Healthiest, Cheapest Flavoring

[jasondberman]

I'm looking for the healthiest, cheapest flavoring that is available (healthier over cheaper preferably). So if you could all give me some links to flavor companies/websites/third-party sites that have little-to-no carcinogens. I've read the cheaper pre-made juices can have high amounts of carcinogens and you can't fully customize your PG/VG ratios with pre-made. Organic or natural would be preferred, but I understand that may not be available since those are made from extracting oils (which now I know oil-derived flavors are not good).

 

[BigNasty]

Flavoart, TFA
Ecigexpress, bullcity and a few others. ECX has tags on AP and Diacytial
Caveat flavorings with oil will possibly give you lipid pneumonia.

 

[jasondberman]

Flavoart, TFA
Ecigexpress, bullcity and a few others. ECX has tags on AP and Diacytial
Caveat flavorings with oil will possibly give you lipid pneumonia.

I've heard people say FA and TFA and a few others. If I look at the recipes threads there are about 4 or 5 of them if I remember correctly. Should I just look up the abbreviation and ejuice flavor? Such as, "TFA ejuice flavoring"?

 

[jasondberman]

Also, what is the difference between TFA, FA, and others?

 

[BigNasty]

TFA is the flavor apprentice, an offshoot of The perfumers apprentice. With flavorings instead of scents.
Flavoart is vape safe flavorings pretty power packed for the amount needed.

Bullcity, momaj's and ecigexpress are some of the go to shops for buying them.

 

[jasondberman]

Thank-you very much. Also, I did a quick look-around and found CD, TPA, and CAP. Do you know what those are?
Also, since FA is "vape-safe", would you consider that the best one? Or could you tell me all of the top ones listed from best to worst? I'm sorry if I am bugging, I just want the healthiest vapor.

 

[BigNasty]

No worries man, not going to bullshit you at all. Vaping is risky but way less risky than burning tobacco.
FA is still one of my all time faves for amount use to vape happy, they are stringent in testing and lack of diacytl and ap.
TFA some flavors are kind of hit or miss. they will be honest on which contain the diactyl and ap.
Cap has some good flavors, the reformulated a bunch to be vape safe.

TPA is TFA same company depends on who is selling it.
Not sure of CO.
Hangsen, and inawara are also good.

It is about taste and that is subjective.

 

[OBDave]

I'd trust anything from Bull City or ECX, they label their flavors known to have diketones (there's a debate about whether or not they're okay to vape, I avoid them just to be on the safe side). Popular flavor companies:

FA: Flavour Art - not the cheapest, but stronger so you can use less of them, which makes up for the cost and meets your "healthier" goal, because less of anything is better
MF: Medicine Flower - super concentrated, organically extracted, super expensive
TFA/TPA: The Flavor/Perfumer's Apprentice - some good flavors here too, watch for diketone content and expect to use a little more
CAP - Capella's - see the TFA entry
NN - Nude Nicotine - I believe they claim to extract organically, and their flavors are in a VG solution if you're looking to avoid PG entirely
INW - Inawera - a less-popular line that still has some solid flavors, including unique shisha-type blends among others
LA - LorAnn's - most folks consider this cheap crap with suspect ingredients, but you can probably buy it at your local hobby store

 

[OBDave]

Also - browse around the DIY forums and check out some recipes you might like to make, then buy your flavors according to that. Nothing worse than dropping a boatload of money on flavor, finding a killer-looking recipe, and realizing you're 1-2 flavors short.

 

[jasondberman]

I'd trust anything from Bull City or ECX, they label their flavors known to have diketones (there's a debate about whether or not they're okay to vape, I avoid them just to be on the safe side). Popular flavor companies:

FA: Flavour Art - not the cheapest, but stronger so you can use less of them, which makes up for the cost and meets your "healthier" goal, because less of anything is better
MF: Medicine Flower - super concentrated, organically extracted, super expensive
TFA/TPA: The Flavor/Perfumer's Apprentice - some good flavors here too, watch for diketone content and expect to use a little more
CAP - Capella's - see the TFA entry
NN - Nude Nicotine - I believe they claim to extract organically, and their flavors are in a VG solution if you're looking to avoid PG entirely
INW - Inawera - a less-popular line that still has some solid flavors, including unique shisha-type blends among others
LA - LorAnn's - most folks consider this cheap crap with suspect ingredients, but you can probably buy it at your local hobby store

Thank-you. Would you consider MF to be healthier than FA, or maybe they are about the same on that level?

 

[BigNasty]

About the same honestly.
Not willing to throw 10 bucks down the rabbit hole for something I do not like.

 

[OBDave]

Thank-you. Would you consider MF to be healthier than FA, or maybe they are about the same on that level?

Couldn't say, I've never used them. About 2/3 of what I use is FA, the rest mostly a mix of TFA and Cap.

fat fingered flubs courtesy dumb mobile phone

 

[jasondberman]

Using FA, what % of flavoring in my mix would you suggest starting at? Since it was said FA is pretty strong and goes a long way, I don't want to make it too strong.
Or if it is easier to measier in mL, how many mL of flavoring with FA if I'm making a 30mL bottle? Of say 80% VG and 20% distilled water (unless less water is recommended, please let me know).

 

[OBDave]

What flavor are you looking at specifically? And that sounds like way too much water - try more like 3-5 percent.

