Very Discouraged.

[zoiDman]

... Was so excited to start DIY and now, not so much.

Don't get too Discouraged.

You will read about People doing a 1st Recipe that is Out of the Park Fantastic. And their New ADV.

But those Posts are Rare.

Most people New to DIY need to do a Few Mixes to get a feel for How Much Flavoring to use for a given brand. Needed Steeping Times. And when a Sweetener can Improve a Recipe.

 

[Johntodd]

Yeah, don't get discouraged. You're starting a new thing; it will take practice.

I've made a few turds in my day, too.

 

[AndriaD]

Got a starter kit at liquidbarn and followed all instructions for use and handling. Made two stand alone flavors one strawberry cheesecake, and the other waffle. Used 20% flavoring on waffle, and 15% with the strawberry with 6mg. nic. 50/50 VG, PG shook very well and let sit for a day. Smelled great! So exciting, tried them and NOTHING. No flavor at all. Was so excited to start DIY and now, not so much.

I'd say mostly it's because really good ejuice is not a "stand alone" flavor -- at least, very VERY few.

1) visit The Flavor Apprentice Flavoring thread;
2) if you want something that tastes decent right away, or at least lets you know right away if it's any good or not, use 25%-30% flavoring;

and most important:
3) 50% "main" flavor, 50% supporting flavors -- creams, vanilla, sweetener.

There is nothing that tastes like just one thing, unless you really enjoy sitting around eating pure sugar, or actually enjoy black unsweetened coffee; fruit tastes of 1) fruit flavor, 2) sweet, 3) tart, etc. Something like baked goods -- think how many ingredients go into making baked goods!

Andria

 

[Bonskibon]

I'd say mostly it's because really good ejuice is not a "stand alone" flavor -- at least, very VERY few.

The only reason I did that was to get my feet wet so to speak. My very first try at it and just wanted to get a feel for it. I had expected to taste something, anything, but now know better. Will look through the thread you suggested.

 

[AndriaD]

The only reason I did that was to get my feet wet so to speak. My very first try at it and just wanted to get a feel for it. I had expected to taste something, anything, but now know better. Will look through the thread you suggested.

It's really odd, given what I mentioned above, about baked goods -- but the only flavor I've tried that is actually not bad "stand alone" is TFA's Banana Nut Bread. It's better with a little sweetener, at least to me, but it's not bad all by itself -- about 11% flavoring, I think is what I used. But I guess maybe that's true because the flavor was actually formulated to taste like a baked-goods product; it's the only one I've tried that actually is good, all by itself.

Andria

 

[Yiana]

Are those the only two flavors you have right now?

 

[Bonskibon]

Are those the only two flavors you have right now?

I got 10 flavors with the kit I ordered. I plan on getting other flavors.

 

[Yiana]

Oh ok. I was just wondering what flavors you got.

 

[Caridwen]

I was so discouraged by my first attempt at DIY that I didn't try it again for about a year.

You could start out with premixed flavoring. Remember the same flavor (ex. peach) tastes different from each flavoring company. I have about 6 pineapple flavorings and they all taste completely different. So you might have to experiment with different brands of flavorings.

 

[herb]

I was so discouraged by my first attempt at DIY that I didn't try it again for about a year.

You could start out with premixed flavoring. Remember the same flavor (ex. peach) tastes different from each flavoring company. I have about 6 pineapple flavorings and they all taste completely different. So you might have to experiment with different brands of flavorings.

LOL, now thats funny , i was totally disgusted myself when first starting DIY and waited a month until my disgust eased up a little .

Thing is i kept getting worse not better , just not very good at it i suppose but at least the juice is vapable at this point .

 

[Caridwen]

There's a supplier that I bought my premixed liquid from and started buying my flavoring from them. It's a bit more expensive, but I know I'll like it.

I'm able to duplicate a couple eliquids that I like with OK results. I figure if I can at least make a couple and buy a couple, I'm still ahead.

 

[Dixie1954]

I have a question for @Bonnie C - why did you not use the recommended percentages the Strawberry Cheescake says 8% ?

 

[Steamix]

More isn't always merrier ... at least not when it comes to DIY.

Is like chili ... too much of it , you taste only hot and won't be able to tell whether you're chewing a fine steak or a soggy dishrag cuz the 'hot' overpowers everything else.

