Frustrated with DIY

[Zahlia]

I have been trying to dabble in DIY for about two months now. So far I have only had success with one recipe. Nothing else I have been trying works out. Even single flavours aren’t working out. I am getting very frustrated. I have tried the calculators, the recipes found on-line. I have watched many youtube videos on percentages and recommended flavours and pairing etc., Reviewed many articles on-line and on this site as well.

Yet nothing seems to be working. Every time I find a recipe I can’t mix it because I am one ingredient short and don’t want to have to order it and wait 3 to 5 days for it arrive. I was very excited about getting into DIY two months ago. Now I find it very challenging.

For example, I even tried something super simple which was TFA’s Strawberry. Mixed it at five percent. Nothing. Added a few more drops in. Nothing.

I was really hoping this wouldn’t be as difficult as it has become.

 

[Sugar_and_Spice]

I have been trying to dabble in DIY for about two months now. So far I have only had success with one recipe. Nothing else I have been trying works out. Even single flavours aren’t working out. I am getting very frustrated. I have tried the calculators, the recipes found on-line. I have watched many youtube videos on percentages and recommended flavours and pairing etc., Reviewed many articles on-line and on this site as well.

Yet nothing seems to be working. Every time I find a recipe I can’t mix it because I am one ingredient short and don’t want to have to order it and wait 3 to 5 days for it arrive. I was very excited about getting into DIY two months ago. Now I find it very challenging.

For example, I even tried something super simple which was TFA’s Strawberry. Mixed it at five percent. Nothing. Added a few more drops in. Nothing.

I was really hoping this wouldn’t be as difficult as it has become.

How long did you allow for steep time?

 

[Sugar_and_Spice]

I have been trying to dabble in DIY for about two months now. So far I have only had success with one recipe. Nothing else I have been trying works out. Even single flavours aren’t working out. I am getting very frustrated. I have tried the calculators, the recipes found on-line. I have watched many youtube videos on percentages and recommended flavours and pairing etc., Reviewed many articles on-line and on this site as well.

Yet nothing seems to be working. Every time I find a recipe I can’t mix it because I am one ingredient short and don’t want to have to order it and wait 3 to 5 days for it arrive. I was very excited about getting into DIY two months ago. Now I find it very challenging.

For example, I even tried something super simple which was TFA’s Strawberry. Mixed it at five percent. Nothing. Added a few more drops in. Nothing.

I was really hoping this wouldn’t be as difficult as it has become.

Also want to mention that commercial flavorings are just about the highest % used to make ejuice and they are loaded with sweet. This is because most of their customers are just coming from smoking cigarettes and haven't had time for the taste buds to heal from smoking. Cigarettes dull our sense of smell and taste so you have have to mix at a higher % until yours heal.

Tell us a bit more about what flavors you like and how much you smoked and if you are still using cigarettes along with vaping. This can help us better help you.

 

[Skunk!]

I have been trying to dabble in DIY for about two months now. So far I have only had success with one recipe. Nothing else I have been trying works out. Even single flavours aren’t working out. I am getting very frustrated. I have tried the calculators, the recipes found on-line. I have watched many youtube videos on percentages and recommended flavours and pairing etc., Reviewed many articles on-line and on this site as well.

Yet nothing seems to be working. Every time I find a recipe I can’t mix it because I am one ingredient short and don’t want to have to order it and wait 3 to 5 days for it arrive. I was very excited about getting into DIY two months ago. Now I find it very challenging.

For example, I even tried something super simple which was TFA’s Strawberry. Mixed it at five percent. Nothing. Added a few more drops in. Nothing.

I was really hoping this wouldn’t be as difficult as it has become.

It took me a while to get where I wanted to be with DIY. Some flavors work as stand alone flavors and some don't. A little bit of dragonfruit will really wake up your strawberry. Capella has some good stand alone flavors. Their Silverline as well. There are lots of good threads in the DIY section and lots of people who are happy to help.

