Building a Vanilla Custard "From Scratch"?

[lirruping]

Vendor custard juice *seems* to me to be a blending of vanilla custard flavors, perhaps mixing different brands/types, with additions of vanilla(s), maybe vanillin, cream flavors, maybe sweeteners or even tiny amounts of fruit or spice flavoring? According to my guesswork & forum reading, these types of ingredients would give each (vanilla) custard base its own character.

Maybe it's just me, but I have never come across a single thread on the topic of making a DIY vanilla custard that is just that--yet more than the sum of its parts. I also have not experimented with the process, but since recently trying a vanilla custard flavor that totally blew every other one I've tried out of the water, (Game Over Vanilla Custard by MamaJsjuice.com) it sure interests me and is something I hope to mess around with in the near future.

The point here is not copying this one (though, sure, that would be great) but more about knowing whether I'm on the right track with my thinking about how to approach this. So, if anyone has any comments or questions, links, ideas or advice about building interesting vanilla custard flavors... please talk to me!

 

[AmandaD]

Most of them start with Caps Vanilla Custard V1 or V2 - and add stuff from there

 

[lirruping]

Most of them start with Caps Vanilla Custard V1 or V2 - and add stuff from there

Yeah, I kind of had that impression too. That, or maybe some use TFA... or FW--or maybe some combine them? I dunno.

But have you ever seen a recipe floating around for what that "other stuff" might be? I made some guesses about it in my OP, but that's all they are.

Incidentally, I keep meaning to combine Caps V.C. with FA Custard just for the heck of it. I know them each individually and can appreciate their differences but have never tried them together and never seen anyone recommend it. I'ma try it anyway.

 

[soulshine]

Oh I GUARANTEE you that Caps is the base of that flavor. I haven't had the pleasure of trying it yet, but wllmc is a HUGE Caps fan, You're also probably on the right track where the FA flavors are concerned. The creams and vanillas are also huge parts of both his and HIC's recipes. I don't know wllmc personally but I feel like I do from reading his posts...lol I would be willing to bet he mighta even figured out a way to sneak some rum in there somewhere! Never know with those guys! The only thing I know for sure is that their recipes are delicious..LOL

 

[AmandaD]

There are a gazillion custard recipes floating around - not in this forum though. Did you try googling 'DIY vanilla custard clones' or some

 

[Laughmore]

What's our taste/harm policy for this dev custard? If we throw harm-reduction to the wind, we have options that will make this much much easier If that's the case, hunting reddit can be fruitful... the slogan is "bring on the diacetyl baby"

edit: Some food for though - I read a TPA person saying that If you take vanilla bean ice cream (contains acetylpropionyl) and add acetoin, you get vanilla custard. They are almost the same product, and you can use them to train your tongue to look for acetoin.

 

[lirruping]

Well, I'd be willing to abandon caution in search of an awesomely complex and creamy vanilla like willmc's. If I ever developed something I liked as much, I would be happy using it at low percentages or only vaping it once in a while. After an initial period of decadence and greed, I mean.

I didn't even realize it was possible to like a juice as much as I like that stuff. Normally, thick rich stuff like that might taste good to me for a few minutes or hours, then I get overwhelmed by it and sick of it--sick of it forever if I keep vaping it too long. But G.O. has so many little nuances that keep it interesting... and nothing I can really put my finger on. (But that's not saying much, as my knowledge and skill in DIY is still pretty low level.) It is inspiring, though.

When I first started vaping Game Over, I didn't want to mix it with anything...it seemed like a waste to adulterate it in any way. I'm finally starting to branch out and use it in fruity mixes. But it's really made me curious about the possibility of creating other interesting concoctions along similar lines.

Laughmore, your food for thought is interesting and also a little scary. I will check around reddit and look for vanilla custard clones as you suggested, Amanda. My impression is that the famous V.C. vendor juices usually have some definite, detectable non-vanilla type notes... but I dunno.

 

[lirruping]

Continued: I mean, I certainly haven't tried them all and I may be over-thinking it in my excitement. I do that.

A (sort of related) thing that I was thinking about just before I posted the OP was how I recently made a couple of delectable cereal-type juices using recipes I found that included no cereal flavors (eg, no "Crunch Berry", no "Fruit Loops", no "Admiral Crunch")--just fruits and bakery flavors and acetyl pyrazine, I started asking myself if there was a way to achieve the same sort of excellence in the sphere of rich, custardy flavor without using any flavor supplier's preconceived "custard" flavor in the mix.