Start low , even tad below what the respective flavour maker recommends. Adding flavour to taste is easier than trying to salvage a batch that got overdone ( ever tried un-salting a soup ? )

Steeping, aging, whatever you call it ... means giving your mix time to homogenize and develop.

Flavours I'm using are highly concentrated ( making them more cost-effective in the long run ), highest I ever used was 7%, some tobacco flavours go fine at a measly 2% ... And that flavour needs to 'populate' the remaining 90 plus per cent evenly throughout your mix.

Means you either give it time ( a few days for fruity flavours till several weeks for tobacco flavours - anything cake-ish or cooky-ish is somewhen in between ), or you speed up the process actively: There's a ton of threads, utilizing anything from magetic stirrers to ultrasound cleaners and what have you. Know of a guy who filched his lady's vibrator to give his juices a good rattle ...

I've got a crosstrainer ... Taping the bottles to one of the pedals gives me and the juices a good workout...

So don't chuck that starter kit just yet, please...

Start low, let sit, taste, add, let sit,
once you get the ball rolling it'll be fun once you vape your first good ones while mixing more for later ..

 

[Johntodd]

Anything new usually starts with emulation - use other peoples' recipes first.

 

[Bonskibon]

I have a question for @Bonnie C - why did you not use the recommended percentages the Strawberry Cheescake says 8% ?

I did that because when I tried it in a dripper it didn't have a lot of favor.

 

[VNeil]

I'd say mostly it's because really good ejuice is not a "stand alone" flavor -- at least, very VERY few.

1) visit The Flavor Apprentice Flavoring thread;
2) if you want something that tastes decent right away, or at least lets you know right away if it's any good or not, use 25%-30% flavoring;

and most important:
3) 50% "main" flavor, 50% supporting flavors -- creams, vanilla, sweetener.

There is nothing that tastes like just one thing, unless you really enjoy sitting around eating pure sugar, or actually enjoy black unsweetened coffee; fruit tastes of 1) fruit flavor, 2) sweet, 3) tart, etc. Something like baked goods -- think how many ingredients go into making baked goods!

Andria

^^^^ This is really good advice and basically what I was going to suggest. TFA flavorings are widely available and also very inexpensive in 4 oz bottles that are very economical when you narrow down the flavorings you like. The TFA thread is a great resource. And if you follow those recipes using TFA flavorings you know that your recipes are tried and proven by many people here.

You might be able to do this with other vendor's flavorings. But I can only speak for my success with TFA and that TFA thread. The problem you have is that no one here is very familiar with the specific flavorings you bought so no one can make specific recommendations as to recipe percentages.

Most of my recipes are 30% flavorings (and most but not all are Bill's Magic Vapors recipes). They do not need a lot of steeping and taste good at time of mix, so no waiting to see if it worked. But most use 10% or less of any one ingredient and rely on multiple flavorings to reach a heavy flavoring percentage. There are a lot of good reasons for that, partly because more is not better when it comes to individual flavorings.

One of my ADV's is Bill's Dragon's Blood. I've never had anyone not like it, and I never modified the recipe. You can find Dragon's Blood in the thread but here it is:

Dragon Fruit - 10%
Cotton Candy - 5%
Strawberry - 5%
Bavarian Cream - 4%
Vanilla Cupcake - 2.5%
Sweet Cream - 2%
Vanilla Swirl - 1.5%

If you like fruits and strawberry this is a no brainer. Also AndriaD's strawberry and cream.

 

[VNeil]

^^^^ This is really good advice and basically what I was going to suggest. TFA flavorings are widely available and also very inexpensive in 4 oz bottles that are very economical when you narrow down the flavorings you like. The TFA thread is a great resource. And if you follow those recipes using TFA flavorings you know that your recipes are tried and proven by many people here.

You might be able to do this with other vendor's flavorings. But I can only speak for my success with TFA and that TFA thread. The problem you have is that no one here is very familiar with the specific flavorings you bought so no one can make specific recommendations as to recipe percentages.

Most of my recipes are 30% flavorings (and most but not all are Bill's Magic Vapors recipes). They do not need a lot of steeping and taste good at time of mix, so no waiting to see if it worked. But most use 10% or less of any one ingredient and rely on multiple flavorings to reach a heavy flavoring percentage. There are a lot of good reasons for that, partly because more is not better when it comes to individual flavorings.

