Random DIY mixing and More

[hittman]

When I first started mixing, I bought only Tfa flavors. Then I got interested in purilum flavors. Fran pointed me to this thread and now I have many different brands. My flavors have grown to almost 375. I know that may seem crazy but I like having the flavors on hand to make most recipes that I find. A lot of them don’t get used a lot but might later.

 

[Howard Hughes]

Question: Are there any flavor vendors that just consistently put out bad flavors? I know flavor is on the tongue of the beholder so I guess I'm asking this from the perspective of genuine flavor. For example, does peach taste like peach or is there some other flavor present that sort of makes it taste off??

Seems I see a lot of TFA and Capella in a lot of recipes. That speaks volumes to me. Bull City I think offers just about every flavor vendor. Most of the flavors I'm interested in so far have been TFA and CAP. But I do have VT and Hangsen too. How do I know if these are crap? Any vendor patterns that have emerged among the opinionists?

You will see a lot of TFA & CAP because they've been around a long time & are relatively inexpensive. That's probably the biggest reason, but they DO make some good stuff (as well as some not so good) too. I have to have flavors from LOTS of vendors because they all have their good ones. Bull City has good coverage, but I also still order from ECX, DIYVS, FA (Italy) etc because some flavors aren't available readily here in the states. Before you order someone's strawberry, blueberry or whatever, you may want to ask around about who's is the most popular & why? Some play better with other, supporting flavors than others, as well.

 

[rosesense]

Well, that's what I thought the answer was going to be. It's just too hard to evaluate flavor across a spectrum of users. But then I can detect signature flavor notes from e-liquid vendors. It is present across their menu. And that could have as much to do with the PG, VG, or nic solution as anything else.

Another thing that makes it hard is a vendor will have some that are loved and rated above all other vendors but they will have some terrible ones disliked by most. Ex: FW yellow cake is highly rated but some of their others are considered the worst ever.

 

[hittman]

Someone on Chefs Fb page recommended FW blueberry when I was working on my blueberry cookie recipe and I like it a lot better in that recipe than the tfa I started with.

 

[rosesense]

I forgot about RF, I love most of theirs but flavor is weak to me where others say it is strong. Go figure. I have about 75 RF ones.

 

[Bronze]

Here's one. I'm going to try a Caramel Apple tobacco. Three ingredients. The tobacco I pretty much know about. I suspect anything I get from any of these flavor joints will fall short of what I'm used to. I've sampled numerous NETs from extractors and that is going to be better than what you get in these cheesy bottles. I'm aware of this and I will eventually have to make my own tobacco extracts. But what about a clean apple flavor? I'm not sure how tangy I want it so perhaps I need two options. One tangy, one not tangy. And then caramel. A straight up caramel. Nothing else. No cream, no butter, no toffee. Just straight up caramel. I got a caramel a long time ago from I believe LorAnn to use as an accent flavor. It's just tasted burnt to me. Could be that I used too much. I gave up too quickly so don't know the real cause.

 

[Bronze]

And what if I find a blend to be too dry (unsweet)? Is there a straight up sweetener that adds no flavor?

 

[hittman]

I hear a lot about FA Apple pie. VT granny Apple or green Apple would be good. Inw two apples is good also. I haven’t done a lot with caramel. I know I like FW salted caramel and I know you said no butter but WF caramel butter is awesome.

 

[dennism]

When I first started mixing, I bought only Tfa flavors. Then I got interested in purilum flavors. Fran pointed me to this thread and now I have many different brands. My flavors have grown to almost 375. I know that may seem crazy but I like having the flavors on hand to make most recipes that I find. A lot of them don’t get used a lot but might later.

375 flavors, all I can say is WOW!!!!!
I just counted, I have 94 flavors, I thought that was a lot.

 

[hittman]

And what if I find a blend to be too dry (unsweet)? Is there a straight up sweetener that adds no flavor?

I used to use EM a lot but it can mute flavor. I use mostly Cap super sweet now.

