I'm looking for basic NET flavorings (burley, latakia, turkish, perique, etc.). The thing is, it's nearly impossible to distinguish an NET from an AT, besides
tobacco Absolute!
I feel certain that many regulars on this thread would disagree on that point. A big part of why we follow and participate in this thread in the first place is because we
can distinguish natural tobacco flavorings from synthetic, lab-based tobacco flavorings. For many of us, the difference in taste between an NET and an AT is
screamingly obvious---like night and day.
How is the FlavourArt line? They seem to have a great reputation and have some very forgiving prices. As I'm a traveling student, I am not willing to extract my own flavors, but paying less than $1.5 for 10ml is extremely appealing to me. I can just carry a 0.5L bottle of juice to last me months!
Some DIYers prefer the EcigExpress/VapingZone lines of super-concentrated Chinese tobacco flavorings, while others like the Hangsen line, and still others cozy up to the Italian FlavourArt tobaccos. In my earlier days of DIYing synthetic tobaccos, it came down to cherry-picking which source I preferred for a specific tobacco flavor. And yes, FA is cheap. At EcigExpress, 10ml bottles of FA tobacco flavorings are $4.99, while Liberty-Flights is even cheaper, at $3.29/10ml (plus shipping, of course).
I would caution you, however, that the FA synthetic tobacco flavorings may not be as concentrated as the recommended mixing percentages on the FA site would suggest. To me, FA tobaccos mixed at 2-5% are generally way too weak. As much as 10-15% might be required to achieve a satisfactory level of tobacco flavor. That's still fairly cheap for DIY juice, assuming that you buy the other liquid ingredients in large quantity---PG/VG/liquid nic. Liquid Nicotine especially gets considerably more expensive in smaller quantities at lower concentrations. For instance, as a 24mg nic vaper, I always buy liquid nic from WizardLabs---it's far and away the cheapest, but it's right up there with the best. However, I buy 250ml bottles at 100mg/ml to keep my cost down. (If you vape low-nic, say 6mg, the cost differential doesn't have as much impact, of course).
I can just carry a 0.5L bottle of juice to last me months!
Abe, that will work assuming that you're a one-flavor vaper---an ADV (all-day-vape) kind of guy. Some people are. I'm not. I vape at least 10-20 different juice flavors every day---like a bumblebee flitting from flower to flower.
It's strange how dilute the MVJ concentrates are. If the recommended flavoring is "up to 25%", one 10ml bottle of flavoring will only make a max of about 40ml. At $10 per 10ml, this is not very cost effective at all.
It's all relative. Yes, paying $7.50 just for the flavoring alone used to make a 30ml bottle of DIY juice does seem expensive. (That's one reason for making your own NET---it's much cheaper.) By contrast, using EcigExpress' Tobacco Express line of synthetic super-concentrates at a 4% mix ratio makes a 30ml bottle of DIY juice for a flavoring cost of about 50¢. Cost for FA synthetic flavorings mixed at 10% will run about $1.50. The other ingredients for that 30ml bottle (PG/VG/liquid nic) will require additional costs from $1 to $4, depending.
So, using FlavourArt flavorings, that half-liter of DIY juice you mentioned will cost---all told---from $40 to $70. Pretty cheap for 17 bottles of 30ml each.
All that has one critical caveat:
Will you like the juice enough to vape it? For you, the answer might be
yes. For me and many other posters on this thread, the answer would probably be
no, not even if you held a gun to my head. Not only can we tell the difference between an NET and a synthetic, lab-based tobacco flavor, but we
like a large percentage of the NETs available, and we
don't like most of the ATs for sale everywhere.
No matter how cheap it may be, DIY juice is no bargain if you won't vape it. Conversely, MyVapeJuice's NET flavorings are cost effective if you find them delicious.
Also, keep in mind that you're likely to go through a lot of experimenting in DIY before you settle on a single-flavor juice that you love. Multi-flavor DIY juices will involve much more trial-and-error, with the likelihood that quite a bit will get tossed down the drain. In addition, your palate may change over time. Will you make it through half a liter of juice without getting bored with or even sick of that one flavor? I don't know about you, but my palate is notoriously fickle.
Maybe FlavourArt is where I should start. At a max of $5 per 10ml of very concentrated flavoring, this manufacturer may be my best bet.
Perhaps you'll love FA tobacco flavors, and maybe your DIY efforts will succeed right off the bat. I sincerely wish you the best of luck, Abe. It's just that with spending less as your primary goal, strategies often look better on paper than when they're converted into real life. Don't let my curmudgeonly cautions deter you, however. Just be forewarned that the road is bumpier than it appears.
