First DIY Order - Flavors and Mixing Tools question.

[bob933576]

Hey Folks,
Thinking of making an order with wizzardlabs. I am mainly motivated be the cost factor with DIY. I want to make a miniamal investment as possible. So:

If you could only buy one or two items in the "labware" category, what would they be? ($5 budget)

If you could only buy a few flavours, what would they be? I like sweet flavours, so long as they are not perfumey. I also like tobaccos and earthy flavours.


One last question: What is TFA/LA in the flavours?

Thanks!

 

[BillLouisiana]

TFA is The Favor Apprentice... LA is LorAnn's Flavoring.

As far as labware, I would buy 2 of as many different sized syringes as possible, AND a 14 guage and 18 guage needle (or 2 or 3).
This might help you get all the way through a recipe without having to stop and wash instruments.
I almost always mix in the bottle rather than a graduated cylinder... just personal preference.

 

[boomerdude]

I would download a recipe calculator. A 14 gauge needle is indispensable. Wash out and save your vendor bottles. If I were ordering my first DIY I would choose WL ( Wizard Labs ) and if limited to ten flavors I would order ( based on your preferences ) :

Seven Leaves Tobacco
TA ( Tobacco Absolute )
EM ( Ethyl Maltol )
Honey Nut or Black Honey
Maple
Buttered Rum
Vanilla
Acetyl Pyrazine
Blueberry Extra
Peanut Butter

Good luck. Mostly, enjoy yourself!

 

[glassmanoak]

Try 3 or 4 fruit flavors. You can't go wrong with fruit. Tobacco is a horse of a different color!

 

[Jellyfish]

Try 3 or 4 fruit flavors. You can't go wrong with fruit. Tobacco is a horse of a different color!

Yea...I agree. Tobaccos can be a little tricky unless you get some of the super concentrated versions that other vendors carry. Try a couple of fruit flavors and maybe a candy that you like. Some sort of sweetener would also be a good idea.

For labware, syringes and needles are a basic requirement. Like mentioned above, the 14 gauge (for the thicker base liquids) and the 18 gauge (for the thinner flavors) are all that are necessary. The syringes that I use range from 1 - 20 mls (ccs).

If you are mixing smaller amounts, mixing in the dispensing bottles is fine. Someone in another thread placed an initial DIY order and forgot to order bottles and had to scramble at the last minute to find them locally, so don't forget them unless you already have some other bottles on hand. eBay is a great source for bottles if you ever need them in quantity.

Graduated cylinders are nice to have if you are mixing larger batches. For my production batches I mix everything in 8 ounce canning jars, so see if you can scrounge a couple up if you will be mixing more than 50 or more mls at a time.

 

[bob933576]

Wow, thanks for the advice so far. I am definitely going to a couple of syringes and the needles. I can get 3 syringes + 1 of each size needles and stay under my 5 buck budge. No for flavours, this is tricky! There is so much I want to try! I could spent 100 bucks on flavours and still not get all the ones I want

This is what I have in my cart right now (before reading your replies):

1. 555
2. Bubble Gum
3. Blueberry Extra
4. Red Hots
5. English Toffee
6. Mnt Dew
7. Mint Candy
8. RY4 Type 1
9. Salt Water Taffy
10. Saasfras
11. Winter Green
12. Roasted Marsh

@boomerdude : do you recommend the EM crystals or the solution?

I'm bad at making up my mind. I'm going to think about a little more and see if any one else has some ideas. I wanted to stay around 5 flavours.

 

[glassmanoak]

TFA Bubblegum is EM in liquid form.. 10% solution, so you can save some money there. Also, I like the double RY4 better than any other, but that is personal preference.

 

[bnrkwest]

I have tried alot of tobacco's, for DIY my favs are: Couramin pipe tobacco and American tobacco, I believe they are Flavor West flavors. They are both mild and blend well with fruits and desert flavors. bnrk

 

[boomerdude]

" @boomerdude : do you recommend the EM crystals or the solution? "

I agree with glassmanoak, the liquid solution is better when your starting out.

Make sure the Sassafras is water soluble, is it Loran's?

Just my subjective opinion but, you have several crap flavors you could substitute with the must haves in any kit. For tobacco earthy flavors a honey concentrate is used in a lot of recipe's, a nut flavor is always good. You could substitute for toasted almond, walnut or maybe hazelnut.

RY4 extra or even RY4-Asian #1 may be more to your liking.

You didn't mention what kind of PV you use. Red Hot could do a job on a tank.

Reading some of the recipe's in the recipe book may give you more ideas on what concentrate's you need.

 

[ninfreak]

bubblegum is not em....don't know what made you think that....cotton candy is em

 

[glassmanoak]

TFA Bubblegum is EM in liquid form.. 10% solution, so you can save some money there. Also, I like the double RY4 better than any other, but that is personal preference.

OOPS!! time for me to quit posting for a while! I'm making too many mistakes!

 

[bob933576]

" @boomerdude : do you recommend the EM crystals or the solution? "
You didn't mention what kind of PV you use. Red Hot could do a job on a tank.

Reading some of the recipe's in the recipe book may give you more ideas on what concentrate's you need.

I have a kgo, bolt and a vv tube mod. I drip 90 percent of the time on both low res and standard res. I have a couple of stardusts I use on occasion. I haven’t had good luck with cartos. I plan on recording a viva nova. I had one but I broke it. I also want to try the kanger everyone seems to be raving about. Thanks.

Good advice. I've been looking up some cookbooks and its giving me a good ideas on what to order.

 

[boomerdude]

Yup, definitely need a drip atty for DIY. I use a Cisco 2.0 for my successful recipes and various SS coil atty's for testing. Kanger T3's are the only clearo I use right now. I never saw the utility of a carto tank. Too much trouble just for a longer vape. I try to keep my shipping costs down by ordering from one place. AV for hardware and WL for wetware. I only go somewhere else if I need a must have that their out of or don't carry. I have a vivi nova but don't use it as I get diminished flavor from it.

 

[bob933576]

Just got my order from Wizard today. I must say I'm very impressed. Very well packaged. Everything was double and triple sealed. IMO, this is truly to only way to buy e-liquid.