I have to ask this, because there is something I don't understand about blending certain flavors.
It makes total sense that if you were trying to make something like cheesecake, a cobbler, or other such baked good type flavor, you'd need to blend several flavors. There are a good number of things that when thinking about it, make sense as a blended flavor. However when I read posts like yours, where you say that, for instance, those 15 or so flavors are used in nearly everything you need, especially creams/custards/vanillas, I find myself asking "how on earth" and feeling like there is something I don't understand and desperately need to.
I DIY, but I've been on a strict budget for a long time, so I've stuck to a handful of things I know I like. For instance, I really like black licorice. However as a single flavor black licorice when vaped comes off as bland and fairly harsh on the throat. It just needs something to mellow it out and make it pop. I can't figure out a single thing that would make sense to add to a black licorice flavor.
I have a rootbeer flavor I've gotten great progress on, and it is a blended flavor. It feels like it is missing a bit of acidity and I have no idea how to give it a carbonated effect some soda liquids achieve. But I'd never add lemon to it for that acidity.
I remember reading someone talking about how they perfected a watermelon flavor by adding raspberry to it. They're nothing alike, how does that help?
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I guess I'm rambling. In essence I have a hard time understanding blending flavors properly. I don't understand how seemingly unrelated flavors manage to make their way into a mix and manage to help. When dealing that far out left field, how do you even decide what to put in?
Great questions, Lanore!
TFA are flavorings, are, for the most part, not finished flavors, meaning single flavor mixes don't taste complete, perhaps, 90 - 95% of the time. Think of it like cooking because there are many analogies. Making something as simple as banana is tricky. Flavorings wise, there's the inside fruit taste, but that flavoring changes over time depending on how ripe it is. Fruit taste naturally sweet to me, but our banana, for example, does not taste sweet. If we want a sweet tasting banana we have to add both the banana and sweetener.
In this way, you can think a flavorings as flavor pieces, that can be constructed to make whatever you like. Some flavor makers will make complete flavorings, meaning you don't have to add sweetener to the banana. Some makers make really strong flavorings, etc. TFA gives us the building blocks to make anything we like.
Think about a chocolate bar. If you've tasted raw chocolate, it is quite bitter, and so is the flavoring. Add milk, sugar, butter, cream, etc. and you make chocolate. TFA makes the raw chocolate, and you have to add the other ingredients to make a finished chocolate, for example.
Adding creams, vanillas and sweetener to a flavoring is what nature does to make a finished banana flavoring. TFA flavorings are the pieces of the banana flavoring. When you think about the banana, again, it is a little creamy, right? It is sweet. Add all those together and create a finished banana flavoring.
How do you know to add a little of this, and a little of that? For me, it was trial and error, and time. I didn't use recipes, for the most part, but found what worked for me through trial and error. So, you can say a lot of my recipes were accidents that turned out really good. Most people will quit before discovering a good recipe without direction. Took many months for me to make my first ADV. I almost quit. I would have, had I not spent $500 getting set up with DIY. I didn't want to lose my investment, so I kept at it. Six months later I had my first ADV, and learned a trick or two along the way, like what goes with what, and in what percentages. Once you do discover the combinations, practically everything you make tastes good. Hope this helps.
Edit: Adding raspberry to watermelon helps the watermelon remain non-chemical/floral, and stay fruity. It's just a trick we learn a long the way. Strawberry does the same thing.
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Try adding sassafras to your root beer. TFA doesn't have one. But it was the missing ingredient in my root beer float. Sassafras is the original ingredient in root beer.
Licorice benefits from cream, vanillas and sweetener (what doesn't?). Once you start to think through what it is when you taste something, you will find that bananas really do taste creamy, right off the tree, unless they are too ripe, a different flavoring. Just stick to it, practice, experiment, and time will teach you all you need to know. Follow other people's recipes, too. Look at their mixes, their percentages, their ingredients. Believe me, eventually, you can construct recipes in your mind, and they taste delicious when made, too. Good luck!
Somewhere along the line, I discovered that 100 drop test, with 1 drop equaling 1% of mix. This allowed me to quickly remix the percentages to discover different flavorings. I have thousands upon thousands of 100DT's to teach me about TFA flavorings....a lot of trial and error.....using my own tastes to guide me along the way.....toward the next mix.
and even gladder that you made some juice you enjoy best feeling in the world is vaping your own juice
