I love DIY. It's one of the things I find extremely easy. I pretty much jumped in with a few flavors I was pretty sure I liked. I started out with a few one-flavor recipes and did some combining in my tank, to get a feel for what went with what, and for the most part, it was easier for me to figure out flavoring profiles in that fashion (it's a lot easier to pour out a dreadful tank mix than a whole flavor) and then went from there. I didn't use any "real" cloned flavorings to start, I just sort of jumped in and experimented, and most flavors that I hated out of the gate (Forest berry, I am talking to you) I was able to amend, sometimes in odd ways (a bit of storebought coco and brandy fixed that sickeningly sweet flavor, for example) which I will mix with actual flavorings next time.
I write it all down for posterity and then sorta invent flavors that grow increasingly complex-- like I have a passion fruit/peach that I just love, and successfully mixed my first orange creamsicle. I don't use much extra sweetener at all and now my taste buds are back, DIY flavoring is great as I find most store bought juices too cloying on their own.... It's also SO much cheaper, and when/if I reduce my nic, it will be easier to take what I have and make it less nicotine, and it's FUN.
I imagine at some point I may try a cloned flavor, but this is how I learned to cook. Read a few cookbooks, figured out spices and flavors, and just made stuff up! You can certainly use cloned recipes and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that, and my understanding is that many of them come quite close to the store bought flavor.
I prefer around 2-5% flavorings (so far using FA flavors, which are strongish) and I haven't caved yet and bought a sweetener to add, but I may. I get longer coil life, more interesting flavors, and it's pennies on the dollar compared to store bought juice. Well worth it in my opinion.
Best of luck!
Anna
I write it all down for posterity and then sorta invent flavors that grow increasingly complex-- like I have a passion fruit/peach that I just love, and successfully mixed my first orange creamsicle. I don't use much extra sweetener at all and now my taste buds are back, DIY flavoring is great as I find most store bought juices too cloying on their own.... It's also SO much cheaper, and when/if I reduce my nic, it will be easier to take what I have and make it less nicotine, and it's FUN.
I imagine at some point I may try a cloned flavor, but this is how I learned to cook. Read a few cookbooks, figured out spices and flavors, and just made stuff up! You can certainly use cloned recipes and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that, and my understanding is that many of them come quite close to the store bought flavor.
I prefer around 2-5% flavorings (so far using FA flavors, which are strongish) and I haven't caved yet and bought a sweetener to add, but I may. I get longer coil life, more interesting flavors, and it's pennies on the dollar compared to store bought juice. Well worth it in my opinion.
Best of luck!
Anna