But, as you suggested, Laughmore, it would probably involve buying actual baddie molecules, and somehow that seems a little byond the pale. (If they are even available for retail purchase!) Not sure why, really, though, since those chemicals are in the popular custard concentrates I'm willing to use. I guess it's just aesthetically disturbing to think about pouring straight acetoin into my DIY. It jars my delicate sensibilities... lol

Anyway, I'd better go try to go to sleep. I wake up thinking about e-juice lately. I literally shot out of bed the other night thinking: Cinnamon Red Hot! I'm sure it's just a phase.

 

[Laughmore]

I mean to use or consider flavors that contain the bads (both ace's), like TPA creams and caramels, the Capella version 1's, most FW, etc etc

And/or flavors that contain butyric acid, like the Capella version 2's and TPA DX's

Some consider vaping the v2 Capella and TPA DX's an acceptable risk (as do I). The sensation of having too much of those flavors seems to be different for some people. IME long steep times are in order.

Training your tongue to recognize acetoin is literally just food for thought, as thought can refine perception as you taste the mentioned flavors... don't go buy acetoin from a chem supplier lols.

About redditors: Lots of clever tricks and ideas for using fruit in small amounts to lighten, sweeten, or modify a base in nuanced ways. Also not particularly risk averse. Had to dig back into posting history of a few good posters to find the best info. It's hard to know what to search for - start with the most common base ingredients and dig. Before 2013, digging will lead to ECF I think, which is the golden era of the questionable flavorings since no one knew better.

 

[zaroba]

I've been wanting to make my own for a while as well.

Last night I found a recipe and made a batch. 12% FA Custard, 5% FA Vanilla Classic.
Fresh made it smells a bit lemony, doesn't taste bad at all, but doesn't really taste like a vanilla custard either.
Custards do good with steeping though so going to leave it in my car today and shake it every few hours.

 

[Laughmore]

I've been wanting to make my own for a while as well.

Last night I found a recipe and made a batch. 12% FA Custard, 5% FA Vanilla Classic.
Fresh made it smells a bit lemony, doesn't taste bad at all, but doesn't really taste like a vanilla custard either.
Custards do good with steeping though so going to leave it in my car today and shake it every few hours.

FA custard above 5% is uncharted territory for me, share your notes!
I also need to experiment with FA vanillas at >4% and Cata cream >4%. I can attest that Van Tahiti is interesting at 8% (tested when I was brand new to FA before finding V.U.), but takes a week at least for it to "stand alone" well. The "island" taste is profound but the taste needs layers and coaxing.

 

[Steamin Demon]

Laughmore....Can I ask what V.U. Is please?
I also have some of the G.O. On the way. Can't wait to try it.

 

[Oggy]

Laughmore....Can I ask what V.U. Is please?
I also have some of the G.O. On the way. Can't wait to try it.

V.U. = Vaping Underground

 

[Steamin Demon]

Laughmore....Can I ask what V.U. Is please?
I also have some of the G.O. On the way. Can't wait to try it.
Omg sorry I'm an idiot!!! Lol duh god I feel stupid now.
I'll make up for that some day.
Forgive me I'm a bit new here lol

 

[Laughmore]

No worries I confess to awkward use of the acronym

 

[zaroba]

Had it in the car in the sun yesterday for a few hours. It has gotten a bit darker, when I took it out and shook it it was as runny as water (83% vg). Smelling it now, I am noticing a hint of custard starting to appear, but overall it still smells and tastes like a lemon meringue.

 

[Mr Mixer]

From my experience with FA custard, it does lend it self well to fruity custards, for instance, take FA custard FA strawberry and FA Vienna cream and a dash of FA vanilla classic. Makes a decent strawberry custard After a solid steep time, or a bath in my beloved crock pot. The FA custard is a flavor that is unique, in my experience. Then one day I ordered a bottle of game over custard and have been mixing all kinds of custard flavors ever since. Lol

 

[lirruping]

FA custard above 5% is uncharted territory for me, share your notes!
I also need to experiment with FA vanillas at >4% and Cata cream >4%. I can attest that Van Tahiti is interesting at 8% (tested when I was brand new to FA before finding V.U.), but takes a week at least for it to "stand alone" well. The "island" taste is profound but the taste needs layers and coaxing.

