Teresa P
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HIC's Mixes: DIY recipes store
- Thread starter HeadInClouds
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There's no problem with PG or VG as they're used for lots of stuff. I can't find it here but I have it shipped here. As for the nic, all I can say is where there is a will there is a way. That and a bit of creativity.
I didn't get a notification either, just saw it when I stopped by.How did I miss this???
Ok, I've made 12 HIC recipes in the last two days. Nine I found online, three I bought. I haven't tasted them all yet, not enough time. However, I did taste 6 of them. I've learned that when it comes to vaping, it doesn't matter what I like or don't like to eat. Anything is fair game. I'm definitely not a fan of Tiramisu, which is a shame considering how often HIC uses it. Oh well.
Now, the fruits are superb, all spot on. What masterful creations in a sea of mediocrity. I have questioned repeatedly if people were imagining the flavors they talked about at length. I wondered if they were victims of suggestive thinking when saying they could discern the different tastes, the subtleties and nuances of fruits and custards layered within their juices. I had come to believe that a Shake and Vape was an elusive, mythological idea that many believed in simply because they wanted to believe it existed. In other words, I thought a lot of people were full of shit.
Perhaps it's just the typical path new vapers take. The awakening of long dormant taste buds and sense of smell. I suspect few of us are students of food, we're really just consumers. But vaping and, more specifically, DIYing brings to the fore the need to learn about the taste and use of flavors. It's the acquisition of specific and accurate vocabulary to define what is tasted and smelt. It's the acquisition of flavor pairings beyond mac & cheese, peanut butter and jelly and salt and pepper. After what is objectively a short time of four months vaping, but subjectively it's been much longer, it's been a bit frustrating chasing flavors. Combined with the general pain-in-the-assedness of sourcing materials, I've wondered what the hell am I doing. And then I met Sugary Almond Apple Tart and Apple Fritters.
Sublime is not hyperbole when I think of these two recipes. When compared to all the shit I've vaped in the last four months from the gag inducing commercial hype juices that everyone and their brother loves, from the many recipes on the net that people swear by to the abominations I've created on my own, I've finally tasted something that has let me know that it's not all bullshit. I mixed these two last night and tested them both in a Goon with some very good Clapton coils at .25. Used varying wattage and I was impressed. This evening I put the Tart into a tank at 30 watts and was greeted with a taste that finally was what was on the label. I can taste everything HIC said was there. I'm in awe. And I immediately made more. I've been chain vaping for the last 5 hours and I just finished the 15ml I made last night. I should probably go make more. I'm a long time Pats fan, so with all sincerity I must put HIC in the same level as Tom Brady. You're a winner, a master, and probably tall and good looking to boot.
HIC, I most certainly will buy many more of your recipes. It would be nice if I could message you just to ask one question before purchase. Does it have Tiramisu in it?
Cheers.
Now, the fruits are superb, all spot on. What masterful creations in a sea of mediocrity. I have questioned repeatedly if people were imagining the flavors they talked about at length. I wondered if they were victims of suggestive thinking when saying they could discern the different tastes, the subtleties and nuances of fruits and custards layered within their juices. I had come to believe that a Shake and Vape was an elusive, mythological idea that many believed in simply because they wanted to believe it existed. In other words, I thought a lot of people were full of shit.
Perhaps it's just the typical path new vapers take. The awakening of long dormant taste buds and sense of smell. I suspect few of us are students of food, we're really just consumers. But vaping and, more specifically, DIYing brings to the fore the need to learn about the taste and use of flavors. It's the acquisition of specific and accurate vocabulary to define what is tasted and smelt. It's the acquisition of flavor pairings beyond mac & cheese, peanut butter and jelly and salt and pepper. After what is objectively a short time of four months vaping, but subjectively it's been much longer, it's been a bit frustrating chasing flavors. Combined with the general pain-in-the-assedness of sourcing materials, I've wondered what the hell am I doing. And then I met Sugary Almond Apple Tart and Apple Fritters.
Sublime is not hyperbole when I think of these two recipes. When compared to all the shit I've vaped in the last four months from the gag inducing commercial hype juices that everyone and their brother loves, from the many recipes on the net that people swear by to the abominations I've created on my own, I've finally tasted something that has let me know that it's not all bullshit. I mixed these two last night and tested them both in a Goon with some very good Clapton coils at .25. Used varying wattage and I was impressed. This evening I put the Tart into a tank at 30 watts and was greeted with a taste that finally was what was on the label. I can taste everything HIC said was there. I'm in awe. And I immediately made more. I've been chain vaping for the last 5 hours and I just finished the 15ml I made last night. I should probably go make more. I'm a long time Pats fan, so with all sincerity I must put HIC in the same level as Tom Brady. You're a winner, a master, and probably tall and good looking to boot.
