Flavor West DIY flavor review

[gtseng]

Friends, the comments on Flavor West (FW) flavors in ECF is fragmented. I think it might be a good idea to start a thred dedicated to Flavor West DIY flavoring.

In general, Flavor West flavoring is generally considered not as concentrated as the other brands, and that's probably why it is not as popular. However, it's flavoring, so the flavor itself is the most important. When you do DIY, you are saving a lot already, so cost is not a big concern.

Flavor West flavoring is available from multiple sources such as Mt. Baker Vapor, eCigExpress.com, onestopdiyshop.com and quite a few others. You can also buy directly from Flavorwest.com.

Quite a few vendors are using Flavorwest to make their commercial juices. So, there is definitely potential for us DIYers to take advantage of Flavorwest. Hopefully we can pool our resources here. Example being Mt. Baker Vapor, they had pretty good success with its juice business which use FW flavors.Even some of the single-flavor juices they sold are very popular! So, you just have to buy the corresponding flavor concentrate and figure out the percentage, then you can duplicate their juices.

So, let's share your FW reviews and recipes here!

 

[Slots]

These are the flavors I like or use, and would buy again.
Banana Cream Pie .. solo
Biscotti .. great mixed with other flavors
Brown Sugar .. good in recipe use
Butterscotch .. solo
Butter Toffee ..solo
Yellow Cake ... in recipes
Caramel Apple ... solo
Cucumber Mint .. solo
Etco Cooler ..tastes like Tang
Grape .. solo
Guava ..solo
Moo Juice .. solo, and mixed
Peanut Butter ..solo, and mixed
Pralines & Cream .. yummy solo
Salted Caramel .. yummy solo
Swedish Fish .. solo
Sweet Cream .. good in recipes
Toffee Dream Cream .. solo
Vanilla Butternut .. yummy solo
White Out .. solo, or mixed

As long as I'm at it, these did nothing for me, or I found better by another company.
Banana Split
Candy Corn
Coconut
Dark Chocolate
Dragon Fruit
Graham Cracker
Green Tea
Lemonade
Mocha
Snack Candy Bar ... sweet, good as a base in recipes.
Vanilla Cupcake
Vanilla Ice Cream

Still have a bunch to try, and some to re-try at a different % .. so won't comment on them now.
Remember .. what's "good" to me, may be "yuk" to you, and vise-versa.
That's my worth ...

 

[Robert Cromwell]

I may be just tired but that confused me.

 

[baseballmom]

Fw flavors with popularity especially on other forums....yellow cake, hazelnut, butterscotch(contains bads)

One's I really like, ymmv....cinnamon, cinnamon churro, double Apple, cake batter dip, blueberry(after aging), vanilla butternut(bads), butter pecan(bads), magma current, candy cane, blueberry graham waffle(bads)

Want to get BlackBerry soon, reputed here and elsewhere to be good for bb flav

Forgot razzleberry....I like a lot too

 

[Mowgli]

Umm have to get me some sounds tasty.

Mixing it with Cinnamon roll approximates MBV Sticky Bun. VERY tasty.

 

[Capt.shay]

Yeah, especially banana! Wow! At just .5% it overpowers a recipe. Imagine 16% straight!

To be honest, the majority do work great at 15% for me with a 50/50 blend. But, there are a few exceptions...

I've never used a flavor (except blueberry) above 15% and that was as a stand alone. Going up 8% because of VG/PG seems extreme. I use the same percentage regardless of V/P ratio. I find cloud blowers like a lot more flavoring (because they are lung hitting) and some of those folks don't care for my juice as much but hey, you can't please every one and at the end of the day, I make what I like.

 

[baseballmom]

Try any unicorn vomitl? I ordered some.
And some caramel candy too.

Nah no uv yet, got salted caramel, but have enough tfa caramel candy right now, and dx caramel original...got others just Locked up in box(away from kids and cats) and too lazy to go through

Edit...canno, I miss your enthusiasm here, I don't know you, but liked reading your posts...