 

[Zahlia]

How long did you allow for steep time?

Generally anything with creams or tobacco about two to three weeks. For fruits only perhaps a few days.

 

[Zahlia]

Also want to mention that commercial flavorings are just about the highest % used to make ejuice and they are loaded with sweet. This is because most of their customers are just coming from smoking cigarettes and haven't had time for the taste buds to heal from smoking. Cigarettes dull our sense of smell and taste so you have have to mix at a higher % until yours heal.

Tell us a bit more about what flavors you like and how much you smoked and if you are still using cigarettes along with vaping. This can help us better help you.

Quit smoking two months ago. Generally, the flavours I like are anything strawberry. Tobacco flavours as well and custard flavours.

 

[Skunk!]

Generally anything with creams or tobacco about two to three weeks. For fruits only perhaps a few days.

My Purilum ST and Ducat Gold mix I steeped for about 2 months before it was just right. My custard recipe was best at 1 month. I make large batches of these so that I always have some ready. I will add fruit to them about a week before I want to use them. Fruit flavors can fade pretty quickly

 

[Sugar_and_Spice]

Quit smoking two months ago. Generally, the flavours I like are anything strawberry. Tobacco flavours as well and custard flavours.

Lots of flavorings need a 2nd like flavor to help boost the taste. ie.....TFA Strawberry and TFA Ripe Strawberry. Or TFA Ripe strawberry and FA Red Touch(Strawberry). When I first started DIY I mixed most of my fruit flavors at 10%. Of course, take into consideration which flavor maker you are using too. ie. Flavor West is a weaker flavor maker(generally but not all flavors)and therefore even tho they do have really good tasting flavors you probably need 15% to start. Whereas, FA has a stronger concentration of their flavoring so you may not need nearly as much to achieve results. TFA is more of a medium flavor maker when you may need the 10% or higher to get where you want it.

Starting with single flavorings is a good idea. Then you can experiment on how much you may need to use for your taste. Always start out small--you can always add flavoring but to try and subtract lends you with adding more nic/pg/vg therefore producing more than you may want to start with.


eta Strawberry usually takes more than a week to fully develop. I hope you have hung onto the ones you were disappointed in so you can test them now or in the future. Do throw any mixes away unless you just absolutely cannot stand the taste.

 

[Skunk!]

Quit smoking two months ago. Generally, the flavours I like are anything strawberry. Tobacco flavours as well and custard flavours.

Creamy tobacco is my favorite. Have you tried mixing a small amount of the tobacco and custard?

 

[Zahlia]

Creamy tobacco is my favorite. Have you tried mixing a small amount of the tobacco and custard?

I am not sure what tobacco to mix with custard. The only successful recipe I had was available here: Ultimate Tobacco - D.I.Y E-Juice Recipe - US at DashVapes.com

At times the East Coast is great and at times its harsh.

These are the tobaccos I currently have:


RY4 Double Flavor Apprentice

East Coast by Flavor West

Cured Tobacco Flavoring by Flavorah

Cigar Passion by Flavour Art

Oakwood by Flavour Art

Tobacco Dark by Wrecka Concentrates

 

[Letitia]

Zahlia do you have a public flavor stash on elr? Could you please post the successful recipe to give us an idea what is working.

 

[Zahlia]

Zahlia do you have a public flavor stash on elr? Could you please post the successful recipe to give us an idea what is working.

I don't have a public flavor stash on ELR. The one successful recipe was available on the vendors website where I purchased from.

I have reproduced it below.


Flavor ApprenticeDX Bavarian Cream 0.6grams
5.Flavor ApprenticeRY4 Double 1.2 grams
6.Flavor ApprenticeVanilla Bean Ice Cream Flavor 0.6 grams
7.Flavor WestEast Coast 0.3 grams

This was at 3 percent for nicotine and 70VG and 30PG.

 

[Skunk!]

