flavor strength?

[Ace64]

OK, I won't say what pushed me over the edge to try to mix my own juice. BUT here I go!!! Thanks for everyone's posting again to the forum for many great things that would advance and increase my chance of success. I am primarily doing it to save $$. I vape lots, like 15-20ml a day. I have mastered building coils, and am currently digging on the subtank mini, and an eLeaf 50w. I moved from a RDA/mech mod. It still hit the RDA, but the subtank is sooo easy.

Anyway, I found a nifty recipe on eliquid recipes. I only ordered flavors to make that to start. The recipe called for FW flavors. Now I am looking their flavors are like $6-$8 for 4oz. which if my math is right is 118ml?

So, then I look on FA / PA site and their flavors are like $3 for a 15ml. I am assuming price can't be that far off? OR FA flavors are weak and you would need much more than if you were using FPA flavors?

Am I asking the right questions? Did I get my math right?

To I have it right? Also, the ejuice me up thing is really KOOL! It was free! thanks e-cig forum again!

Oh yea... so if you had to pick who makes THE BEST flavors?

 

[amoret]

There's no one best flavor company. Each one has its good and bad flavors. I was raised on the scientific method, so whenever possible I order at least a couple of brands of a given flavor to see which I like best. My only total fail so far has been LorAnn, so I've given up on that one.

 

[Dave_in_OK]

Am I asking the right questions? Did I get my math right?

To I have it right? Also, the ejuice me up thing is really KOOL! It was free! thanks e-cig forum again!

Oh yea... so if you had to pick who makes THE BEST flavors?

Where you buy and how much you buy helps to determine the price. I buy flavors to test from wizardlabs $1.50 for 8ml. If I like it I'll buy it from a bulk supplier such as TFA for around $8 for 120ml.

Who makes the best flavors really depends on which flavor as each company will have some great flavors and some that are down right bad.

 

[JohnnyDill]

OK, I won't say what pushed me over the edge to try to mix my own juice. BUT here I go!!! Thanks for everyone's posting again to the forum for many great things that would advance and increase my chance of success. I am primarily doing it to save $$.

Oh yea... so if you had to pick who makes THE BEST flavors?

The hardest part of DIY for me was finding my go-to recipes. Since taste is so subjective, hearing great things about a particular recipe or flavoring is no guarantee that it will work for you. Once you find what you love, DIY will save you major dollars. You can make 30ml of great tasting juice for less than $2.00 that is better than what you might pay $20 for from a vendor. I suggest that you do lots of reading in the DIY forum. I have purchased many great, and a few really AWFUL flavors from Hangsen, Capella, FlavourArt, TFA & Inawera...............

 

[Ace64]

Thanks for everyone's reply and taking the time. I am so darn fussy about my build, gear, and coils. I can taste the build-up on the coil and have to clean it.
For today I am just going to try to make one flavor well. I can tell the difference between a store house brand and the premium juices. YES there is a HUGE difference.

Hope i can get it so it taste good enough to be an ADV and I can save some $$.

 

[Rat2chat2]

Nothing wrong with being fussy. We all are to a certain degree. (I am usually on the higher side of fussy myself) I have be so pleased with the Vaping Zone's Gourmet and Super Concentrated flavorings. They cost a tad more but since you use 1-3% in a recipe rather than 10-15%, I think they are pretty economical. I love peach and they have one of the best I have tried. I like my peaches to take more like the fruit instead of a candy or jello flavor. See I'm pretty darn fussy.

Good luck to ya and have fun mixing.

 

[Bob Chill]

Definitely buy small bottles of flavors (5-10mls) until you find single flavors and recipes that you like. I cleaned out my flavor storage recently and removed all the flavors I'll never vape again. Must have been 30+ small vials.

Just like with gear when starting out, the curve is a money waster. You will definitely waste money on things you don't like when figuring out DIY. But not nearly as much as premix that goes in the trash when flavor hunting.

 

[KattMamma]

I'm still new to DIY but found out the hard way that strengths vary greatly from one brand to the next, or sometimes even from one flavor to the next. So I now ignore recipes that don't mention brand (but if it sounds good I will note it as an idea, I just know I may need to adjust flavor amounts based on the brands I'm using).

I bought some Coffee Creme from Nude Nicotine and mixed it in a recipe like I would any other brand. It was gross!! Then I read somewhere that NNs flavors are VERY strong compared to other brands (but they are also the only place I've found VG based flavors - I didn't even know that when I bought them).

I poured half of that recipe out and added some PG&VG then let it sit. It smells much better now at half strength but maybe still a tad strong. I think this recipe will work once I dilute that strong coffee down enough LOL

Keep reading, and try flavors from several companies -- just buy small bottles until you know what you like. You might also consider mixing recipes without NIC until you find the ones that work - that will save a little $$$ when you mix stuff that goes down the drain.

