PG, VG and flavorings are so dang cheap that the cost of experimenting is negligible. Don't add nic until you have a flavor combo you like.
Mostly cappuccino and latte. Most of them that are out there tastes horrible. I've had a few fruit (especially tropical drinks) that were pretty good too. Been experimenting with a few tobacco ones as well.
Buy a 10ml flavor of cappuccino and try a little. Cost is low and you might like it. I started out with unflavored ejuice, shot glass, and a syringe for my 1st diy!
True, but I am sure even still, I won't like 99% of my experiments. As I don't like 99% of the juices I buy for the first time either. Here is one for example I recently bought for my pods. Its "Mr. Salt-E Blue Razz Lemonade" which is a tarty and sweet blue raspberry lemonade. Gee that sounds good to me. But it doesn't taste anything close to this. The sweet and tart is about right, but not anything else.
After lots of reading about DIY on ECF for a couple months, in November 2015 I decided to give it a try. I wanted to see if I even liked doing it and could actually make eliquids that were good to me. It cost a total of $50.82 including tax and S/H for the materials I bought to give it a try. For that money I got:
120mL bottle of nic base (24mg/mL)
120mL bottle of plain PG
168mL bottle of plain VG
6 - blunt needle tips (14ga and 16ga)
6 - syringes (1mL, 3mL, 5mL)
20 - 8mL vials of flavorings (I chose them based on some recipes I'd found that I wanted to make)
Turned out it was the best money I'd spent in quite awhile! I was amazed how good the eliquids were that I'd made, which were some of Bill's Magic Vapor's recipes. I knew I'd hit vaping paydirt, and then started ordering PG & VG by the gallon jug, 100mg/mL nic base by the liter, and a variety of additional flavorings based on more recipes I wanted to make.
Deciding to start vaping was the best decision I'd made for myself in many years. Deciding to then give DIY a shot was the 2nd best one, for me personally. I'll always be very grateful for the DIY hints, tips, advice, knowledge, etc. that I've learned from in the past, and still learn from now, here on ECF.
120mL bottle of nic base (24mg/mL)
120mL bottle of plain PG
168mL bottle of plain VG
6 - blunt needle tips (14ga and 16ga)
6 - syringes (1mL, 3mL, 5mL)
20 - 8mL vials of flavorings (I chose them based on some recipes I'd found that I wanted to make)
Turned out it was the best money I'd spent in quite awhile! I was amazed how good the eliquids were that I'd made, which were some of Bill's Magic Vapor's recipes. I knew I'd hit vaping paydirt, and then started ordering PG & VG by the gallon jug, 100mg/mL nic base by the liter, and a variety of additional flavorings based on more recipes I wanted to make.
Deciding to start vaping was the best decision I'd made for myself in many years. Deciding to then give DIY a shot was the 2nd best one, for me personally. I'll always be very grateful for the DIY hints, tips, advice, knowledge, etc. that I've learned from in the past, and still learn from now, here on ECF.
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I have a fairly unorthodox technique, but it only works with squonk mods.
Make unflavored nic base at a strength you like, and put that in the bottle of the mod.
Make zero nic flavored liquids using just a single flavoring at the high end of that flavor's recommended percentage.
Drip a few drops of a flavored liquid into the atty. This will let you get a feel for the flavor stand-alone. It might taste too strong, but that's not a problem because you can squonk in unflavored to get a feel for how much weaker you like it.
Repeat this process with as many stand-alone flavors as you care to. Identify which ones you like and which ones you don't, and think about which ones might complement others. Once you have some ideas, try a few drops of each of two flavors that you've decided you like and think will go together. You can easily alter the ratios between them by dripping in more of one than the other. Another plus: Hardly anything ever gets thrown away using this technique.
My morning vape is something I call "Apple Pie" that consists of six different flavorings. It started out as just three, but grew in complexity over time as I tried a dripping a drop of this or that along with the existing mixture.
However, I'll admit that by noon at the latest, I switch to my ADV, which is unflavored, in virgin mod and atty that's never seen a single drop of any flavoring.
Make unflavored nic base at a strength you like, and put that in the bottle of the mod.
Make zero nic flavored liquids using just a single flavoring at the high end of that flavor's recommended percentage.
Drip a few drops of a flavored liquid into the atty. This will let you get a feel for the flavor stand-alone. It might taste too strong, but that's not a problem because you can squonk in unflavored to get a feel for how much weaker you like it.
Repeat this process with as many stand-alone flavors as you care to. Identify which ones you like and which ones you don't, and think about which ones might complement others. Once you have some ideas, try a few drops of each of two flavors that you've decided you like and think will go together. You can easily alter the ratios between them by dripping in more of one than the other. Another plus: Hardly anything ever gets thrown away using this technique.
My morning vape is something I call "Apple Pie" that consists of six different flavorings. It started out as just three, but grew in complexity over time as I tried a dripping a drop of this or that along with the existing mixture.
However, I'll admit that by noon at the latest, I switch to my ADV, which is unflavored, in virgin mod and atty that's never seen a single drop of any flavoring.
