Hardest part of diy

The actual mixing is quite easy with the right tools. The calculations are easy with a good juice calc. Deciding on what flavors you want to work with as you stare at 50-100 flavor vials and waiting for a new recipe to steep for 1-3 weeks before trying is pure agony.

 

Being really, really, close to the taste you want, but not EXACTLY there.

 

Finding something you really like

 

I have just started, and it's driving me nuts waiting on the juices to steep before I make a final decision. Patience is a virtue, they say.

 

And in your mind you know exactly what will make it work, then you mix it, and it's like taking 1 step forward, 2 steps back

 

That's the Hustle. I tend to go more towards a slow ChaCha where it's one step sideways, two steps back, back lunge, and pivot.(The wife and I were doing that dance in the rain this last weekend. Took me a few rounds to get the steps and rhythm right...)

 

Trying to figure out which flavors work well with others, and which ones you should never have bought at all.

For the record, when I find something that I love or just really like, I keep a large bottle of it on hand. Then I'm not desperate while I wait on new masterpieces to steep. (Think 555 and caramel cappucino.) Everything else aside, this is supposed to be a fun hobby, so don't stress it!

 

Mixing something that should of worked (Vanilla, Coke) and doesn't. It was kind of funny a number of us tried and all of us said yuck!

 

Trying to decide what to make next. And trying to stay dry while unscrewing the wrong end of my clearo.

 

I got into the habit of making 3 or 4 bottles of something I really liked then wound up getting sick of it after the first bottle. Now I just make a habit of making one bottle at a time.

 

Picking what flavor your going to make lol every thing els is easy

 

Me was one of them But did love the blue with a touch of lemon.

 

The only hard part for me is making sure I stay organized while I am dealing with the 60 mg nic. I'm not a natural organizer so I am really careful to set out my recipes, then my bottles next to each recipe, then I measure out the nic, then the vg and then the pg for each bottle without stopping for anything. I just concentrate on making sure I get that part right.

The whole process isn't difficult once you make a few batches. It is fun to make your own and I love that I can make 24mg, 18mg and 12mg. I can make all three bottles for less than the cost of one bottle of vendor juice. Even if I add in my costs for fancy blue bottles, mesuring cylinders, etc.

 

The hardest part for me is waiting for Wizard Labs to get things back into stock.

 

To me the hardest part was comnig to realize that taste is so subjective that reading reviews / comment of others is most often not all that helpful other than that sounds good, perhaps I need to give it a try. There seems to be very few ejuices that most really like and even then within the DIY group we tend to use different flavoring percentage and different brands.

 

The hardest part was reading though hundreds of posts to learn before I jumped in, but it was the best thing I ever did. I learned soo much from others mistakes and borrowed already tried concoctions to mix myself.

Plus 1 on waiting for Wizard to ship or get things in stock.

 

All the flavors you buy that just seem like crap. I bought 4 flavors for every flavor I like. Also, it seems like I mix a flavor that I like and use it for about a month or two and my taste changes and I back to coming up with a new flavor.

The hardest thing is every month or two to motivate my self to mix up my batch's for the next couple of months. It seems I almost run out before I do the mixing and then the flavor is not there because it has not steep for 2-3 weeks.

 

If DIY stresses you out it may not be for you. I approach it as a fun part of vaping, being an evil chemist at play. Unless you follow the recipe of someone else (not my thing), imagination goes a long ways in upping your sucess with DIY. You never know what will work out with what fro you until you try it... taste after all is speculative and individual. I start with small test batches, usually 5ml and have 12 or 15 of them going at the same time (although I have 50 bottles for test batches). And I make notes when they are dripped as they steep, what my impression is along the way, what gear they are the best in, what I might try to improve them if they need it. When one hits so well it can be a ADV for me it gets a 30ml batch. Sometimes putting two test batches together at some percentage also makes them a winner. I have never tossed anything out. The ones that don't hit still get used one way or another, maybe "reworked" or added into something else sililar that will mask whatever I didn't like about them. At present I am working with about 40 flavors/additives, but have several others on the list for the next time I buy them. One of these days I'll maybe get into the fruits more too, only have 3 flavors so far and only one I like (for a tart caramel pear). On the list for today or tomorrow is to make 1 repeat 30ml ADV, 3 30ml ADV's from test batches that scored high and 4 new 5ml test batches I've dreamed up.

 

making it so it doesn't taste too sweet!!