Yeah, I am interested in hearing how your Custard + vanilla continues to turn out, too, Zaroba. I wonder if the lemon in FA Custard can be neutralized somehow, either through time or blending, or both. And what is does it taste like, then, I wonder? It doesn't seem to have much vanilla in it...more like a texture with slight (slight to me) lemon, than a flavor.

re: Vanilla Tahity: I still have a couple mls of a test batch at 3.5% from 3/11/15 and it is full of flavor, a little nutty.. I guess there's a hint of spice, too. Is that what you mean by "island" flavor? (I should refer back to FA flavor notes by Headinclouds.) I can only imagine what 8% might be like.

 

[lirruping]

I took Amanda's sage advice and searched awhile on Vanilla Custard clone recipes to see what sort of what-all was going into them. It seems that most of the popular ones are simple, using Caps V.C. with some kind of vanilla or cream, and ethyl maltol, sometimes with a little bit of a caramelly flavor. Here's a list of basic flavors I found that might be in a vanilla custard clone:

Vanilla Custard flavor
Vanilla, French Vanilla, etc
Vanillan
Vanilla Creme
Bavarian Cream
Sweet Cream/Dairy
Whipped Cream
Malted Milk
Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Marshmallow
Dulce de Leche
Caramel
Butterscotch

Cheesecake
Graham Cracker
Vanilla Cupcake
Cake Batter
Yellow Cake
Sugar Cookie
Brown Sugar

Coconut at very low percentages for a creamy, buttery effect without distinct coconut flavor. FA and FLV are ones I know can work this way. (FA Walnut can work this way too, in some contexts, I discovered, thanks to experiments guided by various HIC notes and recipes. I'm guessing it's something to do with the acetyl pyrazine content of both. Other FA nut flavors might have this power too, but are more definitely present at the same percentages).

Eggnog

 

[lirruping]

Of those flavors, only a few have versions (afaik) that aren't pretty much known to have at least one baddie: Brown Sugar, some marshmallows, caramels, cookies, some vanillas, vanillin. Those that I know of would be the FA version.

So, now that I'm looking at that list and thinking about teeny tiny accents--say, orange or spice or caramel or nut?--that might be added to different combinations of these, thinking of coming up with a complex Outlaw (baddie type) custard still seems interesting to me, and there is a lot to keep me occupied for a long time, right there.

But I'd have to vape a LOT of potentially toxic ingredients to work on that project, right? I know I said I was comfortable with it and sometimes I think I am--justifying it occasionally or in small amounts--but I fundamentally waver on the issue.

The idea of trying to come up with a vanilla recipe that is amazing and complex and creamy and delicious, but which does not use those ingredients as their mainstay, or even at all, is starting to seem more interesting and challenging, maybe even like the nobler project, lol. Probably out of my wheelhouse at this time... but I can dream.

 

[scarecrowjenkins]

Thanks to everyone here, i've been DIY'ing for the last 6 weeks or so. I've had great results with my total flavoring at 10%. I don't use any PG at all (i'm a dripper) so that may raise the amount of flavoring i use a little above average. This is an interesting thread. I mix 30ml bottles. For the last couple weeks i've been using 2ml of the Capella Vanilla Custard V2, and i've been changing the last ml of flavoring. I've done cake batter dip(?), vanilla bean ice cream, maple syrup, sugar cookie, vienna cream, graham cracker crust, brandy, butterscotch, cream fresh(??) and a home made organic espresso extract all in conjunction with the Cap's V2. I hope that last one isn't poisonous because it's freaking delicious. Vanilla custards have always been my all day vapes, my first being Charlie's Custard by Charlie Noble. But making flavorings from scratch has been an interest of mine since i started vaping. Aside from the espresso extract i also discovered that if you shave orange rinds and let them soak in VG you'll eventually end up with the most delicious orange flavoring you can imagine. It takes time though. I don't really know where i'm going with this, aside from my concern with possible hazards involving making your own flavorings. The tough part is there's almost no (if any at all) information on what type of plant extracts are safe to inhale. I also thought of making e-liquid from herbs that are known to be of medicinal value when inhaled (traditionally smoked. Not (word removed) ) anyways, this has been a fun thread to read, and i'm always in awe of the amount of knowledge here on the DIY threads, so thank y'all for that! Cheers!

 

[zaroba]

Yeah, I am interested in hearing how your Custard + vanilla continues to turn out, too, Zaroba. I wonder if the lemon in FA Custard can be neutralized somehow, either through time or blending, or both. And what is does it taste like, then, I wonder? It doesn't seem to have much vanilla in it...more like a texture with slight (slight to me) lemon, than a flavor.

