Can't stand TFA, anyone else?

[wbbrn1952]

I have ordered most of my flavoring from TFA and have been pleased for the most part. The only difficulty I have had is with some of the darker flavorings - Rum; Caramel. Found that the Pineapple can be overpowerng and if you use a high percentage of some of the flavors they can have a "soapy" taste.

Once I found this thread The Flavor Apprentice Flavoring Thread and started using the low end of the suggested percentages I have found their flavor to be spot on. I have not tried the pineapple as of yet but plan to give it ago with a project at the percentages suggested.

 

[Chiku]

I am glad you posted this. I am new to DIY and have had great success with making my own extractions. But my luck with commercial extractions... so far just TFA ones has been not near as good. I agree they taste funny. I can't see how people use them at 10 + percent.. they just taste like chemicals. Some of them are OK at 1 or 2%, but don't have much flavor. They also seem to have a rapid flavor fade. I can mix a batch today at a low percentage and it is good, but by the next day it is weak. I suspect that is why people mix high and steep long, but I am so far disappointed in their flavorings and I purchased about 20 to start. I will say their banana cream is good at 2%, but I am not a big banana fan.

Ironically they were voted the best of 2012 on this forum, so I hope that is based on the fact that they are cheap and readily available at wizard labs. If they are as good as it gets, then I suspect all vendor juice would taste like their stuff and I don't think any of the good juice I've had used their flavors. I would say I think lots of the bad juice I've had did use their flavors.

I've ordered some more flavors from flavorart and have hopes they are better. Next I will try the vapingzone super concentrates if I don't like what flavorart sends.

Have you tried others? Do you have a preference toward another company?

The easiest I have found to work with are the super concentrates, and the gourmet super concentrates at vaping zone, I have mostly stuck to the fruit flavors, but I have also tried a few bakery ones. For the fruits, blackberry, key lime, and the gourmet strawberries has turned out the best. Bakery ones, cream and Charlotte and apple cinnamon (or is that considered a fruit) and cake turned out really well. I find them to have a very true flavor,not perfumery or chemical tasting, or too much like candy. I have also had good luck with a few Capella flavors, cinannamon Danish swirl and sweet tangerine turned out the best.

 

[DeeDee1234]

I have ordered most of my flavoring from TFA and have been pleased for the most part. The only difficulty I have had is with some of the darker flavorings - Rum; Caramel. Found that the Pineapple can be overpowerng and if you use a high percentage of some of the flavors they can have a "soapy" taste.

Once I found this thread The Flavor Apprentice Flavoring Thread and started using the low end of the suggested percentages I have found their flavor to be spot on. I have not tried the pineapple as of yet but plan to give it ago with a project at the percentages

suggested.

I find the pineapple at 10% perfect,

 

[Kurt]

I use TFA more than any other vendor. I like how Linda is on top of inhalation safety issues with the compounds she uses, and warns us if a flavor has a questionable compound. Remember these are primarily for foods, not necessarily vaping.

But I am not fond of some TFA flavors, although what I don't like others here have said they do like them, so it is subjective.

Those in my normal array of DIY juices are:

Coconut Candy
Vanilla Bean Ice Cream (contains a custard note, but it is most likely a low risk one. I use it in very low %s)
Vanilla Swirl
Sweet Cream
Pineapple
Caramel Candy
RY4 Asian
Black Honey Tobacco (mostly for background)
Bavarian Cream
Cotton Candy
Tobacco Absolute Blend

Yes, like most flavors, the % used varies and is entirely subjective. Not a fan of most of the coffee flavors. Not tried the tiramisu, but FA tiramisu is to die for!

 

[Olympus Mons]

TFA Irish Cream has a very realistic taste of Irish whiskey, plus the caramel/creamy/coffe taste, whereas others have no liquor taste at all.

Agree with the guy who said the percentages are all over the place, but that is the nature of flavors, some are strong, some subtle. TFA Tobacco and TFA Coffee seem stronger than rocket fuel and smell like hell, but I have yet to experiment with them. Tiny %s of flavorings work best for me, much smaller than seems average.

 

[crxess]

Each manufacturer has its weakness
sorry but even Capella i.e. Tangerine flavor missing and Cappuccino with a Cheese note.

Honestly though, it sounds like you just ASSUMED that amount would work and dumped. Not the flavors fault.

I use TFA Cocoanut as an add-in flavor in my White Dragon mix. I only use it at 1% and even that gives a strong cocoanut taste.

Over flavoring any TFA and many others will result in chemical or perfume taste/smell.

 

[JD1]

...... TFA Tobacco and TFA Coffee seem stronger than rocket fuel and smell like hell, ......

I had to cackle at that a little. TFA ry4 double smells terrible but is great at 10% with a 4 week steep. TFA red american smells worse, and makes one of the better marlb clones out there at about 5 to 6 % and a couple of days steep. (All imo, of course.)

