My offering to a new mixer might be:
If a person is interested in getting the "best" flavor
(and I understand that many only want something acceptable <the "Bud Lite/Coors Lite" consumers of e-liquid> without needing it to be "the best"... and I say that without any condescension to vapers, or beer drinkers, as I have had my share of Keystone lites); is to taste (by vaping) new mixes/flavors frequently, and over a significant period of time.
After 4 years of DIYing, I have found for
me, that commonly recommended aging times do not always work best (again) for
me. The
only way I have been able to learn what is my own personal "best window of flavor," is by repetitively tasting new mixes; from freshly mixed... to a month old (or more).
I start by tasting immediately after mixing (by vaping ~½ to get familiar with it; and let it stabilize), and then daily for the first three days, and then weekly thereafter. Doing so, and jotting down my thoughts while tasting, permits me to learn how any given concentrate (in the case of single flavor mixes), and recipes, are going to work best... wait for it...
me.
In so doing, I have learned what
I like as shake-n-vapes (SnV's), what needs a few days, what needs a week/weeks, and even what has "use by" dates (fade). Sometimes, these periods agree with general consensus, but sometimes not. Either way; I now know what my own personal "best" is.
This incorperates ideas already shared:
- Effort. I have found I get out of my DIY; what I put into my DIY. When I half-.... my mixes, I get half-arsed vapeable juice. When I invest the time/effort to understand and develop my ingredients, I get very satisfying results.
- Openminded. When I allow a concentrate to go through the full "life cycle," I have a better (more complete?) idea how it may/may not affect my recipe.
- Patience. With frequent sampling, I feel like I get the best of both worlds; I can discover those flavors that don't require any/much time, and also identify those that require/benefit from extra aging.
Notes. I don't recall if this has been mentioned yet; but I have found it (notes) to be indispensable. As I have gotten older (in my 50's), and my memory gets worse (daily; it seems), writing things down seems to be the only way I can remember.
It is great for recalling how a flavor may taste from session to session (especially helpful when changes are minimal). It is essential for recalling what my preferred percentages are. It is critical for flavor concentrates I only use on rare occasions (to have any clue how I used it).
It doesn't matter how a person chooses to do it. Find what works best for you. I have read of folks using index cards, note books, Word docs, spreadsheets, etc. I have found what works best for me is the e-liquid calculator program I have settled on (
JuiceCalculator by
@HotRod19579). Besides being a traditional e-liquid calculator that handles my recipes, and tracks my inventory, it has the ability to record notes for recipes, as well as individual flavor concentrates. This allows me instant access to individual concentrate notes
without having to remember which recipe the note is located in.
Caveat for those shopping for an e-liquid calculator: JuiceCalculator is a truly free, fully functional calculator, that can measure up (in my opinion) to any of the other (paid or free) calculators that are available at this time, and I love it. HOWEVER... it is ONLY available for Windows platform devices (desktop. laptop, pad, phone), or those able to run Windows platform emulators.