Hello forum world.* Here I am, ashamedly, to ask for help from the angelic souls who laid the foundation for my favorite hobby. I've been relentlessly studying DIY nearly every day for the past two years. The majority of my time has been devoted to the academic aspect, as opposed to hands-on experience, so my debt of gratitude is all the greater. Because this wealth of information is being made openly available, the majority of Q&A- up to a decently advanced level- is ultimately redundant... So yeah basically I have a guilt complex about posting any questions, but now here I am to ask a question and realizing, duh, I could have at least given a thank-you or two along the way.
*tl;dr - Thanks for the past two years of DIY help; I now have a question about why my juice suddenly tastes like garbage. It's a long post. Tried to include all the info I could.
After a long hiatus from mixing, I whipped up a bottle of a simple DRY4 blend using all TPA/TFA (10% DRY4, 3% Caramel, 1% Sweet Cream). Upon tasting on day 4, I couldn't put it down, until... After dripping through 1ml or so, I started getting this bitter/"rancid chemical" ((?!) and yes, I mean these words to be a phrase) taste. It is most prominent upon exhale, and leaves nasty aftertaste, mostly at the back and sides of the tongue. After a month, it was no better. I noticed a crack in my bottle of E.D.'s PG. Tasted a few drops on tongue (for the first time ever) and assumed it to be the culprit, despite lack of supporting evidence of PG "going bad", and the fact that I'd successfully used that bottle for many mixes since I'd bought it on Amazon 16mos prior. Regardless... Not wanting to take any further chances, I decided to order new supplies- flavorings from ECX, MamaJ's, and BCV (along with their VG/PG).
Got my first new ingredients. First thing that seems wrong/odd is the godawful smell from my 30ml bottle of TPA/"Signature" Brown Sugar. I guess it could be just the strength of concentration in this larger bottle, but I remember the 4ml I originally had at least smelled caramely-sweet. This is straight up offensive and even after tasting two small drops in 6ml water, smells AND tastes awful- in the exact same way of my DRY4 (another 30ml, from GP). Did I get a bad/old bottle from ECX...?
Thing Number Two. I went ahead with the mix anyway, thinking surely this will get better when mixed at a small percent with several other flavors. I mixed 10mls of "Game of Thrones" (recipe on eliquidrecipes site) pretty close to original, except I cut the TFA Butterscotch from 8%, and used 50/50 CAP/TPA mm instead of toasted mm. (((So I mixed 1% of each: CAP VC (V1), TPA Bavarian cream, FA Caramel, FA Vienna cream, TPA Brown Sugar, TPA Sweet Cream, CAP MM, TPA MM, and 3% TPA Butterscotch. Mixed to 60/40vg))).
Now, 2 days later, I put this mix side by side with my DRY4 mix from July 28, and both are unvapeable due to that same disgusting, lingering, bitter, almost plastic taste in the background.
I am tired of rewicking, testing, guessing... It seems like almost everything has this taste now (btw, equipment = 1.2 - 1.4 ohm single microcoil/cotton cyclone, RM2, and IGO-L drippers around 3.7V) SO.........if anyone could offer advice, it just might save me from breaking stuff. I know I could do more testing on my own. My point in asking, though, is kind of trying to confirm a couple of suspicions. One has to do with my 30ml "Signature" Brown Sugar, and possibly the RY4 Double, as well as the Sweet Cream and Caramel TPA 8ml vials from WL. My other concern is that the brand new 240ml PG from bcv tastes just like the ED brand stuff I already had- somewhat strong and bitter. Considering I often like vaping high, up to 80%PG, I wouldn't think that's the problem unless I happened to get a bad bottle... Or maybe my palette doesn't like the brand...? Regardless, I don't have enough juice to play around anymore... On my last tank full, which means I need some vapeable juice by tomorrow night/Wed. morning.
Ugh. Anyway... Any possible explanations are very welcome. So sorry post is so long- Just trying to cover the bases. Thanks,
MZ
*tl;dr - Thanks for the past two years of DIY help; I now have a question about why my juice suddenly tastes like garbage. It's a long post. Tried to include all the info I could.
After a long hiatus from mixing, I whipped up a bottle of a simple DRY4 blend using all TPA/TFA (10% DRY4, 3% Caramel, 1% Sweet Cream). Upon tasting on day 4, I couldn't put it down, until... After dripping through 1ml or so, I started getting this bitter/"rancid chemical" ((?!) and yes, I mean these words to be a phrase) taste. It is most prominent upon exhale, and leaves nasty aftertaste, mostly at the back and sides of the tongue. After a month, it was no better. I noticed a crack in my bottle of E.D.'s PG. Tasted a few drops on tongue (for the first time ever) and assumed it to be the culprit, despite lack of supporting evidence of PG "going bad", and the fact that I'd successfully used that bottle for many mixes since I'd bought it on Amazon 16mos prior. Regardless... Not wanting to take any further chances, I decided to order new supplies- flavorings from ECX, MamaJ's, and BCV (along with their VG/PG).
Got my first new ingredients. First thing that seems wrong/odd is the godawful smell from my 30ml bottle of TPA/"Signature" Brown Sugar. I guess it could be just the strength of concentration in this larger bottle, but I remember the 4ml I originally had at least smelled caramely-sweet. This is straight up offensive and even after tasting two small drops in 6ml water, smells AND tastes awful- in the exact same way of my DRY4 (another 30ml, from GP). Did I get a bad/old bottle from ECX...?
Thing Number Two. I went ahead with the mix anyway, thinking surely this will get better when mixed at a small percent with several other flavors. I mixed 10mls of "Game of Thrones" (recipe on eliquidrecipes site) pretty close to original, except I cut the TFA Butterscotch from 8%, and used 50/50 CAP/TPA mm instead of toasted mm. (((So I mixed 1% of each: CAP VC (V1), TPA Bavarian cream, FA Caramel, FA Vienna cream, TPA Brown Sugar, TPA Sweet Cream, CAP MM, TPA MM, and 3% TPA Butterscotch. Mixed to 60/40vg))).
Now, 2 days later, I put this mix side by side with my DRY4 mix from July 28, and both are unvapeable due to that same disgusting, lingering, bitter, almost plastic taste in the background.
I am tired of rewicking, testing, guessing... It seems like almost everything has this taste now (btw, equipment = 1.2 - 1.4 ohm single microcoil/cotton cyclone, RM2, and IGO-L drippers around 3.7V) SO.........if anyone could offer advice, it just might save me from breaking stuff. I know I could do more testing on my own. My point in asking, though, is kind of trying to confirm a couple of suspicions. One has to do with my 30ml "Signature" Brown Sugar, and possibly the RY4 Double, as well as the Sweet Cream and Caramel TPA 8ml vials from WL. My other concern is that the brand new 240ml PG from bcv tastes just like the ED brand stuff I already had- somewhat strong and bitter. Considering I often like vaping high, up to 80%PG, I wouldn't think that's the problem unless I happened to get a bad bottle... Or maybe my palette doesn't like the brand...? Regardless, I don't have enough juice to play around anymore... On my last tank full, which means I need some vapeable juice by tomorrow night/Wed. morning.
Ugh. Anyway... Any possible explanations are very welcome. So sorry post is so long- Just trying to cover the bases. Thanks,
MZ
