How do you "discover" new flavors?

[DenaInWyo]

Yep, I too look for vendors being talked about a lot on here, then give them a go with the smallest amount possible until I know if I'll like them or not. Gets spendy for sure, and I end up giving away a lot of juice to folks I know who vape.

I have managed to find enough that I really like that, if I were so inclined, I'd be pretty well set. My favorite thing about my vaping hobby though is trying new things so I keep exploring.

We have 3 B&Ms in my town. One sells horrible Chinese juice and marks up fasttech purchases by 200%, one is located inside an auto-body shop, and the third makes so-so juice but I had past dealings with him that make me consider him less than trustworthy, despite the fact he's pretty much vaping Jesus here in my home town. My online adventures are definitely worth it.

 

[Kandicat]

I buy them, find out I don't like any of them and trade them...

 

[bryaninaustin]

This has become a hobby for me, but I have to assume it's isolated to SoCal where the B&M shops are in abundance.

Uh uh. There are I think 7 vape shops in Austin. There are at least 4 more in San Antonio and I pass about 3 more on the hour and a half drive there (2 in San Marcos and one in New Braunfels). The shops are overpriced and the juices inferior to what I can get online though.

For me it's been trial and error and listening to people on ECF who like the same flavor profiles and/or vendors that I do.

 

[SharonMM]

I relied heavily on the recommendations given on this forum when I first started vaping. I ordered from many, many vendors and also looked in the classifieds for people selling off their rejects, just so I could try everything. About 98% of everything I tried I also rejected. But now I have a really good idea of what is out there and what to expect. I think it was a great learning process and feel pretty well qualified to help a new vapor make a good selection, so they don't have to weed through the garbage like I did.

 

[Sweetab]

Hey all,
I do tons of research everyday on e-liquid vendors. I'm trying to find the best e-liquids available! Doing today's research, I found out about a neat new sample company named Zamplebox. It is by invite only! They have Potion vapes, mt baker,roar,rocketfuel,alpha, and many others...too many to list. They seem to have great vendors for sampling. I'm still waiting for an invite. Let's hope we all get an invite. I really like the concept of sampling from different premium vendors. Here is the link - ZampleBox - A Delicious Assortment of E-Juices Delivered Monthly

 

[firephly]

tasting stuff at the vape store locally which has horrible juice but it gives an idea of flavors, and then reading reviews, if someone says a flavor "tastes like a jolly rancher" or any other artificially flavored candy i cross that off my list. I tend to imagine what i'd want in a vape, some foods i'd like to vape, others like banana & peanutbutter, i like to eat but not vape. Some things get great reviews and taste less good than expected.
I do a lot of google searching for organics and flavors i want
It's a lot of experimentation really to find anything. I Intend to DIY someday.
I'm more likely to order form vendors that disclose as much as possible about the quality of their vapor and give relevant descriptions, and have professional looking non-cluttered websites, and creative flavor combinations. I also like to chose what VG/PG proportions i want.

 

[Coil]

1. (The R&R chance) Read reviews from reviewers that actually describe the flavors. When people get in depth it usually tells me it's something they actually experienced. Saying things like "Good flavor, Good vapor production... CLOUDS" doesn't do a review justice for me to get interested. I wanna know what it taste like! If it's a fruit flavor like (banana) and someone says it taste like runts. I pass. Too bad 99% of them do.

2. (B&M wallet burn) Go to my local vape shop, try 5 flavors and hate 1/2 of them. I think this is all psychological though. I go to vape shops expecting too much out of juices most of the time. I've only found 2 juices that have really been so good and something that taste so different from anything I've ordered online that I will go to a B&M to buy: Lucid's "Love Potion" that reminds me of a (See's Candy) Candy Cane. If you've had one you know what I'm talking about. More of a fruit candy cane then anything to do with peppermint; Epic Juices "Main Squeeze" which is pretty much identical to lemonheads candy with a touch of cool on the exhale... No menthol, just like a box of candy left in the cold.

3. (It Taste's Better When It's Mailed/ No Reviews & I Love It = WINNING!) If you've been vaping before B&M stores you know about this. I think we ll have it in us. Juice IMO always get's me more hyped outta the mail then anything. Pretty sure this is psychological too but damn is it true! It's a combo of having to order it, taking the risk of the flavor through description only with no reviews and twisting the cap to get a whiff of that bottle. Just by the smell alone your already in love with it and when you take your 1st draw it's better then the smell. Those are the best juices right there.

 

[milazinha]

I live in Sydney, and there are no B&M stores anywhere around. So researching and buying online is my only choice.

ECF is my main resource for research. (90% ECF, 10% other sites). First I've read a lot in here, and paid attention to which vendors were mentioned (and highly praised) by members most frequently. (I always give less weight to the opinions of newbies.) I've bookmarked often-mentioned, highly-praised vendors that have interesting websites that are fun to browse. (Photos, descriptions, reviews... are all important! The process MUST be fun.) Then I've figured out if they even ship to Australia, and how much that would cost. (I've kept the bookmarks of the REALLY interesting ones, even if they don't ship here... there may be another way to get them!) I've made the mistake of "going crazy" buying a lot from a certain vendor who is often-mentioned and highly-praised - as it turned out, people like it because it's cheap. Ever since I've been focusing more on researching the quality of their juices.

