Huge problem with LA watermelon

[Moneyball]

Okay, so I've been DIY'ing for a long time now, and love watermelon jolly rancher. I've been making a mix for a while that I sell and people love. I vape it often and just recently either my taste buds have changed, or it's all in my head.

My girlfriend said she thought the watermelon jolly rancher mix I've been using tasted like soap... like mr bubbles. LOL. I have always loved it and other people liked it too (and so did she)... and ever since she said that I keep tasting soap!

I've tried changing it up a bit thinking that maybe I had too much flavoring.

Latest mix was 8% watermelon, with 3% sweet and tart from TFA. 40/60

Added 3 drops of lemon juice... still tastes like soap. Am I losing my mind? LOL.

Looking for any advice out there. I'm going to keep my existing recipe as long as the majority of my customers like it, but I need something for ME!

 

[Jimi D.]

Man, go with Flavor West Watermelon. Tastes just like a jolly rancher. You'll probably won't be able to mask the soap. I had problems with soapy blueberry flavors in the past. Mr. Bubbles soaped my lungs and buds no matter what I did. LOL !!!!

 

[Moneyball]

Man, go with Flavor West Watermelon. Tastes just like a jolly rancher. You'll probably won't be able to mask the soap. I had problems with soapy blueberry flavors in the past. Mr. Bubbles soaped my lungs and buds no matter what I did. LOL !!!!

I have in the past used FW watermelon and it tasted like stale bread to me. I've tried almost every watermelon flavor out there and LA has always been the best to me. I'm wondering if it is actually the sweet and tart that is making the soapy taste. I just made another bottle with no sweet and tart mixed in and the flavor is better for sure but it's lacking the jolly rancher taste with it.

I would for sure like the find a better watermelon flavor in general because of the color LA has in it but I don't like anything else I've tried!

I think your issue with blueberry is exactly what I'm going through with the watermelon now.

There's a watermelon jolly rancher flavor at a local B&M I'd like to replicate as well but haven't been able to come close yet. It's a very light flavor, like I could probably use 1% LA watermelon and it would be about the same in flavor, but it seems like the candy taste is what I'm struggling with. I have a lot of candy flavors that I make and I don't have this problem but for some reason the watermelon is really giving me trouble all of a sudden. I've thought about adding a bit of EM to see if that would do the trick, maybe I'll give that a shot next.

Any other suggestions?

 

[Jimi D.]

What brand of nic base do you use ? This is important.

 

[Moneyball]

I change up the nicotine sometimes, this round of stuff is from MFS since they had a special on the liters, I ordered 18 liters, I'm already down to my final gallon and a half or so. I don't think it is a nicotine problem though since it's the same problem even with 0 nic and it is ONLY this flavor. I'm not sure of the quality, some bottles were definitely a little yellow but the nicotine itself is almost colorless when bottling. No smell at all


Had a bonfire last night and sold a few more to friends that came and they all loved it. I'm no chemist.. I'm sure there are many here that know much more than I do but I've never had a problem before. Some kinks in a few recipes but I always worked it out. This, though, is mindboggling and only a recent issue.

I've tried it with higher % of pg.... higher % of Vg... actually, I've done it with 100% VG, and 70 PG/30VG. I've tried it with 0 nicotine... I'm lost. LOL

Is it possible there's too much flavoring, even at 8%?

 

[Jimi D.]

I use Vapers Tek nic. The stuff is completely neutral. But if you tried it at 0 nic there is a good possibility the flavoring is too much. I used to vape TFA Watermelon at 5% with Wizard Labs nic with decent results. I never had much luck using malic acid. It seemed to gunk up a coil pretty quickly for me.

 

[Moneyball]

I just tried another bottle, lowering the watermelon to 4%, and used some EM, about 4%(3.9% or somewhere in between) with 2% sour and it turned out really well so far. Definitely not what I was going, I have a cotton candy taste and wanted the EM to kind of smooth out the flavor a bit. I will definitely keep this recipe and continue to vape it.

I guess my next step will be 3% watermelon 1% EM and 1% sweet & tart. I'll figure this out eventually... hopefully before running out of supplies lol.

I don't know how all these people are using 20-30% flavoring...

 

[Jimi D.]

I just tried another bottle, lowering the watermelon to 4%, and used some EM, about 4%(3.9% or somewhere in between) with 2% sour and it turned out really well so far. Definitely not what I was going, I have a cotton candy taste and wanted the EM to kind of smooth out the flavor a bit. I will definitely keep this recipe and continue to vape it.

I guess my next step will be 3% watermelon 1% EM and 1% sweet & tart. I'll figure this out eventually... hopefully before running out of supplies lol.

I don't know how all these people are using 20-30% flavoring...

I agree man. We're vaping chemicals not food ! LOL !!!!