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

[Cullin Kin]

A lot of it is in the flavors you buy. I've been through quite a few flavor companies who were just horrible and obviously those juices cane out nasty. I just recently found two flavor companies that are awesome. Flavour Art and Capella (my goodness is Capella's vanilla custard amazing!). DIY juice is easy, and once you finally find the right flavors, it is simple to trump brand X e-juice.

 

[xxJollyRogerxx]

I am just a few months into DIY but i must say that the majority of my mixes blow away most places. I just love my Tiger's Blood and i have tried at least 5 others and mine is the best by far.

To be honest, it is all down to how good the flavorings are. It is like cooking in that way good ingredients = good meal. Some vendors flavoring are just horrible and others are awesome so always start with good ingredients and you get good results ... well mostly

 

[zoiDman]

I am just a few months into DIY but i must say that the majority of my mixes blow away most places. I just love my Tiger's Blood and i have tried at least 5 others and mine is the best by far.

...

[OFFTOPIC]

What is Tiger Blood? I have seen that name Many Times but have never figured it out.

Can you Post or PM your Recipe? TY.

[/OFFTOPIC]

 

[DeadElvis]

I've only been diy mixing for three months and I very much prefer my own mixes to anything I've ever bought in a store or ordered online. I am fortunate in that I prefer simple flavors so single flavor fruit or mint mixes (I use TFA) with a touch of sweetener and menthol and I am good to go. I've only had one 8ml batch that I had to pour out since I started (Root Beer). My only multi-flavor mix (Black Cherry - Cola) is a personal favorite. The recipes are saved on my phone ejuice app and I can make as much as I want whenever I want at any nic strength.

They may not be able to even stand on the same stage as so-called "premium" juices but they are great to me.

 

[Lurch]

I DIY and buy commercial juice. I like to mix it up with my juices and typically use four different juices per day. Two of four that currently in my mix are my own creations. I believe they are as good or better then a lot of commercial flavors.

 

[xxJollyRogerxx]

[OFFTOPIC]

What is Tiger Blood? I have seen that name Many Times but have never figured it out.

Can you Post or PM your Recipe? TY.

[/OFFTOPIC]

It is Watermelon, Strawberry and Coconut.
Named after a shaved ice recipe (I had no idea until a friend told me) and makes you immortal according to Charlie Sheen!
I will PM you the recipe tonight when I am home.

 

[zoiDman]

It is Watermelon, Strawberry and Coconut.
Named after a shaved ice recipe (I had no idea until a friend told me) and makes you immortal according to Charlie Sheen!
I will PM you the recipe tonight when I am home.

That is Dragon Blood? LOL

That's funny because Years Ago someone gave me some Rawr e-Liquid because they said they Didn't Like it.

I tried it. And it was Very Good. It was a Strawberry/Coconut blend. But what was Weird is I'm Not a big fan of Coconut. But it Really went Well Together.

But there was One Taste in it I Couldn't put my finger. After 4 or 5 Test Mixes with Different Flavors, I Finally found what it was.

Watermelon.

 

[xxJollyRogerxx]

That is Dragon Blood? LOL

That's funny because Years Ago someone gave me some Rawr e-Liquid because they said they Didn't Like it.

I tried it. And it was Very Good. It was a Strawberry/Coconut blend. But what was Weird is I'm Not a big fan of Coconut. But it Really went Well Together.

But there was One Taste in it I Couldn't put my finger. After 4 or 5 Test Mixes with Different Flavors, I Finally found what it was.

Watermelon.

Dragon's Blood has Dragon Fruit in it. I haven't looked onto that as I don't have the DF flavor but they are different ... animals!
The coconut is supposed to be in the background and not a forefront flavor

 

[zoiDman]

Dragon's Blood has Dragon Fruit in it. I haven't looked onto that as I don't have the DF flavor but they are different ... animals!
The coconut is supposed to be in the background and not a forefront flavor

Yeah... Mine is kinda a Hint of Coconut. More of a Texture and After Taste.

Dragon Fruit is Something I have been meaning to try for a Long Time. But it seems that Every Time I do an order, I forget to throw one in the Cart.

And I'm Too Cheap to Pay Shipping to just buy 1 Bottle of Flavor when I do Remember it.

 

[wallacecarey]

You dont have to vape for long before you discover that good commercial juices are few and far between. With just a little trial and error you can make juices at least as good probably better than the stuff you over paying for.

