Need advice on recipe

[comptechltd]

Hi all. I am not new to vaping by any means and have experimented several years ago with DIY with mixed results. Since my flavor pallet has changed I am giving DIY a try again. Now for the jest of my question.
I have a commercial melon-type vape that I absolutely love. In trying to DIY it I have all the flavors and percentages locked in pretty good and my DIY juice doesn't taste too bad. There is one small part that is missing though and I am struggling to find it as it would really complete this juice for me. When vaping the commercial juice the only way I can describe it is a very 'FULL' taste and a sweetness that seems to envelope your tongue.....if that makes sense. If I put a small drop of the commercial e-liquid on my hand and touch my tongue to it it does have a pretty sweet taste to it. In my DIY version I have tried TPA Sweetner and EM in varying percentages but just can get it to be even remotely close in sweetness. I have tried the sweetner in different percentages ranging from 1 to about 8%. Am I missing some secret ingredient?? I am not sure how to best describe what I am looking for. Like I said before it is almost a sweet fullness.

Thanks in advance

Steve

 

[Sir2fyablyNutz]

Hi @comptechltd . In my limited DIY experience I use marshmallow more than the sweetner. I've found it gives a fuller mouth feel and is sweet as well. Coconut at .5% can add sweetness as well as mouth feel. I think tfa smooth or FA vape wizard will also contribute to the full mouth feel as well.

Good luck in your journey, bump for another response.

 

[BrotherBob]

FA puts out a flavor called joy, might want to check it out.

Am I missing some secret ingredient??

Also could consider:
Honeydew Melon and Watermelon Flavors by Lotus Flavors (Medicine Flower--natural extracts) is reported to be super sweet. Perhaps you are using a inferior fruit flavor(s).

 

[comptechltd]

Sir2fyablyNutz: I will give the marshmallow a try next time I order and maybe some of the Smooth.

BrotherBob: I may try to order some Joy in the future. I'm reading a lot of mixed reactions about it though. I looked up the Medicine Flower flavors.........They seem kinda proud of them based on the pricing. I am currently using TPA flavors. I have some Capella and FA flavors coming in to try.

I don't know....the taste is there...it just seems like i'm missing a small ingredient. Almost like if you normally drink sweetened tea and you get some without or too little sugar. To me it just looses fullness. I guess I could try to up the sweetner a bit. I'm concerned about going to high. Maybe the next batch..

Steve

 

[DoubleEwe]

Sir2fyablyNutz: I will give the marshmallow a try next time I order and maybe some of the Smooth.

BrotherBob: I may try to order some Joy in the future. I'm reading a lot of mixed reactions about it though. I looked up the Medicine Flower flavors.........They seem kinda proud of them based on the pricing. I am currently using TPA flavors. I have some Capella and FA flavors coming in to try.

I don't know....the taste is there...it just seems like i'm missing a small ingredient. Almost like if you normally drink sweetened tea and you get some without or too little sugar. To me it just looses fullness. I guess I could try to up the sweetner a bit. I'm concerned about going to high. Maybe the next batch..

Steve

TFA Marshmallow will give an almost creamy mouth feel. TFA Toasted Marshmallow is less strong, but is sweeter than standard marshmallow (it is like Marshmallow plus a bit of brown sugar). FA Marshmallow gives a different feeling, more earthy, less sweet, but with a decent fullness to it.

TFA Marshmallow seems to take a while to properly come through, for me at least, it takes about a month or so for it to fully develop.

How long have you been steeping your mixes?
The reason I ask is because the premium bought juices are likely to have been steeped for 2 months prior to being vaped, so their liquids have had a decent amount of time to develop and reach their optimum.

 

[comptechltd]

TFA Marshmallow will give an almost creamy mouth feel. TFA Toasted Marshmallow is less strong, but is sweeter than standard marshmallow (it is like Marshmallow plus a bit of brown sugar). FA Marshmallow gives a different feeling, more earthy, less sweet, but with a decent fullness to it.

TFA Marshmallow seems to take a while to properly come through, for me at least, it takes about a month or so for it to fully develop.

How long have you been steeping your mixes?
The reason I ask is because the premium bought juices are likely to have been steeped for 2 months prior to being vaped, so their liquids have had a decent amount of time to develop and reach their optimum.

I realize the 'steep' is an important process and one that I haven't been real good about. I just have to get my head around it better. In my experimentation I have been making smaller batches and realize I have been neglecting the full steep process. With that being said I am so new at this that I can't see making a batch or several versions of it and not coming back to them for 2 months to realize that I need to add an extra 1% of this flavor or that and then let it sit for another month so the new addition can steep properly. I know patience is a virtue. I am thinking of trying the pre-steep method to see if it works for me.

