A Simple (or perhaps not) Question

[Zanaspus]

OK, this is the year I start delving into DIY. I've spent hundreds of hours reading the posts herein, but one thing that I've missed is total mixing percentages.

This question is easiest to illustrate with a simple example. Suppose suggestions on mixing percentages direct me that a 10% solution of strawberry is the best while banana and orange should be mixed at 5% Now if I wanted to create a Strawberry, banana, and orange juice. Should my starting point be a juice mixed with 10%, 5%, 5% strawberry banana, and orange respectively, or should my starting test be 5%, 2.5%, 2.5% strawberry, banana, orange.

i.e. When mixing, do you use ingredients at full recommended percentages, or adjust them to keep the total percentage the same, or something in between.

Hope this is intelligible. Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

 

[sparkky1]

Zanaspus, A big notepad is going to be your best friend when it comes to testing ratios.
Some flavor company's are going to be stronger than others not just the super concentrate.You are going to have a more dominate flavor ( top note ) which would be close to the manufacture suggested ratio, I would start a few mils lower, you can always add a couple drops more later meaning if you have a 10 ml bottle mix total for 8/ 9 ml , do your 2nd flavor 2-3 ml less 3rd same or 1 ml less,This all changes with higher 80- 90 % VG mixes you might try 2 ml higher flavor from a 50/ 50 but the trick is to try and stay below 20 - 25 % total flavor.

 

[JD1]

I'd suggest trying one of the calculators to make life easier for you. I like ejuice Me Up but there's a few more, plus an on-line calculator if you just use your phone. There's links in the stickies at the top of the page for this thread.

But to answer your question, percents give you a constant that you can apply to any quantity. If you're mixing 10ml, 5% banana, then you would add .5ml of banana to 9.5ml of base. If you were making 15ml, then you would add .75ml of banana to 14.25ml of base, and so on.

I think I just saw a link to the on-line calculator. I'll see if I can find it for you.

 

[Zanaspus]

Thanks for the calculator advice, but I have a BS in Mathematics. The math isn't the tricky part for me, it's the art

 

[sparkky1]

Without a doubt you need ejuicemeup calculator, I just assumed you already knew about or used it before.

 

[dannyv45]

The simplest way to do this is to figure out what will be the domenent flavor (Base flavor) and what will be note flavors. Then it's trial and error from there so an example would be using your flavors.

Lets say I wanted a strawberry vape with an accent of bananna and a slight note of orange.

I would start with my main base flavor (Strawberry) at 10%

Then I want the bananna to be there but not prodominent I would do 2% (If the recommended was 5% as a base flavor)

Then lets say I want just a tinge of orange I would start at 1% (Used as the base would be 5%) and then adjust from there.

As you can see it's common sense and a lot of trial and error. You said it yourself when you said "The art of it" There's no set formula on how to combine flavorings the amounts come from experience.

The best way to get experience is to make 1 flavor samples so you get a handle on what each individual flavor is like on it's own. From there you can judge what you would need for combining.

 

[sparkky1]

honestly it's an awesome setup, they have videos on youtube if you need help.

 

[JD1]

Thanks for the calculator advice, but I have a BS in Mathematics. The math isn't the tricky part for me, it's the art

The calculator is easier though, plus most of them can store your recipe. The art is mostly trial and error to find what your taste buds like. As promised, here's the link to the on line one. DIY E-Liquid Combining Calculator

Best of luck and vape on.

 

[Boletus]

Following recipes is relatively easy, creating good ones is not. There is no real clear road map when you start mixing new concoctions. You can start with the recommended percentages for each flavor as a stand alone, or look at what others have successfully done with that flavor in mixes and start from there, but you will have to do the fine tuning based on experimentation and trial and error with what you actually have at hand and how it meets your needs/tastes.

 

[Mr.Mann]

OK, this is the year I start delving into DIY. I've spent hundreds of hours reading the posts herein, but one thing that I've missed is total mixing percentages.

This question is easiest to illustrate with a simple example. Suppose suggestions on mixing percentages direct me that a 10% solution of strawberry is the best while banana and orange should be mixed at 5% Now if I wanted to create a Strawberry, banana, and orange juice. Should my starting point be a juice mixed with 10%, 5%, 5% strawberry banana, and orange respectively, or should my starting test be 5%, 2.5%, 2.5% strawberry, banana, orange.

i.e. When mixing, do you use ingredients at full recommended percentages, or adjust them to keep the total percentage the same, or something in between.

Hope this is intelligible. Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

I take recommended percentages to mean as a standalone, not as included in a mix. For me, the mix will generally drop the percentages vs a standalone. Hell, if we went with the max recommended percentages in our mixes we might be mixing at upwards of 40% sometimes, so I would definitely start out lower.

 

[amoret]

To follow up on what Danny said, once you have those single flavor samples made and you know how they taste, you can try combining from the mixed samples. So you could take some of your strawberry already mixed, and add some of your mixed banana and see how you like that.