Guys Please Help a New Guy.

[Cruel_T]

Hey fellas. I'm in need of some help. I feel like I've done my homework. I bought the supplies. I've mixed,steeped, and breathed per what I e read on these forumns and on the we. I can not get .... for flavor out of my "desert flavors". Please help guys.

This is what I have/did. 1 example at least.

I purchased TFA flavors. Cheescake (Grahm crust). Vanilla cupcake. Cinnemon Danish. I mixed 70/30 vg/pg. putting my flavors in as 100% pg. I've tried 3 different mixes/combos. 6%6%6% was the first. Then I even went as high as 15%15%12%. Steeped in a crockpot for 5 hours. I kept it within 2-3 degrees of 150 F the whole time. So with all of this. All I am getting for flavor out of this mix is a small amount of cinnamon flavor and maybe, just maybe a hint of something creamy. Please help guys. This isn't the only attemp I've had that is flavorless. I am new to the forumn and two weeks new to mixing so don't be afraid the tear my methods apart. I will appreciate ANY help that u can give. Thanks guys.

 

[man00ver]

Try making a small batch with each of those as a single flavor, at 8% for the CGC, and at 10% for the others. Maybe go to 60VG to enhance flavor perception. You'll probably want some sweetener or ethyl maltol to add (in a few drops measure).

You should then be able to tell what each of these taste like before you start mixing them. I don't think the three of them are particularly good partners. You probably want some fruit and cream/custard flavors to start building on them with.

 

[Clydde26]

As you stated count your flavors as PG and then start with just a base of PG. So if you are using 25% flavor then you subtract that from the amount of pure pg you would put in your bottle. Add your flavors to your pg to get your 30% ratio. At this stage i mix vigorously. I have take a plastic hollow tube that is about 2mm in diameter and disected it down the middle 4 ways to make a fan type blade....i then insert that into my drill and mix the flavoring and pg together allowing air to get in. About 2-3 mins. Then add your 70% Vg and do the same thing. Mix vigorously.... i sometimes go as far as 5 minutes with this stage due to the thickness of vg. Then do your crock pot trick....only difference is i would stir every hour to hour and a half..... just because you are heating the mixture there is no melding of flavors happening....so essentially your speed steep is pointless. I wouldnt go over 25% total flavorings and i would not use more than 8% of that cheesecake as a base. Maybe try a mixture of 8% cheesecake...4% vanilla cupcake and 8% cinnamon danish. for a total of 20% flavorings. start with small batches nothing over 30ml....its really recommended to start out doing 10ml test batches at first but DIY how you choose.

If it doesnt have a pronounce flavor.... leave it for a day come back shake it up and try it again... DIY is all about trial and error but since im assuming your not using nic in your mix it is a little easier.

 

[skullblade789]

Lower your flavor amounts. Also remember your flavor adds to the PG mix. Just a reminder. Most base flavors really only need 5% at its strongest. Just a thought.

 

[Yiana]

Hey fellas. I'm in need of some help. I feel like I've done my homework. I bought the supplies. I've mixed,steeped, and breathed per what I e read on these forumns and on the we. I can not get .... for flavor out of my "desert flavors". Please help guys.

This is what I have/did. 1 example at least.

I purchased TFA flavors. Cheescake (Grahm crust). Vanilla cupcake. Cinnemon Danish. I mixed 70/30 vg/pg. putting my flavors in as 100% pg. I've tried 3 different mixes/combos. 6%6%6% was the first. Then I even went as high as 15%15%12%. Steeped in a crockpot for 5 hours. I kept it within 2-3 degrees of 150 F the whole time. So with all of this. All I am getting for flavor out of this mix is a small amount of cinnamon flavor and maybe, just maybe a hint of something creamy. Please help guys. This isn't the only attemp I've had that is flavorless. I am new to the forumn and two weeks new to mixing so don't be afraid the tear my methods apart. I will appreciate ANY help that u can give. Thanks guys.

