflavored in some of my bottles is that I actually need very little flavor in my mixes.

 

[Papa_Lazarou]

On the "less is more" and "palette cleanser" fronts, I find that if I find myself able to use multiple juices at once (ie, sitting somewhere, say, watching tv or working on the computer with access to several mods and juices), each flavour pops more.

A couple of hits of one, followed by a second, then a third, and so on, rotating back to number one.

The constant switching seems to act as as a steady palette reset and each "fresh" flavour is intense. I even go so far as to have a few setups with lower flavour concentrations for use in these juiceapalooza sessions.

It looks decadent as heck (the wife giggles when I do this), and I suppose it is, but man, does it bring out the flavours.

Another reason for more REO's, I suppose

 

[PapawBrett]

"Flavor Butterfly". I do the same thing, for the same result. And, no. I am not fond of the term.
After eight weeks of cold maceration, mixing, and four weeks of aging, my Tobacco Extractions have made their way to my Reos. Dark Cherry (tobacco) and Trout Stream (Cavendish and Butterscotch). Both are delicious. Now, if I could just mix up bakery and sweets like this....

 

[Rule62]

When I first started DIY, one of the first things I wanted to tackle was a good RY4. I had read reviews of various ones. I knew I liked vanilla, I liked caramel, and I liked tobacco, being a former pipe and cigar smoker. Along the way, I experimented and made a lot of other stuff; but RY4 was and is my first love. I ended up with several good RY4 type recipes, which I've made over and over.
But lately, I've gotten lazy. I vape a lot of unflavored, and I've found that adding just one drop of TFA RY4 Double to a Reo bottle filled with 5 or 5 1/2 ml of unflavored, is excellent. Sometimes I will use TFA Asian RY4 instead of the Double. Equally good!

 

[Jet Knight]

Vapour Mountain Tropical Ice (Strong Menthol with Coconut) made in Cape Town South Africa! My ADV for the last 2 years!
View attachment 527148 View attachment 527149

That sounds tasty...nothing like that around here unfortunately. Great looking mod!

 

[Robinowitz]

Am really enjoying reading this thread. Equally happy that I'm not the only big flavor enthusiast out there Don't know if it was the 40 years of menthols or my enjoyment of spicy food, but I'm not into subtle e-juice either. I love the "wow" that flavors can bring. That strong menthol with coconut that Rob mentioned got my ears perked. I suppose my pallet craves bright flavors. Even my occasional tobacco ejuice has a bit of minty menthol added. I can appreciate a dessert flavor but I tend to crave more "in your face/throat flavors."

I've only taken baby steps in the DIY arena, but I'll never say never. Early on I purchased lots of flavors from different companies but luckily found a couple that I've liked now for 2 1/2 years (that still surprises me). These favorites are Black Clove Djarum and P-38 (mint Menthol). Sometimes I'll add some mint, spearmint to the P-38 also. In the last couple of months I did a bit more testing and have come to like Wakonda and Virus occasionally throughout the day. All my e-liquids are infused with Whole Tobacco Alkaloids which has helped me to put the mod down for moments/hours without obsessing (hahaha).

Spydro, you mentioned a UC. I'm not acquainted with the term. What is this magic aging machine?

 

[PapawBrett]

I think he is referring to an Ultrasonic Cleaner.

 

[Spydro]

Spydro, you mentioned a UC. I'm not acquainted with the term. What is this magic aging machine?

Robin... Papa B has it right. A commercial grade ultrasonic cleaner is not very expensive, mine was less than $100 shipped, and can quickly become an often used "appliance" for many things in your life. You can find them for way less cost, but like with many things you get what you pay for and cheap usually is cheap gear that will not work as well or hold up for a long time. If you DIY joose a UC turns most of the time and effort into instant gratification. And they are handy for many other uses around the house.

 

[Robinowitz]

Robin... Papa B has it right. A commercial grade ultrasonic cleaner is not very expensive, mine was less than $100 shipped, and can quickly become an often used "appliance" for many things in your life. You can find them for way less cost, but like with many things you get what you pay for and cheap usually is cheap gear that will not work as well or hold up for a long time. If you DIY joose a UC turns most of the time and effort into instant gratification. And they are handy for many other uses around the house.

Awwww! I was wondering if that's what you were talking about. I have one in the garage that I've used for jewelry cleaning. It's non-commercial but I'm betting it would help anyway. Do you put your glass or plastic container of mix in there? Does it matter if it's dark colored glass?

 

[Papa_Lazarou]

You can put just about any container in the UC - just make sure the water in it can't get into the container. It works by creating vibrations which, essentially, mix the juice well.

I prefer to use slightly-taller-than-the-height-of-the-water bottles with the cap off to steep using the UC.

Most say that heat helps accelerate the process, but I've found that running the unit for about 1/2 hour heats the water up without the use of a heater (if your unit has one). I do it for 2 hours in 1/2 hour (back to back, pausing briefly or changing the water if it gets too hot) cycles. If your unit's timer only goes up to, say, 7 or 8 minutes (common with a lot of consumer models), it's the same process, just a lot more cycles.

