Frustrated and feeling defeated

[JahLove7124]

I'm having a hell of a time making a tastey juice. When i first started DIY, I followed some recipes I had found here and none of them were to my liking. They weren't terribly awful, just not anything I loved or enjoyed vaping all day. Next, I decided to guesstimate flavor percentages and basically hope for the best. Eh, that of course was hit or miss. Now I've started slowly sampling all my flavors solo in an attempt to find the percentage I prefer them. First up, watermelon. I have TFA, FA, and INA watermelon. TFA-5%, FA-5%, and INA-3%. Made 5ml batches at those percentages and will sample them for a week. At the time of mixing, TFA was my favorite. However, 24 hours later, the flavor seemed muted and not as sweet? Doesn't make any sense to me. I can't imagine doing this same routine, at different percentages, for every flavor...? [emoji45] Will this pay off? Am I doing something wrong? Help?

 

[The Eciginator]

If you like sweet juices add some sweetener, say 2%?

 

[JahLove7124]

I'll definitely be adding some sweetener. I jotted that down in my notes

 

[Hoosier]

Here's an idea.

Take the bottle of the TFA mix and pull out 1ml into another bottle. Add 1/2ml of your flavorless base. Mix and vape.

If the flavor of the first day almost makes a comeback, you have your answer.

 

[Capt.shay]

I can't imagine doing this same routine, at different percentages, for every flavor...?

Not trying to be harsh here but.......what took you so long? How can you expect to mix flavors if you don't know what they taste like? How could you possibly know what you want to add to a recipe to make it taste a certain way if you don't know what your adding taste like?

DIY is extremely easy to do. It's a little harder to do well. It takes a lot of experimentation and often failures to consistently come out with good recipes. A person doesn't buy some flour, eggs and milk and expect to be able to create a beautiful wedding cake. It takes time and work to get good at it.

 

[baseballmom]

"Flat" flavors for me have benefited from sweetener, I don't use much. when I started, I was very anti-sweetener, and once was going to dump a mix, then decided to add in some sweetener-why not ....wow it actually saved the mix, so started using usually at 1%, always under 2 now. Keep mixing your singles to get idea of what can offer, but also play around with blends to prevent "boredom" if you want. Small amounts, patience, trial and error, keep notes, remember you are mixing for your tastes, learn from the yuck mixes, don't fear substitutions-it might make things worse, or better, keep reading/researching here and elsewhere. Think of what you liked about a vendor juice, what is lacking in your mixes/recipes you've tried..some things take time to get just how you want, something like Bill's(from tfa thread) 100 drop test might work out for you too...good luck, you will get there if you keep up trying and adjusting I've been mixing for a bit of time now, still trying out singles(yes honestly, keep buying different brands to find the preferred flavor), still adjusting some recipes, and have a few no more tweaks needed recipes, and even a few gonna revisit completely all over blends-love it!

 

[sketchness]

I have been mixing for almost a year and must say on average the first 8 months were mostly gross things. Luckily cap vc v1 kept me mixing as I had something I could vape while I experimented. I can't even tell you how many times I have had to rinse my mouth and wipe my tongue off to get the foul taste out of my mouth.

What sucked was I could mix stuff for others that they loved. I have a few Guinea pig friends that I PIF mixes I don't like. Mostly they love them lol. I just continue to experiment and have 4 or 5 solid recipes and a few others I will really like.

For me it has been important to get the flavors the recipe calls for to try first. I now have pretty much the top 10 flavors from each vendor- cap tfa fa. And a bunch I really like from inawera, Hangsen, fw, and of course la cream cheese icing. Slowly you start to figure out how the flavors react with each other.

Watermelon is a hard flavor so you picked a tough one to perfect. Mostly you see it as a supporting character with other flavors. Sweetener a touch of koolada some grape candy are the ideas that come to mind. Perhaps a touch of honeydew or raspberry.

Keep at it and you will find your groove. I hated most vendor juices that people were paying good money for even the 5 pawns my son brought home. So I mix for my finnicky taste buds and keep going back to my 500ml batch of custard. Good luck.

 

[dannyv45]

Adding sweetener is a good idea. Add the base flavor (Watermellon, cherry, peach) what ever it is until you get the base flavor intensity you want then add 1 - 2% sweetener (Not EM) to give it that sweetness boost. It takes a lot of trial and error to get it right. So don't think your doing it wrong and give up. We've all been through it and know what your going through.

Also remember over flavoring can cause the flavor to mute so start low, steep and adjust if nessessary. If you suspect you over flavored try hoosier's suggestion, it's a good one.

 

[Bootiewootsy]

I have to agree with others, adding a sweetner to certain juices gives it a pop. also add a drop of lemon to some fruit juice will also give a pop to the flavor.
You will find that it is really nice to be able to make your own juice that suits your taste buds. Every one has different taste buds, some of the ones I make and love, my husband puts thumbs down on it and then there are some, like the peach that I make he will vap during the day along with his ecig..