Once I have in my mind "I really want to try vendor x", THEN I start researching the flavors of juices. I start small, with the smallest bottle sizes offered, sticking to 1 or 2 tobacco juices, 1 fruit and 1 coffee-related juice, to get a broad idea about the vendor's "style". To figure out what juices to try, I search for review threads and see if there is a pattern - a certain juice mentioned over and over, or being called a favorite by many. Once I narrow it down to a few possibilities, I search for that juice name alone, and look for good and bad reviews. (It's really painful to stick with only a few samples, when I'm eager to try everything!!! Like a kid in a candy store.)

Sometimes, depending on my mood, I skip all that process, and simply go straight to the vendor's website. I sort juices by the bestselling (when that option is available), do a little reading about the ones on top, and stick with those. I figure they must be the bestsellers for a reason.

The exception to these 2 processes, where the vendor comes before the juice, is when a certain juice is a classic, and people speak about it to death - like Boba's Bounty and Gorilla's Juice by AVE, and Tribeca by Halo. I haven't had a chance to buy any of these yet, but it was the juices which got me interested in the vendors.

Cheers,
Milazinha

 

[Wildflowers69]

Vapor Rater I found many great Juices based on this guys reviews... I like juices from Ahulsion, Five Pawns, Indigo, The Plume Room and Roar. So far these have been the best. Not fond of Mt baker, Mr E, EC Blends, Gremlin, and Zues.

 

[Big Southpaw]

Hey all,
I do tons of research everyday on e-liquid vendors. I'm trying to find the best e-liquids available! Doing today's research, I found out about a neat new sample company named Zamplebox. It is by invite only! They have Potion vapes, mt baker,roar,rocketfuel,alpha, and many others...too many to list. They seem to have great vendors for sampling. I'm still waiting for an invite. Let's hope we all get an invite. I really like the concept of sampling from different premium vendors. Here is the link - ZampleBox - A Delicious Assortment of E-Juices Delivered Monthly

I am not sure I like the looks of that at all. They don't have a functioning website and seem to be mainly interested in you recruiting friends. They are on FB and Twitter only right now. I am going to wait and see.

---

After looking into it, I think it's legit...supposed to go live next week or so.

 

[John_]

I find a flavor I like either from a B&M or somebody else's device. When I'm ordering juice from anywhere I try and get a few samples of some flavors that seem interesting, the free samples that come from a lot of sites help with this too.

If I have a new flavor I put a couple drops in an rda and vape away. I only use a few drops at first in case the flavor is nasty.

 

[Toots Aplenty]

As for me I was ordering parts from MVS and read reviews on their juices. Out of the six little 10 ml bottles I bought I'd have to say cocoa vanilla mint is my favorite. I'm definitely going to be buying a bottle of Boba's Bounty from AlienVapor because most everyone on ECF seems to love it.

 

[partyannimal]

I've been having fairly good luck with reading lots of reviews, and buying the smallest sample bottles I can. I usually mix my own, but I like to treat myself to pre-mixed once in a while to get some new ideas.

 

[Meowzebub]

when i first started vaping earlier this year i just went with the least expensive option & ordered tons of juice. soon after i moved to reading others' recommendations in ecf & branched out to try other vendors' offerings. purchasing from vendors: i usually order based on flavor descriptions & ask for samples. every once in awhile i'm intrigued by hard-to-get juices & join in on the frenzy to obtain some. trades: i try to trade or purchase from other ecf'ers in the classifieds section, & have founds some great ones (for me) that way, too.

 

[erikbal]

I don't really have any B&M's around me at all besides one head shop that I just found out sells fluid. I tried some of it and it's not very good. Since I am new to vaping I have only tried one online company so far and it's the company I ordered my kit from. I've had their strawberry and tobacco flavor and liked them both. Before I found this forum I would just try what sounds good. Now that I've found this forum I have a few (at least) online vendors that I plan on ordering from and trying. Right now I am stuck vaping No 7 vanilla that I bought locally until my 20ml bottle comes in the mail. I am also only a month into this, but have been smoke free since the day I received my kit, which was Oct 12th.

Sent from my DROID4 using Tapatalk

 

[macmiddlebrooks]

Like many here, my juice-quest has search perimeters:

First (unfortunately) is price...have to be able to purchase 50ml for around $25 shipped. That knocks out many "boutique" juices unless I'm sure of how they taste already and I'm flush w/ treat moneys (SB's "Mother's Milk" is my #1 choice so far).

Second is personal preference as far as flavor profiles..I now know that I prefer tobacco's, custards and some desserts. Basically, flavors that tend more to the heavy or "rich". I never buy fruity sounding juice anymore.

Does a prospective new juice fall into my window of interests/budget constraints? I'll give it a shot!
P.S.- My go-to vendor is Nicoticket...solid juice+moderate prices=my dollars.

 

[jwag1973]

I do both, online and local B&M's. In St.Louis there's quite a few to choose from. My girlfriend likes many from the B&M's, while I prefer spending endless hours right here reading reviews, lots of them. I spend more on mine than hers and she could careless. She thinks I'm too picky....I think I'm more selective! I can't stand anything she vapes, it's like vaping perfume. I bought a Mochaccino locally that was unvapeable when purchased. I tried giving it away several times with no success. Before throwing it out a few days ago, I revisited it and what a difference three weeks made. By far the best coffee vape I've tried. And I've tried a bunch of "Boutique" flavors that were nothing special.