Frustrations

[DaveP]

I find that heavy or strong flavors also get old fast and one thing I always return to when I get bored with flavors is a tobacco. Right now I have 3 of my own Tobaccos and mix them often for a bit of a this and that flavor profile.

I spent a lot of years vaping ready made Hangsen juices. My favorite was HS tobacco because it was mildly flavored and was a good base for adding whatever flavorings I want to add. I'd add a drop here and there to make English Toffee or some sort of really mild candy or fruit flavor added to my tobacco base.

Now, after FDA meddling I've gone completely into DIY. I have about 900ml mixed. Some has steeped and others are steeping. I'm finding that my Hangsen flavors are mostly vapable after a day or two and get remarkably better after a week or two. My Flavourart juices are generally not that good until they steep for a while, but they blossom a week or two after mixing.

I can vape fruits or candy juices here and there for a change, but I get tired of most of them in a hurry. Anything that's strongly flavored wears on me. I really do think I could live with PG/VG/Nic and be happy if I had to, but I'd miss that light tobacco flavor. If I did that I'd have to keep some Cotton Candy, English Toffee, and Watermelon around for those days when the tobacco taste buds go South.

 

[SteveS45]

I use hot water to speed the steeping or aging of e-Liquids. By heating to just under 150 Degrees Fahrenheit you can have most mixes ready to vape in hours. Although Custards and deserts do require more time. My fruits do not change after 24 hours.

 

[DaveP]

Hello fellow diy vapers. I have to vent, I hope you'll allow me to. As I'm sure you'll all agree that diy flavorings are hit and miss. But does it really need to be more miss than hit? I have tried flavorings from tfa, cappellas, lorann, german flavorings, mt. baker and I have to say 90% of the flavorings I have tried from all sources have been absolute trash.

I suppose I am fishing for new sources or maybe even some tips. I've been making my own juice primarily now for a year and just subscribed to zamplebox just because I am really at a "rock bottom" moment as far as my diying is concerned, and this will be my first non-diy large juice purchase in the year I've been making juice. There is a very small amount of flavors I can go back to and re-order I suppose but I really wish there was a source of higher caliber than the ones I'm used to. Any suggestions? Happy vaping everyone!

What I found with flavors is that there's a sweet spot in quantity used in a mix, usually given as a percentage. Add to that the likelihood that not all like the same level of flavor I usually start low and add as needed. There's steeping time to consider for the flavor to bloom in the juice during steeping. I'm sure you know that there's variance in steeping time for juices and that's why I find myself getting multiple opinions before starting a mix.

Here's a good thread with lots of percentage ranges for many DIY juices. You might find it enlightening compared to your experience to see what others are saying works for them.

Guide to DIY Flavoring

I know you've DIY'ed for a year, so I'm not trying to treat you as a new juice maker, just offering some sources that enlightened me in my journey to DIY. Hope this thread helps. You may have already been in the thread and read it all before. If so, just ignore it!

 

[zoiDman]

Hello fellow diy vapers. I have to vent, I hope you'll allow me to. As I'm sure you'll all agree that diy flavorings are hit and miss. But does it really need to be more miss than hit? I have tried flavorings from tfa, cappellas, lorann, german flavorings, mt. baker and I have to say 90% of the flavorings I have tried from all sources have been absolute trash.

...

When a Meal tastes like Trash, sometimes it is the Ingredients. And sometimes it is the Cook.

Doing DIY takes some Practice. And finding the Amount of Flavoring to be used is many times More than 1/2 the Battle. Keep Plugging along. And keep Good Notes of Everything you Mix.

 

[Noserenity]

Teach me for not checking the thread! I had it set to email notify and no email was sent! Anyhow.

Lots of great suggestions here, and I feel encouraged! I think I will start trying more recipes (multiple flavors) as I realize part of my problem is I just like to dump one flavor in a jar, shake, and go. I'll admit some laziness, though not always.

I am also going to try less % in my recipes per flavor and add things as they taste. I'm finding most of you use much less of a % as I have been using. My concern with that though is the steeping times and then the tasting there could be a long period of trial and error on a single batch and that can get annoying. Growing pains I suppose.

Are the sonic cleaners really working for people as far as steep times? Are they noisy?

I have to admit Cap has been the most consistent flavor company for me and I like a few of their flavors. I'll definitely give flavourart a try here in the near future.

I greatly appreciate the support and tips here all! Thanks much!

 

[Noserenity]

And sometimes it is the Cook.

This I realize! I have to admit it's probably at least half my fault or possibly more, honestly. I'm never a bored person so I can attest to trying things the easy way when it comes to my diy at times.

Though I have had some bad luck with some flavors. I get a taste and it's so horrible I don't dare revise my mix for fear I'll get that flavor again. Or the flavor I will get will just remind me of that horrible taste.

