My DIY juices suck. Advice appreciated.

[Boodle]

We're following recipes I find on ECF and the juice Me Up databases. Hubby is doing the mixing, I keep the notebook. He's freakishly exact. The cake batter is pretty good but cloying after 30 minutes or so. vape wizard helped that one very much. The rest are so bad that I poured them down the drain. We're making 3ml batches so it's not that big of a waste, just frustrating.

Is there a list of recipes DIYers vote for where I can find the most popular recipes? I'm trying the easy ones requiring 2 or three flavors, getting the brand of flavors the submitter used.

Do some people have weird tastebuds? I've tried 200 commercial juices and decided on DIY after only finding three or four I kind-of enjoy. I tend to vape the faves too much and burn out on them.

Finally, is there any way to cleanse your tastebuds like your palate? Mine are spazzed. Pardon the whine but thanks very much to anyone that can help. I promise to pay it forward when I get it figured out.

 

[caged]

No experience, but when following the recipies, are you using the same brand or brands of flavors?

 

[vocr]

DIY is all about trial and error. To "reset" my taste buds and also to return an atty to neutral, I drop 4-6 drops of pure VG into the atty and vape till gone. I would recommend you start out with a simple 1 flavor juice that you produce and tastes good. This is simply because you will find a method that works for you.

For example, plenty of people say they use a hot water bath/microwave and vape right away. For me, this only works when I am testing out really small amounts (less than 1ml sized). When I make anything larger, I really need to let it sit overnight otherwise it tastes like crap.

I have also found that very few recipes I have followed exactly tasted great to me right off. Most I need to spend time tweaking recipes to get a good result for my taste. Which is the point of DIY, as well, to tailor juices for yourself .

I like the idea of a site where people can vote on recipes! Wish there was something like that.

 

[keelalagirl55]

I have 3 palate cleansers that seem to work for me. 1) minty vapes...peppermint especially 2) carbonated water....such as perrier or seltzer 3)salt....tortilla chips, fritos, etc. Others have said chocolate works for them....even if it doesn't work for you, it's a great excuse to eat chocolate

As for following others recipes for their DIY.....DIY works the same as buying from a vendor....what works for one doesn't work for another, but +++1 to vocr....these recipes give a great starting point for you to tweak to your own taste.

Also, keep in mind that some flavors and flavor combinations do need time to steep to come into full flavor. Kinda like wine or my best example of the benefits of steeping is homemade chili or spaghetti sauce.....it always tastes better the next day Some things just need that time to blend well.

 

[MaxUT]

I think the best approach is to get some practice by mixing established recipes.
You've probably already been here: E-liquid Recipes. I've tried a number of these recipes and thought some of those to be very good, good enough to return to regularly.

Once you have some experience of flavor percentages and various combinations you can have more confidence in formulating your own juices.

Oh, and use good measuring tools and keep detailed notes on each batch. If it doesn't taste very good, let it sit a few days longer then try it again... sometimes it's not a steeping issue but your perception at the particular time you sample it.

 

[brittanyNI]

My advice is the opposite of most: go for complex flavors with nuance, and keep them fairly light.

If you think about it, the flavor profile of a cigarette is quite complex -- just look at the list of ingredients on the Philip Morris website. Yikes! For me anyway, for a vape to be satisfying for very long, it also requires some depth. Let me give you a couple of examples.

"Virginia Menthol" 6ml, 18mg/ml
PG Nicotine e-juice 60 mg -- 1.8ml
PG -- 0.9 ml
VG -- 2.3 ml
100-proof vodka -- 0.2 ml
Perfumer's Apprentice Menthol Drops -- 6 drops
The Flavor Apprentice, Creme de Menthe -- 6 drops
Blue Mist, Apple -- 3 drops
Blue Mist, Seedman's Virginia Fire-Cured -- 4 drops
The Flavor Apprentice, Honeysuckle -- 1d