 

[Slots]

I just bought a sample of the Vanilla butternut and it smells amazing. Definitely based on appearance it will be a coil gunker. I also have the shisha vanilla, I was unimpressed with this flavor.

Yup .. The VB is as good as it smells, but I never have had a problem with it being a coil gunker.
I mix at 70/30vg, .. if you mix high VG, it may happen .. don't know.

I was not impressed with the Shisha Vanilla either.
A 2% solo mix was mild, and sweet, but sadly no vanilla flavor detected for me.
I may try again at a higher %.
Still, at 2%, it was a nice solo flavor to vape, if your not on a vanilla hunt.
I also tried the INW Vanilla EA. Went up to 10% solo testing, and never did get "vanilla" out of it.
It also was really dark, almost black at that %, so I wouldn't use it anyway.
So far, I have not found a good "vanilla" that I would recommend to anyone, including TFA Vanillin.
Ticks me off, since I have tasted pre-made juices that had a nice vanilla flavor.
I also met a guy at a Vape Show in Vegas, that mixes for a company, and he told me that they only mix up to 40% flavoring, otherwise it turns to mud
If that's what it takes, I'm not going to find a good vanilla.
We were yakking at the private cocktail party after the show, or he probably would not of been so generous with some "secrets".
I'm almost ready to try my vanilla extract in the kitchen
I've even tossed around the idea of getting some vanilla beans and making my own extract, like Nicoticket does.

I somehow made slots my mentor for mixing on ecf a bit ago

... WOW, for real ?? Now I have to worry about falling off the pedestal

 

[baseballmom]

SHHHH now it's a "hidden gem", don't want to see oos if becomes popular, LOL...like Shisha strawberry

 

[DoubleEwe]

Over the last 24hrs I tested out the single flavour mix (Cake Batter Dip @7%) and I am unsure about it in all honesty.
I went through about 7ml of it, but I wont be making a single flavour mix of it again. I find it to be too sweet to have on its own, it may be good in some recipes, I can see myself using it in low percentages, but not as a main flavour.

The flavours I tasted (after minimal steep, 3-4 days) in order of strongest to weakest:
Vanilla
Almond
Coconut

The taste after a while reminded my of when I had put too much vanilla in a mix (or as a child mistakenly trying neat vanilla essence thinking it would just be a big amount of awesome vanilla goodness), very very sweet, it passes being a vanilla taste and becomes just a sickly sweetness. The almond part is good, somewhere between ground almond and marzipan, delightful. The coconut is more of a hint, which I would assume is to add to the sort of creamy feel. I did not taste butter this time, nor much of a creaminess, they might come through with a longer steep, or it may have just been down to the combination of flavours in my other recipe.
I did get occasional biscuit (cookie) taste, but not distinctly enough to mention on its own, as I could not discern whether it was simply part of the almond taste or not.

The smell of the juice is still amazing though, I may just put it in a diffuser or something instead of vaping it. (Anyone who works as a realtor should use this to scent their properties)

I will leave the remaining 3ml for a while longer so I can see how it changes with a decent steep.

 

[baseballmom]

Sorry it didn't work out for you ww....you did a good review on your impression, very thorough, diy section needs more of these with different opinions...I still love it

 

[baseballmom]

Churro for me was a light dough with cinnamon sugar, I prefer fw cinnamon type flavors due to them be lighter on my tastebuds...I tried after 3 days in an Apple pie trial(need to start working on again), I do not like heavy spicy cinnamons that dominate...fa cinnamon Ceylon was too strong for me even at low %'s...it's pretty accurate though, but I just prefer cinnamon sugar over cinnamon powder alone

Fw blueberry 15% solo...eh...no blueberries have worked well as I expect solo, tasted better with cap vc 1, will mix with tfa blueberry wild to support each other

Vanilla bean ice cream 15%-again might be a good mixer, solo like vanilla marshmallow with almost a mild hint of coconut, no peppery notes though for me

Butter pecan-15% well pretty tasty, sometimes reminds me of caramel popcorn thing a local store makes, pecan flavor is good for someone who shies away from strong/dry nut flavors, like I do, milder/softer than tfa' s pecan, a nice change of pace for me

Mixed at 30pg/70vg, "tootle puff" gear, rayon wick, aged over a week maybe 2

Also edited to add, with holidays coming up...fw candy cane...delicious flavor, amazing!!!!