 

[Capt.shay]

Find a couple of recipes on line that sound good to you or that you have vaped before or maybe a clone of a favorite store bought juice and then make your order for flavors to make those specific recipes. Start with the recipe as it is written and then tweak them to your taste. After you make a couple of vapeable flavors following others recipes, you can start seeing how flavors play together and start trying some of your own.

 

[Frenchfry1942]

@Noserenity, I do the crock pot for much steeping. I think (experience) that my time/temperature gets me 12-14 days of steeping. Yes, it is a pretty long trial and error process, but, when I get one good...I GOT ONE GOOD!

As to brands, percentages, etc., I think your taste buds have a lot to say. Mine seem to. I try every flavor that I buy pretty much by itself. When I bought four cherry (desert) flavors, well, four little bottles, crock pot and writing notes after I vaped each, I found the one. Well, my taste buds found the one.

Then, I started thinking how is best to mix it with others. Speaking of fruits, a cream or pie/cake seem to work. Then it is testing to determine which of those mixes work well AND at what percentages. The point being that it took a lot of little test samples to find MY cherry-based desert. Just looking at creams, I have 6 or 7. Then different pies and cakes. That is a lot of little test bottles.

Good luck!

 

[zoiDman]

This I realize! I have to admit it's probably at least half my fault or possibly more, honestly. I'm never a bored person so I can attest to trying things the easy way when it comes to my diy at times.

Though I have had some bad luck with some flavors. I get a taste and it's so horrible I don't dare revise my mix for fear I'll get that flavor again. Or the flavor I will get will just remind me of that horrible taste.

With taste being So Subjective, it's Very Hard to say what might be the Problem.

But I believe that the Biggest Mistake that people who are New to DIY make is to use Too Much Flavoring verses not enough. That, and not using a Sweetener.

As long as your Nicotine Base taste OK (you have tried Diluting your Nicotine Base to a vapable level and Tasting It... Right?) you should be able to mix Something that is at Least OK. Maybe not Killer. But fine tunable.

Keep with it. You'll get there.

 

[CagedSpam]

Try try again

A couple of weeks ago made a fine batch of Cactus cooler Cough syrup. Apparently 3% was way more than enough for this flavor after some steep time.

Went down to 1.5% or so and we're doing well, except for the memory of syrups past.

Oh, and tobaccos and orange mixes taste pretty darn good, the orange sweetened up the tobacco nicely.

 

[Noserenity]

As long as your Nicotine Base taste OK (you have tried Diluting your Nicotine Base to a vapable level and Tasting It... Right?) you should be able to mix Something that is at Least OK. Maybe not Killer. But fine tunable.

Keep with it. You'll get there.

There is a note you touched on there! I have had real issues with nicotine base flavor. I've been using 100mg base from wizard labs and vaperstek. Vaperstek seemed to be the more mellow of the two, but I think possibly lowering the base to say a 50mgg or even around a 30mg may help. What's your take?

 

[Kenna]

Teach me for not checking the thread! I had it set to email notify and no email was sent! Anyhow.

Lots of great suggestions here, and I feel encouraged! I think I will start trying more recipes (multiple flavors) as I realize part of my problem is I just like to dump one flavor in a jar, shake, and go. I'll admit some laziness, though not always.

I am also going to try less % in my recipes per flavor and add things as they taste. I'm finding most of you use much less of a % as I have been using. My concern with that though is the steeping times and then the tasting there could be a long period of trial and error on a single batch and that can get annoying. Growing pains I suppose.

Are the sonic cleaners really working for people as far as steep times? Are they noisy?

I have to admit Cap has been the most consistent flavor company for me and I like a few of their flavors. I'll definitely give flavourart a try here in the near future.

I greatly appreciate the support and tips here all! Thanks much!

Percentages will vary with each company. Also, they pretty much all have the same flavors. But none of them taste the same. Example: not all strawberries taste alike.

 

[Sugar_and_Spice]

There is a note you touched on there! I have had real issues with nicotine base flavor. I've been using 100mg base from wizard labs and vaperstek. Vaperstek seemed to be the more mellow of the two, but I think possibly lowering the base to say a 50mgg or even around a 30mg may help. What's your take?

If i may suggest that maybe find another nic vendor that offers smooth non tasting nic. That can prove to be a challenge tho. If you are using the throat hit nic from vaperstek then it will be harsher than you want. They also offer a premium nic which is suppose to be non tasting, but the price is higher.
Whether you change the mg that you purchase or not you still have to dilute it to your strength so I would think the less nic used and diluted more(meaning the 100mg) would be better. jmho tho.

 

[sketchness]

There is a note you touched on there! I have had real issues with nicotine base flavor. I've been using 100mg base from wizard labs and vaperstek. Vaperstek seemed to be the more mellow of the two, but I think possibly lowering the base to say a 50mgg or even around a 30mg may help. What's your take?