"Strawberry Seduction" 6ml, 15mg/ml
PG Nicotine e-juice 60 mg -- 1.5 ml
PG -- 1.5 ml
VG -- 2.4 ml
100 proof vodka -- .3 ml
Blue Mist, Menthol liquid -- 3d
Flavour Art Jamaican Rum -- 1d
The Flavor Apprentice, Cherry Blossom -- 2d
Flavour Art Strawberry -- 8d
Blue Mist, Rob's Blackjack -- 2d

I'd like to point out certain aspects of both recipes. Both have complex tobacco flavors at low concentrations. Both the Virginia Fire Cured and the Blackjack have a lot of nuance in and of themselves. I don't rely on a single flavoring component. For example, for "menthol" I use both menthol and creme de menthe, and I give it a slight apple twist for interest. For the strawberry, there is strawberry, but I warm it a bit with the rum plus give it breadth with the cherry. Both recipes also contain a floral component -- the Virginia menthol has a bit of honeysuckle and the strawberry has cherry blossom.

In musical terms you can think of the tobaccos and the rum as providing a repeating baseline, the main flavors (creme de menthe and strawberry) as providing the melody, the secondary fruits (apple and cherry) as providing a counterpoint and the florals (blossom and honeysuckle) as ruffles and flourishes.

You'd have to modify these for your own tastes. Most people, for example, need a slightly stronger concentration of tobacco than I use. Still, the overall principle is one you may find useful!

 

[Eddie.Willers]

Brittany - I'm impressed! Those are complex recipes in terms of adding smaller, nuanced amounts to a base flavor.
Did you arrive at that by trial and error?

To the OP - my own experience says that, because of "YMMV", trial and error is the only way to go. I tend to mix 10ml at a time and use just two basic flavors that I know I will like and will combine well. I always let the mixtures steep for a few days before trying them out - that takes patience - and I always expect to be disappointed to some degree (sometime I am, sometimes not).

Welcome to the fun world of DIY! Trying to replicate a commercial flavor can be a bit of a fool's errand but the journey is interesting...

 

[cookiebun]

It would help if you mentioned what brand of flavorings you are using and what you are trying to make.
My favorites are pretty simple; Capella Vanilla Cup Cake at 10%, 10% water, 50% PG the rest VG.
Flavour Art Hypnotic Mist, 11% flavoring, the rest as above.
Some flavorings can only be used used in small amounts others 3 times as much.

I believe Brittany has mentioned she's some sort of chemist and has a home lab.
Probably better for the rest of us to start a bit simple.

 

[markfm]

Yes, specific things you are interested in make it easier to recommend things. For instance I make a caramel cappuccino that is pretty decent, or a vanilla-banana-strawberry (vananaberry), or a firm tobacco, or a mellow tobacco, or...

 

[brittanyNI]

I believe Brittany has mentioned she's some sort of chemist and has a home lab.

Indeed, I have a pretty impressive lab at home. At least, for a home lab. Some of my gear is homemade, and I had my hubby help with some of it.

Still, e-liquid isn't that complicated. All I am applying here is stuff I learned in a class on how to use and combine spices, I've just adapted it.

 

[fray]

The problem I have with developing complex flavors is there are good and bad points to a lot of flavors. So soon you are chasing your tail trying to pull out the good part of one flavor and masking the bad part of the flavor. But then you try to calm down the bad part of the masking flavor. Pretty soon you have 5-6+ flavors.

My most successful flavors contain one or two flavors. Sucralose, malic acid, menthol, magic mask, etc are my juice "modifiers". They add to or modify a flavor without adding much of anything else. I have kind of a KISS (keep it simple stupid) philosophy on my juice mixing as well as with cooking food.

 

[markfm]

I'm another one in the three flavor maximum camp. I appreciate the nuances that others seek, successfully, but stay simple for my own brews.

 

[Boodle]

Thanks very much for the help. I vaped 0mg VG most of yesterday with nic fixes of 18mg VG with no flavor. My tastebuds are much better today. Much appreciated!

Plain VG is my best juice so far DIYing

We made recipes from ECF and Juice Me Up that included flavor brands including Capella, The Perfume/Flavour Apprentice, LorAnns and Flavour Art. We passed on recipes that didn't list the flavor brand.