 

[Canno]

I may find out down the road that I'm buying all wrong. I hope not. My last order was for 36 ounces. Cost $60 shipping included. I think that comes to about $1.67 an ounce so if I waste some maybe it won't hit so hard. I mix quite a bit of juice but not a huge amount. I'm pretty well stocked at the moment but still keep seeing and hearing about flavors that I want. Maybe I shouldn't have gotten into this. But it keeps me out of trouble. And it's FUN!

 

[baseballmom]

Hope you guys/gals had a merry Christmas!!! Wonderful Christmas eve church service, hyper/happy kids Christmas morning, and a quiet but funny night at work in evening...vaping fw candy cane and tfa white chocolate blend...nice

 

[DuaneNeveu]

I have 19 selections from Flavor West in my e-Juice pantry, and I also found it difficult to source any solid guidelines for use like the ones LorAnn and TPA enjoy in these forums. I've still managed to come up with the following rule of thumb for myself, although there are certainly exceptions:

Fruit / Bakery / Beverage Flavours: 7% to 14%
Tobacco / Seed / Bean / Flowering Plant Flavours: 4% or less

In the interest of full disclosure, most of these flavours were tasted using a Vivi Nova or an IGO-L and all at 70% PG / 30% VG. I acquired these from CanVape. This is according to my taste, and may not hold true for anyone else. For your consideration, however, here are the percentages used in some of my experiments so far:

Black Licorice | 5% | 4/5 | Surprisingly enjoyable given my aversion to manufactured anise rather than the actual thing, and any more would most certainly be overpowering. If used in a mix, I suspect more than 2% would just ruin everything.

Butter Rum | 10% | 3/5 | Doesn't need sweetening, and can be used as a mixer at lesser percentages.

Butterscotch | 10% | 5/5 | Slightly strong at 10%, and could perhaps benefit from using less with the addition of a Vanilla or Bavarian Cream making up the difference to represent this flavour more accurately.

Cake (Yellow) | 7% | 1/5 | This flavour has me believing that my perception of Yellow Cake is erroneous, and it must be some kind of American treat I've never eaten. The yellow cake I know from childhood tasted nothing like this! This tastes like some horrible confection flavoured with cinnamon candy. Some may love it, but it'll likely just collect dust in my pantry.

Coffee | 4% | 1/5 | Another dust collector for me. Tried it at 8% first, and it reminded me of the scorched tar at the bottom of a coffee pot left on the burner for three days. It may have potential as a mixer at very low percentages, but alone there's no redemption.

Cream Soda | 12% | 4/5 | Delicious, but not exactly cream soda in my opinion. This will definitely need some mixing partners to be a true representation of the drink.

Dr. Pepper | 12% | 5/5 | Again, I like this very much, but it's not an exact representation of the beverage. I'm looking forward to playing around with this one some more.

Honeywood Tobacco | ? % | NEW, NOT TRIED YET, the smell does have me worried.

Irish Cream | 10% | 5/5 | It's not Bailey's folks, although tasty, and a must have as a component of one of my "all day vapes"!

Kahlua | 13% | 4/5 | Tasty, and potentially useful in a homemade cappuccino concoction.

Key Lime | 7% | 4/5 | A refreshing change in the vaping day, and can be very useful as part of a more involved recipe.

Macadamia Nut | ? % | NEW, NOT TRIED YET, the smell does have me excited.