 

[Spydro]

Amber glass is said to be best to block sunlight, colbalt next. But glass color is not as important if you store your joose in a cool and dark place. I mostly use 120ml, 240ml and liter amber glass, some colbalt glass I also have some that are clear glass for cold storage in the refrigerator or the freezer, and 30ml luer lock bottles on my desk for filling the Reo bottles with. Glass has been the Old Skol preferred for long term storage, but there are some plastic bottles now that work just as well except for with a few known flavor extracts that can degrade plastics. I also store my base in 1 liter amber plastic bottles in the freezer (and still have some nic in amber glass as well in the freezer even though I don't use it in my DIY anymore).

So IMO basically what Papa Laz said other then there is no need to have the caps off the bottles when they are in the UC (where they can tip over sometimes). Water level is the key for the tippers, but it doesn't have to be as high or higher than the joose inside to properly age the joose either. My UC has a 30 minute cycle that is perfect with room temperature water, does not over heat/cook the joose while warming the water enough to age faster. So I never turn on it's heater for aging joose. If you "breathe" the joose to bled off any chemical tastes that is needed with some flavors, you can do so caps off in a dark place after the full UC treatment when you are letting the bottle(s) of joose rest for up to 24 hours to finish being fully aged. Many flavors do not need to be breathed at all. Also, I prefer to call it aging the joose because you are not steeping to extract flavor, rather you are thoroughly mixing, evenly distributing and incorporating the flavors and your base all together.

 

[PapawBrett]

Thanks, Spydro and Papa. Now all I need is a UC with a four inch high basket so I can go to town with my 30ml bottles !

 

[Papa_Lazarou]

Everything I know about using the UC for this, I got from Spydro (true story).

 

[Spydro]

For just personal use you don't need a huge UC. Mine is 2 Liter, the footprint is 9" square by 7" tall, it has a 6" X 7" X 3" tall basket, with the domed clear top it is more than enough room for some 30ml capped bottles and/or lots of smaller bottles with the top on. It can be ran with the top off as well, you just loose a little efficiency in the water warming up.

Just checked and Amazon sells them for about $25 less than I paid for mine back in the spring of 2013.

Listed as iSonic P4810 Commercial Ultrasonic Cleaner... $74 shipped.

 

[Spydro]

Everything I know about using the UC for this, I got from Spydro (true story).

Now that's a scary thought pard..... two warped minds trying to advise normal folks.

When I first started vaping/doing DIY almost 3 years ago I learned a lot of the DIY basics, most of the different methods and the best methods from dannyv45 here on ECF. I've figured out a bunch of new stuff since too paying my dues with T&E, but he deserves the credit for steering me in the right directions.

 

[Fulgurant]

Been stuck on Mt Baker Vapor's Pink Champagne for years now. Also running the Flavor Apprentice's Bubblegum, and lately a Tribeca clone recipe I found on the internet.

That last one takes forever to steep, though. Thus far I've been content to wait it out, but Spydro's inspired me to try the ultrasonic cleaner.

 

[Robinowitz]

Thank you kind gentlemen for your thorough and helpful advice. I didn't get a chance to reply earlier as I was at work. I can't remember what kind of UC we have, but I can see it in my mind's eye, sitting in its box on a shelf. In the next couple of days I'll have a chance to dig it out and give it on a spin with a pre-made juice of mine that can use a little mixing!

Geez, I appreciate you gents, this forum and ECF. If I live to be 100, I doubt that I will be able to repay 25% of what I've been so freely given.....

 

[Spydro]

Been stuck on Mt Baker Vapor's Pink Champagne for years now. Also running the Flavor Apprentice's Bubblegum, and lately a Tribeca clone recipe I found on the internet.

That last one takes forever to steep, though. Thus far I've been content to wait it out, but Spydro's inspired me to try the ultrasonic cleaner.

Typically tobacco e liquids that need to be aged 6-8 weeks or more the Old Skol ways (depending on the extract)... usually only need 6-8 hours in a UC with a 24-48 hour rest afterwards.

Paths cross... My very first vaping gear was several 76mm and 102mm mech Halo G6 batteries with a large supply of mini tanks for them (already knew I'd hate cartos). And Halo Tribeca was the first joose I ever vaped. They were bought as a product of not knowing anyone who vaped so learned of this thing called vaping via Blu TV commercials at the time, then researching to find what I thought was the best KR808 gear then. Tribeca was assumed as their best tobacco (hype reviews), but I also bought several of their other non tobacco liquids with that first order to them. In time I couldn't gag down Tribeca anymore though (sometime after I soon moved up from the G6's to 18XXX batt 510 mechs then regulated). But I chased the Tribeca clone joose failures into the new gear era along with all the others that did it at the time. Lots of getting close to it at the time, none that were exact clones.

A Latakia NET that a Reonaut extracted and kindly shared some of with me to do DIY with has ruined me forever on tobacco joose. I really need to get off my duff and buy the professional equipment to properly extract it myself so it could be an every day/every night ADV.