HIC, I most certainly will buy many more of your recipes. It would be nice if I could message you just to ask one question before purchase. Does it have Tiramisu in it?
Cheers.
Actually Tiramisu isn't that common in the recipes he sells. I think he released quite few recipes with it a while back. Tiramisu is a great flavour but very potent. I love it along with my morning coffee however I never go above 0.8% in any recipe.
Thank you for all the compliments! I'm glad you're having fun and enjoying what you make. I agree it's amazing how bad some vendor liquids are compared to what we can all make ourselves.
Of course you (or anyone else) can always ask if specific flavors are required! But whatever you made with Tiramisu - I assume within the past 24 hours or so -- how about you throw that bottle in a drawer and make a note on your calendar to taste it again the first week of March. Let's see if you like it after it's mellowed a bit, if you're willing to experiment.
Did you get a chance to mix at 10%? I'm about to mix up a batch myself but was considering the same thing as I've heard HIC is a bit of a supertaster/runs high resistance. I'm on a .12 ohm dual fused clapton build on a dripper running at 85-90 watts atm.
No, I haven't. The very next day I got Vanilla Classic and I mixed up 10ml, but I haven't gotten around to vaping it. I have noticed that my taste buds are becoming more sensitive though. Most of his recipes are plenty flavorful to me at the low percentages, with some ingredients actually being a bit too strong, such as Hazelnut, Espresso, Tiramisu, Lemon and Lime. I'm going have to cut them all down to give the juice a fair chance.
I actually just mixed up Apple Fritters and Gooey Coconut Cookies at the recommended %, 80vg/20pg... Got them in a warm water bath atm (150f), per HIC's shake-and-vape method. Will report back!
Edit: Just tried them this morning and I can barely taste any of what the profile is trying to accomplish. At this point I'm wondering if my flavorings aren't right? Has anyone else tried Nicotine River concentrates? Nothing I've mixed so far has had much flavor and I just tried a premium liquid to make sure my buds aren't shot and it tasted fine. Any advice is greatly appreciated!
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Also bear in mind that you are inevitably going to come across certain flavorings that just don't agree with you or don't fit well with your preferred style of vaping. FA Coconut is one, for instance, that many DIY'ers hail as the pinnacle of coconut flavorings; I can't stomach it in any amount. And yet Joy (one that many people loathe) is one of my favorites.
Never stop trusting your taste buds, they know what's up. I've got a folder full of Hic's stuff, and there are only 4 recipes in there that I regularly make exactly as prescribed. The rest I've poked and prodded at until they're exactly what I want them to be. That said, there is no better resource on the internet or otherwise to learn how to work with FA flavorings in vapor like Hic's work. That's a fact. There might be some folks over on reddit who hold a different opinion, but their opinions are wrong.
^^^How the hell have I never noticed this emoticon?!
Yes, I just made the coconut cookies too, along with a few others. Hopefully, I'll find time to taste them tonight. I finally wised up and make my test batches at 2mg instead of my usual 5mg.
Yes, I'm finding that out now.
Speaking of Joy, what the hell is it? It has an odd taste that I can't identify. I just tried the Gooey Coconut recipe with the Joy. It's very sweet and I can taste the coconut, but the Joy predominates. It doesn't taste like food, it's more of a plasticky, chemical taste.
First tweak, cut Joy in half.
HIC, I really value your notes in your recipes, they're a great guide for new mixers. Your explanations of how each flavor tastes and then what it brings to the whole is invaluable.
Thanks.
I think if u let it sit a few days you won't taste the plasticky chemical taste. Gooey Coconut cookies is one of my favs!
I most certainly will. I won't throw anything away in less than two months. I've still got commercial juice I can't vape in the closet. I'll give it away.
One of the great things about DIY is when you get to the point where you're no longer in a hurry for something vape. I've got plenty in the closet to keep me occupied and happy while nature takes its course.
The beauty of most of HIC's recipes is either it's a shake & vape or just a few days steeping unless otherwise noted.
Ok, I'm in a tasting session now for recipes I bought last night.
Pizzelle...this is hands down the most accurate flavor I've tasted to date. My family is from the North End of Boston and my paternal grandfather came to the US as a kid. I grew up eating lots of Italian food. I know what most of it should taste like...at least the Boston version.
You nailed this.
Peach Cider Pie...oh my! I've been chasing a good Peach since I started vaping. I finally found it. Amazing, just amazing.
Pizzelle...this is hands down the most accurate flavor I've tasted to date. My family is from the North End of Boston and my paternal grandfather came to the US as a kid. I grew up eating lots of Italian food. I know what most of it should taste like...at least the Boston version.
You nailed this.
Peach Cider Pie...oh my! I've been chasing a good Peach since I started vaping. I finally found it. Amazing, just amazing.
