How to offset bitterness of PG?

[pt91]

Due to some VG issues I have been having I changed my base to 50/50 instead of my usual max VG.
In all of my recipes so far I am getting a bitterness that is pretty strong.
I don't normally add any sweeteners but I am curious if others are in the same boat and if your adjusted your mixes to counteract.
Thanks in advance

 

[ckquatt]

Maybe a drop or two of bitter wizard or vape wizard might solve the problem.

 

[pt91]

Maybe a drop or two of bitter wizard or vape wizard might solve the problem.

I have a few additives I can try. Need to check my box tonight. I tend to add a little EM to most of my mixes.
Generally I vape toffee/carmel or strawberry cake mixes.

 

[Winblows]

I usually let my body (mostly my mouth, my throat, my skin) be the advisor in mixing my vapes

 

[stols001]

I add very little sweetener to my vapes, but I use barely any PG, either. I'd agree on perhaps checking if some additives would help, if not you could try adding more sweetener and see what happens. I prefer sucralose as a sweetener over ethyl maltol as it can mute flavors. Since many of my "sweet" flavors that I add contain it already, I stick to sucralose. You don't need that much and it's not a horrific coil guker or anything.

Best of luck,

Anna

 

[Dieseler]

In our diy we use 95 to 95 % PG as the wife and i get flem from vg but we get no bitterness she vapes menthol pg alcohol based only and i use real cig flavoring only, so its just nic/menthol flav/pg and few % vg for me instead of menthol i use real cig flav pg alcohol based and been this way for some years now.

I guess it may be a combination of things for your bitterness taste perhaps a sweetener into your formula would solve your problem .

 

[Letitia]

You could lower pg and sub distilled water. I prefer 4-6% range DW. Just subtract the DW ml in calculator from pg ml and you should get close to the same viscosity.

 

[Winblows]

I add very little sweetener to my vapes, but I use barely any PG, either. I'd agree on perhaps checking if some additives would help, if not you could try adding more sweetener and see what happens. I prefer sucralose as a sweetener over ethyl maltol as it can mute flavors. Since many of my "sweet" flavors that I add contain it already, I stick to sucralose. You don't need that much and it's not a horrific coil guker or anything.

Best of luck,

Anna

additives ... yes, I recently 'discovered' ... water
I use now 10% water, 3-5% flavor (PG) and fill up with VG.

 

[IDJoel]

Maybe a drop or two of bitter wizard or vape wizard might solve the problem.

I don't think FA Bitter Wizard is a good choice in this instance. BW is actually used to increase the perception of bitter. From FA's website:
Balance your juice ! With the Bitter Wizard we are glad to announce another new development, designed to reduce or eliminate the sweet basic taste given by PG or VG. Adding the BW at 1%, vapers can get a pleasant bitter aftertaste, which can be enhanced further increasing the dosage. BW blends well with dark and tobacco flavors. Give it a try. The bitter taste you were looking for.

FA MTS Vape Wizard might be helpful(?). Though I am a bit skeptical; as it focuses on sour/acid smoothing. But, it couldn't hurt to try using, in a small sample.

 

[CagedSpam]

I'd double check my PG to see if it has gone "off" or is contaminated by something else.

GL

 

[dc99]

Some of it could be your flavoring. VG has a slight sweetness to it and lets be real, its hard to get the full flavor with max VG. You may just be used to that. Maybe tone down the percentages of flavorings a bit and see if the harshness goes down also.

 

[mcclintock]

PG is not more bitter than VG. PG does not carry all flavors better than VG. PG carries bitter flavors better than VG. Therefore, it gives the impression of bitterness.

Depending on the amount of PG increase, you can decrease flavoring although some parts of the flavoring will be weaker. Last premade juice I bought I used some at one-seventh its original strength and higher PG (30/70->50/50) although part of that was dilution. I'm going to try diluting in a smaller batch next time because it was made worse by steeping.

 

[DaveP]

PT91, I've used Essential Depot PG and VG for years and I don't notice any bitter or off flavor. I sense the sweetness of the VG in my 50/50 mixes. I used to vape 90pg\10vg mixes and gradually moved to 70pg/30vg and finally to 50/50.

If I were the OP I'd order some small bottles of VG in different brands and try them for comparison.

 

[AzPlumber]

Would be easy to determine if it is the PG, just vape some straight PG. If you find PG as the source you can then experiment by adding different things to your straight PG.

 

[pt91]

Tried straight PG/VG (40/60 now) and the bitter/dryness is there in the base.
Agreed that flavors can be dialed back with more PG. Also that the lack of sweetness from more VG could be the issue.
Haven't added any sweetners yet. Still playing around with mixes.
The PG is brand new from NR. VG and nic also not a bad batch as I tried a few from my preferred vendors.
Have been at this since 2009 so not new to this.
The taste I am getting now can only be compared to getting a mouth full of hairspray. Maybe some gremlins are soaking brussel sprouts in my mixes at night
I will keep trying.