Testing Flavors

[StanleySpadowski]

So being new to this I went crazy with my flavor order, which I in no way regret, and have come to a dilemma. Everywhere people say to test your flavors individually which makes sense yet I have not found anywhere where someone has said how to properly test them. So do I need to mix up 5 ml and let them age, taste a drop on my finger or what?

 

[Squonk]

My "general" new flavor stand alone "rule of thumb".
CAPs & TFA 7%
FA & INW 3%
It always helps to do some % research first. Some flavors are more highly concentrated than others even though they are from the same company. It really doesn't matter if your mix comes out a little to weak or strong. What your trying to accomplish is what the flavor profile is. I used to mix my test batches at 12ml, now I mix them at 20mls because my RTAs are juice drinkers and I like to try a tank at different steep stages/times.

 

[StanleySpadowski]

Ok thank you. Guess it's time to order a Griffin. I've been avoiding tanks cause I don't care for how the ones I've used perform and I always have leaking issues but everyone so far swears by the Griffin.

 

[Squonk]

Ok thank you. Guess it's time to order a Griffin. I've been avoiding tanks cause I don't care for how the ones I've used perform and I always have leaking issues but everyone so far swears by the Griffin.

I love my Griffin and my Crius. They are my go-to RTAs. It takes some tries to get the wicking down. They will flood if not wicked properly.
http://www.vapingunderground.com/threads/my-new-griffin-rta-vs-crius.177130/

 

[Heabob]

So being new to this I went crazy with my flavor order, which I in no way regret, and have come to a dilemma. Everywhere people say to test your flavors individually which makes sense yet I have not found anywhere where someone has said how to properly test them. So do I need to mix up 5 ml and let them age, taste a drop on my finger or what?

Pretty hard to test stand alone flavors like Sweet Cream, Dairy Milk, Brown Sugar, etc.
If I drip taste a flavor directly, I can usually tell if it's a "curl your toes" strong type.
But I usually start with 5% for most fruits except for the Blackberry flavors being 2%, (FA 0.5%).
And Raspberry & Cherry less than 1% for me as most are pretty powerful.
Tiramisu & most coffees are potent for me so 1% or less normally.

 

[Squonk]

Pretty hard to test stand alone flavors like Sweet Cream, Dairy Milk, Brown Sugar, etc.
If I drip taste a flavor directly, I can usually tell if it's a "curl your toes" strong type.
But I usually start with 5% for most fruits except for the Blackberry flavors being 2%, (FA 0.5%).
And Raspberry & Cherry less than 1% for me as most are pretty powerful.
Tiramisu & most coffees are potent for me so 1% or less normally.

Thanks for taking the conversation further. I should have expounded on my thoughts. Note to self....
Stay off line until you've had your first cup of coffee.

 

[Heabob]

Thanks for taking the conversation further. I should have expounded on my thoughts. Note to self....
Stay off line until you've had your first cup of coffee.

Or 2, in my normal mode I don't do anything till after the 2nd cup.
Because I'm usually met with some type of disaster if I don't.

Pretty hard to explain this topic without writing a small novel tho.
Maybe a better answer would be "it depends", .

 

[StanleySpadowski]

Pretty hard to test stand alone flavors like Sweet Cream, Dairy Milk, Brown Sugar, etc.
If I drip taste a flavor directly, I can usually tell if it's a "curl your toes" strong type.
But I usually start with 5% for most fruits except for the Blackberry flavors being 2%, (FA 0.5%).
And Raspberry & Cherry less than 1% for me as most are pretty powerful.
Tiramisu & most coffees are potent for me so 1% or less normally.

Ok I was kind of wondering how I was going to deal with vaping plain fresh cream or joy. I made up my own mix the other day with INW Raspberry in it and have noticed I definitely need to drop that percentage. It's killing everything else in there

 

[Squonk]

Or 2, in my normal mode I don't do anything till after the 2nd cup.
Because I'm usually met with some type of disaster if I don't.

Pretty hard to explain this topic without writing a small novel tho.
Maybe a better answer would be "it depends", .

I remember when I decided to break into DIY. I was a Googling fool. It's a lot of trial and error. I finally ended up signing up to VU because most of the information I found here while lurking was the most helpful and accurate. That and VU was the only forum that would take meD). I guess the best advise I can give is, start with 2-3 flavor mixes for awhile until you get feel for what each flavor brings to the mix. What I like to do when trying new fruits is...
Fruit at the stand alone % that you've researched (you can always ask here)
Fresh Cream (FA) 2%
Vanilla Bourbon or Classic(FA) .5%
This will always give you something good to vape on, as well as giving you a good idea of what the fruit taste like clean.

