The Three Sacred Truths of DIY as Revealed by the Spirit of DIY

[Ralikar]

All you people sucked me into DIY... I had to make my base... then my flavors... then change the base cause the Vivi was muting my flavors... then more flavors... So I finally decided to go all out and buy 40 Lorann/TPA flavors and do some real recipes. Days and days of research all over the ECF/net... Finally, I made the top 14 recipes that interested me. I even played ball with some steeping... Yes, that's right -- I figured I'd get at least 5-6 top, delicious, just like I bought them somewhere, super-flavors. Steeped... Waited to taste... Finally... And they all sucked. All of them. Each one. Sucked.

So as you may imagine, I was enraged and ready to smash my Vivi and my bat, when a glow filled the room and a spectral shape appeared (a glowing dropper bottle). It spoke to me and said: "Behold! Ralikar! I am the spirit of DIY and, although you are not worthy, I will reveal the three sacred truths of DIY for you to reveal to others." It spoke in an archaic fashion which I will translate into a more contemporary morphology:

SACRED TRUTH ONE: DIY is like Pizza. If any of you are eating Pizza Hut or Dominos and thinking it's good, you have not been to Chicago. If you had eaten a thick, savory Chicago stuffed pizza then you would realize your "pizzas" suck and throw them in the trash, never to eat them again. Similarly, DIY depends on where you start and what you have experienced. If you vaped nasty Chinese juice and vile WoW flavored rot-gut cool carts, then ANYTHING you make will be a step up. But if you started with Johnson Creek and Capella single flavors, then it will be a step down. The spirit called this the truth of origins.

SACRED TRUTH TWO: The False Shakespearean Rose Nomenclature. Whatever the name of the recipe will not be the result: it won't be a delicious dessert, a savory snack -- just a pile of chemicals and perfumes posing as something tasty. It doesn't matter that Bob called it "Delicious Angel Cake, Carmel, White Chocolate, Cherub Kiss with a Blueberry Snuggle on the Exhale" --it will just be a tube of perfumey chemicals that isn't so great. It won't be a: Twix, Kit Kat, Hershey's Kiss, Reeses, Godiva Chocolate, Cheeto, Happy Meal just because someone calls it that. It's a test tube of chemicals no matter what. The spirit called this the Doppleganger truth.

SACRED TRUTH THREE: The Lottery Principle. If you come into money (hasn't happened to me yet) then, suddenly, everything you have sucks. Your car sucks so you must buy a better one. Your friends suck so you try to get better ones. Your watch sucks, you have to buy a better one. Your dog sucks, it needs a little diamond collar and cashmere sweater. And you want more money to buy more crap. And you will never be satisfied. Similarly, when I was smoking one flavor that was fine, vaping 2-3 at JC held me for a year. Now, it's never enough... Those Capella single flavors weren't good enough... There was more to be had... Soooo much more... Never satisfied.... So this will continue until you go to your grave, after piling in tons and tons of $$. 10 single flavors.... 15 mixed ones... 20 5 flavor mixes... then you need the best atty... then a Provari... 30 5-6 flavor mixes steeping under your bed... Then 40... then 60... Ad infinitum. Perpetual discontentment; the spirit called this the marriage truth.


Thanks to this mystical experience, I have found the real truth in DIY: there is no middle ground. Either get some cheap base and add some Capella single flavors which actually taste like coconut, raspberry, etc. or DIY as a hobby and enjoy making 6 flavor treats, some of which will probably be quite nice after the $1000 worth of stuff and skill to make them. But there is no middle ground. Be not deceived. The road to Perdition starts with thinking there is a DIY middle ground... There is not: be warned!

 

[Vchick]

Ha! Made my day, it is indeed a knack ~ one which I sometimes possess, others not so much!

Those that have carved out a nitch in the made to order juice market have done their homework and had lot's of willing guinea pigs to show for it! I always end up going back to basics and building from there. Kudos to your for trying, don't give up just yet!

 

[damthisisfun]

Thanks for the heads up - I have been really debating this route. How about posting some of you recipes for us to try - were you able to make anything remotely close to JC original or Tennessee?

 

[18SixFifty]

Let's see I started off with a gallon of juice, nic content too high to speak of on this site. Two gallons of PG and VG each, a gallon of flavoring total of 32 flavors. 1,000 bottles, syringes and just about everything else known to man. This was a couple years ago. I created a sterile room to work in. Can you believe I am almost half way out? Of course there is hardly a vaper in the county that hasn't taken some of my juice home with them. I won't sell it, but I don't mind if they bring me a gift.

I guess you could say I went all in. Funny thing is I created my favorite blend and haven't vaped anything else in around a year. I still mess around making new ones or the stuff my friends like. But as for me I'm content with what I think is the perfect flavor.