According to HICs notes, since FA is Italian based, they do add a bit of lemon flavor to it. So that is why it is lemony.
3 days later, my mix still tastes like a lemon cream. Might add more vanilla to it to see if that counters it a bit. Don't get me wrong, it still tastes great, just not like vanilla custard. lol.

I'm going to try making up some with varying ratios to see which comes out good.
1% custard, 5% vanilla
3% custard, 5% vanilla
5% custard, 5% vanilla
7% custard, 5% vanilla
Will also try these with Vanilla Tahiti as well.

hmm, only have a few ML of custard left, so if I make 15ml bottles I might be able to stretch it out.

 

[lirruping]

i'm always in awe of the amount of knowledge here on the DIY threads,

Me too! I was stunned when I first started reading DIY threads--for that reason, as well as the amazing generosity and community spirit I found. I especially like reading about people's process. like, how someone came to a certain flavor combination or their perspective on certain flavors or little mixing tips and advice, etc. It's about the best DIY schooling I could hope for.

 

[zaroba]

1% custard, 5% vanilla
3% custard, 5% vanilla
5% custard, 5% vanilla
7% custard, 5% vanilla

my syringes only measure in 0.2ml increments, so didn't do exactly the above.
16ml - 1.4% custard, 5.3% vanilla
16ml - 2.8% custard, 5.3% vanilla
16ml - 5.3% custard, 5.3% vanilla
11ml - 8% custard, 5% vanilla
11ml - 10% custard, 5% vanilla

I didn't calculate out my vg to the 0.2ml so not 100% accurate with flavor %s.

 

[wllmc]

home made organic espresso extract

I just wanted to throw this out there as food for thought and not in any way damning homemade extracts and N.E.Ts but I would encourage people to use caution and read up on some of the FA clearstream testing on living cells. In the test of extracts made from roasted coffee beans it showed to kill more living cells than cigarette smoke. Im a big custard guy myself so I understand the give and take of custard notes but that clear stream report is good reading for those concerned with the topic happy mixing

 

[scarecrowjenkins]

I just wanted to throw this out there as food for thought and not in any way damning homemade extracts and N.E.Ts but I would encourage people to use caution and read up on some of the FA clearstream testing on living cells. In the test of extracts made from roasted coffee beans it showed to kill more living cells than cigarette smoke. Im a big custard guy myself so I understand the give and take of custard notes but that clear stream report is good reading for those concerned with the topic happy mixing

Thats great to know, is there a link to the testing/results?

 

[cardassian]

The idea of trying to come up with a vanilla recipe that is amazing and complex and creamy and delicious, but which does not use those ingredients as their mainstay, or even at all, is starting to seem more interesting and challenging, maybe even like the nobler project, lol. Probably out of my wheelhouse at this time... but I can dream.

We could make it a team project.
I'm going to have a play later on today with fa flavours and see what I can come up with.
Will post results here but might take a while as it'll need to steep.

 

[lirruping]

We could make it a team project.
I'm going to have a play later on today with fa flavours and see what I can come up with.
Will post results here but might take a while as it'll need to steep.

Cool! I will definitely be paying attention and will try to do some experiments or at least give some thought to a systematic plan for working with:

FA Custard, Catalan Cream, Vienna Cream, Fresh Cream, vanillas (Tahity, Classic, Bourbon), Cookie, Apple pie and possibly Caramel and Butterscotch, Marshmallow...Maple Syrup

TFA Vanilla Swirl, Brown Sugar,

toward a baddie-free creamy vanilla custard/base. These are the non-baddie FA ingredients that strike me as possible components of a basic creamy vanilla base. Am I forgetting any?

It would be good to have a list of any non-FA possible base components, too--those which are "diketone" free. Any thoughts?

Taking another look at the best recipes creamy-type recipes we've tried also seems like a good idea, to get a sense of what proportions of what do what, etc. HIC's Lemon Meringue Pie comes to mind as a masterwork of combining FA ingredients toward a creamy, delicious end. I have a feeling there are a lot of answers right there. In fact, this may be a matter of reinventing the wheel...but if so, so be it! I'm sure there are some awesome variations possible. I have yet to try LMP without the lemon, but mixing that recipe with 1-2% vanilla in place of lemon & contemplating the result might be a good starting place.

