How many of U sweeteners in your juice?

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mxrdrver

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I started DIYing almost immedietly after I started vaping 1 year ago this month. And from the beginning I've always used sweetners to try and dial in my juices. My question is how many of U DO NOT use EM, sucralose, stevia, etc to sweeten your juices? How many of U rely soley on the flavorings for sweetness? I'm beginning to think I've been DIYing all wrong. Can I get a rich, flavorfull DIY juice without added sweetener?
 

HeadInClouds

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I have a major sweet tooth and used to use Sucralose in most of my mixes. I began to dislike the taste it added, and coils junked up fast.
Now I use a bit of sweet flavorings instead: caramel, marshmallow, honey, torrone, sweet fruits, sometimes anise. I also cut waaaay back on total flavoring to let natural sweetness come through, and I use all-VG base for a little extra sweetness. My liquids are much better now!

EDIT: forgot to mention TFA's Brown Sugar Extra!
 
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Koolada does it for me in my fruit flavors (and I know it's not technically sweet). I like my coffee bitter, and my tobacco straight up w/o anything like honey or caramel notes etc. The sweetest stuff I do is wintergreen and raspberry - and they're plenty sweet by themselves as far as I'm concerned.

Maybe someday I'll like sweet flavors, but i'm not there yet. However I mostlly do 0% w/ 100% VG base, so my tastes are prob'ly not everyone's ... "YMMV"
 

dannyv45

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I find that most flavoring that are intended to be sweet are sweet enough and don't require further sweetening. I find adding sweetener will usually take away from the intended flavor such as a juicy peach flavor. I use EM in very small amounts to thicken and give body and wetness. EM tends to give an already sweet juice a small bump in sweetness but EM is not usually intended to be a primary sweetener. If I want even more thickness I use a small amount of marshmallo. If I want some thinness or some relief from a throat irritating harshness I'll use a small amount of saline.
 
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dannyv45

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I find that most flavoring that are intended to be sweet are sweet enough and don't require further sweetening. I use EM in very small amounts to thicken and give body and wetness. EM tends to give an already sweet juice a small bump in sweetness but EM is not usually intended to be a primary sweetener. If I want even more thickness I use a small amount of marshmallo. If I want some thinness or some releif from a throat irritating harshness I'll use a small amount of saline.
 

we2rcool

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None, although we have tried it a few times. Sucralose ALWAYS ends up diminishing the overall flavor intensity of the juice - and the additive EM lessens flavor overall (and is rarely sweeter than the flavors it is added to). In a handful of our recipes, we utilize .5% EM

From here #413 http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/diy-e-liquid/268760-diy-master-techniques-flavor-add-ons-em-vw-bw-mts-acv-ect-11.html

As far as I can recall, I was the one who tested lemon juice and the effects it had on fruit flavors. At the time I was also using sucralose (ezsweets) in fruit/bakery flavors. I also tested distilled vinegar (not acv, I dont use it) on tobaccos.

What I found with fruit and bakery vapes is they were great initally with the additives, for about two days. Then on day 3 like clockwork the sharpness/crispness of the flavor was just... plain... gone. It never rebounded either. It just continued decline. So I started testing the same juices with lemon juice and sucralose separately. Trying to find the culprit. The result in my tests was that they BOTH decrease flavor output of ejuice. While they help initally boost and sweeten flavor, within a few days, they both cause ejuice to simply go flat. While its a more dramatic example, I feel the same way about ejuice with lemon or sucralose as I do about flat soda pop. Its just lackluster.

This occured in both high VG bases at 80% and high PG bases at 80%. I tested both because I didnt want people calling me out saying VG mutes flavor, which to this day I refute as utter nonsense.

I no longer use either in any of my mixing. I have found that using fruit flavors with alcohol bases provide more than enuff sweetening o. their own if they are steeped for 48-72 hours, and it helps that I use 80%VG in my juice.

As far as tobaccos go I also agree vinegar that after a few days it can flatten flavors over time. However!!! As I vape mostly tobacco ejuices I still add 1 drop/5ml of distilled white vinegar to my vapes. To counter the flattening I adjust by adding slightly more flavoring. About .5% to 1% more flavoring in a final mix. In my experience this counters the effect of flavor flattening with DV and allows mostly all tobacco vapes to round out immediately. (note: i also heat steep my juices at a constant 150° in a water bath in a crock pot for four hours after mixing and have found it it adds about 2 weeks to the aging process of ejuice). At the 2 weeks mark (in my case then this is 4 hours after mixing), all of your tobacco flavors will have a spike in flavor and will stay there, but only round more given time. Giving you a spiked up flavor but still rounded body to your vape. I found apple cider vinegar made bad and good juuces worse with no spike at all, but to be fair I barely ever tested acv.

All of my vapes... yes read that as ALL... are primed and full bodied in four hours. Period. Ultrasonic isnt the answer either. Hand shaking is enuff for juice. Heat allows flavor dissipation and release FAR FAR better.

Alot of what I do flys in the face of common and well "documented" processes others use like ultrasonic steeping tho. (if it works for ya, great. I know what I know and heat is the key, not vibration. And yeah, I tested that too about three months ago so I stand behind it).

People just pretty much ignored my testing. I took painstaking measures to control the samples and.prove to myself the results. Today when people say they use lemon juice, or sucralose and RAVE about the results.... I know they are NOT vaping stellar juice. They are absolutely, positively, better off without both. Unless they are going to vape what they make in under two days.

Note: I did not bother testing the effects of citric acid powder in juice, but I assume it has the same effect as lemon juice and mutes flavors.
 

zoiDman

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Thank You for all the comments. I have some big changes to make. I feel like i'm about to learn mixing all over again.

I think the People who are truly Successful in DIY are the Ones who are Willing to Try New Things.

New Ways To Measure. New Ways to Mix. And New and Different Flavor/Sweetener Combinations.

Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.

Theodore Roosevelt
 
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