Random DIY mixing and More

Shadav

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ok not bad for shake n vape....
Strawberry (FA) 5%
Belgian Waffle (TFA) 11%
Maple Syrup (TFA) 2%
Marshmallow (TFA) 2%
after tasting I added 1 drop/10ml of butter and rounded it out nicely

if memory serves marshmallow is supposed to give a nice mouth feel right?
 

TylerA

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Im not a vanilla expert by any means but here goes. I dont really think its 3X but it is stronger. I also get sweeter from ethyl than regular vanilla. To me regular vanilla is dark and musty, ethyl not so much. More of a real vanilla bean type flavor. Its been a while since I played with just vanilla but thats how my old memory remembers it
Found some of the old notes. Ethyl is sweet like EM but light vanilla notes. Use it .25-1.5% and thats all I wrote. Been a long time. Maybe I will update my notes soon

Thank you! I'm looking for more of the dark / musty type of vanilla, so this is actually very helpful :)
 

dc99

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Thank you! I'm looking for more of the dark / musty type of vanilla, so this is actually very helpful :)
If you like the dark musty type then TFA vanilla bourbon is it. Its pretty good but will gunk your coils. Dont panic when you see it cause its dark in the bottle. 1.5% SFT
 

DavidOck

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Darn, late to the party again! :)

Question: If a recipe is created to produce a finished juice of, say, 3mgs/ml nic, do the flavor percentages need to be adjusted if one is looking for 10mgs/ml? If so, in what direction?

No. You just up the nic.

I'm with Fran - for starters. Not all nic tastes the same, so if what you're using overpowers the flavors, maybe up them slightly on the next test. But do start without changing them.

ETA: To avoid something like this again, I just won't respond to or reference your posts. That'll prevent it. :)

Uh huh. Takes all the fun out of the thread ;)

I understand that. I was just figuring that higher nicotine would affect the flavor, so a recipe created with a low level might taste different from one with a higher level.

In a related question, when mixing sfts, should one include nicotine at one's preferred percentage? I ask because it has a taste of its own, so it seems to me that evaluating a flavor without it wouldn't give an accurate notion of how the flavor will taste in finished recipes.

I ALWAYS mix with nic. If you're buying it by the liter and at say 100 mg/ml, it's actually the cheapest part of the mix, and will affect the end result. No fun to perfect a mix, then add nic and have it go south!

So I get an email today from Chef Flavours with an “invitation" to review the flavors I ordered. Only issue is I have not received my flavors not that I would do reviews.

"I found flavor x to be extremely light and airy..." :lol:
 

TylerA

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If you like the dark musty type then TFA vanilla bourbon is it. Its pretty good but will gunk your coils. Dont panic when you see it cause its dark in the bottle. 1.5% SFT

Thank you again. I don't think I would mix it as a single flavor - rather a boost to other vanillas and creams I'm playing with.

I saw this on Reddit when I was looking the Vanilla Bourbon up:

Honestly, I would skip this concentrate if you have access to DIYFS Holy Vanilla. This doesn't do the malty vanilla thing as well, and seems to be a lot worse on coils.

TFA Vanilla Bourbon : DIY_eJuice

Maybe malty is the word I'm looking for that I like with vanillas, I'm not sure. Do you or anyone else have experience with both of them that could offer an opinion on how similar (or not) they are?
 

Zazie

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When mixing sfts, how does one decide on the percentage to use? I know there's lots of advice in this thread, and All the Flavors and ELR list the average percentages at which people use individual flavors in recipes. Is it just a matter of searching high and low, settling on a compromise, and taking the leap? And then there's the matter of steeping times . . .

More generally, I can report that my Chef's Flavours order arrived today--took only eight days, which I thought was impressively fast--and so I finally put all my flavors into the cases I bought. It was embarrassing to discover all the duplicates I'd inadvertently ordered (for example, two 30ml bottles each of VTA Pudding Base and Fizzy Sherbet--where was my brain when I did this?). I was also convinced I'd ordered FA White Peach, but nope. So annoying.

Anyway, I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed right now. Can't imagine testing each flavor separately. I'll probably start off just mixing small batches of a few recipes that appeal to me to get a feel of the process as well as a couple of individual flavors that sound like they might be good to vape solo (VTA Xmas Pudding and CC Treacle Ginger Pudding, for starters).

This would all be so much easier if what I know about cooking translated directly into DIY'ing. I've had decades to learn about food. Don't have the luxury of that much time to get a fix on mixing.

I am tired.
 

Shadav

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This would all be so much easier if what I know about cooking translated directly into DIY'ing. I've had decades to learn about food. Don't have the luxury of that much time to get a fix on mixing.