 

[MikeSully]

Subscribed. I will post the best recipe I have to date when I have a bit more time. 6 months of trial and error to clone "The General" from Epicus Nebula has given me much insight. A few quick opinions- DDL, Maple Syrup, Vanilla Swirl and Cinnamon Danish (all Tfa) have helped me immensely in bringing what I felt was missing from CAP V2 to my mix. Sweetener was also a must. There are a few other ingredients in my mix, so it becomes fairly complex but rounds out to less than 20% flavoring. It vapes well at high wattage and tastes cleaner than it probably is. I'll try to get the details up soon.

 

[cardassian]

Marshmallow is a possibility as a sweetener imo.
Don't know much about non fa flavours, although I do have malted milk which may be useful.
That lemon meringue pie idea is great. With or without the Vienna cream is the question.

 

[VinceV1]

I just wanted to throw this out there as food for thought and not in any way damning homemade extracts and N.E.Ts but I would encourage people to use caution and read up on some of the FA clearstream testing on living cells. In the test of extracts made from roasted coffee beans it showed to kill more living cells than cigarette smoke. Im a big custard guy myself so I understand the give and take of custard notes but that clear stream report is good reading for those concerned with the topic happy mixing

Oh no. My project is dead.

 

[lirruping]

Marshmallow is a possibility as a sweetener imo.
Don't know much about non fa flavours, although I do have malted milk which may be useful.
That lemon meringue pie idea is great. With or without the Vienna cream is the question.

Noted! I added Marshmallow to the post above (#28) that has the starter list of FA or other "safe" vanilla custard components. I left TFA Malted Milk off, since we seem to be headed toward keeping this project that way, and it is unfortunately not baddie-free.

@MikeSully : TFA Vanilla Swirl is a good addition and I know FA Maple Syrup is in their e-cig line, which means it contains no acetoin, acetyl propionyl or diacetyl. Maple flavoring is pretty distinctively not-vanilla, but maybe should be on the list anyway since in tiny amounts it might not be detectable as such, while adding something to the mix. I'll stick MS in post #28 for now and someone can reassess at some point.

Before too long it might be a good idea to describe the project and reformat the list as the first post in a new thread so it can be edited as flavor ideas which meet the critera of "diketone free" and "plausible for vanilla base" are added.

 

[lirruping]

Subscribed. I will post the best recipe I have to date when I have a bit more time. 6 months of trial and error to clone "The General" from Epicus Nebula has given me much insight. A few quick opinions- DDL, Maple Syrup, Vanilla Swirl and Cinnamon Danish (all Tfa) have helped me immensely in bringing what I felt was missing from CAP V2 to my mix. Sweetener was also a must. There are a few other ingredients in my mix, so it becomes fairly complex but rounds out to less than 20% flavoring. It vapes well at high wattage and tastes cleaner than it probably is. I'll try to get the details up soon.

This sounds so tasty...looking forward to your post!
Anybody should feel free to post here about vanilla custards that don't use "vanilla custard" flavor in general--whatever ingredients--as per the original post. That's how this thread started and it seems to be going somewhere. I did not really mean to hijack it--I just find myself meandering that way. I'm still interested in the broader project.

That's why i suggested, above, for people interested in doing a separate "diketone" free version, we start a new thread. I'm just too tired and lazy to do it at the moment.

 

[cardassian]

So today I tried using hic's lemon meringue pie as a base as suggested by @lirruping .

3% vanilla bourbon
2% custard
1% Vienna cream
1% meringue
0.5% fresh cream
0.5% Apple pie
0.5% cookie

Initial impressions are it's nice but it's not custard.
The lemon from the custard comes through, so either custard needs to be at a lower percentage or dropped all together.
A blend of vanillas might need to be used as well.
The texture was good however and I feel it's definitely a good starting point.

 

[kevkabby]

I bet vienna cream would work well in substitute for the custard. I am not a fan of the lemon flavor in the custard

 

[cardassian]

I bet vienna cream would work well in substitute for the custard. I am not a fan of the lemon flavor in the custard

Yeah that's my thinking too.
Not sure that it needs the cookie and apple pie, but that'll be in the next set of experiments.

 

[lirruping]

So today I tried using hic's lemon meringue pie as a base as suggested by @lirruping .

3% vanilla bourbon
2% custard
1% Vienna cream
1% meringue
0.5% fresh cream
0.5% Apple pie
0.5% cookie

Initial impressions are it's nice but it's not custard.
The lemon from the custard comes through, so either custard needs to be at a lower percentage or dropped all together.
A blend of vanillas might need to be used as well.
The texture was good however and I feel it's definitely a good starting point.

lol! I did the same thing today--I wasn't getting alerts from this thread for some reason, so didn't know you'd done until now. Only difference was that I used 1% Vanilla Bourbon. Interesting we both chose Bourbon. My impressions are pretty close to yours.

