Too Harsh! What Went Wrong?

[finanie]

I spent months reading up on DYI, and placed my first DIY order in May. I still didn't feel ready so I kept reading and finally made my first batch last night. It was a 5% strawberry using TFA flavor. I tried it immediately and found it to be extremely harsh, I mean unvapeable harsh! I shook it periodically last night and this morning and just now tried it again with the same results.

Do you think I may have miss calculated and used too much nic? What else could it be? I used an evod on my vamo and tried different watts with no improvement. I also changed out the coil just in case it was bad. Posted below are my desired levels and what I used according to the e-juice me up calculator. Thank you for any input/advice!

Intended product:
5ml of 60pg/40vg 12mg nic

What I used:
60mg/ml nic (pg)-1ml
PG-1.75ml
VG-2ml
Strawberry flavoring in pg from TFA-.25ml (5%)

 

[Cool_Breeze]

Hmm...I don't see anything obviously wrong in your mix.

How about your carot/atty? Is there a chance the Ohms are quite low or you are somehow getting dry hits?

 

[Jfaria1891]

had the same problem when i first started DIY i dont know what the vendors do to get their juice so smooth XD

i solved my harshness by cutting back on the nic a little and changing to a 70/30 VG/PG mix

its thick but it works perfect in my evods and protanks and of course dripping. nice and smooth clean vape

and loads of vapor way more then i ever got with vendor juice

 

[SouthernBliss]

First suggestion is 1 or 2 drops lemon juice (the kind in the plastic lemon) per 5ml of juice. That should help balance out the alkalinity of the nic and even out the flavor a bit.

 

[finanie]

I tried two different coils in my evod but will try it will a brand new coil later.

I just wanted to make sure I didn't screw up the calculator and overdose on nic! I guess this is were the process of experimentation comes in!

I will continue to try different pg/vg ratios and drop the nic a bit. Thanks for the responses so far! I couldn't have made it even this far without ECF!!

 

[Cavediver]

Have you tried vaping the PG and VG without adding nic or flavors? Once you've tried them and ruled them out, make up a 60/40 mix, again with no nic and no flavor. If that's OK, do it again with nic, and then repeat with flavor.

I know my nic gives things a bit of a rough feel on my throat if I go with an 18mg recipe. If I drop it down to 15mg, it seems to be a bit smoother.

 

[Jfaria1891]

First suggestion is 1 or 2 drops lemon juice (the kind in the plastic lemon) per 5ml of juice. That should help balance out the alkalinity of the nic and even out the flavor a bit.

adding lemon juice to the next shopping list haha

 

[finanie]

Ok, now I remember someone saying to add some lemon to fruit mixes! Will give that a shot too. Thanks!

 

[finanie]

I will try doing a plain mix of the pg/vg first and test that out. I got all my supplies at Wizard Labs. I may need to experiment with products from other companies.

 

[Jfaria1891]

wiz lab stuff should be fine if your like me you will find the harshness comes from you nic and more vg goes a long way to subsiding that harshness.

but still try it out anyway u may have bad pg or something.

process of elimination.

 

[michaelsil1]

Test with no flavor and no nicotine then add some nicotine and test if it's still good then add some flavor. Someone else was having the same problem and they discovered it was the nicotine they were using.

 

[finanie]

Ok, will do several tests when I get home tonight! I would be ok with increasing the vg in my overall mix since I can control the flavor now. I've avoided it on my pre-made orders because I wasn't sure how it would effect the flavor. DIY perk!!

 

[Jfaria1891]

Test with no flavor and no nicotine then add some nicotine and test if it's still good then add some flavor. Someone else was having the same problem and they discovered it was the nicotine they were using.

That was this guy XD

Ok, will do several tests when I get home tonight! I would be ok with increasing the vg in my overall mix since I can control the flavor now. I've avoided it on my pre-made orders because I wasn't sure how it would effect the flavor. DIY perk!!

im my personal experience using more vg doesn't effect the amount of flavor if it does its so small its not even noticeable. again thats my opinion im sure some other people will have different thoughts

vg is a little sweeter then pg so yes your juices will be a tiny tiny bit sweeter with more vg, but to me, sweet is good

 

[michaelsil1]

That was this guy XD



im my personal experience using more vg doesn't effect the amount of flavor if it does its so small its not even noticeable. again thats my opinion im sure some other people will have different thoughts

vg is a little sweeter then pg so yes your juices will be a tiny tiny bit sweeter with more vg, but to me, sweet is good

Did the new batch of Nicotine fix the harshness?

 

[finanie]

Did the new batch of Nicotine fix the harshness?

I haven't tried it yet. I will do lots of experiments when I get home per all the suggestions and then post back with my results! Thanks for all the help!

 

[Jfaria1891]

Did the new batch of Nicotine fix the harshness?

no come to find out there wasnt anything wrong with the nic ... unless theres something wrong with the new batch too..... haha i doubt it they have different mix dates on them. i think i just wasnt expecting the nic to be that harsh i really really want to know what in the world vendors do to their juice where 12mg 70/30 pg/vg is smooth..... because mines always unvapable unless i switch the ration to 70/30 vg/pg

 

[michaelsil1]

I haven't tried it yet. I will do lots of experiments when I get home per all the suggestions and then post back with my results! Thanks for all the help!

I was asking jfaria1891 he was the one that had the harshness issue as well.

 

[michaelsil1]

no come to find out there wasnt anything wrong with the nic ... unless theres something wrong with the new batch too..... haha i doubt it they have different mix dates on them. i think i just wasnt expecting the nic to be that harsh i really really want to know what in the world vendors do to their juice where 12mg 70/30 pg/vg is smooth..... because mines always unvapable unless i switch the ration to 70/30 vg/pg

Bummer! ......................

 

[Jfaria1891]

iv been making my mixs with 6mg-8mg and the 70% vg and no more harshness, and i think i prefer the high vg level anyway as im a fan of clouds

 

[finanie]

Post experiment update: I tested the pg and vg individually and didn't notice any harshness. I probably should have done this to begin with and think it's a good idea for anyone starting DIY. Now I know what they taste like and can compare other brands. I did 4 batches of various pg/vg ratios and nic levels and found that 30pg/70vg at both 10 and 12mg nic are not too harsh. I get the TH I'm used to with vendor juice. So, I guess increasing my vg level is just what I needed. I did one batch at 5% strawberry and one at 7% both with 2 drops of lemon juice. The 7% is fantastic! I do think I will only do 1 drop of lemon juice next time.

Over all I'm so thrilled with my first attempt! Thanks for all the suggestions! Now off to master my other flavors!