Having a hard time detecting flavor

[rturner76]

I tried to DIY'd a few years ago with not much success getting any complex mixes. I ended up using up all my VG/PG making a cinnamon red hot and a cappuccino or something like that. I'm trying again and got a nice variety of concentrates and I am following recipes, but not detecting some of the flavors. Then there is espresso which I added just a couple of drops of to a mix and it over powered everything even though I only added about 1/10th the amount of concentrate as the others. So my issue is that some flavors I don;t taste at all and some take oe the whole thing. So I am wondering how to get a balance,knowing that what I taste after I shake it will be changing after a week or two?.

Also, has anybody noticed that cowboy blend tobacco from Flavour Art has a high pitch kind of peppery taste that doesn't even taste like tobacco or is it just me? It did mellow out after a couple weeks though.

Lastly, is there a rule of thumb as to only mixing up to a certain number of flavors? I did a mix of about 5 flavors that all seemed like they would go together ut it ended up turning into a singular taste that all blended together and the individual components didn't compliment each other as if you could pick them out by tasting the combination

Maybe I should have done about 3 threads if anyone cananswer any of these questionsit would be a great help!.......

 

[bobnat]

The problem, as I see it, is that when we start vaping we expect ejuice to taste like its name, description and/or picture. The truth is that it is an approximation at best. A raspberry custard ejuice is not a raspberry custard. A caramel cappuccino ejuice will never be the same as a real one. It took me some time to reconcile this idea. The worst for me is when someone posts a picture of a delicious looking cinnamon roll along with a recipe for it. That was my holy grail in the beginning and I never found it. I love eating them and I know what makes one better than another, but I've yet to vape a juice that even comes close. I suspect that is why I found what I thought at first was something odd, but now it makes sense to me. The things I like to eat are not what I like to vape. I like vapes such as lemon, which I don't eat at all. I would think a lot of people have experienced the same to one degree or another.

The other part of the equation is everyone has different taste abilities, for lack of a better word. Some can taste every flavor in an ejuice, just like a chef can do with cooking. However, they're the minority while most of us will vape a multi-flavored vape and not get everything. With time and experience, my tasting ability has improved, but I'll never be a supertaster. I now know what I like and don't like. It took some time to find which profiles I do enjoy and those I don't. I don't like custards, for example, and I chased those for almost a year. I can't taste strawberry very well. I love pineapple but have yet to taste a flavor that tastes like one. They're all close, but they just don't taste like a pineapple to me. But I do get Kiwi and Fuji apple which I rarely eat. So, you'll just have to plow through it all, experiment, keep notes and you'll find the things you like.

 

[rturner76]

The problem, as I see it, is that when we start vaping we expect ejuice to taste like its name, description and/or picture. The truth is that it is an approximation at best. A raspberry custard ejuice is not a raspberry custard. A caramel cappuccino ejuice will never be the same as a real one. It took me some time to reconcile this idea. The worst for me is when someone posts a picture of a delicious looking cinnamon roll along with a recipe for it. That was my holy grail in the beginning and I never found it. I love eating them and I know what makes one better than another, but I've yet to vape a juice that even comes close. I suspect that is why I found what I thought at first was something odd, but now it makes sense to me. The things I like to eat are not what I like to vape. I like vapes such as lemon, which I don't eat at all. I would think a lot of people have experienced the same to one degree or another.

The other part of the equation is everyone has different taste abilities, for lack of a better word. Some can taste every flavor in an ejuice, just like a chef can do with cooking. However, they're the minority while most of us will vape a multi-flavored vape and not get everything. With time and experience, my tasting ability has improved, but I'll never be a supertaster. I now know what I like and don't like. It took some time to find which profiles I do enjoy and those I don't. I don't like custards, for example, and I chased those for almost a year. I can't taste strawberry very well. I love pineapple but have yet to taste a flavor that tastes like one. They're all close, but they just don't taste like a pineapple to me. But I do get Kiwi and Fuji apple which I rarely eat. So, you'll just have to plow through it all, experiment, keep notes and you'll find the things you like.

I'm a big fan of Ry4 and the sweet tobacco types but I was trying to do like a honey nut vanilla bourbon nona cake thing and I loaded it up with huge doses of all the concentrates and then I added like 2 tiny drops of espresso and all I could taste was espresso and some kind of sweet mud but mostly espresso. I couldn't tell which ingredient there was too much of.

I think it's like you said, I have a dull or muted palette. Like I bought this cheap Ry4 from a place and I couldn't taste it almost at all/ It was so dull I even wrote to them and they sent me another that was the same. I could taste the other "premium"brands fine. So I added some Ry4 concentrate,nothing, kept adding ituntilIgot a chemical taste which makes me think at that point there was too much concentrate in there. So I let it steep a couple weeks and it still had a chemical taste but not so pungent. So I added some of the weak Ry4 I had toit and all the flavor was gone.