When I first vaped it (ten minutes ago) I was startled by how much it tasted like HIC's Lemon Meringue Pie...puzzled for a moment--then I remembered, OH, the Custard! I always manage to forget how lemony it is.

You say it's not custard. Is it the apple pie as well as the fa custard? I think maybe so. There's a definite fruitiness in it that our pudding-type custards don't have.

I'm going to up the vanilla on my little batch--adding tahity 2% and see how that is. I should've made more than a 3ml. Grr.

It is nice, though, isn't it?
edit: I see you already thought of losing the apple pie... I think that's part of what is giving it its tanginess. But the cookie? I'd hate to lose the cookie. I'll do the next one with more Vienna, no Apple Pie, and more vanilla.

 

[lirruping]

All this thinking about custards and I just remembered eating Bird's Custard when I was visited the Cotswalds several years ago.

So yummy over a Spotted Dick!

I bet somebody could make a mean Spotted Dick Pudding with Custard vape using at least mostly FA.
I'm seriously digressing now, but I remember Bird's tasting eggy, but maybe it was all in my mind. The ingredients I could find don't include eggs, and in fact, Mr. Bird apparently invented his custard powder because his wife was allergic to eggs. Anyway Spotted Dick is just blackcurrant spongecake with vanilla pudding. More than the sum of its parts.

 

[lirruping]

I think egg nog could play nice in a custard. It has sugar, cream, whipped eggs and maybe a dash of nutmeg. A true custard would have these flavors. Oh, and the vanilla. I have only seen FW eggnog which has acetoin Capella has a egg nog flavoring as well. Fa use to have a eggnog.

Vienna cream with vanilla, spices, rum (what have you) is supposed to taste just like eggnog according to HIC's Pumpkin Spice Latte recipe. I've never mixed that without the espresso. That would be a good idea... maybe it's just that simple. A sort of raw custard?

The LMP (minus the L) we are talking about here (above) has Vienna Cream and Vanilla, but it also has:

2% custard,1% meringue, 0.5% fresh cream, 0.5% Apple pie, 0.5% cookie

After removing the custard and the apple pie, we'd have Vienna Cream, Vanilla, Meringue, Fresh Cream, and Cookie. Doesn't seem like any of those last three would go against the creamy eggnog effect, but it might be good to try each of them , one by one, with the V. Cream/Vanilla combination.

 

[lirruping]

I think egg nog could play nice in a custard. It has sugar, cream, whipped eggs and maybe a dash of nutmeg. A true custard would have these flavors. Oh, and the vanilla. I have only seen FW eggnog which has acetoin Capella has a egg nog flavoring as well. Fa use to have a eggnog.

I couldn't find an original thread where HIC posted an eggnog recipe, other than in the pumpkin spice latte thread, but I just stumbled across this, attributed to HIC in my notes, so I'm sure it's around here somewhere:

"HIC's Caramel Eggnog recipe: like Hood's brand caramel eggnog, very sweet, creamy, and rich

2% FA Vienna Cream
1% FA Caramel

Shake 'n vape!
This is lightly flavored; if you prefer stronger flavoring, use 3% Vienna Cream, 1.5% Caramel.
This was made while drinking Hood brand caramel eggnog, usually available in cartons around Christmas. Hood's version has no spices or alcohol, so neither does this. Of course you could add your own spices and/or alcohol flavoring. I like this one:

CARAMEL RUMMY EGGNOG: add 0.5% FA Jamaican Rum"

 

[Pauly Walnuts]

I couldn't find an original thread where HIC posted an eggnog recipe, other than in the pumpkin spice latte thread, but I just stumbled across this, attributed to HIC in my notes, so I'm sure it's around here somewhere:

"HIC's Caramel Eggnog recipe: like Hood's brand caramel eggnog, very sweet, creamy, and rich

2% FA Vienna Cream
1% FA Caramel

Shake 'n vape!
This is lightly flavored; if you prefer stronger flavoring, use 3% Vienna Cream, 1.5% Caramel.
This was made while drinking Hood brand caramel eggnog, usually available in cartons around Christmas. Hood's version has no spices or alcohol, so neither does this. Of course you could add your own spices and/or alcohol flavoring. I like this one:

CARAMEL RUMMY EGGNOG: add 0.5% FA Jamaican Rum"

This smells good, but i dont recall nearly enough flavor. Like many of his recipes, this one needs bumped up by 50% ymmv.
Also, in my world, FA custard has no home in a custard recipe. Ive tried it a few different ways and it lives with fruits now. Its ruined a few of my mixes due to the lemony weirdness, it just doesnt jive with vanilla.