Absolutely not with foods (unless it is liver). Although I am a bit fussy about drinks. I think what ruins it with me with many e-juices is many of them taste like they are using artificial flavorings. Like one I purchased was supposed to be strawberry cream. I am not sure where they came up with the cream part, I didn't taste this at all. And that strawberry didn't even taste close to strawberry. It tasted like those awful artificial raspberry flavorings you often find in hard candy. Which I am told actually comes from a gland from a beaver's .....Are you that fussy with food too?
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Have you considered looking for flavoring concentrates that are natural extracts? I know there are companies that specialize in them, although I never really pursued them because personally I'm content enough with standard (generally artificial) stuff.
You can take some coffee beans and put them in some pg or vodka to give it flavor and then make a juice using that.
I don't get to buy much these days, but last week I ordered a liter of nic from Nude Nicotine. I like their nic and they reduced their prices a while back.
I ordered it on Monday and the shipping label was created later that day. It's still sitting there with a shipping label and nothing else happening.
I know NN orders take a while. I've got lots of stuff from them and I factor it in. I won't actually need the nic for about 15 years anyway. But I kind of wish they wouldn't set up the shipping label until they were a bit closer to actually shipping. Although if they didn't set up the shipping label there wouldn't be anything for me to check in the mornings.
I do miss ordering stuff and stalking the shipping websites. It's not half as much fun following orders of dog food from Amazon.
I ordered it on Monday and the shipping label was created later that day. It's still sitting there with a shipping label and nothing else happening.
I know NN orders take a while. I've got lots of stuff from them and I factor it in. I won't actually need the nic for about 15 years anyway. But I kind of wish they wouldn't set up the shipping label until they were a bit closer to actually shipping. Although if they didn't set up the shipping label there wouldn't be anything for me to check in the mornings.
I do miss ordering stuff and stalking the shipping websites. It's not half as much fun following orders of dog food from Amazon.
I don't obsess over stuff that I've ordered if I don't need it immediately. I built my nic stockpile with many, many orders from NN between the start of 2014 and mid 2016. They all arrived within seven to ten days.
FWIW, my stockpile is all their freezer-ready Armor V1 in 120 ml bottles. It's good stuff. Yes, I'm lazy and was willing to pay for the convenience of being able to open the package and put the bottles in the freezer without having to decant them into other containers (and exposing the nic to air in the process).
I mainly bought drip tips and a nectar clone to replace the one I gave away. I would love to find a Pico 75 for under $20 to also replace, since it went bye bye with the nectar too.
which 99% of it tastes awful.
DIY--- you are doin it wrong.
I don't think that's everyone's experience or even the majority experience.
If you are concerned with ability to flavor there are always one shots just add base and you are good to go. Also yes there is a certain amount of experimentation that goes into DIY but if you start small, start with single tester flavor mixes, and do a few other things, reasonable competency can be achieved.
I still have some of a few of my initial juices. While they are nowhere near as nice as my later offerings, they're still vapable (even if sometimes combined with something else.) If I make a mix I hate, I fix it, and I've learned more about DIY doing that than any other method. Keep detailed, focused notes, and learn as much as you can from more experienced others.
I'm not going to claim DIY is EASY since I know what it's like to see others far more skillful at coilbuilding than me claim its easiness, when I don't find it so. But there are things that can be done to make it EASIER, and if you do them, stay patient, I think (personally) that you can get a better average than 99% failure. It's just a bit of a defeatist attitude.
I would say, "I guess it's possible that I'm not picky" but I have mixed juice for others (and knowing their palates and that they are coming from commercial eliquids I just have them pick a couple dominant flavors, and over flavor and over sweeten (for me) and do a quick and dirty heat steep (like, 1/2 hour in tap water hot water to get things moving) and send them on their way. I don't get complaints, and these are the type of folks who, if they hated my juices WOULD HAVE complained, so I think I'm reasonably competent and I did not devote years to the ah, process, etc.
Anna
My small box freezer has enough room for 4 liters in 1/2 L bottles at the front, and another 2 liters in 120ml bottles up top. I'm almost out of 120ml bottles now. The front section is full so I'll have to take the oldest liter and move it into 120ml bottles to make room at the front for the new liter, which I'll have to transfer from the plastic bottles into glass 1/2 L bottles.
It's a pain to do all that. But on the other hand I haven't had to decant nicotine for a couple of years, and it will be another couple of years before I have to do it again.
I wish I had got the new liter in 1/2 L Armor bottles, but I had forgotten about that option.
Good thing is, the almost 4 year old nic I'm using now is clear with maybe a faint yellowish tinge. Tastes as good as new.
This talk about banning flavors inspired me to stock up. They aren't stupid, they know if they ban flavors the void will be filled instantly by a huge black market. Clamping down on nicotine would be an easy way to nip that in the bud. Black market nicotine would be a lot harder to set up. Anyone could buy nic and mix juice, it would take professional grade criminals to import nic.
I don't know if you've tried premixed liquid from Ahlusion but they come off more realistic in flavor than any I've tried, even cherry. No beaver ....!
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