Home flavors taste awful; looking for help

[dice57]

ok, you are using 100mg nic base, how much are you mixing to your recipe for a 15ml sample?

Just trying to pin point your problem. I have had nothing but great luck at DIY.

 

[SEMPER FI 7212]

i started with lorans as well and they came out ok,just recheck your stuff and try making it at lower amount of flavor and let it seep for a few days and try it again,when i first started out everything i tried to make tasted like perfume just nasty but i kept at it and tried different flavorings from diff vendors.still looking for the perfect flavor but i do like to use Flavor Apprentice from Wizard Labs,they have tons to choose from for cheap(when they are in stock)if they are out i just order direct from FA. just have fun with it and dont give up on it.

 

[KapnKarl]

I recently started making my own juices and had the same problem. I got some flavors from TPA and followed some recipes I found. Most of them were terrible. I had a breakthrough when I went with the "less is more" philosophy. Now I use only about 2-3% flavoring to start and am having much better results. You could always add more flavor if need be.

 

[happydave]

i would like to add that any e-liquid calculator that uses "drops" as a unit of volume is not going to be accurate because the size of one drop can vary greatly

 

[Bill's Magic Vapor]

I've read tons of posts and really appreciate what this site has going on. I've recently purchased the items necessary to start making some of my own flavors but ran into a problem.

I'm using calculators to determine quantities and have double checked everything so I just need someone that's made their own juices to give me a hand.

I'm using Lorann flavors and started with a 70VG 30Water, 24nic, 10% flavor blend and it tasted just awful. Throat burn and no discernable real flavor at all. I upped it to 20% on the flavor and same problem. I switched to a 50/50 VG/PG with 10% flavor, same problem; tried 20% flavor and still same problem.

I've tried watermelon, apple, caramel, and cotton candy with the same result. Just unvapable. The only flavors that were tolerable were clove and cinnamon. If ANYONE can help point me toward what I may be doing wrong or let me know if this is just normal without breathe time or steeping, I'd really appreciate it!

I use TFA flavors and I couldn't make anything worth a darn for six months. I did have to learn all about flavoring percentages and found good starting point threads here at ECF. I learned all about steeping. Too much flavor often produces a chemical or perfumy taste, and can either mute and/or ruin the flavor. Then it sometimes goes away with steeping. Complex recipes require that right amount of this, a little of that, etc. and that took time. After a year of this, I'm pretty decent, and have about a dozen strong ADV's, and maybe 25 juices that I really like. Mine are a lot better than most of the juices I used to buy, but then again, that's the whole point, to be able to customize the juice to suit my own preferences. I make juice for the family, and everyone has their own different likes and dislikes, and no two are the same. Funny that way. Steeping was the most important lesson, followed closely by starting percentages. Good luck to you! Welcome to the Forum.

 

[Kilo23]

Try different strength mixes in different bottles and when you find the ratio you like make your batch.

 

[digited]

Thanks, HappyDave. I would love to hear more on your notes and what you've found in your first bad batch experiences!

 

[digited]

Thanks dice57. For a 15ml with a 100 nic base, I'm mixing 3.6 with nic, 8.4 no nic, and 3ml of flavor if I'm doing 20% flavor.

 

[DKP#]

I don't like strong flavors. To experiment I mix up a large batch of 70/30 18mg unflavored.
Then in a small 3ml bottle I add 1 drop of flavor per ml. This makes it about 3.5% flavor. 2 drops is about 7% flavor, ect. Start weak and work your way up. Not real accurate to reproduce for a large batch but it's quick, easy, and faster to get "in the ballpark".

You could also try vaping the unflavored to make sure there's not a problem there.

 

[digited]

I recently started making my own juices and had the same problem. I got some flavors from TPA and followed some recipes I found. Most of them were terrible. I had a breakthrough when I went with the "less is more" philosophy. Now I use only about 2-3% flavoring to start and am having much better results. You could always add more flavor if need be.

That was it, KapnKarl! I had WAYYYY too much flavor in my juice. I dropped it way down and now have two very vapable liquids. Now I can take my "mistakes" and split them into a few different bottles.

 

[WillyZee]

That was it, KapnKarl! I had WAYYYY too much flavor in my juice. I dropped it way down and now have two very vapable liquids. Now I can take my "mistakes" and split them into a few different bottles.

great to hear things are looking up digited.

 

[tnttim]

20% flavor sounds very high to me, especially a watermelon flavor. Try 10% flavor, 50/50'blend pg/vg and then let it steep. One week in a cool dark place, like a cabinet. It takes time for the juice to reach stasis, which is the point where it is completely diffused. I tried speeding up the steep but good old time and patience paid off. Steep steep steep

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk

 

[tnttim]

Sorry didn't see above post. You can take 15 ml of unflavored juice and cut your old ones down to 15 ml. You can also take 5 ml samples and try different percentages. Another note for you, marshmellow, and cream flavors mute strong flavors, sweetners pick up weak ones.

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk

 

[klynnn]

I tried a lot of recipes that were posted and most just didn't work for me. I had a bit of a breakthrough when I started using single flavors and testing them several days later. It just takes time and patience. You have to learn the flavor profiles that work for you with single flavors and then progress to mixing them. Everyone is different in their tastes and that makes it a lot harder to come up with that special adv.

 

[Vash]

You should check out High Desert Vapes .You can pick up small 3ml bottles of different flavor brands and see what you like.

Glad things are working better for you now.I recommend always start with the less is more approach .You can always add more but gets tricky to fix too much flavor .Good luck !