Vienna cream with vanilla, spices, rum (what have you) is supposed to taste just like eggnog according to HIC's Pumpkin Spice Latte recipe. I've never mixed that without the espresso. That would be a good idea... maybe it's just that simple. A sort of raw custard?

The LMP (minus the L) we are talking about here (above) has Vienna Cream and Vanilla, but it also has:

2% custard,1% meringue, 0.5% fresh cream, 0.5% Apple pie, 0.5% cookie

After removing the custard and the apple pie, we'd have Vienna Cream, Vanilla, Meringue, Fresh Cream, and Cookie. Doesn't seem like any of those last three would go against the creamy eggnog effect, but it might be good to try each of them , one by one, with the V. Cream/Vanilla combination.

This might be very good. Ill give it a try the next chance I get.

 

[Laughmore]

Is butyric acid permissible for this thread's project? (the D-A-A 'substitute' - in Capella version 2's and TPA version DX's "formulated for vaping," and few a others) For example Jason's White Coconut Cake would be an exploitation of the rule. Tasty but it's about double the butyric acid I could tolerate for ADV

Also HS and INW claim to be diketone free, but so are Capella v2 and TPA DX, depending on who you ask, so their creams likely have the b.a., guessing

 

[lirruping]

Also, in my world, FA custard has no home in a custard recipe. Ive tried it a few different ways and it lives with fruits now. Its ruined a few of my mixes due to the lemony weirdness, it just doesnt jive with vanilla.

I do know what you mean about the "lemony weirdness" - I had that experience when I first tasted HIC's Lemon Meringue Pie w/the lemon or lime--before I remembered there was still FA Custard in it--or rather, that the custard had lemon in it. Point is, I wasn't expecting the lemon and so it struck me as odd. After I adjusted to the idea that it still had lemon in it, I was able to enjoy it. There's power in preconceptions here, as anywhere.

The phrase, "taste is subjective" (which, tho I've come to loathe it) really covers so much. It's not just differing tastes among different persons, but changing tastes within the same person, from day to day, moment to moment...influenced by all manner of things: what and how we eat, drink and vape, our health, habits, moods... But that's just my take. : - )

 

[Pauly Walnuts]

The phrase, "taste is subjective" (which, tho I've come to loathe it) really covers so much. It's not just differing tastes among different persons, but changing tastes within the same person, from day to day, moment to moment...influenced by all manner of things: what and how we eat, drink and vape, our health, habits, moods... But that's just my take. : - )

Its so true that it becomes a major pain in the ass, especially where recipes are concerned.
Though, I think it would help alot if all diyers had similar vaping styles. For example, I guarantee that very few others here use a parallel nichrome 24ga single coil for their 'juice tester'. I do, because it simulated dual coils very well. This is why many of the recipes with ungodly high percentages of flavorings , used primarily in protanks and clearos, would choke the shit out of me (refer to many of the percentages herehttps://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/threads/flavour-art-single-flavor-percentages.259070/) . Our attys are our flavor producers and there are so many different ones.
So combine peoples individual tastes with their widely varied devices and attys. It makes things doubly difficult.

 

[lirruping]

Is butyric acid permissible for this thread's project? (the D-A-A 'substitute' - in Capella version 2's and TPA version DX's "formulated for vaping," and few a others) For example Jason's White Coconut Cake would be an exploitation of the rule. Tasty but it's about double the butyric acid I could tolerate for ADV

good question. I would say this thread is a little confused about its project, thanks to me and my stream-of-consciousness type posts. (Sorry about that). Myself, I'm interested in both the anything-goes vanilla custards and D-A-A free ones.

I'm not up on butyric acid except knowing that it's widely considered safer than D-A-A. For me, flavors containing it should be fine in a non-diketone custard project.

Obviously, though, anybody who wants to pursue a non-D-A-A/non-butyric acid end should do it, and as far as I'm concerned, is more than welcome to discuss it here. I only own one BA flavor: CA Vanilla Custard V2 and based on my so-so feelings about it (didn't hate it; did pick up on the light vomit fragrance/flavor people talk about), I wasn't thinking of featuring it as a main player in any non-D-A-A attempts I make.