I think we messed up with the base, adding flavors to nic bases before trying the recipes nic-free. We made the bases in 30 ml batches at 18mg using RTS Vape's 100mg PG nic, 30ml each of 18mg 80/20, 70/30, 60/40 and 50/50 PG/VG to match different recipes with those ratios.

The logic was that we'd get the dangerous 100mg nic mixing part out of the way, clean up, then have fun making 3ml batches from the bases he made.

My fave juices are Boba's, Gorilla Juice, JC Spiced Apple Cider and various vanillas. I would love to make a banana-tobacco and some nice vanilla juices that aren't too custard-creamy-overpowering. Thanks one more time for the fab help.

 

[vocr]

There are far more experienced DIYers than me around, but I do not find that mixing in the nic (in the correct amounts as per juice me up or whatnot) effects the taste much. It does have a huge impact on TH, of course.

If you are finding the taste is terrible, let it sit for a day (shaking it whenever you remember to) and try it again. For myself, if I don't give it at least a night, my juices all suck. Once I give it the night and it still sucks, I give it another day. If it still sucks, then it gets marked as a failure (I just put an X before the filename in Juice me up).

If you are pre-mixing bases, make sure you are correctly entering the percentage of PG/VG in juice me up.

Good luck!

 

[keelalagirl55]

One thing ya'll need to keep in mind.....tobacco flavors need much more time to sit to come to their fullest potential of flavor...as do the creamier kinda flavors such as vanillas. One or 2 days may not be enough time to give it a fair go. Fruity type flavors are the ones that need the least time if any at all to get a true flavor test.

DIY is a very fun and economical way to enhance your vaping experience, but it definitely takes patience...it is not an art that can be rushed and expect complete euphoric satisfaction.

 

[cookiebun]

Mix small batches (3ml) w/o nic first.

I took my 12mg base and diluted it to 3mg 70/30. I made up 250mls of that.
When I actually mix my liquids I use the 3mg 70/30 mix and dilute it to 1mg. I'm still getting the water, PG, VG ratio worked out for my big 3 ML cartos.

Capella's is generally good to start at about 10%.
There's lots of stuff in the stickies out ratios for LorAnn. Less stuff on FA and TPA.
I used Google Advanced to search ratios for those with "Search within a site or domain" qualifier "hXXp://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/diy-e-liquid/"

Most liquids taste better after they've steep a few days. Tobacco liquids need longer steep.
Chocolate, Vanilla and Tobaccos are challenging to mix well.
Good Luck.

 

[carpedebass]

For instance I make a caramel cappuccino that is pretty decent...

Pretty decent? Seriously? ...And king kong is a pretty big monkey...can you say "understatement?" Best. Juice. EVER!

 

[debb]

what I do is mix 2 mls for a test....keep notes for xtras that I add...and test before I add nic...I have one I made with sweet leaf.....(peeee uuuu)..lol....I didn't like it at all...lol...but I will try it in a month...

I also use ejuice me up to get exact %'s...
I started with 1-2 flavors....I have grown a lot...I now have about 75 flavors and still growing...it gets better....just relax and have fun with it.......

 

[vikki59]

Yes, specific things you are interested in make it easier to recommend things. For instance I make a caramel cappuccino that is pretty decent...

Would you like to share ... I am new to diy and looking for a good caramel capp. I vape VR's caramelized capp and would like to learn how to make my own... ... That and I am trying to make Caramel Popcorn if anyone has a good recipe ...

Edit: I have TFA flavors

 

[markfm]

Afraid mine's done with Natures Flavors (NF) coffee & tea flavoring system. 9% caramel (2.7 ml per 30), 11% cappuccino (3.3 ml per 30). You can substitute Capella's flavorings, but not sure about TFA.
(NF is pricey at small quantities, and kind of slow on delivery, but their flavors are generally good and they are VG/alc-based organic flavorings, important if you ever mix for people with PG sensitivity.)