Is your DYI juice as good as premium/boutique/gourmet juice?

[lirruping]

I'm considering doing DIY juices and among the millions of questions I have is to wonder whether, with sufficient time & effort, I can hope to reproduce the results gotten by the manufacturers of the e-juices people *really* love.

So I'd like to hear back from DIY'ers about their opinions of their own juice. Do you think pretty much anyone can make great juices--assuming they are willing to put in the effort and have in-tact faculties, etc--or is it something only a talented few can pull off? Are you perfectly happy with your home-made products or do you still buy a bottle of "X" once in a while as a special treat?

Edit: By the way, I'm not asking about clones, per se. I'm really interested in your OWN juices, and how they compare quality-wise in your opinion to the best of professional juices as opposed to how well you can duplicate a flavor combination.

 

[Fenario]

Well, I love my own mixes. They are tailored to my own taste. I can say they are easily as good as pre made in my own opinion. I would say give it a try and see what you think.

 

[WillyZee]

I know my DIY Boston Cream Pie is absolutely horrible tasting ... however, it does rival some of the more premium shoe polishes on the market today

 

[lirruping]

I know my DIY Boston Cream Pie is absolutely horrible tasting ... however, it does rival some of the more premium shoe polishes on the market today

ROFLMAO...

(that little picture is of me, btw, having combusted from ROTF-related friction)

 

[lirruping]

Well, I love my own mixes. They are tailored to my own taste. I can say they are easily as good as pre made in my own opinion. I would say give it a try and see what you think.

I plan to! I think it's mostly a matter of getting the confidence going to make the initial investment. I've done some fiddling around with my pre-made juices and had a range of results from totally un-usable to tolerable to fantastic yummy. I never know exactly what I'm doing & have a hard time reproducing the good flavors I make, since I'm just pouring tiny amounts into tanks to do my mixing.

That reminds me of another question I have: is there any steep time involved when mixing pre-made juices? I sometimes seem to notice them changing over time--just a little time, I mean, inside the tank, over a few hours sometimes.

 

[Hoosier]

Nope. Mine is better.

Well, there are some flavors that I'm not good with, but I have it covered. I know some of these mixers who have made a name for themselves with their specialty mixes. So, when we meet, I trade them a bottle of one of mine for one of theirs.

Then we argue over who's turn it is to buy a round and have long boring conversations about getting flavor just right and little weird things we do to get them just right. Then I'll oooo 'n ahhh over some mod that I don't have because I've never been much of a hardware guy. Well, I like the hardware, the hardware doesn't like my budget.

Actually getting together with other vapers is cool. Getting together with mixers is all kinds of fun. We all have great stories of mixes gone wrong. Making horrible juice is part of making great juice. And it's always fantastic when a new-ish mixer has crafted something ,completely different and wonderful, and you get a chance to sample it. That gets the creative juices flowing again.

It's a great hobby. Nobody can mix exactly to your taste but you.
Sent by big fingers on a tiny phone via Tapatalk

 

[keonee]

After having some pretty awful store bought e-liquid I started DIY. I was very apprehensive but after mixing it up I had to laugh...it was so easy and just takes minutes to do.

I really enjoy DIY....I make it for my preferences.., flavor, vapor and nicotine.

I'd have a hard time giving DIY up....I've been so satisfied with my e-liquids.

Good Luck to You!!!

 

[Towmotor]

Mine are not as good as the premium flavours I have purchased....yet. I'm still learning. The main thing is my attempts so far have all been perfectly vapable and keep me away from cigarettes just as thoroughly as store bought. Won't be selling any of mine for profit any time soon tho, lol.

 

[lirruping]

This is wonderful feedback -- exactly what I was hoping for. Thanks everyone for contributing.

I would love to know more (er, any, vapers personally. I think there must be someone on my little rock who is also interested--I just have to track them down and suck them into what is rapidly becoming my obsessive world of flavor consumption. I catch myself sitting, staring into space for long periods of time, just enjoying my vape--maybe more than I would food at times, which is really saying something.

I'm staying with my mother at the moment, who sits by, perfectly satisfied puffing on her White Clouds, and shooting me irritated glances as I read and vape and mix up my little potions and mumble to myself. She's like: "Isn't your life already complicated ENOUGH?" She doesn't get the potential for it to be a real art form and for some reason actually finds it distasteful that I'm taking such an interest. I suppose it could have something to do with concerns that my evil laboratory will take over her kitchen...