Have you checked out some good recipes to try first?

 

[Yiana]

Tfa Vanilla swirl usually works pretty good with cinnamon danish. I started with tfa's, but I found cap cinnamon danish swirl is better tasting. Do you have any vanilla custard?

 

[Cruel_T]

Thanks for al the replies. I will try and take advice from all of you guys. As for my "shaking" routine. I tape the bottle to a jig saw blade (that has been taped also) and run it for a few seconds. This turns even the darkest fluids nearly white. Seems to mix extremely well. So after I read all of your replies this is what I will try. 15 ml test batch.. 70/30 mix as well as a separate 60/40. Just to see if there is a difference. I will take the Cinnemon Danish out for now.. And no I don't use any Nicotine yet. It will be here early this week. So here is what I'll try

70/30 Mix

10.5 Mils VG
1.8 Mils PG
1.2 Mils of CGC
1.5 Mils of VC

The 60/40 Wil mix..

9 Mils VG
3.3 Mils PG
1.2 Mils CGC
1.5 Mils VC

I will steep them in 150 F water for 5 hours. Removing them every hour to shake up with the jig saw. And we'll see what happens..

Did I miss anything?? Let me know if I did.

Also. Here is a list of the Flavors that I have. If you guys see something that is a good mix lemme know...

TFA
Cinnemon Danish
Cheesecake Grahm Crust
DX Vanila Cupcake
Orange Creme
Raspberry
Black Cherry
Strawberry Ripe
Watermelon Candy
Egg Nog
Creme Soda
Vanillian
English Toffee
Ripe Banana
Mountain Dew
Bubble Gum

Capella Flavors
Blueberry Cinnemon Crumble
Vanilla Custard
Butter (Supposed to be more like butterscotch)

Only one that I've made that others have liked is Mountain Dew Bubblegum. Odly enough..

When my order gets here with my Nic and more glass bottles, I will also try all of these Flavors solo. I only have a couple glass bottles now.

 

[retired1]

Moved to DIY e-liquid

 

[BrotherBob]

Welcome and glad you joined.
My number one rule for DIY is : Have several recipes to make before you buy any flavoring and then buy only those flavors to make those recipes. I find that out 100 flavors, I would be lucky to find 5 flavors that I would want to vape alone.
Suggest you read:
DIY Resources
dannyv45's blog | E-Cigarette Forum
Hoosier's blog | E-Cigarette Forum
Sir2fyablyNutz Major DIY Info.
First DIY Order

 

[Yiana]

I'd think about adding the cinnamon danish and vanilla custard together.

 

[Lannie]

One of my very favorite flavors is Cheesecake Graham Crust. I always mix that at 10% and then add 8% or 9% of either mixed berry flavor (you don't have that one listed) or sweet strawberry (you don't have that one, either), and then a dash, maybe 3% more, of graham cracker. I like the sharp sweetness the extra graham cracker gives it. This is an all day vape for me, and it's good the day I make it, however, it DOES get better after aging for a few days to a week. The creamy cheesecake flavor comes out more then.

I've gotten more adventurous in my juice making as of late, but when I first started, I mostly did single flavors (fruits) then when I started making combinations it was fruits with cream flavors, because those are pretty foolproof. Then I started hunting for recipes online and started buying flavors to make them with. Now that I have a better idea of what flavors taste like individually, and in combination with certain others, I can make just about anything and it's good. TO ME. Maybe Joe Blow down the street wouldn't like it, but I do. So my advice would be start simple, with just one flavor, then add another, and go from there. You'll get a feel for it very quick, don't worry.

~Lannie

 

[Yiana]

One of my very favorite flavors is Cheesecake Graham Crust. I always mix that at 10% and then add 8% or 9% of either mixed berry flavor (you don't have that one listed) or sweet strawberry (you don't have that one, either), and then a dash, maybe 3% more, of graham cracker. I like the sharp sweetness the extra graham cracker gives it. This is an all day vape for me, and it's good the day I make it, however, it DOES get better after aging for a few days to a week. The creamy cheesecake flavor comes out more then.

