Ready to throw in the towel

[JahLove7124]

::sigh:: I'm at a dead end,frustrated and defeated. I've been DIY'ing for a year now and I've only made a handful of mixes that I considered ok. Not great, nothing special, just "eh". I've followed recipe after recipe, most recently some of HICs' and those have been my most flavorful mixes. Granted, again, nothing I've been over the moon about. Anyway...after trying my latest mix, I'm starting to think maybe I should just quit while I'm sort-of kind-of ahead, stop spending money on flavors, and call it quits. I've got at least $300 invested in this so that makes it a little harder to just stop but man, I just don't know what the hell I'm doing wrong...

 

[Jimi]

Have you considered: what brand of nic., what brand of vg or pg you are using? I use Vapor Tech Nic., RTS VG/PG and mine come out great. Certain brands of (nic., vg,pg) can mute the flavorings.

 

[Heabob]

This is a bit like someone asking why their car won't start.

What PG/VG ratio are you using?
What brand of NIC, and amount?
What Tank/Dripper/Coil/Watts/Wicking?
What flavors have you tried, at what percent?
What brand flavors are you using mostly?
Have you tried to double up on HIC's recipes yet?

 

[iVape]

Here's what i did. 2 years ago i started because i wanted to save money. Invested also close to that. Went OK for a while. Had one amazing recipe still use it today and have friends hooked on it. Then i stopped for a year and a half. It was too time consuming and I had little to no time for it. I never spent a lot of money on juice but i used to pay 7-8 for a 30ml. 3 weeks ago I had a brainstorm to reboot. I invested 200 again and got the ball rolling. Followed some online recipes and they were OK. But once you follow them and see what they taste like you start to pick up and get the idea of things. I now have 13 mixes that Ive given to a friend to sample. HE LOVES THEM. Success at last. I only gave them to him after a week of steeping. That was very motivational. I am still pulling some things together but I will be opening up to sell the juice. Stay strong... Its worth it in the end.

 

[JahLove7124]

0 mg nic, Liquid Barn PG and VG, I mix 30 PG 70 VG, I've used TFA and FA, vape on Crius tank, dual coil kanthal, wicked with organic cotton, 0.5 ohms at 37 watts. Or rda single or dual coil.

I've tried mostly fruit flavors, minty, some creams and vanillas. Never tried doubling HIC's recipes but that's worth a shot

 

[pulsevape]

::sigh:: I'm at a dead end,frustrated and defeated. I've been DIY'ing for a year now and I've only made a handful of mixes that I considered ok. Not great, nothing special, just "eh". I've followed recipe after recipe, most recently some of HICs' and those have been my most flavorful mixes. Granted, again, nothing I've been over the moon about. Anyway...after trying my latest mix, I'm starting to think maybe I should just quit while I'm sort-of kind-of ahead, stop spending money on flavors, and call it quits. I've got at least $300 invested in this so that makes it a little harder to just stop but man, I just don't know what the hell I'm doing wrong...

Here's an idea....fuck recepies..fuck what other people have done..mix for yourself and your own tastes...fuck what % of flavorings other people use...take a chance on your own creativity....most other peoples recepies have no appeal to me I'm not interested in vaping a fucking choclate cake or a cookie...come up with something that appeals to you.

 

[AmandaD]

I never liked any of my own mixes enough to vape them for long. But I did find HIC's recipes hit the spot for me - not all, but some, and earlier on I always increased the total flavoring percentage a little (for instance, if the total flavoring was 8% I would increase to 10%). Be careful about doubling a recipe, because overflavoring (particularly with highly concentrated Flavor Art), can end up totally nasty and perfumed. The trick is to decide which flavors really do it for you, and then find recipes with those. For instance, peach or coffee vapes just don't work for me, but anything with coconut and/or cookie is right up my alley.

The other thing is to make small samples so you can adjust as needed. I used to make 6ml samplers, but now with subohming I tend to make at least 10 or 15 mls.

Don't give up!

 

[AndriaD]

Here's an idea....fuck recepies..fuck what other people have done..mix for yourself and your own tastes...fuck what % of flavorings other people use...take a chance on your own creativity....most other peoples recepies have no appeal to me I'm not interested in vaping a fucking choclate cake or a cookie...come up with something that appeals to you.

This exactly... I've heard a LOT of other people say 'with Inawera flavors, you only need (some minuscule percentage)' -- FUCK THAT NOISE, I want to TASTE my vape, not just smell it! So I use 15%-16% Shisha Strawberry. Yeah it gunks like a mad mofo, but so what?! It tastes GREAT!

The guideline I've heard, and used to great effect, is 50% "main" flavor, 50% supporting flavors -- creams, vanillas, sweetener. Absolutely superb. Here's the 30% flavoring strawberry & cream recipe that I've vaped as my ADV for about 14-15 months now -- because NOTHING else tastes as good as this:

Strawberry & Cream
Inawera Shisha Strawberry 15.6%
TFA DX Bavarian Cream 5.7%
TFA Vanilla Swirl 4.3%
CAP Sweet Cream 1.9%
TFA Sweetener 2.5%

The 50/50 percentages aren't exact; the supporting flavors come to 14.4%, but it's very close.

Also, high VG tends to mute flavors; with high VG you either need to use a lot more flavoring, or steep it a long time with lots of daily shakings. That strawberry recipe, using high PG, is vapable when mixed, and at its best about 3 days later.

Andria

 

[pulsevape]

yes indeed you can't account for tastes......some people actually enjoy english food.

 

[AmandaD]

yes indeed you can't account for tastes......some people actually enjoy english food.