 

[lirruping]

A lot of it is in the flavors you buy. I've been through quite a few flavor companies who were just horrible and obviously those juices cane out nasty. I just recently found two flavor companies that are awesome. Flavour Art and Capella (my goodness is Capella's vanilla custard amazing!). DIY juice is easy, and once you finally find the right flavors, it is simple to trump brand X e-juice.

I'm curious about which flavors to avoid, actually. Everyone seems to like TPA/TFA, and I am impressed by their website--for whatever that's worth. I am compiling a list of companies (who knew there were so many?!) but can only evaluate them through others for now. Is it bad manners to ask you to speak aloud the names of the flavor vendors you don't like? If so, please feel free to PM me. It's an old song, I know, but I don't have the money to be making big mistakes.

 

[lirruping]

And have I mentioned I'm having a blast?

I'm glad you did mention that--it seems to be a common theme in this thread--in this forum. And I can start to see why. It's fun just thinking about DIY for me. Imagining all the endless possibilities. The math side of it, the money side, and making sure I have proper equipment are a little intimidating as I might have already said, but as someone else advised, "read, read, and read some more". There is definitely a lot of support online for this endeavor--and here in particular.

I hesitate to admit it, but I am even having fantasies about starting my own business--bringing vaping to this little town, designing cool logos and flavor names... basically becoming a vaping SUPERSTAR!

 

[lirruping]

You look truly happy about it in your photo, too

Editing to say that this was in response to JeffDill's post.

 

[lirruping]

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.

I bet our moms would hit it right off. She's also onto this "I'm old and can do whatever I want" thing. And, hey, maybe your mom could get mine more interested in vaping. (If only they weren't on opposite sides of the country..heh). Whatever my mom has against vaping on the level of an interest/hobby is perplexing to me coz she's always prided herself on being mechanically able, to some extent fixing her own cars, plumbing and whatnot. And thrifty? Whoo! I really thought that aspect of it would appeal to her. .

 

[DingerCPA]

Hey lirruping! I'm just getting started in DIY. I'm just doing simple stuff right now (although I am trying to work on a Castle Long clone...) Fruits and cream or fruits and mints. Combinations of vanillas. I have some candy flavors and coffee flavors I'm still trying to figure out what to do with.

I did manage to come up with a decent Maple Nut Goodie (love the candy, and liked my B&M version - after it sat for a few weeks ) I'm a little impatient and want to vape what I make. So far, I only have had one questionable mix. Everything else is vapeable, but I haven't made a huge time investment either. If I can save some money, that's an important factor for me. If I stumble upon something spectacular, that's merely a bonus

:edit: I have CAP, FA, and LA flavorings right now. I need to grab a couple more to get more proper ingredients to try my next attempt at my CL clone, and I think they're TFA. I'm quite happy with all that I have. Just trying to learn the proportions for each one. I have a couple butterscotches, for example, and I'm thinking I may need slightly different ratios because of the different bases.

 

[shroomalistic]

so far with me DIY'ing Ive made an 8oz bottle of some fantastic vanilla cream custard. Just took one of the recipes from here and tweaked it a bit. Also Ive been waiting over 2 months for some mrs t's snickerdoodles and in the mean time I made a 4oz batch of it from Str8v8pe's recipe. Glad I did too cause its awesome. Not sure what to try next but im excited. Thinking I might try mothers milk or a strawberry cheese cake.

I still plan on purchasing e-liquids just to try out new stuff and if I like them I will try to replicate them. Next on my list is Boba's and H1N1

 

[DenaInWyo]

I bet our moms would hit it right off. She's also onto this "I'm old and can do whatever I want" thing. And, hey, maybe your mom could get mine more interested in vaping. (If only they weren't on opposite sides of the country..heh). Whatever my mom has against vaping on the level of an interest/hobby is perplexing to me coz she's always prided herself on being mechanically able, to some extent fixing her own cars, plumbing and whatnot. And thrifty? Whoo! I really thought that aspect of it would appeal to her. .

I don't think I could ever add thrifty to my mom's list of qualities She does not like to ever buy ANYthing used..not cars, not thrift shops..nope and nope. She is a really smart shopper though and likes to research before buying. She's more knowledgeable about vaping hardware than the vast majority of people who work in the shops here in town. I get my 'taking the hobby to the extreme' from her lol

Yeah, too bad they weren't close by though, she'd love to sell your mom on vaping..she likes sharing her hobby too!

