Mixing ingredients

[Skreech]

I seem to find myself asking questions all the time...lol

Does nicotine have an adverse effect on the flavour of eliquid? If so, is there a way to reduce this in the way that you mix the ingredients?

I've just recently tried my hand at home made juices and my Banana and Coffee effort at 9mg was quite reasonable. But my Strawberry and Bavarian Cream effort at 18mg tasted like cardboard.

 

[Letitia]

Bavarian cream needs a steep, I would guess that is you problem.

 

[bombastinator]

Depends on what nic you buy. If you get the yellow stuff that smells like an ash tray it’s going to have an old tobacco hint to it. If you buy the clear stuff there should be no major flavor change. The way to arrange an improvement of course is to use the clear stuff instead

 

[AzPlumber]

Nicotine does NOT taste like cardboard.

 

[stols001]

Unless you are going crazy high in nicotine I doubt it will affect your mix, and if it does, it's kind of a peppery/harsh taste. I am going to agree that Bavarian crème needs a steep, and honestly, I'd expect a hint of strawberry taste, but I don't know-- I loathe fake strawberry flavor, so I don't use it. But berries generally only require a rapid steep-- in fact the first time I mixed Forest Berry mix (FA) I had to cut it with a LOT of brandy (sour tasting brandy) and a hint of chocolate to even get it vapable it was so sweet and overpowering. Maybe give that one a few days, and then depending on what's happening, you might need to add more/add some sweetener (just the tiniest bit!) or even another flavor like cotton candy or marshmallow (both naturally sweet) to give it some background flavor.

BTW-- this is EXACTLY how I started mixing. Single flavors that I'd steep for a while, then amend as needed and it's a great way to learn flavoring profiles. I mixed up 15 3 flavor, with SOME sweetener in some, and they all turned out almost exactly as I had planned, which was fantastic. Once you learn what your palate likes with what, you will be much more confident. I prefer that to cloning a recipe but that certainly does have it's place. Let them hang out for a bit, vape and see what you taste, and what you need to add.

I suppose it is possible that nicotine could mute some flavors, but I don't see it as super likely, and though 18 nic seems high, it's really not high enough that it should be affecting flavor much unless it's older nic.

Best of luck

Anna

 

[jambi]

I seem to find myself asking questions all the time...lol

Does nicotine have an adverse effect on the flavour of eliquid? If so, is there a way to reduce this in the way that you mix the ingredients?

I've just recently tried my hand at home made juices and my Banana and Coffee effort at 9mg was quite reasonable. But my Strawberry and Bavarian Cream effort at 18mg tasted like cardboard.

Not knowing what kind of nic you're using, but at 18 mg I'd wager that's largely irrelevant. Absolutely, at 18 mg nicotine will adversely affect flavors. With lower quality nic, flavor degradation could start as low as 6 mg. But don't take my word for it, mix your Strawberry and cream without nic and see for yourself.

Stands to reason, the way to reduce it is to reduce the nicotine. There should be a flood of folks here soon who will advise you of their favorite expensive high quality nicotine salts, and how smooth it is even at 18 mg. They might be right. You can give their advice a go. You can try Nude Nicotine Smooth Nicotine Salts. They swear they've figured out how to mask the throat hit of nicotine, but I get throat hit from it even at 6 mg. It's a nice smooth throat hit, but it's there. Granted, I'm a 3 mg vaper and have been for a couple years now, so maybe I'm just super sensitive.

 

[zoiDman]

...

Does nicotine have an adverse effect on the flavour of eliquid? If so, is there a way to reduce this in the way that you mix the ingredients?

...

It can. It can Also be a Beneficial in some Mixes.

My TastyFinger Clone Variants actually taste Better when I use an Older, Fully Oxidized, Nicotine Base. That Nicotine Base has a Slightly Bitter taste to it. Which goes very well in that family of recipes.

Whereas for my Fruit Mixes, a Clean as fresh snow Nicotine Base tastes the Best.

 

[stols001]

To be fair, I've only ever mixed with Nic Salts, so I could be totally underestimating the effects of the nic, and I've only ever mixed at 18 percent. So Jambi could be entirely correct. I do have Nude Nicotine's smooth nic salts and they are exactly that. I can taste the nic, but not a huge amount which is fine by me since when I showed up here my throat was so messed up, "throat hit" was not high on my list of desirable things.... But, I didn't find that storebought 18 mg "regular" nic was particularly harsh, either. Whether that is masked by the sheer amount of flavorings, I don't know, I mean I got a throat hit, but it didn't taste of what I associated as "nic" so much. Maybe I lack sensitivity to nic, though....

Anna

 

[Skreech]

I did leave both brews for about 10 days before trying them out.