I've gotten more adventurous in my juice making as of late, but when I first started, I mostly did single flavors (fruits) then when I started making combinations it was fruits with cream flavors, because those are pretty foolproof. Then I started hunting for recipes online and started buying flavors to make them with. Now that I have a better idea of what flavors taste like individually, and in combination with certain others, I can make just about anything and it's good. TO ME. Maybe Joe Blow down the street wouldn't like it, but I do. So my advice would be start simple, with just one flavor, then add another, and go from there. You'll get a feel for it very quick, don't worry.

~Lannie

He could try what you are doing with the cheesecake and then add any one of his fruits instead. That could work.

Also, like Lannie you should look up recipes with good reviews. I did that and it also helped me to see how flavors work together. Good luck! You'll get it down before you know it.

 

[JCinFLA]

You also might want to try some of Bill's Magic Vapor recipes from the dropbox. I've made 3 of his recipes so far, and I really like them.

Dropbox - Bill's TFA recipes on EJuiceMeUp Calculator Format.zip

Something that may also be of help to you is reading 1 of his blogs about his 100DT (100 drop taste test). You make a small sample (100 drops in size) of a recipe you'd like to try. You'll fine-tune the taste of that tiny amount first (adding more drops of a flavoring or 2, a sweetener, etc.) while vaping a few drops as you make each change, and take notes on those changes. That way, once you've gotten that "perfect vape" taste from the sample...by following your recipe & notes on the changes you made, a larger batch of it will be exactly the same taste as your sample. I used this method for all 3 recipes, and it works amazingly well!

 

[Hoosier]

I shake my bottles by hand, don't use crackpots and found very little that breathe helps, so I wonder what your mixes tasted like before all the fancy, time consuming, stuff?

Never in my years of mixing have I not shake'n'vaped during preliminary recipe development. After that I try steeping and maybe letting it breathe...

 

[Yiana]

I shake by hand too and don't use any heat.

 

[Dixie1954]

@Cruel_T - Also bookmark this it has great info on starting percentages for TFA flavorings stand alone >>> Flavor Percentage Recommendations Hope this helps.

 

[Cruel_T]

I'm not sure if the super shake helps. It's just something i read and it made sense to make sure that they are initially well mixed. Same thing with the breathing. As you well know there are lots of people that swear by it and some that don't bother so much. Again guys.. Thanks for the help. I feel more prepared just from the advice I've gotten so far. This is an awesome site. I most definitely appreciate all of the information. I am going to try a couple Recipies I found off of a couple different DIY recipie sites. And I found a few of the Bill's TFA mixes I'm going to try. I have a shipment of bottles and supplies coming. I will let you guys know how things turn out. Again.. Thanks for everything.

 

[Hoosier]

Lots of people swear by lots of things I find completely silly, but swearing doesn't make it an end all or be all, just something that works for their limited experience.

Expensive speaker wire comes to mind too. If it works for ya' that's great, but I'm the kind of guy who tries multiple ways and then goes with the simplest that works.

I've got a few recipes that are complicated to mix and require extra effort/steeping/breathing, but those are a small fraction of my recipes and to state that what works for one works for all would be, to put it simply, silly.

 

[dannyv45]

I used to steep religiously but now I find I have so much to vape that I no longer have the time or energy to steep so I just mix and let my lazyness take over and just let it sit around until I need it. My taste buds are shot so I really don't see much of a difference these days whether I steep or not. Others tell me my vapes are pretty good so I must be doing something right. I find the less effort I put in the better it taste Heck I've been at this so long that I did my last few ADV mixes komokazi style and didn't even measure. I just poured a little of this and a little of that, and that was as close enough to perfection as I needed.