This thread has given me a random though. I think that most vendors come up with recipes for the juice they sell based on what tastes good to them..same as we do for ourselves. I think that's why most of it tastes mediocre to us..and we like our own better. It's kind of rare for one juice to take off really universally. Mother's Milk is one I can think of..I don't see many who don't like it. Unicorn juices like that are few and far between.

And yes, I have daydreams of having a wonderful vape shop someday, but they are just that, daydreams. What would be more likely for me someday is to have a few friends and friends of friends that want to buy ejuice from me to help support my hobby. That's way down the road though. Just think, if the FDA drives us down to black marketing, I could be like a drug dealer or something On an Avon lady scale lol

 

[lirruping]

This thread has given me a random though. I think that most vendors come up with recipes for the juice they sell based on what tastes good to them..same as we do for ourselves. I think that's why most of it tastes mediocre to us..and we like our own better. It's kind of rare for one juice to take off really universally. Mother's Milk is one I can think of..I don't see many who don't like it. Unicorn juices like that are few and far between.

I'm happy to be the catalyst for any random thoughts. We could all use more of them.
I bet you're right. I was just looking at Vapetrik (by youtube guy Riptripper) juices and it seems likely he started out that way, with no master plan--just one step at a time, learning first for himself and moving step by step toward retail. Possibly even with an avon-lady phase in between.

DenainWyo said:
"And yes, I have daydreams of having a wonderful vape shop someday, but they are just that, daydreams. What would be more likely for me someday is to have a few friends and friends of friends that want to buy ejuice from me to help support my hobby. That's way down the road though. Just think, if the FDA drives us down to black marketing, I could be like a drug dealer or something ... "

PERISH THE THOUGHT!
(only about the FDA, I mean).

 

[ForeverDiving]

I didn't think so but as of tonight I can honestly answer that YES!.

I'm not a fan of artificial flavorings and the only commercial liquid made from essences that I used to regularly buy is Halo Tribeca. A few months ago, thanks to a recipe kindly posted here, I managed to clone the stuff at a fraction (5%) of the going price. After three slight adjustments to the recipe, I prefer my stuff to the commercial.

Now, that said, I've been a fan of NETs from the very beginning and after trying several manufacturers I settled with the fine products of Naturally Extracted Tobacco. I thought my NETs, while good were not par with theirs. Tonight I dripped side by side two of their Heat Extracted juices with my analogues; Balkan and Black Cavendish. Set up 4 Nemmies topped with 2 Origen and 2 Helios. All dual coiled at 1.1Ω with cotton. Dripped the Origens with the Black Cavs and the Helios with the Balkans. In both cases, the blind taster (my wife) chose my juices as better tasting. I think so too.

Much as I like some of the juices of www.Naturally-Extracted-Tobacco.com that I won't try to copy (like Rum Rebellion and Chris' Blend), I think that the ones I'm doing like my Black Cavendish and the Balkan (actually extracted from Samuel Gawith's Perfection) are made from superior ingredients. Other of my NETs like GLP Haddo's Delight, Stanwell Melange and Davidoff Zino's Danish Blend have no commercial equivalent.

A few hours ago I cooked a cigar extract made from some Robustos rolled specially for me by an Ixtapa aficionado manufacturer (the brand is Valle de la Iguana). I cut the front half of a cigar whose wrapper was a bit roughed. It's extracting its second heath as I write this. Already filled the kitchen with a rich fine humidor aroma.

In sum, yes, I believe my juices are better than commercial if not for anything else, because of the raw materials used. I don't intend to profit or even economize, and the techniques are simple enough that anyone can do them.

 

[ForeverDiving]

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.

I quit cigarettes 34 years ago but kept smoking the ocassional pipe —one or two a week– and was not addicted to nicotine nor inhaled the pipe smoke. I kept a fairly stocked cigar humidor too but mainly for friends as I prefer an introspective pipe to a boisterous cigar. Came into vaping by trying to be an old Boy Scout, buying ecigs for a sis-in-law and a comadre who smoked two packs a day. Holding their vitrual hands through the initial break in process I found an interesting hobby in vaping, as satisfactory and involved as pipe smoking.

Today only a few months from the last paragraph events (February), I've became a vape honcho with a nice mod, mech, DIY box VW mods, tank, RBA and RDA collection. I vape on my DIY's and NET's 99% of the time and as of three months ago, started building my own mods. I vape 0 nic (usually) or 5‰ on the outside when flavor so demands.

As your wise mom said, I do it because I like it, I'm 67 and I can —even tho the corrupt and perverse governments are trying to take it from us.