The nic I use is clear 72mg in 100% vg. Now I'm thinking that putting your pg based concentrates in the mixing jar first, then adding 72mg nic, then adding vg and pg to get the percentages right could be the wrong way of going about it. Maybe tipping 10ml of 72mg nic onto 8ml of pg based concentrate before adding 6ml of pg and 16ml of vg and shaking it all about could actually spoil the taste.

Maybe its better to mix the concentrate with the pg and vg first before adding the nic.

I cant actually remember which way I did it which is why I asked if the way you mix ingredients can affect the taste. Because I'm new at this I don't really know. I just plug what I want into an online calculator and follow the results. It doesn't tell me which to put in first.

It's all a big learning curve and I'm very grateful for being in such a helpful and knowledgeable community.

Back to the drawing board......lol

 

[zoiDman]

...

Maybe its better to mix the concentrate with the pg and vg first before adding the nic.

...

I Don't think it really matters what Order you mix in.

But that's the Cool thing about DIY. Doing Side-by-Side tests to see if it does.

 

[dc99]

The first thing I add is the flavorings. That way if you make a mistake you havent lost much. Then add PG (if you use it) and give it a swirl. Then VG and last is nic. What were your percentages of strawberry an BC and what brand? By the way, there are quite a few people that cant taste SB. Try it alone and see

 

[AzPlumber]

20% flavoring may be the issue.

 

[Skreech]

Strawberry was 10%. BC was 10% both Global Hub. I didn't realise some people couldn't taste strawberry.

 

[DaveP]

A little over a year ago I tapered down in nic from 24mg to 3mg while buying vendor juices. Then, I started to DIY and ordered a couple of liters of 100mg nic base. I've been vaping on the first liter for about 15 months now and it's turned an fairly dark amber shade. I don't detect any harshness in the vape even with the oxidation that's taken place.

If you want to find out what your nic tastes like, mix up a bottle of unflavored nic at your normal nic percentage, shake it well and let it sit for a day, and then vape it. You will see how your nic tastes in your normal nic level without the flavorings. You can always add flavor to that mix later.

Most of us vape unflavored pretty often. I vape a tank of unflavored almost every day. It gives the taste buds a break and it's a good vape with a slightly sweet tone. It's easy to add flavor if you want to.

 

[dc99]

Strawberry was 10%. BC was 10% both Global Hub. I didn't realise some people couldn't taste strawberry.

Since Im not familiar with global hub I wont say thats a lot of flavoring but with TFA or Cap and so on that would be almost double. BC takes a while to smooth out. Wait a week and try it again. You got a link to the flavors?

 

[JCinFLA]

I have a few recipes that I make for myself and several friends that have TFA Strawberry Ripe at 9%, along with a few other secondary and accent flavorings in them that are each at lower %. I don't use TFA Strawberry at that high a % though, because it has ethyl alcohol in it that needs to be evaporated off before vaping it. Otherwise it definitely adversely affects the taste of the mix.

Maybe the Global Hub Strawberry also has ethyl alcohol in it that's causing the "off" taste?

Or, the off taste could be caused by too much BC. Since the Strawberry is usually used as a primary flavoring in recipes, and the Bavarian Cream is usually used as a secondary flavoring...I'd recommend using the BC at about 1/2 the % of the Strawberry, if you make a new batch to try it. I'd also recommend making only a 5-10mL batch until you get 1 that really suits your tastes.

IF your Strawberry flavoring has ethyl alcohol in it, and you don't want to toss your mix you made...I'd let it breathe for a couple days...with the cap off, after you give it a really good shaking. Try it again then and see if there's any taste difference.

 

[Skreech]

IF your Strawberry flavoring has ethyl alcohol in it, and you don't want to toss your mix you made...I'd let it breathe for a couple days...with the cap off, after you give it a really good shaking. Try it again then and see if there's any taste difference.

Thanks for that. I am letting it breathe for a few days. If there is no improvement then I will just chuck it and make a note of what NOT to do in the future...lol

 

[Skreech]

Quick update. I tried it again but in my Siren V2 MTL tank and it tastes better. Cant taste much strawberry but definitely get the cream side of it. It is actually vapeable now without screwing my face up.
I did also mix some strawberry concentrate in with some VG but no nic, which I am standing for a few days with the lid off. I can smell the strawberry, and taste it on my tongue, but can I taste it through the vape? I'll find out in a few days.

 

[dc99]

Another problem with a lot of SB's is the maltol. It actually starts to mute at higher percentages. When I test flavors I make at least three batches. Generally 2%,4% and 6% to get an idea of how strong it is. I see recipes sometimes with 18-20% SB and the odd part is that it would be twice as pronounced at 7-8. All flavors top out at some point

 

[NGAHaze]

Unless your flavoring is known to have ethyl alcohol as a carrier, I don't subscribe to the steeping with the cap off camp personally. If it does include it, I might let it sit overnight to dissipate some of that alcohol but not for days ... I prefer to keep the other flavoring molecules intact as much as possible myself.