Maple Rum Tobacco | ? % | NEW, NOT TRIED YET, the smell does have me excited.

Margarita | 9% | 3/5 | It's nice alone, but plays well with a little bit of fruit.

Mojito | 10% | 4/5 | To my palate, this one's balanced nicely all by itself, but there's no reason you couldn't let this mingle with fruit too.

Strawberry | 13% | 5/5 | The solid throat hit took me by surprise, and though I wouldn't consider it exact, I think it's reminiscent of the fruit without any sweetener.

Tangerine | 11% | 4/5 | Fairly good representation, and generally spoiled by sweetener like the Strawberry flavour tends to be.

USA Blend | 2% | 3/5 | At 3% it took over the house and generated complaints, although the vape was fairly enjoyable to me. It stands to note that it was somewhat herbaceous.

Vanilla Custard | ? % | NEW, NOT TRIED YET, the nose has buttery notes, but some floral undertones too. We'll see...


So, that's what I've got. I look forward to more from others as some of these are great flavours in my opinion, and I'd love to have a spot to reference more that I haven't tried!

 

[Mowgli]

I'm usually a single flavor mixer but...

I made some Toffee Dream Cream at 4mg 40/60 @ 18% when I got my subtank.
I also made Peanut Butter and a few other flavors at the same ratio/concentration.
A couple of weeks later, when I got to the TDC & the PB I didn't like them as much as lungers vs. decent as puffers.
I thought adding PB to the TDC could make something tastier.
It did. It did very much.
I found 25/75 PB/TDC to be amazing.
I added a little more PB to the bottle as space became available but 25/75 was excellent.
It works so well I'm adding a half ounce of PB flavoring to my last 1.5 ounces of TDC flavoring to make it a dedicated
Peanut Butter Toffee Cream flavor... yum

 

[Cullin Kin]

Reporting back discoveries:

Out of the 5 base custards I made, Butterscotch, Caramel Candy, and Yellow Cake (Recipes below) came out fantastic! Caramel Custard was the best by far.

Butterscotch Custard
15% Cap's Vanilla Custard
8% FW Butterscotch
2.5% Ethyl Maltol
1.5% Sweetener

Caramel Custard
15% Cap's Vanilla Custard
8% FW Caramel Candy
2.5% Ethyl Maltol
1.5% Sweetener

Custard Cake
15% Cap's Vanilla Custard
8% FW Yellow Cake
2.5% Ethyl Maltol
1.5% Sweetener

Bavarian Cream was a bit too much and Sugar Cookie was a bit too weak, so revised recipes for those are posted below.

Bavarian Custard
15% Cap's Vanilla Custard
4% FW Bavarian Cream
2.5% Ethyl Maltol
1.5% Sweetener

Sugar Cookie Custard
15% Cap's Vanilla Custard
12% FW Sugar Cookie
2.5% Ethyl Maltol
1.5% Sweetener

As for the crazy recipe above... It's really good but the Graham Cracker is a bit overpowering. So I will follow what @Capt.shay said except do this instead:

It's Whats for Dessert
15% Capella Vanilla Custard
3% FW Butterscotch
2% FW Graham Cracker
2% FW Butter Cream
2% FW Caramel Candy
2% Ethyl Maltol
1% Sweetener

 

[Elizabeth Baldwin]

Ha ha. A few of my husband's friends.

 

[Mowgli]

I tried a bottle of Monkey Fart. It wasn't what I expected.
Not bad but not for me with so many other flavors that I like much better.

I will always have butterscotch flavoring on hand. It's in my top 10. Probably top 5.

I'm not a Hazelnut guy.
OTOH a buddy has tootle puffed through 5oz of my 8oz flavoring bottle since December '14.
That would be almost a liter of FW Hazelnut e-juice in 9 months.

 

[Elizabeth Baldwin]

I mix cinnamon roll at 15% but that's for a 50/50 blend.