I assume you mean 3mg or 5mg?

Vape pg plain is this smooth and flavorless?
Vape VG plain is this smooth and flavorless?
Mix nic and preferred pg/VG ratio and this should be smooth (depending on nic level) and nearly flavorless. Maybe a light tobacco taste. But if you don't like the taste of your base, flavoring is just a mask that often won't work.

And I feel your pain on flavorings. So many of them are terrible. But I just keep plugging away. I have a couple recipes I like. And a bunch of flavors I may never use. I am at about 150 flavors right now. But I haven't bought flavors in a while. Just vanilla custard!

 

[penstyle]

I've been using 100mg base from wizard labs and vaperstek. Vaperstek seemed to be the more mellow of the two, but I think possibly lowering the base to say a 50mgg or even around a 30mg may help. What's your take?

Umm yeah... what sketchness said. I was afraid there for a minute. What mg do you vape?

 

[zoiDman]

There is a note you touched on there! I have had real issues with nicotine base flavor. I've been using 100mg base from wizard labs and vaperstek. Vaperstek seemed to be the more mellow of the two, but I think possibly lowering the base to say a 50mgg or even around a 30mg may help. What's your take?

The First thing Anyone should do when they receive Nicotine Base is to dilute a Small amount down to their Normal vaping mg/ml level and taste test it as Unflavored.

I have read Too Many Posts where someone says that Everything they mix tastes Bad. Only to find that the Reason is because their Nicotine Base or their VG or their PG tastes Bad from the start.

Diluted Unflavored Nicotine Base should have a Clean Taste at vapable mg/ml levels. And if the VG to PG ratio is High, it might even have a Slightly Sweet taste. Once you know that your Nicotine Base, PG and VG are all good to go, then you can Mixing flavored e-Liquids.

And at that point, posting what they want to get to and the recipe of what someone is Mixing to get there would be a Big Help.

 

[herb]

Yeah well.... Some like anise flavored juice too.....
I have a sensitivity to the taste and actually have a physical bad reaction to the V2 stuff and most flavorings actually.

I know all about what you like Robert , lets face it your an odd bird ( and i mean that in a good way of course) . Odd birds are very desirable ( and no, i am not coming on to you ) just stating the facts.

 

[englishmick]

Teach me for not checking the thread! I had it set to email notify and no email was sent! Anyhow.

Lots of great suggestions here, and I feel encouraged! I think I will start trying more recipes (multiple flavors) as I realize part of my problem is I just like to dump one flavor in a jar, shake, and go. I'll admit some laziness, though not always.

I am also going to try less % in my recipes per flavor and add things as they taste. I'm finding most of you use much less of a % as I have been using. My concern with that though is the steeping times and then the tasting there could be a long period of trial and error on a single batch and that can get annoying. Growing pains I suppose.

Are the sonic cleaners really working for people as far as steep times? Are they noisy?

I have to admit Cap has been the most consistent flavor company for me and I like a few of their flavors. I'll definitely give flavourart a try here in the near future.

I greatly appreciate the support and tips here all! Thanks much!

I started out using NN flavorings. Still use some of them. The advantage is that they are designed to be used on their own, they don't need mixing.

There's a couple of TFA flavors that are pretty good on their own. Tastes vary, but to me Banana Nut Bread, Banana Cream, and Crème De Menthe are good on their own. I do add other flavors to them now to make them even better. Most TFA stuff isn't much good alone though. I haven't used anything other than NN and TFA.

Another thing I do, based on advice I saw here, is to try each new flavor on its own before I mix in other stuff. That way you can get the % right. A good percentage of flavors you try you are going to know right away don't work for you. The ones you like the taste of you experiment with adding stuff like cream or vanilla or sweetener.

You're right about the long time periods. Some people mix just a few ml's using drops but I never made less than 10mls. Then you have to wait however long and try it before you can start adjusting % and so forth. What made it easier for me was figuring out a few recipes I liked and making lots of them. That way I had plenty to use so I wasn't waiting for the new ones to steep.

It's taken me almost 2 years to get to where I have a dozen or so I really like. I still get new flavors now and then to try out.

I don't know if you've tried recipes? I never did that, but it's an option. If other people have tried a recipe and recommend it, you might not like it yourself but you know it's not going to be rubbish.

And I used to put stuff in a UC or a crockpot, but now I'm not in a hurry so I just leave bottles sitting on a shelf.

 

[DaveP]

I use a Dymo label maker to label my bottles for flavoring manufacturer and flavor name (ie. HS Desert Ship). I pencil in the mix date so I can keep up with steeping times.

If, after steeping the flavor is way too strong, I'll pour the mix into two bottles and add more nic/pg/vg to cut it. That works if you screw up and over flavor a mix. It beats pouring it out and starting over and you get twice as much product if your flavor cut makes it right.