Flavor Concentration and High Nicotine

[PaulB]

I have yet to take the DIY plunge, owing both to workspace and self-confidence issues, but contemplate it on a daily basis. As a juice consumer who for the past few months has been vaping 36mg exclusively, I've noticed that certain vended flavors don't play that nicely with high nicotine levels, but with a lot of other flavors it's not an issue. One example is somebody's chocolate mint I'm now trying. It seems like the bitterness of the nicotine interferes with the power of the chocolate more than I'd like it to. And I know of at least one vendor who recommends his juice at 24mg or lower for best flavor.

So my question is--how many of you ramp up your flavor concentrations (or otherwise adjust your recipes) for higher nicotine juices, and how effective is it?

 

[RenaissancePuffer]

For sure the best flavor is going to come from 0-nic. The bitterness of the nicotine will certainly influence the flavor, the higher you go. I have been vaping 36mg for about 15 months, so am quite used to the flavor of the nicotine in my juices.

I don't use 100% PG mixes however, I like some added vapor production, so there is a fair bit of VG in my mixes. This also translates into higher amounts of flavoring to have it "pop" right in my mixes.

I start out with a 48mg 50% PG / 50% VG blend, add in the flavors I want at the concentrations I like (this varies obviously from flavor to flavor, but in the 15-20% ballpark mostly), and finish it off with VG to dilute the mixture down to 36mg. The VG is going to soften flavors of the entire mix.

There are other products out there, mostly from Flavour Art which are designed to work on the tongue receptor level, which reduce/add things such as bitterness. AAA Magic Mask (reduces acidic perception), Bitter Wizard (this adds some bitter!), MTS Vape Wizard (softens the mix), are just three of their products which work at the tongue receptor level.

 

[GotiT]

Been DIY for two years, have never had a problem at higher nic levels that i could not overcome. Taste beeing such a personal thing, trial and error is the only way.

 

[aprioristic]

There are other products out there, mostly from Flavour Art which are designed to work on the tongue receptor level, which reduce/add things such as bitterness. AAA Magic Mask (reduces acidic perception), Bitter Wizard (this adds some bitter!), MTS Vape Wizard (softens the mix), are just three of their products which work at the tongue receptor level.

This implies there are more? I know I've read about something that adds a fizzy soda-pop feel and I think I've seen juice vendors selling stuff that gets reviews of it. Know anything about what that is?

I got the MTS from you guys but didn't use it much yet. I'm interested in the Bitter Wizard too. Can you describe it at all?

 

[RenaissancePuffer]

This implies there are more? I know I've read about something that adds a fizzy soda-pop feel and I think I've seen juice vendors selling stuff that gets reviews of it. Know anything about what that is?

I got the MTS from you guys but didn't use it much yet. I'm interested in the Bitter Wizard too. Can you describe it at all?

Actually I didn't mean to imply there were more. That's just my poor english in the early morning! As for the fizzy soda-pop feel, I've not heard of it.

The bitter wizard is intended to mask the sweet taste that you get from the PG and VG, and balance the taste some by adding in bitterness. I used it at 1%, and it altered the base flavor of what we know as e-juice.

If you're looking for a blank slate to build a flavor on and want to balance out the flavor profile of sweet vs bitter, this will help in that regard. I can see it's best use for vapers who are not keen on sweet e-liquid, specifically tobacco blends where you're really just looking to get a non-sweet tobacco flavor.

 

[aprioristic]

No problem. Flavour Art does seem vaper-oriented and maybe they will come out with more. There is something like that out there. People have said they got things like cream soda from juice vendors that had a fizzy mouthfeel. I'll look into it when I get time.

I know that Bitter Wiz is intended in Mixes but I was wondering what it was like on its own, as in what type of bitter. You can see on this description of a coffee flavor wheel that there are different types of "bitter":

• Pungent (Creosol or Phenolic)
• Harsh (Caustic or Alkaline)

Then also there are other things not classed as bitter that people might call bitter, like "Sweet">>Acidy>>Nippy/Piquant

Maybe if it is working at some other level it doesn't even taste bitter on it's own and is geared toward manipulating the flavor as you described, got me.