That recipe sounds good. My favorite for almost a year has been Purilum Sweet Tobacco. I am on my 3rd liter lol. It changes at 6 weeks from tasting like 555 to tasting amazing. RY4 is quite versatile. It is used in a lot of mixes. I want to check out the East Coast. I like RY3 and Magic Mix from Hangsen Tobaccos. Also Ducat is good but it is a bit overbearing for my taste without the PST. Blackjack from DIYFS was my go to for a couple years. It was great with a tiny bit of vanilla. Their Holy Holy Grail RY4 is really good too. Sorry I am not of more help. I am not familiar with those tobaccos. I gotta take a nap for work. If I get a chance tonite I will try to find some recipes for the ones you listed.

 

[Zahlia]

Thank you for the reply. I may check out some of your recommendations. Do you use Purilum Sweet Tobacco by itself? East Coast is a nice cigarette flavour at least in my opinion.

 

[Letitia]

I don't have a public flavor stash on ELR. The one successful recipe was available on the vendors website where I purchased from.

I have reproduced it below.


Flavor ApprenticeDX Bavarian Cream 0.6grams
5.Flavor ApprenticeRY4 Double 1.2 grams
6.Flavor ApprenticeVanilla Bean Ice Cream Flavor 0.6 grams
7.Flavor WestEast Coast 0.3 grams

This was at 3 percent for nicotine and 70VG and 30PG.

Sounds good. When you mix the fruits with the creams what ratio of fruit to cream do you mix? I like fruit forward mixes so my creams will only be maybe 3-4% of a 10% flavor total. If you prefer to soften the fruit cookie, cake, and/or creams will do that nicely. Candies are easy 2-4 flavor mixes and handy for snv. Shame you don't have a stash list, we could help with percentage and subs.

 

[Zahlia]

Sounds good. When you mix the fruits with the creams what ratio of fruit to cream do you mix? I like fruit forward mixes so my creams will only be maybe 3-4% of a 10% flavor total. If you prefer to soften the fruit cookie, cake, and/or creams will do that nicely. Candies are easy 2-4 flavor mixes and handy for snv. Shame you don't have a stash list, we could help with percentage and subs.

Thank you for the message. I have generally tried the fruit at around 5 percent. When I didn't notice any taste i went to 10 percent. The cream may be around 1 to 2 percent.

 

[Letitia]

Thank you for the reply. I may check out some of your recommendations. Do you use Purilum Sweet Tobacco by itself? East Coast is a nice cigarette flavour at least in my opinion.

PST is a great versatile flavor. Decent stand alone and a lovely mixer. Plays well with everything you throw at it. Vapable within a week or two but gets much richer with a longer steep. I use it at 0.5% to give caramel a nice undertone. My cousin loves it with FW butterscotch ripple. PST has a thread here in the diy forum full of recipes.

 

[Letitia]

Thank you for the message. I have generally tried the fruit at around 5 percent. When I didn't notice any taste i went to 10 percent. The cream may be around 1 to 2 percent.

Might try working on the creams and fruits separately, nail the cream base then add the fruit blend. Skunk was dead on about pairing sb and dragon fruit.

 

[Skunk!]

Thank you for the reply. I may check out some of your recommendations. Do you use Purilum Sweet Tobacco by itself? East Coast is a nice cigarette flavour at least in my opinion.

I have been vaping it by itself for the past few months. I mix it at 5% it is quite nice as a stand alone. A lot of tobaccos Ive tried have off putting flavors or are too harsh. PST is a great tobacco, mild but rich and not harsh. I'll have to give the East Coast a try.
PST and FW Butterscotch Ripple is delicious.

 

[Skunk!]

Might try working on the creams and fruits separately, nail the cream base then add the fruit blend. Skunk was dead on about pairing sb and dragon fruit.

Strawberry, Dragonfruit and Custard is Dragon Blood. One of my all time favorites.