HS and INW claim to be diketone free, but so are Capella v2 and TPA DX, depending on who you ask, so their creams likely have the b.a., guessing

I too have heard conflicting things about INW and HS.
TPA DX creams almost definitely have butyric acid--I'm pretty sure I read it on the TPA site. I *think* BA is a defining characteristic of the DX flavors, but would have to double check.

 

[joeyboy]

So today I tried using hic's lemon meringue pie as a base as suggested by @lirruping .

3% vanilla bourbon
2% custard
1% Vienna cream
1% meringue
0.5% fresh cream
0.5% Apple pie
0.5% cookie

Initial impressions are it's nice but it's not custard.
The lemon from the custard comes through, so either custard needs to be at a lower percentage or dropped all together.
A blend of vanillas might need to be used as well.
The texture was good however and I feel it's definitely a good starting point.

I think Hic said the Apple pie and cookie are use for a crust. Don't know if you want that in a custard.

The Caramel Eggnog of his is good and I do bump it by probably 50%, like Pauly said. It has a lot of Vienna Cream in it so it may help your quest.

 

[KeyserSoze]

Subbed. I've had a Strawberry Custard-ish vape going that I really like but it's CAP VCv2 based. Started trying to see what I could do with zero diketones last week. It's a slow process but I think it can be done.

I say lay on the vanillas (plural), cremes (plural) and add some FA Cookie and/or TFA Brown Sugar and/or Caramel for variety. I haven't made it that far yet though.

I've been wanting to make my own for a while as well.

Last night I found a recipe and made a batch. 12% FA Custard, 5% FA Vanilla Classic.
Fresh made it smells a bit lemony, doesn't taste bad at all, but doesn't really taste like a vanilla custard either.
Custards do good with steeping though so going to leave it in my car today and shake it every few hours.

Whoa! I started my journey with FA Custard at 4% and QUICKLY dropped it back to 2% and I think my last mix was at 1%. And yes taste must be subjective as I'm not getting the lemon notes out of FA Custard at all. Maybe vaping at high wattages changes it? I run between 50 and 80W. I did an all FA Strawberry Custard with (duh) FA Strawberry, FA Custard and Meringue and at first it was vapeable, but not great. A little steep showed promise though. Just mixed it up again tonight adding 0.5% each Vanilla Bourbon and Classic. Upped the Meringue and dropped the Custard (to 1%). We'll see what happens with it here in a second!

All this thinking about custards and I just remembered eating Bird's Custard when I was visited the Cotswalds several years ago.

So yummy over a Spotted Dick!

I bet somebody could make a mean Spotted Dick Pudding with Custard vape using at least mostly FA.
I'm seriously digressing now, but I remember Bird's tasting eggy, but maybe it was all in my mind. The ingredients I could find don't include eggs, and in fact, Mr. Bird apparently invented his custard powder because his wife was allergic to eggs. Anyway Spotted Dick is just blackcurrant spongecake with vanilla pudding. More than the sum of its parts.

I have no idea what your post was about but I'm pretty sure it said "spotted dick" repeatedly. I'm pretty sure I liked the post too... I don't even know what's going on any more.

All I do know is that "Mean Spotted Dick Pudding" will be the name of my next mix, regardless of what's in it.

 

[lirruping]

All I do know is that "Mean Spotted Dick Pudding" will be the name of my next mix, regardless of what's in it.

heh..I'm looking forward to it! I always get a tickle from "Spotted Dick". Such an awesome name. We were snickering and elbowing each other like 6th graders at the restaurant where we had it

This looks like a good recipe for it: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2686661/spotted-dick But there seem to be loads of variations. Do be sure to keep us posted about your Spotted Dick as it develops!

 

[Laughmore]

Figuring out what we want is maybe the hard part... I'm glad to hear we're using the b.a. for this, a little bit can be great, or even decadent like the J'sWCC recipe.

I just got the newish French Vanilla Creme TPA, smells much like CAP VCv2, but more interesting and less puke slightly, As usual I tried to throw together a few new flavors I got in the vapemail the same day, and it's playing well at 4% with Glory and some HS cream/sweet adds. VCv2 CAP is a 2 week steep minimum and and I like my blind recipe after 3 days, compared to a week steep if it was VCv2. Very optimistic

 

[lirruping]

woah, I just came across this--may be of interest to some reading this thread!:

Vanilla Cream/Custard by @Botboy141
http://vapingunderground.com/threads/vanilla-cream-custard-by-botboy141.17482/

Looks pretty wonderful. Thanks for sharing botboy!
I'm lacking a couple of the flavors to try it out yet :/