Biggest N00b DIY mistakes?

[dw75]

To the veteran DIYers, what are some of the biggest mistakes you made as a n00b DIYer?

I'm looking for anything from dream flavors gone wrong to equipment mistakes to lack of documentation. Anything that could help us new DIYers out a bit.

For me, my mixing set up was the biggest issue. I was trying to mix on the countertop but my big pancake hands kept knocking my flavor bottles over. To fix it, I grabbed some scrap styrofoam from work and made this ugly (but effective) mixing station.

Anything you guys are willing to share will help us out.

 

[michaelsil1]

My biggest mistake was thinking most of the posted recipes would taste good!

 

[Hoosier]

Mine was thinking I'll remember how I mixed this if it's any good later.

 

[WileECoyote]

Thinking the higher % of flavor, the better it was going to be until I did 20% of a tobacco flavor. Ack!

 

[SLane]

Buying a big 120ml of a flavor I thought I'd like and not liking it enough to ever use 120mls.
Now I buy small vials first and then larger later if it's something I love and know I'll use often.

 

[MorpheusPA]

Making too large of a sample and wasting a lot of it when the flavor was bad.

 

[edyle]

vaping 100% VG.

 

[michaelsil1]

Thinking that flavors that go well together when cooking would work well with vaping!

 

[dannyv45]

Over flavoring

Compensating before steeping

guessing at percentages

Not taking good notes

using old syringes that you had to plung so hard that you over shot your percentage or even worse knocked the bottle over

not paying attention to what your doing

Over buying

taking someone else's word that this was correct or a flavor or recipe was really good

Not reading every thing I could when I first started

Thinking I know everything and didn't need any ones help

I broke every DYI rule in the book but you know something in doing so I learned so much. So the bottlom line is don't be afraid to make mistakes or ask questions that's how you learn.

 

[jwoode]

Be sure the syringe is empty before you squeeze the air out of it.

 

[dw75]

My biggest mistake was thinking most of the posted recipes would taste good!

I don't think I've actually tried any "recipes" per se. But the flavoring percentage posts have been crucial. Without those, I probably would've been all "no, 35% raspberry should be perfect". 8-o

 

[dw75]

Thinking that flavors that go well together when cooking would work well with vaping!

I'm still debating a "cucumber melon" juice idea that I got from some hand soap my wife bought.

 

[dw75]

Compensating before steeping

Do you mean adjusting the mix before it's had adequate time to steep? If so, I've been guilty of that.

 

[powerband]

probably buying a flavor that I thought might be good but wasn't. like what was posted above just buy small 3.7ml to 10ml sizes until you find what you like. out of approx. 60 bottles of flavoring I think I only have liked about 20 of them, haven't tried about another 15. I bought all smallest sizes I could.
Most important is reading the ECF for info from others

 

[michaelsil1]

I'm still debating a "cucumber melon" juice idea that I got from some hand soap my wife bought.

Some strange combinations work out very well, keep experimenting!

 

[FStopFive]

This thread is awesome!

I'm by no means an "experienced" DIYer, but in the 4 months or so I've been avidly making my own juice, here's what I've found in terms of mistakes I've made:

1. Not sticking to my recipe (i.e. adding stuff in post-mix, pre-steep).

2. Not taking notes on what works and what doesn't. An example of this is mixing the same ....ty blend twice, because I didn't remember doing it the first time.

3. Being impatient and not waiting for a proper steep. Can't underscore the importance of this enough.

4. Over sweetening/over mentholing a mix pre-steep.

5. Not being nearly as precise as I should have been with with pre-mix nic dilutions. This might sound silly, but taking the time to ensure your desired non-flavored nic blend is good to go before you start will not only reflect in the ultimate quality of your final mix...it also makes mixing that much simpler.

6. Not spending time reading information. There's a wealth of info out there, and simply taking the time to read about different approaches, recipes, blends, ideas, etc has probably been one of the most beneficial things I've done in terms of improving the quality of my final product. Even if it's stuff I personally would *never* have an interest in vaping, the more you understand about how different things are blended to compliment/contrast each other, the more well rounded you'll be.

7. Not understanding the value of additives like smoothers, sour, sweetener, etc. IMO, these will often make or break your recipes.

 

[Wingsfan0310]

My biggest mistake actually turned out to be a good thing. I assumed my dropper was 20 drops per ml when in reality it was 40. So when making a 60ml bottle of RY4 Double which I normally add 1 drop of AP per 5ml, I added 1%. It didn't taste right so off to count the drops I went. I ended up doubling the recipe (120ml total - Finally got to try it properly steeped That was the good part by the way). It's almost gone . Time to make another 120ml

Cheers,
Steve

 

[Spazmelda]

I'm not a noob, but I just made a stupid noob mistake. Making 50 ml of a standard recipe I'd already worked out. I wanted to add 5% strawberry! but apparently I just looked for the s on the label and added sweet cream instead. The recipe called for a small percentage of whipped cream flavor, but now it's got quite a lot of sweet cream instead. Ug. 50 ml. Grr. I guess I'll let it steep.

 

[dannyv45]

Do you mean adjusting the mix before it's had adequate time to steep? If so, I've been guilty of that.

Yep it usually goes like this

I just added the recommended percent of flavor but I don't taste anything so let me add some more. Ahh now I taste it a little bit but I want it stronger so let me add some more. Now it's getting close.

The next day you go to it and hey what happend I don't taste anything what the heck is going on here.


If the mix was allowed to steep it would have likely produced pleanty of flavor in a few days to a few weeks.

 

[dannyv45]

I'm not a noob, but I just made a stupid noob mistake. Making 50 ml of a standard recipe I'd already worked out. I wanted to add 5% strawberry! but apparently I just looked for the s on the label and added sweet cream instead. The recipe called for a small percentage of whipped cream flavor, but now it's got quite a lot of sweet cream instead. Ug. 50 ml. Grr. I guess I'll let it steep.

Ha Ha I've done that.

My most recent was making an RY4 that called for 2 % deleache and 7% ry4 I wound up putting in 7% deleche and 2% ry4. Talk about having a major brain fart.