I am just wondering how do the makers of my favorite premium eliquids get those flavors so I can taste each individual flavor in the mix and when I mix it, I can't taste the flavors. Th

 

[Huckleberried]

huge doses of all the concentrates

Too much might be the issue. Less is more, in most cases, with DIY. If the espresso was FA, then, yeah, it's a seriously potent one. Honey is also a super strong flavor.

 

[AndriaD]

The problem, as I see it, is that when we start vaping we expect ejuice to taste like its name, description and/or picture. The truth is that it is an approximation at best. A raspberry custard ejuice is not a raspberry custard. A caramel cappuccino ejuice will never be the same as a real one. It took me some time to reconcile this idea. The worst for me is when someone posts a picture of a delicious looking cinnamon roll along with a recipe for it. That was my holy grail in the beginning and I never found it. I love eating them and I know what makes one better than another, but I've yet to vape a juice that even comes close. I suspect that is why I found what I thought at first was something odd, but now it makes sense to me. The things I like to eat are not what I like to vape. I like vapes such as lemon, which I don't eat at all. I would think a lot of people have experienced the same to one degree or another.

The other part of the equation is everyone has different taste abilities, for lack of a better word. Some can taste every flavor in an ejuice, just like a chef can do with cooking. However, they're the minority while most of us will vape a multi-flavored vape and not get everything. With time and experience, my tasting ability has improved, but I'll never be a supertaster. I now know what I like and don't like. It took some time to find which profiles I do enjoy and those I don't. I don't like custards, for example, and I chased those for almost a year. I can't taste strawberry very well. I love pineapple but have yet to taste a flavor that tastes like one. They're all close, but they just don't taste like a pineapple to me. But I do get Kiwi and Fuji apple which I rarely eat. So, you'll just have to plow through it all, experiment, keep notes and you'll find the things you like.

Excellent points, all... and also that while ejuice is NOT food and never will be, it does require somewhat of a gift for flavors such as chefs have -- good cooks can usually make good ejuice -- if someone cares enough to cook well, they most likely exert the same level of attention and skill on ejuice.

It can be spotty, too -- in just over 3 yrs of DIYing, I think I've made maybe 3-5 that were actually vapeable, but only one that's good enough to have vaped constantly since Dec 2014 -- which is a strawberry custard, humorously enough. And a whole bunch of wasted flavors, nic, and PG/VG from my outright failures and "eh, it doesn't taste like anything" adventures. It's fortunate for me that my requirements for a vape are merely a) it tastes good, and b) it's familiar, comforting, the way that cigarettes were. They tasted bad and I STILL found them comforting, so it's nice that not only am I avoiding the poisons, but also the nasty taste and smell. Strawberries will ALWAYS taste better than cigarettes!

Andria

 

[bobnat]

Excellent points, all... and also that while ejuice is NOT food and never will be, it does require somewhat of a gift for flavors such as chefs have -- good cooks can usually make good ejuice -- if someone cares enough to cook well, they most likely exert the same level of attention and skill on ejuice.

It can be spotty, too -- in just over 3 yrs of DIYing, I think I've made maybe 3-5 that were actually vapeable, but only one that's good enough to have vaped constantly since Dec 2014 -- which is a strawberry custard, humorously enough. And a whole bunch of wasted flavors, nic, and PG/VG from my outright failures and "eh, it doesn't taste like anything" adventures. It's fortunate for me that my requirements for a vape are merely a) it tastes good, and b) it's familiar, comforting, the way that cigarettes were. They tasted bad and I STILL found them comforting, so it's nice that not only am I avoiding the poisons, but also the nasty taste and smell. Strawberries will ALWAYS taste better than cigarettes!

Andria

I truly admire your ability to be satisfied with one recipe. It would simplify my life if I could do the same.

 

[AndriaD]

I truly admire your ability to be satisfied with one recipe. It would simplify my life if I could do the same.

Well, I smoked the same brand of cigarettes, in differing strengths, for over 30 yrs -- out of 39 total. Other cigarettes just didn't taste right to me. Now I have something much better to taste, but much the same psychology is in play -- it's familiar, right, so it's comforting. I've made a few others that weren't bad at all, but I always end up going back to the strawberry & cream I make -- with the high percentage of flavoring I use, it really is very nearly like sitting around eating sweet strawberries dusted with sugar sitting on top of sweet rich custard. I've gotten it down to 24%, whicfh is approaching normalcy, but it started at 31%, and I don't really care if never goes below 20%.