Example - I like FA Forest Mix at 5 percent, but if I mixed blackberry above 1.25 percent or so it would taste like crap.

fat fingered flubs courtesy dumb mobile phone

 

[Mattp169]

FA or Flavour Art is an Italian company. The Owners all vape. They are considered by many the standard of excellence for vape flavoring. They actually care about what is in the juice they vape. They do research and respond to the latest scientific data. They were one of if not teh first to start reformulating their flavors to remove DA/AP/BA which by some is considered to not be good for vaping. The do however have some flavors not safe for vaping according to them. These are the Kitchen Line I believe its called. You should visit their website for more information. Most of the places that have already been recommended do not carry the Kitchen line flavors. There is also a video of Pbsurado ( famous youtube reviewer of vape stuff) touring their facilities.

Another place to get FA is nicotine river. they are the cheapest I have found, but the smallest bottles they sell are 60 ml for $6.50. SO i wouldnt recommend starting there, get 10ml or smaller bottles to get started to see what you like. A 6oml bottle can make about 2L of juice. depending on your percentages

Most FA flavors work well around 2-3% stand alone. When mixed together many FA flavors are used at .5-1%
so for example a typical FA only recipewhich is my adv is all FA flavors
3% white peach
2%peach
1% pear
1% mango
1%fresh cream
1% whatever FA vanilla i have handy

i usually only use creams and vanilla at 1% in most flavor recipes. So 60ml of that will make me 6L of juice

now other brands suck as CAP and TFA are quite favorited by many. I have only tried some peach and mango flavors form those companies and found them to be quite candy tasting and not fruit tasting, but they have tons of flavors that many people will mix in with FA flavors or use with out FA

It all depends on your tastes.

I use FA mainly because I find all their flavors to be SPOT ON what I like., YOu may prefer the same flavor form another company.

My suggestion is this. find a recipe you want to make in the DIY section or on the net. Get those specific flavors. but get he MAIN flavors from 1 or 2 other companies

so say you wanted to try my above recipe you could also get the peach and mango form cap or FW or whoever and see if you like their peach and mango better.

You can test each flavor separately which is what I always recommend so you know what that flavor tastes like by itself before mixing it with other stuff, which helps you figure out what % works for you, because you can make several test batches at different %s.

Anyway this is getting off track. FA is the go to for many people here becuase of teh quality and the flavors are great.
many others do use CAP AND TFA.
I would steer clear of lorannes- its for making candy - some of their flavors are safe to vape and some are not- theres a chart on the internet somewhere to tell you
but other places have great flavors as well too. I personally love the DIY flavorshacks rootbeer and Im waiting on a sample of onestopflavor shops rootbeer and sweet tea to try.

Also other companies like CAP and TFA require MORE in a recipe. SO a FA flavor at 2% in a recipe - if you try substituting a CAP flavor might need 4-8% or more. This all comes into your cost. FA is probably the most concentrated of all the flavors, but there are others So a bottle of FA wil go further then a bottle of CAP or TFA usually.

Its good your asking questions and researching. Lots of great info here and many other places on the net.

 

[jasondberman]

What flavor are you looking at specifically? And that sounds like way too much water - try more like 3-5 percent.

Example - I like FA Forest Mix at 5 percent, but if I mixed blackberry above 1.25 percent or so it would taste like crap.

fat fingered flubs courtesy dumb mobile phone

I was checking out the FA flavors and I want to try plain peppermint or spearmint first. Which do you think is closest to regular fresh mint?

 

[OBDave]

For fresh mint I use INW mint - FA's peppermint tastes like peppermint, and spearmint tastes like spearmint to me. I'd use all of them at 2% or less - the INW mint is plenty strong for me at 1%.

 

[Mattp169]

if your trying FA flavors
lets start here
this is HIC aka headinclouds website
he sells recipe
he has an extensive set of notes on most Fa Flavors.
this is the link to his website where you can download the notes for FREE
https://gumroad.com/l/GwMpo#

read that to get started

 

[jasondberman]

For fresh mint I use INW mint - FA's peppermint tastes like peppermint, and spearmint tastes like spearmint to me. I'd use all of them at 2% or less - the INW mint is plenty strong for me at 1%.

Could you provide me a link for the best site to buy INW?

 

[jasondberman]

if your trying FA flavors
lets start here
this is HIC aka headinclouds website
he sells recipe
he has an extensive set of notes on most Fa Flavors.
this is the link to his website where you can download the notes for FREE
https://gumroad.com/l/GwMpo#

read that to get started

This is definitely worth the $1?
It is saying at the bottom of the page, "Your card will be charged US$1.".

 

[OBDave]

Could you provide me a link for the best site to buy INW?

I buy mine from Bull City Vapor - I buy virtually all of my flavor there or from E-Cig Express because @Roundhouse and @Donovan (ECX Flavor Lab) are good guys, competitively priced, and offer permanent discount codes for VU members (which you'll have to hunt down on your own, I always forget them).

This is definitely worth the $1?
It is saying at the bottom of the page, "Your card will be charged US$1.".

Lots of people love the recipes from @HeadInClouds - I'll say I've sent him some money and felt I got every penny's worth in return. I personally find he has a light touch with flavors and I've used his recipes (there are also free ones on the forum and he offers a lot of invaluable, yet free commentary) more as a base for branching out on my own. Were I a personal DIY guy rather than a micro-scale commercial mixer I'd probably have bought virtually every recipe he's offered for sale, but I'm afraid I'd quickly find some that were so good I HAD to share them, and I respect his no-sharing policy too much to even tempt myself to look...but by all means, let me vouch for the fact that the guy is worth his salt and then some.