 

[jchisholm]

OK, I won't say what pushed me over the edge to try to mix my own juice. BUT here I go!!! Thanks for everyone's posting again to the forum for many great things that would advance and increase my chance of success. I am primarily doing it to save $$. I vape lots, like 15-20ml a day. I have mastered building coils, and am currently digging on the subtank mini, and an eLeaf 50w. I moved from a RDA/mech mod. It still hit the RDA, but the subtank is sooo easy.

Anyway, I found a nifty recipe on eliquid recipes. I only ordered flavors to make that to start. The recipe called for FW flavors. Now I am looking their flavors are like $6-$8 for 4oz. which if my math is right is 118ml?

So, then I look on FA / PA site and their flavors are like $3 for a 15ml. I am assuming price can't be that far off? OR FA flavors are weak and you would need much more than if you were using FPA flavors?

Am I asking the right questions? Did I get my math right?

To I have it right? Also, the ejuice me up thing is really KOOL! It was free! thanks e-cig forum again!

Oh yea... so if you had to pick who makes THE BEST flavors?

FW is as far as I know what MBV basically uses, pretty weak/iffy in my experience but most if not all MBV seems best between 12-14%
I'd recommend TPA/TFA.

 

[My3Sons]

Start small with a handful of sample size flavors first. Once you find flavors you like, then buy bigger bottles. I started DIY by buying 3ml samples so I could try them without wasting my money if I didn't like them. I have found good flavors with TFA and FlavourArt. I have been making my own juice for 8 months, and I still don't buy bottles bigger than 30ml.

 

[renacer]

All I can say is that "less is more" is definitely a good philosophy to apply here. If you overflavor your juice it's a lot harder to add the PG and VG necessary to balance it right than to just add more flavor if you use a little too less. Plus you never know how the flavor will actually vape til you try it so I wouldn't invest in too much flavoring unless I had a solid formula.

 

[Ace64]

Thanks all for your suggestions. With so much to learn it is good to have these as a reference.

I read posts by people and I always want to know how did that dude make out? Did it work or not work?

So I will follow-up my trials with DIY. Vape mail came today. Yahooo. My flavors from FW.
I mixed a recipe from e-liquid recipes dot com for Sugar Bear.
After mixing I shook lots. I made it in a glass bottle, and then put the bottle in a mug of hot water for a couple of hours.
I am fussy.... new coils. RDA, .7 ohm (dual coils), 26 gauge, on my istick 50W, set to 35w, hardware makes a difference!

Anyway. It was not bad. Very close. Much better than I expected!! Needs some more steeping and a little tweaking and we will be OK! I can do this and I can save $$!.

So, am I nuts. I mixed 3.6ml VG, and .4ml flavor (10%) of three other flavors I had purchased. Each in separate bottles. Let them sit in hot water for 15 minutes. new cotton in the RDA. I sampled each. WOW I got it.
The Mango (natural) from FW is great! Not fake. Nice exhale. Mixed with ?? I am sure it could go in my rotation as an ADV.
Sugar Cookie from FW. Good. But more like a cookie dough. Very doughy. Which is OK.
Strawberry (natural) (FW) was good! I think it will be good in a mix for Strawberry milkshake. YEA Unicorn Milk.

Sorry to ramble.

One last thing. YES, what the heck was I thinking. 4oz. was way too much for each flavor I ordered. That is like 118ml. So I ordered 4oz. of "pie crust". @ .6ml to make a 30ml of Sugar Bear. I have enough Pie Crust to make 196 30 ml bottles of Sugar Bear. Golly Gosh!

 

[PtrG]

Kattmama--NN coffee creme worked for me at about 3%, 70/30 pg/vg, 1.2 nic. by itself.
Have tried several other NN flavors and only Mayan Mocha was good for a while. Peaches & Creme, Apple cobbler and some others--no flavor TO ME whatsoever.
But taste/smell left long ago . . .

 

[KattMamma]

Kattmama--NN coffee creme worked for me at about 3%, 70/30 pg/vg, 1.2 nic. by itself.
Have tried several other NN flavors and only Mayan Mocha was good for a while. Peaches & Creme, Apple cobbler and some others--no flavor TO ME whatsoever.
But taste/smell left long ago . . .

Yeah I think I've got that coffee blend down to about 3 or 4% now (just eyeballing my adjustments on this one for now) and it's closer, but still too strong. A longer steep time might help some though.

Since NN's flavorings are VG based, I'm finding they behave differently in my recipes - I'm starting to think they're ALL going to need longer steep times (at least 2 or 3 weeks?), while I have TFA recipes that I can vape and enjoy the next day.