 

[Heabob]

Ok I was kind of wondering how I was going to deal with vaping plain fresh cream or joy. I made up my own mix the other day with INW Raspberry in it and have noticed I definitely need to drop that percentage. It's killing everything else in there

INW Raspberry I use at 0.5-0.75%, and do the same thing with most Cherry flavors but they are kinda iffy still.
Creams, Vanillas, Brown Sugar, & Marshmallow, are additives so are generally used at 1-3%, but there are some exceptions.
Pineapple, Meringue, Cardimom, Coconut, Walnut, Almond, & AP, plus many others can also be used as spices at 0.5%.
Normally you can't really taste them, or at least your not supposed to anyway.
Best to just experiment with mixes to "learn your flavors" IMO.
Just like you learned with the Raspberry.
Look at the recipes around here for some examples of percents and ratios.
Many of the other web sites have recipes too but I usually cut them in half cause they're using way too much flavoring for me.
Plus many recipes are using a lot of sweetener & EM(Cotton Candy), so I usually just drop them, or replace with a drop of Stevia in 15ml.

 

[Heabob]

Many other Creams & Vanillas I think "taste" way better than FA IMO, sorry.
Not that they are bad, but just not sweet & creamy enough for me, and a bit dry.
But they do work well enough for taking the sharp edge off the fruits for testing anyway.

** For those that don't care about baddies tho as some I like are probably not vape safe.
TFA Vanilla Swirl, Sweet Cream, Dairy Milk, French Vanilla Deluxe, TFA Vanilla Bean
CAP Vanilla Bean, Sweet Cream, Bavarian Cream
Hangsen Cream
INW Vanilla Bourbon
DIYFS French Vanilla & Holy Vanilla

FA Condensed Milk(although many others don't like this one)
I think it adds something when mixed in with other Vanillas & Creams at 0.5%.

 

[lirruping]

afaik (from reading the tfa site, I think) Vanilla Swirl is "safe" - that is, has no diketones For TFA flavors, anyone can look at the component page they have available for many or most flavors on the site. I always have to re-find that list (disorganized) but it's definitely worth looking at for more info about what's in your vape.

 

[StanleySpadowski]

I remember when I decided to break into DIY. I was a Googling fool. It's a lot of trial and error. I finally ended up signing up to VU because most of the information I found here while lurking was the most helpful and accurate. That and VU was the only forum that would take meD). I guess the best advise I can give is, start with 2-3 flavor mixes for awhile until you get feel for what each flavor brings to the mix. What I like to do when trying new fruits is...
Fruit at the stand alone % that you've researched (you can always ask here)
Fresh Cream (FA) 2%
Vanilla Bourbon or Classic(FA) .5%
This will always give you something good to vape on, as well as giving you a good idea of what the fruit taste like clean.

I couldn't even possibly figure out how many hours I have been on this site and googling shit in the last month. I'm lucky that I know what I'm doing at work so I can just set my machine up properly and let it rip. Then I spend the next 7 1/2 hours doing research. I got screwed over by one of the local shops, they had a huge good selection of juice, and that was what finally pushed me to do diy. You can fuck me once but that will always be the last time. In the end I'm glad it happened cause I already have one mix that I love and the mixing, testing, and research is just fun.

 

[StanleySpadowski]

Many other Creams & Vanillas I think "taste" way better than FA IMO, sorry.
Not that they are bad, but just not sweet & creamy enough for me, and a bit dry.
But they do work well enough for taking the sharp edge off the fruits for testing anyway.

** For those that don't care about baddies tho as some I like are probably not vape safe.
TFA Vanilla Swirl, Sweet Cream, Dairy Milk, French Vanilla Deluxe, TFA Vanilla Bean
CAP Vanilla Bean, Sweet Cream, Bavarian Cream
Hangsen Cream
INW Vanilla Bourbon
DIYFS French Vanilla & Holy Vanilla

FA Condensed Milk(although many others don't like this one)
I think it adds something when mixed in with other Vanillas & Creams at 0.5%.

When you say many other creams taste better than FA are you referring to a specific flavor or just FA creams in general?

 

[Jimi]

I couldn't even possibly figure out how many hours I have been on this site and googling shit in the last month. I'm lucky that I know what I'm doing at work so I can just set my machine up properly and let it rip. Then I spend the next 7 1/2 hours doing research. I got screwed over by one of the local shops, they had a huge good selection of juice, and that was what finally pushed me to do diy. You can fuck me once but that will always be the last time. In the end I'm glad it happened cause I already have one mix that I love and the mixing, testing, and research is just fun.

Yes they [your local shop] DID do you a big favor then

 

[Heabob]

When you say many other creams taste better than FA are you referring to a specific flavor or just FA creams in general?

Only FA Fresh Cream & Vienna Cream, but they do work in some recipes.
They just don't have the sweet & creamy effect that I prefer.
Probably because they don't have any of the bad stuff I like.

 

[StanleySpadowski]

Only FA Fresh Cream & Vienna Cream, but they do work in some recipes.
They just don't have the sweet & creamy effect that I prefer.
Probably because they don't have any of the bad stuff I like.

I like the bad stuff too. Better feel and taste!

 

[Willbo]

One thing the e-liquid recipes site is great for is testing new flavours. If you goggle e-lieuid recipes and the flavour you have bought, it brings it up and average % used standalone and in recipes, as well as recipes people have used it in. ALso has notes 90% of which are just copy and pastes of some supposed guru mixers notes. I think Squonks initial percentage guideline is a good one, however every vendor has flavours much stronger or weaker than there other ones which is why always worth checking them online to get an idea even before you test them