 

[glasseye]

Honestly, I like mine better. I've ordered a bunch of premium liquids and wondered what all the fuss was about. There is one I buy for me that includes a NET than I can't clone but a 30ml bottle lasts me months so I don't stress over it.
Big reasons why I love DIY-
Never running out of e-liquids or waiting on the mailman
Stepping down nic if and when I want and tailoring nic levels to different devices <<<huge plus for me
It's a LOT of fun

 

[DenaInWyo]

One of the things that kept me from taking the plunge for a long time was the fear that I would end up with a bunch of MBV quality juice. I'm sorry to the folks out there that like them, but I just do not.

I've been at it about two months. I have two flavors so far that I would put up against pretty much anyone's "premium" stuff. One is my own creation and the other is a tweak on a recipe from here. I have 4-5 others that are pretty darned good already but works in progress. I think that's good progress for two months. Could NOT have come this far without this forum, by a long shot.

And have I mentioned I'm having a blast?

 

[dopamine1]

Not even close. But I just started. Will take a while to make some good recipes.

 

[DenaInWyo]

I'm staying with my mother at the moment, who sits by, perfectly satisfied puffing on her White Clouds, and shooting me irritated glances as I read and vape and mix up my little potions and mumble to myself. She's like: "Isn't your life already complicated ENOUGH?" She doesn't get the potential for it to be a real art form and for some reason actually finds it distasteful that I'm taking such an interest. I suppose it could have something to do with concerns that my evil laboratory will take over her kitchen...

My mom and I are roomies too. She has never smoked, but took up vaping (in her words "Because I am 63 years old and CAN."). Funny thing is, as obsessed with juice as I am, she is with hardware. Holy mod collection batman. But then, she's always had a small electronic gadget problem. I think she was the first person in the state with a personal paper shredder.

Edited to add, before anyone gets their knickers in a twist, she vapes 0mg.

 

[JohnnyDill]

I started vaping {and quit smoking} with Halo tobacco flavors. However, what I am making now tastes noticeably better by comparison. I'm NOT going back.

 

[coalyard]

I have 3-4 recipes that are better. It takes some time to learn and develop them. I have mixed hundreds of flavors since I started 8 months ago, and as I said, I can legitimately claim 3-4 better than premium. Most of what I am mixing now is better than run-of-the-mill stuff though.

 

[28if]

To mimic some of the responses here - I never really found a vender juice that i just had to have all the time. I have spent hundreds on samples from every juice maker out there and all I ever found was 'just ok'. Nothing stellar.

After reading everything on ECF pertaining to mixing I bit the bullet and placed a couple of orders for Nic, flavors, etc.

I see no need to go back to buying store bought juice. Its easy enough to make something pleasant.

 

[CryoGen]

Once I saw that I could make my own e-juice I knew I was going to do it. The main thing to do is prepare. Read, read, read, then read some more. Hoosier and Dannyv45 both have good information in their blogs and there are tons of posts about how to do whatever. I made sure I had everything I needed before I started. That includes safety equipment. I went in knowing that my first few attempts were probably going to be not so good. Basically, just do it. What I lost in juice I gained in experience. I've only been mixing for a few months but I'm confident in my ability now. There was and is a lot of fiddling with recipes to get them right for me.

As others have said, I mix for myself so what I make works for me. I don't really compare what I make to anything or anyone else. If I like it that's all that matters. I have several recipes that are just single flavors that taste great to me. I'm still learning every time I mix. I've been making multi-flavor recipes my last 2 mixing sessions and some came out great the first time and others needed tweaking. I always start low with flavors and add as needed.

Good luck! There are lots of good people here that will help if you run into issues.

 

[dannyv45]

With practice your mixes can be better then store bought juice. It just takes practice. I have many mixes I make that I prefer over store bought. I have store bought laying around to every once in a while remind me that what I make is better when my mixing isn't going as well as I hoped.

 

[mwjones]

I bought some store bought juice when I bought my starter kit, just so that I would have some juice to vape while my diy stuff was steeping for a bit. Almost turned me right off of vaping. High (for me) PG content, relatively flavorless juice that burned my throat. Just gross. I soldiered through. and when I ran out of that stuff (waste not want not) I started in on my "mixes," mostly straight up fruit flavors, some simple coffee and cream caramel and mint experiments, and for the most part, they were all quite vapable. The only thing I had trouble with was a bottle of ry4 that absolutely ruins every other flavor it is mixed with.

 

[zoiDman]

Is your DYI juice as good as premium/boutique/gourmet juice?

Yes... Yes it is.

But let me preface this by saying that None of My recipes were on the First Mix. And All of them Require painstaking adjustments to get them to the Point that I wanted them.

I don't know too many people who Start Off with a 3 ~ 7 Flavor Recipe and Nail it the First Go Around.