The thing is, strawberry really isn't my most-fave fruit flavor, though it's probably #2 or #3; I really prefer *eating* blueberries and bananas, often together on a bowl of cheerios or blueberry frosted mini-wheats.... but you're so right, that vaping that flavor just doesn't get 'er done. Vaping chocolate doesn't really hit me right either, since good chocolate is dependent on the decadent texture, which is wholly absent from vaping. No coffee vape has ever truly hit me right; there's just something really *off* about every coffee-ish flavor I've tasted -- sort of like the difference between *real* coffee -- brewed, caffeinated -- versus instant Sanka. Or like the diff between brewed tea and the vomitous instant variety.

The point is that the things that one likes to eat aren't necessarily the same flavors that one will enjoy vaping -- because vaping isn't food, and is savored in a different way. I have some favorite foods, but I don't think I could enjoy them every day, all the time, for over 3 yrs. Well, maybe bacon.

Andria

 

[bobnat]

Well, I smoked the same brand of cigarettes, in differing strengths, for over 30 yrs -- out of 39 total. Other cigarettes just didn't taste right to me. Now I have something much better to taste, but much the same psychology is in play -- it's familiar, right, so it's comforting. I've made a few others that weren't bad at all, but I always end up going back to the strawberry & cream I make -- with the high percentage of flavoring I use, it really is very nearly like sitting around eating sweet strawberries dusted with sugar sitting on top of sweet rich custard. I've gotten it down to 24%, whicfh is approaching normalcy, but it started at 31%, and I don't really care if never goes below 20%.

The thing is, strawberry really isn't my most-fave fruit flavor, though it's probably #2 or #3; I really prefer *eating* blueberries and bananas, often together on a bowl of cheerios or blueberry frosted mini-wheats.... but you're so right, that vaping that flavor just doesn't get 'er done. Vaping chocolate doesn't really hit me right either, since good chocolate is dependent on the decadent texture, which is wholly absent from vaping. No coffee vape has ever truly hit me right; there's just something really *off* about every coffee-ish flavor I've tasted -- sort of like the difference between *real* coffee -- brewed, caffeinated -- versus instant Sanka. Or like the diff between brewed tea and the vomitous instant variety.

The point is that the things that one likes to eat aren't necessarily the same flavors that one will enjoy vaping -- because vaping isn't food, and is savored in a different way. I have some favorite foods, but I don't think I could enjoy them every day, all the time, for over 3 yrs. Well, maybe bacon.

Andria

Lol, if they could nail down a bacon vape I'd have to hide my mods from my youngest son.

 

[AndriaD]

Actually I have to take back what I said above, about coffee vapes; I have found ONE that totally nails both the coffee and the tobacco flavors, called "Coffee Tobacco" strangely enough, from Inawera. But, I only like mildly sweet coffee with a lot of milk, and the coffee flavor in that vape is totally unsweetened -- which suits the tobacco aspect very well, I always liked the more bitter cigarettes (VA Slims had a bittersweet aroma before lighting, like apple cider with a hint of cinnamon, and kept the bitter edge in the smoke), but I really loathe unsweetened coffee. Just a step too bitter for me. I do use a smidge of it in my Smocha recipe, which is pretty good if you like a creamy mocha-ish coffee flavor with smoky tones -- like having one of those frothy coffee drinks before the smoke nazis banished all the smokers from coffee shops (and everywhere else).

Andria

 

[MWorthington]

The problem, as I see it, is that when we start vaping we expect ejuice to taste like its name, description and/or picture. The truth is that it is an approximation at best. A raspberry custard ejuice is not a raspberry custard. A caramel cappuccino ejuice will never be the same as a real one. It took me some time to reconcile this idea. The worst for me is when someone posts a picture of a delicious looking cinnamon roll along with a recipe for it. That was my holy grail in the beginning and I never found it. I love eating them and I know what makes one better than another, but I've yet to vape a juice that even comes close. I suspect that is why I found what I thought at first was something odd, but now it makes sense to me. The things I like to eat are not what I like to vape. I like vapes such as lemon, which I don't eat at all. I would think a lot of people have experienced the same to one degree or another.

The other part of the equation is everyone has different taste abilities, for lack of a better word. Some can taste every flavor in an ejuice, just like a chef can do with cooking. However, they're the minority while most of us will vape a multi-flavored vape and not get everything. With time and experience, my tasting ability has improved, but I'll never be a supertaster. I now know what I like and don't like. It took some time to find which profiles I do enjoy and those I don't. I don't like custards, for example, and I chased those for almost a year. I can't taste strawberry very well. I love pineapple but have yet to taste a flavor that tastes like one. They're all close, but they just don't taste like a pineapple to me. But I do get Kiwi and Fuji apple which I rarely eat. So, you'll just have to plow through it all, experiment, keep notes and you'll find the things you like.

Very well put! That's almost exactly me to a "T".