 

[dannyv45]

Black cherry has been described as one of the best cherries. It's very strong and a drop of it in 20mL is great to give the candy-ish taste that's the difference between "fruit punch" and "lots of fruits mixed together".

+1 on the black cherry I added .25ml to a 30ml M type tobacco that I though was just so so and found it to be an enjoyable change of pace vape.

The problem I have with TFA is as mentioned quite a bit here is that the %'s are all over the place. I find that I do need to start at low percentages and work up. Like any other flavor company they have there share of flavors that have chemical tastes and are very hard to work with. But on the other hand they have some very good flavors such as there deluche de leache or there RY4 double which are main staples in a lot of my mixes. At first I could not stand there chocolate flavor and then wow I learned how to use it and have done some nice work with it. And there are some that I just can't work with at all such as there peach and strawberry that are to weak at small amounts and to chemical at larger amounts. There flavor molecules such as EM, AP TMP MBT have been so valuable in helping me perfect mixes when that little something extra was needed. So it's not a matter that TFA has bad stuff you just need to find what works for you.

 

[donnah]

Try smelling their caramel cappuccino... it smells awful! But one drop in 10ml with a little sweet cream is great with coffee.

 

[Jonathan Tittle]

I ordered about 10 10ml bottles of TFA flavors from Wizard Labs to do a trial run and so far, I'm not impressed at all. I know taste is always subjective and with that in mind, stick to flavors I know first and experiment later.

I grabbed Key Lime, Graham Cracker*, White Chocolate, Bavarian Creme, Cotton Candy and a few other sweet flavors mainly because I have the most experience cooking with the majority of those, and eating the other (i.e. cotton candy). Unfortunately, the majority of those flavors were weak at the suggested levels which average 15% or less.

I worked up about 8 10ml bottles and 3-4 5ml bottles testing each flavor individually and a few combinations (such as key lime and graham cracker to make key lime pie) varying at 12-15mg nicotine and a 60/40 mix of PG/VG, the results:


Caramel
No major complaints on this one. It's pretty close. I feel it still needs some work as it can be a little deep at times.

Key Lime
Seems great if you can vape the bottle fast when it's fresh, but steeping for 3 days now, it's almost become rancid.

Sweet Tart
I LOVE sweet tarts and this is not even remotely close. It's flat tasting, doesn't have that burst of flavor and I'd never order it again.

Graham Cracker
The flavor seems muted when steeping. It's recommended that this flavor be mixed, but mixing with key lime didn't do it any justice and none of the flavors I bought would really mix well with this. Perhaps Bavarian Creme, but I've not tried it.

Bavarian Creme
This one, out of all 10 ordered, is probably the strongest. At 15-20%, it's almost overpowering, whereas at 15-20%, the others don't quite meet my own personal standards for bringing out flavor.

White Chocolate
Tastes nothing like white chocolate, not even close. I could drink a cold white hot chocolate, vape this and never know the two were remotely supposed to taste anywhere near the same. It's not creamy and honestly, I can't describe the flavor.

Creme de Menthe
It's nice and minty, cool on the throat and could be overpowering if used in high concentration. I can't really say anything bad about it, but it's definitely not what I expected Creme de Menthe to taste like (nor does it taste like anything I've had before).

Brown Sugar
Deep flavor, can be very overpowering and not really something you want to vape by itself.

Waffle
It's a toss-up on this one. It's not horrible, but it's not great. Compared to a premium vendor such as ECBlend, this one doesn't come close.

Marshmallow
I'm still debating on this one. It doesn't really have much of a marshmallow taste. It's somewhat light, but I still feel it too needs some work to really hone in the flavor. It's almost to light to blend on it's own, but doesn't mix well with Key Lime at all (tried this based on a recommended recipe for an alternate Key Lime Pie - combined, they almost taste sour, as in rancid).



With that being said, I try to avoid flavors with alcohol in them as I don't want diluted flavoring. Perhaps this one is on Wizard Labs end, but none of the bottles I received stated that alcohol was in them, nor did they on the site, but it's VERY clear that many of them do (some do not). I've not yet contacted Wizard Labs on this one, but I may as it's a bit misleading.

Edit: Misleading due to the fact that their (Wizard Labs) labels state the ingredients, none of which list alcohol, but one whiff of the flavors and it's very clear there's a good amount in there.

 

[Chas_L]

What would be nice would be if those who do not really like TFA flavors would stop ordering them from Wizard Labs so us who enjoy them could in fact find stock there. I have over TFA lavors ordered mostly from WL an some from TPA / TFA direct. I have foud them no more difficult to wor with han LA,FW,Totaly Wicked and seveal others. I accept ythe fact that some flovers ar best at 3% or less while som3 are best at 20% or more.

