Possible to create flavors from scratch?

[MoeFunk]

I am planning to start making my own juices. Looking at the recipes I see that they all use pre-made artificial flavors from companies. This is just so extremely disappointing. I do not want to be in this boat.

Someone told me of a particular vendor, the Vapor Chef, who creates his own flavors from scratch. I was told that for is flavor Honey Peary, he will go to the store, buy honeydew melons, pears, strawberries, extract the juice and use that as a base. I don't know if this was BS or not, but looking online I have yet to find a single example of anyone doing anything like this, and on the chef's website there is no mention of this. If it is possible I would really love to learn how to do flavorings along this line.

So my question for anyone who might know... Is this kind of thing possible? Or are we at the mercy of just using artificial premade flavorings and just mixing them together?

I have read of companies using natural or organic flavorings and would like to look more into that. Virgin Vapors claims to have organic juices. How do they make them or where can I get organic flavors? Just looking to see what the possibilities are. Any help at all would really be appreciated. A link or a search term, or any advise on how to proceed?

Thank you for reading.

 

[HeadInClouds]

Some have success extracting their own tea, tobacco, and coffee flavors from leaves/grounds. With fruits you encounter sugars, which will clog vaping equipment, and far as I know vaping fructose hasn't been studied for health effects. Citrus peels may not contain enough sugars to cause problems, but they contain oil, not good for lungs.

Many (most?) of us strive to find recipes we like that we can duplicate later. Such consistency is harder to achieve when extracting your own flavorings, rather than using flavors made in a professional lab with known molecules. What's safe to eat isn't necessarily okay in your lungs, not matter how pure, organic, or natural it is. I like to use flavorings produced with vaping safety in mind. FlavourArt, for example, provides their test results online; their flavorings are lab-tested on living cells. (search "Flavour Art clear stream study" to find out more) It gives me some peace of mind.

I love to experiment, and if I didn't inhale, I might be more inclined to experiment with my own extracts.

 

[MoeFunk]

Thank you for the very informative reply. That reasoning is very sound and I will definitely be checking out Flavour Art.

Do you see any benefit to the organic or natural flavors like those used in the Virgin Vapors line?

 

[HeadInClouds]

Do you see any benefit to the organic or natural flavors like those used in the Virgin Vapors line?

The FDA definition of "Organic" - as it applies to flavorings - limits the fertilizers and pesticides that may be used to grow the plants used to produce them. The definition includes numerous other stipulations (including recycling practices and biodiversity in planting acreage) which are not relevant to vaping safety. To my knowledge, there has been no research on the possible benefits of organically-produced vaping liquids. Certain known-harmful (for ingestion!) fertilizers/pesticides are not allowed in production of "Organic" flavors, but of course they're not in artificial flavors, either. I suppose you're MOST likely to get traces of these substances by eating or extracting your own flavors from non-organic produce; it's possible with "natural" flavors, as the term is generally used; it's far less likely with "Organic" flavors; it's virtually impossible with artificial flavorings.

"Natural" is a term that literally has no FDA definition, making the term vague at best and certainly not comparable across different manufacturers.

I see VV avoids artificial colorings, and I know some flavorings out there include caramel coloring. I saw a Material Data Safety Sheet on caramel color that convinced me not to vape flavorings that contain it.

In the vaping world, diacetyl and related compounds are of greater concern to many, as they are known inhalation hazards. The quantity/frequency required to cause harm is not well-defined, so some find this a controversial subject. Many food-flavoring manufacturers have removed diacetyl from their products (or state which do contain them), but flavorings with them do exist. The related compounds (particularly acetoin and acetyl propionyl) are found in many creamy flavors used in vaping, in fact they're often used as diacetyl substites in flavors such as custards. Manufacturers are not obligated to disclose this, because these are food flavorings, safe for their intended use. Some manufacturers do disclose this or avoid using them in their flavorings. You can find much more information regarding acetoin and acetyl propionyl safety here and online, including scientific studies of inhalation, then make your own decision regarding these controversial molecules.

 

[dannyv45]

This is done in the DYI world with coffees, teas and tobaccos. Not many do this with fruits or other naturals. This is a very difficult process to be tried by a new DYI'er. There are venders that have natural concentrates and that may be a better place to start if your new to mixing. If you do a search for "Natural flavorings" you will find many threads on the topic here.

 

[djdavies]

The FDA definition of "Organic" - as it applies to flavorings - limits the fertilizers and pesticides that may be used to grow the plants used to produce them. The definition includes numerous other stipulations (including recycling practices and biodiversity in planting acreage)

The farmers definition of "Organic" - you have to spray at night.

 

[veganvap]

'Natural organic flavors' are extracted from plants and are still chemicals. Essential oils can be considered natural flavor and probably not chemicals, but some aren't safe to vape. Besides all/most essential oils, natural flavors are probably never extracted from the plant they're supposed to taste like.
Besides maybe essential oil extraction, It's suposidly more costly and energy-consuming making natural flavors than artificial ones which usually/always come from petroleum. They say most/some artificals are safer than naturals eventhough they say they have an identical final composition. But if they're identical, I don't know how they can say artificial's safer and simpler in structure.

I touched pineapple to my atty a few weeks ago hoping it would taste good. It burned real bad and the flavor never left the atty, although pineapple's really high in citric acid. I vaped extra virgin olive oil thinking it would produce a lot of vapor like VG, it also burned real bad and the flavor never left the atty.

I tried a few heated and unheated, %100 PG and %100 VG DIY extractions with coffe, cinnamon, and black pepper but didn't like them. Plain, unflavored VG with VG nic base has been holding me over for now.


edit: just read this:
"The Absolute line of Virgin Vapor flavors are certified organic under U.K. organic standards. They are all pure extractions from fruits, flowers, vegetables and nuts (any flavor that includes nuts is noted on the product page for those with nut allergies)."

but could still technically be the process I mentioned about extracting from barks and stuff to imitate something like a banana flavor.