I am tired.
I wholeheartedly agree....that's kind of my outtake on this too...which is why I'm mostly coming up with my own recipes to play with
lol I've always been good with using what I have to make a meal with so basically doing the same with making juice lol but yeah not sure about % so much....I aim for 20% totally flavoring....so if I have 4 flavors start at 5% with each then figuring out which flavor I want to be more of up that % and lower the rest then try to balance out the %'s with what I want the 2nd one to be more of and ect...
 

TylerA

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When mixing sfts, how does one decide on the percentage to use? I know there's lots of advice in this thread, and All the Flavors and ELR list the average percentages at which people use individual flavors in recipes. Is it just a matter of searching high and low, settling on a compromise, and taking the leap? And then there's the matter of steeping times . . .

More generally, I can report that my Chef's Flavours order arrived today--took only eight days, which I thought was impressively fast--and so I finally put all my flavors into the cases I bought. It was embarrassing to discover all the duplicates I'd inadvertently ordered (for example, two 30ml bottles each of VTA Pudding Base and Fizzy Sherbet--where was my brain when I did this?). I was also convinced I'd ordered FA White Peach, but nope. So annoying.

Anyway, I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed right now. Can't imagine testing each flavor separately. I'll probably start off just mixing small batches of a few recipes that appeal to me to get a feel of the process as well as a couple of individual flavors that sound like they might be good to vape solo (VTA Xmas Pudding and CC Treacle Ginger Pudding, for starters).

This would all be so much easier if what I know about cooking translated directly into DIY'ing. I've had decades to learn about food. Don't have the luxury of that much time to get a fix on mixing.

I am tired.

For me, at least, I've usually tried to take the advice of others for SFTs - otherwise I just start at 2% and work my way up or down. I've figured the easiest thing to do is mix around 50-60ml of whatever VG/PG ratio you like and put that to the side (I don't test with nic, only because I feel like its a waste). Then I have a bunch of 10ml bottles, but I only use 3-5ml total liquid per bottle (the lowest amount possible to get an accurate flavor test). Then I use ELR (or whatever calculator you prefer), pick between 3-5ml of total liquid to make, set the right VG/PG ratios and add the weights together to know how much of the premade VG/PG to add, then add flavors.

I use a Wotofo Recurve RDA to test flavors (only RDA I have) and I re wick for each flavor ... its a huge pain, but at least you'll know exactly what your tasting with a new wick each time. I find premixing the VG/PG is really helpful in saving at least some time.
 

Zazie

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I wholeheartedly agree....that's kind of my outtake on this too...which is why I'm mostly coming up with my own recipes to play with
lol I've always been good with using what I have to make a meal with so basically doing the same with making juice lol but yeah not sure about % so much....I aim for 20% totally flavoring....so if I have 4 flavors start at 5% with each then figuring out which flavor I want to be more of up that % and lower the rest then try to balance out the %'s with what I want the 2nd one to be more of and ect...
Earlier today, when I'd finished the lengthy chore of packing the cases with the dozens of flavors I've bought, I thought, "I should take a page out of @Shadav's book and just experiment."
 

Zazie

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For me, at least, I've usually tried to take the advice of others for SFTs - otherwise I just start at 2% and work my way up or down. I've figured the easiest thing to do is mix around 50-60ml of whatever VG/PG ratio you like and put that to the side (I don't test with nic, only because I feel like its a waste). Then I have a bunch of 10ml bottles, but I only use 3-5ml total liquid per bottle (the lowest amount possible to get an accurate flavor test). Then I use ELR (or whatever calculator you prefer), pick between 3-5ml of total liquid to make, set the right VG/PG ratios and add the weights together to know how much of the premade VG/PG to add, then add flavors.

I use a Wotofo Recurve RDA to test flavors (only RDA I have) and I re wick for each flavor ... its a huge pain, but at least you'll know exactly what your tasting with a new wick each time. I find premixing the VG/PG is really helpful in saving at least some time.
I was thinking of doing pretty much the same as you. I have a couple of bridgeless atomizers for testing, so no rewicking for me; I'll just vape unflavored juice between tests to rinse away the previous flavor.

It's going to be exhausting, and I have severe doubts that I'll have the patience to test everything I have.
 

Zazie

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I find premixing the VG/PG is really helpful in saving at least some time.
I have 100mls each of PG and VG with nic added that I bought from Halo before DIY'ing was even a twinkle in my eye. Using them for testing will streamline the process a bit, at least. Won't even have to break into my nic.
 

Zazie

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absolutely :D

I'm still working on the nacho's....I have a pretzel flavor I think I'll sup for chips flavor
Pretzel would be good, I think. Are you using the blue cheese or did you get something less aggressive?

Hmm, blue cheese goes well with pears . . .
 
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