I’m having a hard time putting together juices that work. Even letting them steep longer, shaking daily and wondering if tomorrow will be the day I smell it and it doesn’t smell like low budget alcohol perfume. I even followed some recipes and still having issues.
I tried Hics recommendation of mixing some pg/vg along with a little nic to sample taste and see if my bases were the problem. Tastes a little sweet and not foul so that shouldn’t be it. I even ordered all the ingredients for Game Over and I’m still doing something wrong.
What else might I be missing. Big fan of custards if anyone has any suggestions. It seems so easy, so many posts where someone slaps together a few flavors and bam, so incredibly yummy they can’t stop vaping. I want that. I could be vaping cat urine and I wouldn’t know the difference from my less than awesome juices. Thank you in advance for any and all help
Your post is more over-arching than detailed, so let's assume your mixing methods, bases, and nic calculations/quality are all on point. If you have doubts on this, post details.
Steeping...if you wait around for a mix to become good, you'll be waiting forever in some cases. It's not an unborn baby, so don't think of it as You waiting on It. Instead, You allow It a certain amount of time to mature, preferably testing along the way, because that will give you a lot of feedback on its ultimate practicality. I test at 24 hrs, 7 days, 14 days, 30 days. At 7 days, I pretty much know if it's working or if it's going to suck. I've never had a case of 7 day shit turning to 30 day gold, but I still run my Failures through the 30 day Program because it allows me further insight into what's Not Working.
I'm aware other folks consider longer steep times as necessary. That's totally cool. I have so much juice in rotation that my liquids generally sit around more like 2-3 months before I get around to vaping them. If it improves more after a month, Yay ( I haven't noticed any improvements major enough to be WOW), but if it's not satisfactory at 30 days, then it exceeds my definition of Practicality.
Yes, shake your flavor concentrate before using, especially if you store your flavors in the fridge. Shake the bottle every time you pick it up, it'll train you to do it without thinking. Some flavorings separate, examples FW Blood Orange, TFA Ripe Banana, FA Lemon Sicily, others.
Finished mixes, I shake once after mixing and once before vaping. I don't go crazy shaking, when it looks mixed, I stop. I used to perform daily Shaking Rituals on my steeping juice, I noticed no difference whatsoever except my arm got really tired. I also don't attempt to accelerate steeping with heat, etc. Not to say those things don't work, but they take extra time and resources I'd rather devote to keeping enough juice in rotation that I never have to worry about having nothing ready to vape on hand. Jambi's Practicalities again.
"low budget alcohol perfume"...If I'm getting pungent aromas, I'll shake and aerate the bottle. In extreme cases I'll let it breathe for a few hours, but if I'm at that point it means I'm trying to salvage a mix that's probably going down the drain anyway. I don't think extended air contact is good for flavors, it oxidizes nic and allows The Good to escape along with unwanted elements.
What's the mix/ratio that's giving you problems? There's probably an easily identifiable offender in there.
GOC is a solid custard, I'd rank it right up there with the best of them, but it's also not the type of mix that works well just dumped into something like a Baby Beast with a stock (premade) coil. It's too complex and subtle to be vaped on a coil that's had other flavors run through it. But vape it on a fresh SS Clapton build, it's wonderful. GOC isn't something I'd vape all day. It's like triple layer chocolate cake, decadent in small amounts, but way too rich and heavy to binge on. It's one of those I set aside for fresh builds.
There are better "slam vape" custards. ThirdWorldOrder's Third World Custard is a solid, straightforward custard that lacks the nuances but is more accessible than GOC. You might also try something simple and full-flavored, like a Daft Spunk clone (equal parts CAP VC1 and FW Cancer Cake, 5/5 seems to work well). I personally don't care for it, but my commercial juice chugging friends seem to love it.