If everything you mix seems bland (and you shook flavors well before you measured them out) you might want to test some of your nic base; just vape it with no flavoring at all to see if it's right. That should taste lightly sweet and not much else. Are you using nic? If so, try without; that'll tell you if your nic is interfering with flavors, which is a really common problem. (almost forgot: Also be sure to shake your nic before measuring it out!)
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I just find it amazing though, don't you? Virtually every recipe I've tried, and most commercial juice, needs time. I suspect part of it is the usual lineup of flavors we find in most recipes...the heavy stuff like CAP Vanilla Custard v1, which I love. I have never had a true SnV until now. The qualities of FA married to HIC's creativity is quite the combination.
Damn, now I've got to order from the Italians again. Better do it now if I want it by April.
My wife was a very light on-off smoker when we met 18 years ago. She totally stopped 12 years ago. She's never tried a vape but I do it around her. I just let her smell the Pizzelle and she wanted to taste it. She took one hit, thought a moment and said, "Now I understand why people enjoy it." She also told me to find a Chardonnay recipe with no nic. Seriously. Do they even make wine juice??
Teresa P
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I use a premixed 3mg vg based mic and dilute it to 80/20 with pg so it's impossible to try without nic unfortunately but I did vape it straight and it didn't have much in the way of a flavor/pepper taste plus it's as clear as water still. I also made sure to shake the everloving crap out of the bottles immediately before measuring so it's not that, unless the distributor isn't in the habit of shaking THEIR bottles? As for the nic base I shook that as much as possible but seeing as it's vg based its incredibly viscous so I'm not sure if it has nic hotspots.
I did read on another thread that some fa flavors lose potency at higher wattage so I might try building a higher resistance setup in my RDA this weekend and see how it goes. What do you run out of curiosity?
Wow...thanks.
FA has a Champaign, White Wine, and Red Wine. I am not a wine drinker & don't know the proper lingo, so bear with me. All three taste "dry" to me (brut?). To me, real wine is for cooking. I use FA Red Wine in mixes like berry pie. It reminds me of red cooking wine. I'd use White Wine with brighter fruits, like pear or citrus - and I use it in mixed-drink type recipes for the boozy effect. That's about the same as I'd use real white wine.
FA has a diketone warning on all 3 right now. Those have come and gone a couple times over the years. They'll announce it's diketone-free, then some time later the warning returns. I assume they can vary from batch to batch, and I *assume* it's still very low in diketones when the warning is there. I have not been able to taste a difference in the different batches of red or white (I only have 1 bottle of Champaign).
Thank you for the information, I'll pass it on to my wife. I'll pick some up with my next order.
"hic" isn't just an acronym for HeadInClouds. I'm not a hipster with shiny new stuff, and I'm not into fiddling with hardware, so mine is simple. I go for flavor over vapor. Friends give me drippers & cumulus cloud devices. I dutifully try them, them give them back. lol. At the moment I have a bunch of Eleaf tanks that I'm completely happy with - no fiddling, tastes great, nice air-flow regulator... When I find hardware that works for me, I stick with it - gives me more time for mixing flavors. I am the last person to ask about hardware, as you can tell.
Haha, I don't blame you! I feel like I jumped in the deep end before learning to swim with all of the options but I'm an eternal tinkerer so it just felt like the right thing to do! If I remember correctly you stated somewhere that your eleaf was a higher wattage, 1.2ohm I believe? I'm curious what the other members who have had success with your mixes might run too if anyone else cares to chime in?
Teresa P
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When I first started mixing HIC's recipes, I was still using an eGo batt with vivi novas, and they were all heavenly at 1.2-1.5 ohm. I graduated up to a 30w Cloupor Mini and a Kanger subtank nano, and they tasted even better at .5 ohms. Almost two years later, I'm settled on the Boreas and running anywhere from .2-.5 ohms at 82w, and some of them do taste much different now. I'm sure it's a matter of playing with wattage to get a few to taste as they did back in the beginning. The ingredients haven't changed, just the heat...
Though I'm not a sub-ohm vaper, I do build coils a little bit lower than HIC, but with a similar airflow, maybe a bit more airy. I love HIC's mixes, mixed as written, most of the time. Sometimes I might reduce/omit, bump (VERY little) a flavoring. @Teresa P and @AmandaD might be able to answer your questions.
Well hey, she posted right as I tagged her, LOL!!
Why don't you just order from USA ? Or are u in another country?
I mainly use RTA's now & the search for vaping Nirvana makes me give in to shinyitis! I usually build .60 - .80 ohms vaping at 26-32 watts, Claptons 3mm I.d. 28*2 x 32g. Or 26/32g Claptons or ss316, ss430 single wire. Got a Daedalus Coil Maker so will experiment more.