 

[Jonathan Tittle]

It was my first time ordering and I don't think my 10 bottle order of assorted flavors would run them out of stock .

As before, I ordered based on what I have experience with in terms of cooking with. That's normally a safe route, but not so much with TFA based on this first-time experience. I did mistakenly order a LorAnne flavoring and honestly, it's the best one out of the 10 bottles (Cream Cheese Frosting I believe - it tastes exactly like it's labeled @ 20%). I'd order 10 more of those before I'd order 1 more of any of the flavors I received .

It's not that TFA are difficult to work with, they're all liquids, it's that they just don't seem to mix or steep well and the flavor balances are off in a few ways. I used to cook for a living and now cook as a hobby, so I don't think my palate is bad, or that it's mixing up what one flavor should actually taste like, which leaves two things: the flavors react bad to nicotine (which is possible - I've not tried a 0mg base) or the flavors are just off.

I don't use sweetener or any other stuff in mine - PG/VG/Nicotine only. No water either. I have plenty of PG & VG on-hand right now, so I may just do a 0mg mix of 60/40 and see if my main reason for ordering (key lime and graham cracker) goes rancid like the one with nicotine did.

 

[QuietProSF]

Some are pretty good but the problem I have with TFA is that the percentages are all over the place. One will be strong at 2% and the next needs to be 15%.... I never know where to start and it takes a lot of trial and error.

I agree with your statement here... No matter what the flavor they all differ greatly... you really cat't "expect" anything from flavor to flavor.

 

[QuietProSF]

I have yet to find a vendor that every flavor is what I had hoped for... The best advice with any new concintrate id to mix a 5ml bottle of 3-5% and drip it by itself. This way you can guage the flavor at a moderately low concintration by itself. Truth is some flavors are so far off they might as well have farted in the bottle and shipped it out. Others are friggin awesome... Welcome to the DIY world. On the bright of all of it there really is no better way to vape. You pay for some trial and error but save in astronomical amounts in the end. And never have to wait for shipping

 

[HeadInClouds]

I have a few (okay 70) TFA flavors. For me they are hit-or-miss. Out of a random 10, there are at least 3-4 I really dislike (including their coconut extra, shudder) - but a couple I use regularly. I like a larger percentage of flavors from most other manufacturers. Overall, FlavourArt works best for me; I like all but couple that I've tried.

I've only tossed out 4 flavorings - all I suspected were contaminated/dangerous. But I keep ones I just don't like, because every now and then I find a recipe that can make good use of them. Some that make terrible vapes are great in my coffee, tea, ginger ale, or as candy flavoring (their intended use, after all).

I haven't found a good way to use TFA Coconut Extra either! I have a couple recipes that TFA Coconut Candy works in, but it's horrible as a single flavor to me. I finally ordered FA's Coconut and hope it works better than the others I've collected (ALL of which taste pretty good in hot chocolate, by the way).

 

[Blueser]

Mailman just dropped off my 4 ounce bottles of Cowboy, Smooth, Toasted Marshmallow...ordered from TPA on Tuesday morning and got them today.

 

[LoveVanilla]

Fifty flavors on hand and thirty-five on the way; so obviously I think they have great product. But yeah, they don't down-mix high-potency flavors -- so you take your chances if making assumptions on percentages or substitutions.

BTW, does anyone know (or can point me to) TPA's recipe for their Tobacco Blend? (i.e. the TA-based mix that's no longer available).

 

[Wingsfan0310]

BTW, does anyone know (or can point me to) TPA's recipe for their Tobacco Blend? (i.e. the TA-based mix that's no longer available).

I believe it's talked about starting on post #3.
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...35-has-tpa-stopped-making-toibacco-blend.html

Cheers,
Steve

Edit Post #4 says "One drop of Tobacco Absolute for every 5ml of a 10% EM solution."

 

[DetraMental]

I use TFA and love them. I always taste each individual flavor using an atty so I can get the truest flavor so I know how much to use in a recipe. You can't assume that all flavors work at 10% or 20%, that's why I taste them all separately. Some flavors are enhancers and not meant to be used alone. I have a great Keylime and Graham Cracker recipe that doesn't taste rancid, but it may to someone else. It's the nature of the beast. Don't come down to hard on a vendors item without considering that other's use them and have no problems similar to yours. This is where new people get confused in what to purchase.


Ps. I do use other vendors as well and still follow the taste technique with them as well.

 

[Crunktanium]

I haven't found a good way to use TFA Coconut Extra either! I have a couple recipes that TFA Coconut Candy works in, but it's horrible as a single flavor to me.

It's for sure a mixer but this is because not all flavors vape the way they taste. Eventually some smart company is going to develop flavors specifically for vaping and that's all she wrote. I have used Coconut Extra with Strawberry and heavy Marshmallow. It was pretty good in fact I have come to the conclusion Coconut Extra and Toasted Marshmallow were destined to be together.