Flavor content please help

[tophersaboss]

Already mentioned I know , but I'm still struggling ... People on here range drastically from flavor content from 3-30%, my experience in all ranging has been okay, at most ... Is there a difference between companies (ex. FA 5% average and TFA 15 % ) someone who really has experience on making good juice please help me out and explain a little more ... If it helps any I now have FA's strawberry , raspberry, forest fruit , marshmallow , custard and TFA's blue berry extract , Bavarian cream, sweet cream, dragon fruit, cheesecake graham crust, kiwi double, vanilla bean ice cream , peach juicy and FW fruit rings and green apple ..... I use 50/50 mix of PG and VG .... Thanks again




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[madjaggar]

Yes the companies matter. Caps and TFA you have to use higher %. Fa and inw use lower %. Somewhere on here is a spreadsheet to see what single flavors % for all flavors maybe someone on here can tell you where it is

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[Daintanee]

https://spreadsheets.google.com/spr..._hQ6Fu8HdEwwR2dLRUJlVjlabEN1NG1ucktuUVE&gid=7

Small print spreadsheet. On top you can choose your different companies. Not all companies/flavors are listed, but it may help you out some.

 

[Frenchfry1942]

I'm not sure I understand the spreadsheet. I use a particular flavor art different percentages depending on the recipe, my taste buds, what other flavors it is paired with, etc.

Am I missing something?

 

[lirruping]

I find the spreadsheets I've seen not very helpful, because, as someone may have mentioned, there is a huge percentage range of what people find acceptable for a certain flavor. It's annoying to be told this, maybe ( I might find it so) but it really is true that if you take the time and read through the recipes section, here or anywhere, you will see the same flavors popping up over and over again and get an idea of what people are actually using them at. This is honestly the best way to tell--aside from doing your own laborious testing of single flavors, over a period of time, which is undoubtedly the best (but surely also the slowest) way to know for sure about percentages.

 

[AndriaD]

I find the spreadsheets I've seen not very helpful, because, as someone may have mentioned, there is a huge percentage range of what people find acceptable for a certain flavor. It's annoying to be told this, maybe ( I might find it so) but it really is true that if you take the time and read through the recipes section, here or anywhere, you will see the same flavors popping up over and over again and get an idea of what people are actually using them at. This is honestly the best way to tell--aside from doing your own laborious testing of single flavors, over a period of time, which is undoubtedly the best (but surely also the slowest) way to know for sure about percentages.

That's kinda how I arrived at my strawberry & cream recipe. All the recipes I found contained 1 or more flavors that I didn't have, so I just looked at all the recipes along those lines I could find, seeing in what percentages certain flavors were used, and constructed my own recipe from flavors I do have. It wasn't too bad at first, but needed some small fine-tuning adjustments, to get the balance of flavors just right -- maybe 2-3 small adjustments, once I had the basic flavor. It's been my ADV for about 15 months.

Andria

 

[martnargh]

Not all tfas you need high percentages of.... brown sugar, malted milk, vanilla swirl are examples of flavors i use lightly, while banana cream i will use up to 5 or 6%.
Same goes with most brands, ive used caps sweet strawberry or caps vanila custard at 9% but ive also used at 2% or 3%... it depends on what youre trying to accomplish really.
I dont have any fa flavors i have to use more the 2 or 3%, most just needing .5 to 2%...
Im no expert, im a freakin noob just learning the ropes, but thats what ive gathered thus far.

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[tophersaboss]

So no matter how many flavors I use I would aim around what percentage ?


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[doubleg99]

So no matter how many flavors I use I would aim around what percentage ?


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When I first started DIY I was using mostly TFA and CAP and recipes ranged from a low of 10% to a high of 20%, I think you'll find that a lot of recipes in this forum use FA and they come in at between 5 and 10 percent. As always, taste is subjective, start low and raise as you like.

 

[Heabob]

So no matter how many flavors I use I would aim around what percentage ?

Simple answer: That depends

Best to just look around the Recipes thread here for ideas on amounts used for some examples.
Or ask specific questions here about a recipe idea, flavorings, brands, etc.

I wish some people would quit posting links to those charts as they suck badly IMO.
Especially for beginners.
After a year or two into DIY, you'll go back to those charts and laugh your ass off.

 

[AndriaD]

So no matter how many flavors I use I would aim around what percentage ?


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That varies a lot, depending on what sort of flavor you want. My strawberry & cream is just 5 flavors, counting the sweetener, but it's 30% total flavoring. My smocha uses about 10 diff flavors, but it's just 25% total flavoring. My cherry-vanilla pipe tobacco is also 5 flavors counting sweetener, but it's just 21% flavoring, and needs a long steep, due to the high percentage of tobacco flavors; tobaccos generally always benefit from low percentages and long steeps. Some flavors go sideways with too high a percentage, and tobaccos lead that list; some flavors you can use a bunch of, and they stay true and just get stronger.

Andria

 

[madjaggar]

I find the spreadsheets I've seen not very helpful, because, as someone may have mentioned, there is a huge percentage range of what people find acceptable for a certain flavor. It's annoying to be told this, maybe ( I might find it so) but it really is true that if you take the time and read through the recipes section, here or anywhere, you will see the same flavors popping up over and over again and get an idea of what people are actually using them at. This is honestly the best way to tell--aside from doing your own laborious testing of single flavors, over a period of time, which is undoubtedly the best (but surely also the slowest) way to know for sure about percentages.