Ok, that's good to hear as I'm running dual fused claptons at .11 anywhere from 80-90 watts so I'm probably just heating the mix too much. I'll switch to a higher resistance, lower watt build this weekend and see what happens!When I first started mixing HIC's recipes, I was still using an eGo batt with vivi novas, and they were all heavenly at 1.2-1.5 ohm. I graduated up to a 30w Cloupor Mini and a Kanger subtank nano, and they tasted even better at .5 ohms. Almost two years later, I'm settled on the Boreas and running anywhere from .2-.5 ohms at 82w, and some of them do taste much different now. I'm sure it's a matter of playing with wattage to get a few to taste as they did back in the beginning. The ingredients haven't changed, just the heat...
I would love to hear your results! I usually just buy prebuilt claptons, now I need to look up this daedalus immediately! XD
Thinking I'll try stepping up in resistance this weekend and see if the combo of higher ohms and a few days steep makes a difference... I'm motivated to make this DIY thing happen! Thanks for all the replies, this community is the best on teh internets! Glad I stopped lurking and finally posted!
3fvape has the Daedalus by Avid Artisan they lowered the price too it's only $38 ~ I made my first ss316L fused Claptons 28*2/36 it was so easy! Kanthal Claptons are cheap but the ss316L ones are pricey but now I can make them myself! For so much less. It's fun too!
I'm in the Middle East so I get everything from Europe. You'd think it'd be quicker, but it's not. I once ordered a tank and coils from Advanced Vape and I had them in 9 days. I've never gotten anything from the EU that fast. I'm thinking of using BCV to ship to my sister in Georgia and she'll send it here. My only concern with that is introducing another step into an already pain in the ass process.
Now that's a nice gadget to have...I want one. Hey...my birthday is next month. Gotta go talk to my wife...
There's tutorials on YouTube on various coils.
3 parts sweet, 1 part grease. It reminds me of the lingering flavor after I've finished eating fried dough or funnel cake. It's not good to me above 3% in anything, and I don't use it stand alone. Some people compare the "yeasty" note in Joy to stale beer, which apparently tastes repulsive. I wouldn't know as I've never been much of a beer drinker myself.
Joy is an essential component in just about every bakery vape I mix these days.
Ecigexpress is liquidating some flavors for example FA Black Pepper $.99 for 10ml.
30ml of Fa Nonna Cake for $2.43, Fa Metaphor $1.99, the Fa White & red wine & a bunch of Fa tobacco flavors.
30ml of Fa Nonna Cake for $2.43, Fa Metaphor $1.99, the Fa White & red wine & a bunch of Fa tobacco flavors.
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Heyyy - I also like Joy, and I'm also not a beer drinker. I wonder if it just tastes different if you're used to flavor of beer...
Anyone got data to add?
Teresa P
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Metaphor ended up cheaper than that, I think. I got a 30ml, along with a small order of a few others ( I love Glory, and it's 99 cents! ), so thank you for the heads up!
Also read HIC's review of bread crust....lol!!
(and that was putting it mildly)
Here's one I sent numerous times before I figured out - ECX wouldn't make it public with just 1 star, so I had to give it 2: http://www.ecigexpress.com/shop/diy...nger-by-flavors-express-10ml.html#review-list
I got irritated with them for not posting my negative reviews & just quit commenting there. lol
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I'd like to have a list of all your bad reviews as a "don't do it" reference sheet!
Does anyone know how is Inawera Caramel?
How about I just send you my reject flavor bin?
I believe I still have that FA Bread Crust. Who could tell if it's gone bad?
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It's good. Not as authentic as FA, but it's nice and creamy, and it does taste like caramel, not overly sweet.
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Cuz I probably have and use all of it....LOL!! Minus the bread crust, of course. I read so many posts about it a couple years ago when I first joined the forum, I've always steered clear!How about I just send you my reject flavor bin?
I like the flavor @Heartsdelight ...like Teresa said, it's not as good as FA, but nonetheless still good.
Ok, top 10 I can think of:
FA Bread Crust - yurrrk
FA Dark Vapure - I cannot handle this (yet others like this one, the maniacs)
FA oRYental4 - does anyone use this? anyone at all? More herbal than tobacco, and not "that" herb, either.
FA Yogurt, FA Condensed Milk - (yes, some others do use them)
Inawera Exotic Roots - moldy ginseng & potato
Nature's Flavors Brown Sugar, not because of the flavor, but because OMG wtf is that layer of sludgy white goop? Muh lungs! A bunch of theirs are like that, but this one's the worst.
TFA Oatmeal Cookie - what is this horror show?
TFA Raisin - says who?
TFA Kahlua and Cream - I think they discontinued it. I'd like to take credit.
And then there are all the ones that just aren't named right, florals that taste just like eating a bouquet, and Capella flavors with diketone overload that taste like <bleep> to me.
So @Teresa P - what are your more horrid rejects?