Steve

 

[DoubleEwe]

I realize the 'steep' is an important process and one that I haven't been real good about. I just have to get my head around it better. In my experimentation I have been making smaller batches and realize I have been neglecting the full steep process. With that being said I am so new at this that I can't see making a batch or several versions of it and not coming back to them for 2 months to realize that I need to add an extra 1% of this flavor or that and then let it sit for another month so the new addition can steep properly. I know patience is a virtue. I am thinking of trying the pre-steep method to see if it works for me.

Steve

Yeah, I think this is the problem with 99% of the people that DIY (including myself), we all want to basically be able to shake 'n' vape complex delicious recipes.

The 100DT (and other 'quick' ways) are not going to get you a great juice unless you only vape fruits, all the good flavourings (creams/custards/bakery) need long steeps to become good. Even coconut tastes like crap fresh.

What is this pre-steep method?
Mixing up the base to add fruits to etc later?

 

[comptechltd]

Yeah, I think this is the problem with 99% of the people that DIY (including myself), we all want to basically be able to shake 'n' vape complex delicious recipes.

The 100DT (and other 'quick' ways) are not going to get you a great juice unless you only vape fruits, all the good flavourings (creams/custards/bakery) need long steeps to become good. Even coconut tastes like crap fresh.

What is this pre-steep method?
Mixing up the base to add fruits to etc later?

For the pre-steeping, apparently you mix the flavors and your PG/VG and allow them to soak in a hot bath for awhile then add your nic after they cool. I am just learning so I may have it wrong but that is how I understand it. One good thing about my DIY is I don't care much for the custardy, creamy type of vapes. I am more about the melon-fruit types so the steeping may not be as big an issue for me.

Steve

 

[dannyv45]

Try adding .5 - 1% marshmallow this will give it the fullness your looking for and at .5 - 1% you will not taste the marshmallow. I would stick with sweetener because EM will give the effect of sweetness but it's not really a sweetener it actually adds body and wetness in amounts of 1% or less. Any more and it will actually mute the taste and sweetness of other flavors. Use sweetener at no more then 2%. You may need to steep this mix depending on what flavorings you use. There are ways to speed this process up. You can read about this in my blog.

Everything you wanted to know about steeping and then some. | E-Cigarette Forum

 

[comptechltd]

As a bit of an update while I was home for lunch I added some additional sweetner (tfa sweetner) just to experiment. I upped it to 10% and noticed I'm closer to getting what I want. Not exact but closer. Is this to high a percentage of sweetner? Mind you this is just adding with no additional steep time.

Steve

 

[Kodak]

Like you, I have a commercial melon blend that I'm trying to recreate (description of mine is melon blend with a creamy undertone), and I'm missing the same thing in mine. I was told to try using about .5-1% caramel and 1-2% marshmallow.

 

[comptechltd]

Well I went ahead and ordered some of the Smooth, Joy and various other 'snake oils'....lol but I think I amy be getting close at 10% TFA Sweetener. I also ordered some of the EZ-Sweetz that a lot have talked about. The way I understand it is with ez-sweets my sweetener concentration may drop from 10% to several drops so we will see.

Does anyone know if using TFA sweetener at 10% is in any way harmful or undesirable??

Steve

 

[Capt.shay]

You want sweet, you want smooth, you want marshmallow.

 

[comptechltd]

Try adding .5 - 1% marshmallow this will give it the fullness your looking for and at .5 - 1% you will not taste the marshmallow. I would stick with sweetener because EM will give the effect of sweetness but it's not really a sweetener it actually adds body and wetness in amounts of 1% or less. Any more and it will actually mute the taste and sweetness of other flavors. Use sweetener at no more then 2%. You may need to steep this mix depending on what flavorings you use. There are ways to speed this process up. You can read about this in my blog.

Everything you wanted to know about steeping and then some. | E-Cigarette Forum

I read your blog. It was very interesting. I am trying a batch now in my ultrasonic cleaner. Do you have any recommendations for one that will heat and run for longer than 480 seconds? All the ones I've seen have that limit unless they cost several hundred dollars.

You want sweet, you want smooth, you want marshmallow.

I have some ordered.


As an update I tried my mix after adding 10% TPA sweetener and letting it set for a few hours and it seems to be pretty close to what I'm looking for. I'm going to give the smooth and the marshmallow a try when it comes in.

 

[Jdurand]

Marshmallow is the DIY godsend to creamy flavors. I think you will get what you are looking for once you add it to your mix. I couldn't make a decent custard without it.

 

[comptechltd]

That's my issue....I guess I'm weird but I don't care much for the creams or custards. I really enjoy the fruity-melony type though.

Steve

 

[Hans Wermhat]

I have a Honeydew/Pear mix I stole from a B&M here. It's pretty tasty. I ran out of TFA Pear to put in it and substituted Pear Candy. It was super sticky sweet and had a full mouth feel to it, but the flavor was off. My experience with sweetener tells me 10% is WAY too much. It will gunk up your coils with a quickness and mask other flavors after it steeps a few days.