When I started diy those spreadsheets gave me a real idea of where to start. They aren't perfect but for someone that is getting frustrated and confused it will get you closer faster than starting low and adjusting. With work and kids I've never had time to try all my flavors to see how they work together but once you get an idea you won't look at them anymore anyway.
But everyone is different so maybe some have that kind of time.

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[lirruping]

That's kinda how I arrived at my strawberry & cream recipe. All the recipes I found contained 1 or more flavors that I didn't have, so I just looked at all the recipes along those lines I could find, seeing in what percentages certain flavors were used, and constructed my own recipe from flavors I do have. It wasn't too bad at first, but needed some small fine-tuning adjustments, to get the balance of flavors just right -- maybe 2-3 small adjustments, once I had the basic flavor. It's been my ADV for about 15 months.

Andria

Sounds like you have good luck and good intuition going for you. I've made so many "meh" vapes that I never followed up on. Flavor profiles that could have been good (or maybe still can be) if I had put the time in and stayed organized with my versions. I'm getting better at that, slowly.

 

[Frenchfry1942]

A lot of individuality among the chefs .

I have looked at many recipes to start off with. if that chef has experience, okay, step two. I just look at the listed ingredients and question, "are these the best?, "are the strengths appropriate?.

I don't thing I have a recipe that I got from someone else that is unchanged.

"We can rebuild it, we have the technology, sweeter, juicier, hard hitting. in the end, it will be the $6,000,000 bottle of juice!!

 

[AndriaD]

Sounds like you have good luck and good intuition going for you. I've made so many "meh" vapes that I never followed up on. Flavor profiles that could have been good (or maybe still can be) if I had put the time in and stayed organized with my versions. I'm getting better at that, slowly.

I've had a bunch of those meh mixes too -- almost always if I use less than 25% flavoring, though the cherry-vanilla pipe tobacco recipe I created is only 21% and is very good, but does need a long steep, with two diff tobacco-ish flavors in it.

Recently mixed up a lemony cheesecake that was very low percentage, about 12% I think, and next day after mixing, I really couldn't taste much of anything from it, other than a very faint lemony taste on my lips after a couple exhales, so I'm letting it steep, to see if the flavor strengthens. It's gone from nearly clear to a nice golden color, so it may be about ready for another tasting.

Andria

 

[Heabob]

I'm not sure I understand the spreadsheet. I use a particular flavor art different percentages depending on the recipe, my taste buds, what other flavors it is paired with, etc.

Am I missing something?

You're probably better off just doing it your way.

I look at the flavor amounts used like FA Espresso and FA Honey in those charts and cringe.

 

[Daintanee]

Wow, I did not realize that, Heabob. Yikes on that espresso and honey!

!The spreadsheet is just a general idea of standalone, meaning just that flavor and the % at which people find their idea %. Even standalone people vape at different %'s. Some flavors that are extremely strong are FA honey, which many use at .25% or below. Tfa Brown sugar .25%-1%.

As everyone said it varies depending on what you are trying to create. Certain flavors may boost or brighten other flavors. For example you can boost your FA strawberry with .25% raspberry. On FA flavors Hic has some great notes on each flavor free. You can get them here...
http://www.hicsmixes.com/notes-etc.html. Just click to download them.

Reading through others recipes helps especially if they share notes following their recipe. Hic has many recipes here and notes below to help you understand how the flavors work together.

 

[Heabob]

As two classic examples of flavor amounts used:
Andria uses INW Shisha Strawberry at 15% and I use 2%.
So you can see how the extreme highs and lows may get averaged in to things.
Even though I'd consider myself normally a "mid-range" person with flavorings usually.
And HIC would be a "low-range", and Andria a "high-range".
This is why the charts rarely work for everybody.
And the same thing happens with recipes posted IMO.
Lots of times things need adjusting to ones own taste buds.
And everyone has to find their own "sweet spot".

 

[Daintanee]

As two classic examples of flavor amounts used:
Andria uses INW Shisha Strawberry at 15% and I use 2%.
So you can see how the extreme highs and lows may get averaged in to things.
Even though I'd consider myself normally a "mid-range" person with flavorings usually.
And HIC would be a "low-range", and Andria a "high-range".
This is why the charts rarely work for everybody.
And the same thing happens with recipes posted IMO.
Lots of times things need adjusting to ones own taste buds.
And everyone has to find their own "sweet spot".

Agreed. I believe the best advice to be given would be to try a single flavor in 3 ml. Of base and keep increasing the % as you taste to find what works for you.

 

[lirruping]

Agreed. I believe the best advice to be given would be to try a single flavor in 3 ml. Of base and keep increasing the % as you taste to find what works for you.

That's the surest way to do it, no question. And that was my big plan when I started. But I ended up doing only some flavors that way, and the rest I experimented with using recipes I found. It helped me to have some "big successes" along the way--recipes I could really enjoy and show off to my friends. Not that my experimenting days are over or anything

 

[Daintanee]

That's the surest way to do it, no question. And that was my big plan when I started. But I ended up doing only some flavors that way, and the rest I experimented with using recipes I found. It helped me to have some "big successes" along the way--recipes I could really enjoy and show off to my friends. Not that my experimenting days are over or anything

Too funny, I couldn't do it that way either. I was gung ho, or all in. I did however just start with FA flavors which helped with all of HICs notes and recipes to get a feel for things. I highly doubt any of us will ever be done "experimenting". It's too much fun, even when we do throw some experiments down the sink bc they are just that bad. Lol.