One of my ADV's is Bill's Dragon's Blood. I've never had anyone not like it, and I never modified the recipe. You can find Dragon's Blood in the thread but here it is:

Dragon Fruit - 10%
Cotton Candy - 5%
Strawberry - 5%
Bavarian Cream - 4%
Vanilla Cupcake - 2.5%
Sweet Cream - 2%
Vanilla Swirl - 1.5%

If you like fruits and strawberry this is a no brainer. Also AndriaD's strawberry and cream.

Once nice thing about the Dragon's Bood recipe... although it uses a lot of different flavors, except for the Dragon Fruit all the others are stock flavors that are used in most other good recipes you find here. Vanilla, creams, cotton candy, the cupcake, and strawberry.

 

[jhhollier]

I've been somewhat discouraged with my start in DIY. I mixed 5 test batches and while none of them are gross, the strength of flavor is very low. I've tried to read as much as possible but the advice seems to be very conflicting. One camp says "if it's muted, you're using too much flavoring" and the other says "use tons of flavoring."

My first recipe used was Mustard's Milk. 6% Strawberry (TFA) and 8% Vanilla Bean Ice Cream (TFA). I read a lot of rave reviews and claims that it is good right away. I get a very vague creamy flavor from it but absolutely no strawberry. So, I upped the % to 8% Strawberry and 10% VBIC. That batch has more flavor but still almost no strawberry flavor, it's mainly just a creamy flavor. I then made a 3rd batch using two strawberry flavors - 4% Strawberry (TFA) and 2% Ripe Strawberry (TFA) with the 8% VBIC. Still not much of anything.

I then decided I'll try to make just an all strawberry juice. 12% Strawberry (TFA) and 6% Ripe Strawberry (TFA). It smells wonderful however I can't describe what it tastes like. It isn't gross or anything just indescribable.

I also threw together an attempt at vanilla custard - 9% Vanilla Custard V1 (CAP), 3% Cheesecake Graham Crust (TFA), 1% VBIC (TFA). I think this one has potential after it sits for awhile. It smells almost identical to Daft Spunk. The flavor is more pronounced than the other juices I mixed up but it's still on the muted side.

Anyway, don't know that I'm any help to the OP as I've just started as well but I guess I'd just say stick with it. It may be frustrating and you may get discouraged but in the end I think it'll be worth it. Everything I've made is vapable and will save me quite a bit of money in the long run. Eventually I'll come up with 3 or 4 solid recipes to keep me going.

 

[Jdurand]

Anything new usually starts with emulation - use other peoples' recipes first.

This above all else for a new DIY'er. I tried putting together my own ideas of what I thought would taste good. My mixes came out every where from flavorless to cough syrup! lol I was about to give up and someone pm'ed me a nice recipe for Unicorn milk. I mixed it and it was awesome. My confidence soared. I got a few more recipes down pat and now I can mix them in my sleep.

These days I'll experiment by changing the accent flavors or adding new flavors in small amounts to a good custard I make. I'll go for another "original" again someday, but for now, saving all this money on juice that I love is good enough.

 

[Yiana]

Anything new usually starts with emulation - use other peoples' recipes first.

This above all else for a new DIY'er. I tried putting together my own ideas of what I thought would taste good. My mixes came out every where from flavorless to cough syrup! lol I was about to give up and someone pm'ed me a nice recipe for Unicorn milk. I mixed it and it was awesome. My confidence soared. I got a few more recipes down pat and now I can mix them in my sleep.

These days I'll experiment by changing the accent flavors or adding new flavors in small amounts to a good custard I make. I'll go for another "original" again someday, but for now, saving all this money on juice that I love is good enough.

This ^^^^
I've been doing that since October since the first couple attempts weren't that great. Vapable, but I wanted better. I am just now starting to do some on my own after switching up accents like Jdurand said. I mixed some of my own last night. I haven't tried them yet. But yes, once you start messing around with recipes you start noticing how the flavors work together and I think it makes it easier when you start off on your own. Also, when you see recipes with flavor profiles you like, if you are missing an ingredient don't be afraid to use whatever flavor company you have on hand or a flavor very similiar. I've had good results that way too.