It was well worth the $450 bucks I spent. In fact I have gotten more free produce and bread and whatknots than I know what to do with. You would be amazed at how much free beer, wine and spirits I have drank thanks to DIY. My buddies all think I should go into business. I just laugh because I know it would take all the fun out of it for me.

So my point is that I agree with you. Go big or stay home.

 

[Fiamma]

DIY is a fickle mistress. Some of the stuff ppl gave me recipes for were 'ok' but better when I figured out what would make them better for my buds than theirs. I'm a plain cook in real life. You give me a recipe and I can make it, but an innovator I'm not.

I finally figured it out. I got rid of all the LorAnns, had to use too much and didn't like the food color in some of it, or the juices I made with it. I bought a crap ton of Capellas and Flavour Art and kept my TFA/TPA for tweaking stuff. They have things that Capella's and FA don't have.

Stuff I'm making is single, double or triple flavors period. They taste as I expect them to taste and I'm not sweating bullets trying to 'fix' something rather than pour it down the drain. I have plenty to vape, time to let things steep for a bit and I make my faves in 120 ml bottles. The best part is I'm back to saving money and relaxed at the prospect of making something new.

 

[edensin]

Great post! made me laughbigtimenokidding.
Honestly, I DIY because of the savings. I don't even try to kid myself that it's as good, never mind better, than what I could buy. I am satisfied with a hint of flavor and plenty of juice on hand at all times.
Periodically I treat myself to something on a site I am visiting while shopping for toys. Otherwise I don't really worry about it.

 

[Rule62]

This is a great thread. I also am one of those people that can follow a recipe; but I don't have a "chef's palette" at all. I can barely tell Coca Cola from Pepsi. After 70 or 80 little bottles of flavors, every piece of precision mixing equipment known to man, and a freezer so full of nicotine liquid that there's barely enough room for food (in case of the apocalypse), I have exactly 4 recipes that I've fooled with enough to make over and over; and I can honestly say are as good as something I might buy; and if I never attempted another creation, which I likely will anyway, I could vape happily ever after. But along the way, I've made a lot of "burning tires" and "dirty gym socks". I have to stop trying to be the Emeril Lagasse of the DIY world.

 

[Moueix]

I'm a noob, who always goes way deep, and I thank you kind sir, for sparing me months of toil and tears. I vow to purchase the tastiest blends, and NEVER buy a gallon of PG from Tractor Supply.

To be honest, I've researched it all. I really like Volts flavors, I think Dekang sucks, and I can't wait to get my AliceInVapeland delivery. And today is Saturday and I started Vaping on Thursday. But if Alice delivers what she promises, at $0.50/ml for the big bottles, I'll B.U.Y instead of D.I.Y.

The laugh you provided though, was worth much more.

 

[damthisisfun]

Sill not recipe for JC Org n Ten - lmao.....

 

[glassmanoak]

Thanks for the insight, Ralikar. I had my own epiphany of my own a while back. If I need to add a third , fourth or fifth flavor to a juice to make it "perfect", I should NEVER have mixed the first 2 flavors together!
I do not have a subtle palette. My taste was long deadened by the years of smoking. Now, I follow the sacred principle, KISS. Keep It Simple Stupid! and then enjoy my simple juices.
Works for me !!

 

[TTK]

Great post
I do not try to replicate eliquid flavors that I like, such as Tribecca. What I do, since most of them are too strong in flavor for me, even though I like them, I just use no flavor NIC liquid to dilute them. The flavor strength is then about right and in most cases I have doubled the amount I have. And sometimes I just vape unflavored.

 

[Ralikar]

Yes, my DIY savings are great but I'm now moving to the minimum. My DIY final solution will be 6 single Capella flavors I liked, 1 Loranns (cheesecake) and three FA single flavors. I'll steep a bit in small 10ml bottles. This will keep lots of my base ready if I change tastes and will give me 10 flavors. I came to DIY paying $20/30ml from JC and the savings is enormous. So 10 core flavors is good enough for me... My palate sucks and I'm not trading the Vivi for an atty. The e-cig final solution for me for some time= Ego Twists+vivi 2.5 and mini/cotton heads/10 flavor cheap DIY. GTG!

 

[cricque]

Funny read. But I do agree, getting the flavor you want right, is going to take some time. At the moment I think I have around 100 flavors sitting & waiting to be used. If I order I always say, hmmm need to try that ... hmm i'll add that also. A single flavor can be good, but it's just not enough for me. Even for fruit flavors I try to add in some other stuff just to give it the boost it needs. It might work for some, it might not work for some. But I do enjoy fiddling and testing

 

[Wishdog]

I hear you, brother.

I'm approaching the frustration to savings ratio at which I will bail. That said, I have another 250ml of nic base on the way.

 

[Osiris11]

Lol Luv it