 

[Bronze]

I hear a lot about FA Apple pie. VT granny Apple or green Apple would be good. Inw two apples is good also. I haven’t done a lot with caramel. I know I like FW salted caramel and I know you said no butter but WF caramel butter is awesome.

I currently have CAP's "Double Apple" on my list.

 

[FranC]

Here's one. I'm going to try a Caramel Apple Tobacco. Three ingredients. The tobacco I pretty much know about. I suspect anything I get from any of these flavor joints will fall short of what I'm used to. I've sampled numerous NETs from extractors and that is going to be better than what you get in these cheesy bottles. I'm aware of this and I will eventually have to make my own tobacco extracts. But what about a clean apple flavor? I'm not sure how tangy I want it so perhaps I need two options. One tangy, one not tangy. And then caramel. A straight up caramel. Nothing else. No cream, no butter, no toffee. Just straight up caramel. I got a caramel a long time ago from I believe LorAnn to use as an accent flavor. It's just tasted burnt to me. Could be that I used too much. I gave up too quickly so don't know the real cause.

LOL, you picked 2 flavors I can't taste. Apple and Caramel.

 

[FranC]

I'm no help with sweetener either. I don't use any.

 

[Howard Hughes]

Someone on Chefs Fb page recommended FW blueberry when I was working on my blueberry cookie recipe and I like it a lot better in that recipe than the tfa I started with.

FW Blueberry is one of my favorite BB's. That & FA Bilberry.

 

[Howard Hughes]

And what if I find a blend to be too dry (unsweet)? Is there a straight up sweetener that adds no flavor?

Marshmallow is a good alternative to TFA Sweetener & CAP Super Sweet too.

 

[Bronze]

LOL, you picked 2 flavors I can't taste. Apple and Caramel.

You don't know what you're missing.

 

[FranC]

You don't know what you're missing.

Probably not....LOL.

 

[PJReid]

Here's one. I'm going to try a Caramel Apple Tobacco. Three ingredients. The tobacco I pretty much know about. I suspect anything I get from any of these flavor joints will fall short of what I'm used to. I've sampled numerous NETs from extractors and that is going to be better than what you get in these cheesy bottles. I'm aware of this and I will eventually have to make my own tobacco extracts. But what about a clean apple flavor? I'm not sure how tangy I want it so perhaps I need two options. One tangy, one not tangy. And then caramel. A straight up caramel. Nothing else. No cream, no butter, no toffee. Just straight up caramel. I got a caramel a long time ago from I believe LorAnn to use as an accent flavor. It's just tasted burnt to me. Could be that I used too much. I gave up too quickly so don't know the real cause.

VTA Fuji (or FA Fuji but I find Vape Train's to be juicier) is a sweeter apple. VTA's Granny Smith is the best tart apple I have tried. Love the two together but not with caramel.

My favorite autumnal recipe is Cran-Apple:
Cranberry (SC) 3% or Cranberry (TPA) 7%
Fuji Red Apple (VTA) 2%
Granny Smith Apple (VTA) 2%
Lemon (FE).5%
Shape Up Pear (Molinberry) .5%
WS-23 30% .5%

 

[hittman]

I can’t for some reason stand to vape straight apple flavors but use them for background or accent flavors. I need to do a sft of FA Apple pie. I haven’t gotten around to trying it yet. I had so many sft to go through that I didn’t want to add to the existing pile.

 

[hittman]

VTA Fuji (or FA Fuji but I find Vape Train's to be juicier) is a sweeter apple. VTA's Granny Smith is the best tart apple I have tried. Love the two together but not with caramel.

My favorite autumnal recipe is Cran-Apple:
Cranberry (SC) 3% or Cranberry (TPA) 7%
Fuji Red Apple (VTA) 2%
Granny Smith Apple (VTA) 2%
Lemon (FE).5%
Shape Up Pear (Molinberry) .5%
WS-23 30% .5%

I finally got the MB and never went back and mixed that. I will have to do that soon.