Bangers and mash - delicious

 

[pulsevape]

see..how bout some of dat spotted dick...mmmmm yummy...or beans on toast...or this is a good one canned tomatoes on toast.....mmmm....

 

[pulsevape]

[QUOTE="

Also, high VG tends to mute flavors; with high VG you either need to use a lot more flavoring, or steep it a long time with lots of daily shakings. That strawberry recipe, using high PG, is vapable when mixed, and at its best about 3 days later.

Andria[/QUOTE]

or I personal believe that people who vape with cotton wicks with high watts use less flavourings,because each hit they take is about 3ml, and so in each hit they take they are consuming say twice the amount of flavorings into their mouth than someone whose vaping a .8 build on ss mesh.

 

[AmandaD]

see..how bout some of dat spotted dick...mmmmm yummy...or beans on toast...or this is a good one canned tomatoes on toast.....mmmm....

Baked beans on toast, maybe - but I think you made up canned tomatoes on toast LOL We used to call spotted dick 'stodge'

 

[pulsevape]

hey everybody what do you wanna eat tonight.....
Italian...yay
french...yay
spainish ....yay
Indian...yay
chinese...yay
soul food ...yay
English............................................................crickets.

 

[pulsevape]

although a nice roast with yorkshire pudding and gravy is hard to beat...fish and chips...pretty damn good....pies.....much much better tea than americans drink...much better beer...and then there's trifle...

 

[AmandaD]

although a nice roast with yorkshire pudding and gravy is hard to beat...fish and chips...pretty damn good....pies.....much much better tea than americans drink...much better beer...and then there's trifle...

Sherry trifle!! (Haven't had that in years - I should make one) I absolutely love yorkshire pudding! Oooh, and scotch eggs Don't forget toad in the hole!

 

[Heabob]

0 mg nic, Liquid Barn PG and VG, I mix 30 PG 70 VG, I've used TFA and FA, vape on Crius tank, dual coil kanthal, wicked with organic cotton, 0.5 ohms at 37 watts. Or rda single or dual coil.

I've tried mostly fruit flavors, minty, some creams and vanillas. Never tried doubling HIC's recipes but that's worth a shot

Well certainly nothing wrong with your gear anyway.

 

[pulsevape]

Sherry trifle!! (Haven't had that in years - I should make one) I absolutely love yorkshire pudding! Oooh, and scotch eggs Don't forget toad in the hole!

no,no,no...no human being should put anything in their mouth called toad in the hole.

you start eating english food and it's a slippery slope ..pretty soon you find yourself drinking american beer and listening to Frensh rock and roll.....

 

[AmandaD]

no,no,no...no human being should put anything in their mouth called toad in the hole.

you start eating english food and it's a slippery slope ..pretty soon you find yourself drinking american beer and listening to Frensh rock and roll.....

HAHA - it's yorkshire pudding with little sausages baked into it

 

[Time]

I don't like "complex" mixes. Those with several flavors. I prefer single and two or three flavor mixes. "Complex" or "layered" as they are sometimes called taste muddy to me. Like taking my dinner plate and mixing everything all together. I prefer distinctive flavors.

 

[pulsevape]

I don't like "complex" mixes. Those with several flavors. I prefer single and two or three flavor mixes. "Complex" or "layered" as they are sometimes called taste muddy to me. Like taking my dinner plate and mixing everything all together. I prefer distinctive flavors.

and I like complex flavors....in everything..in food, wine,and tobacco.

 

[AmandaD]

I also like complex flavors!

 

[pulsevape]

HAHA - it's yorkshire pudding with little sausages baked into it

I don't care if it's Olga kurylynko wrapped in nothing but a smile...I'm not putting it in my mouth...........well..perhaps I spoke hastily just then...

 

[JahLove7124]

Here's a question for anyone...how do you sample each flavor? What's your method of honing in on how much of a flavor you like?

 

[Time]

Most start at the low end and work up. I do the opposite. I look up the recommended starting percentage for a flavor and make my first mix at the highest percentage and go down from there. But, I like a strong flavor and high ohm/low wattage vape.

 

[iVape]

Here's a question for anyone...how do you sample each flavor? What's your method of honing in on how much of a flavor you like?

i dont

 

[JahLove7124]

i dont

That's how I've been doing it haha thinking maybe I should try another method.

 

[Time]

That's how I've been doing it haha thinking maybe I should try another method.

It's not useful anymore for those that find recipes to try but I do it to see if I like a single flavor by itself. Stand alone TFA Raspberry(sweet) is one of my favorites. It's also a must if you plan to make your own recipes.

 

[iVape]

That's how I've been doing it haha thinking maybe I should try another method.

Post a sample recepei that you thought was going to be good but came out bad. Lets see where you may have gone wrong.

 

[JahLove7124]

I had high hopes for these two. When I mixed these I was mixing by ml, I've since started mixing my weight.

 

[wllmc]

I say turn that frown upside down. when I read this I hear............ Ive been DIY for a year.... to me that means for at 365 days you have had your own hand crafted juice that may not have been what you consider to be the greatest juice you have ever tasted but has kept you off cigs and saved some dough.
its not like cigarettes tasted good but we all puffed 40 a day of those lol.

on the topic of cash spent, Im not sure how you vape but 30ms last me 2 days tops and the wife does 30mls every 2 days , so to buy the qoute"best" juices out there thats about 45 dollars every 2 days for the premium stuff.

think about it this way, in the past year you have done a ton of research and found out what doesnt work for you. now just start playing around with what you have that you did like and keep messing with it.

and lastly on the topic of recipes keep in mind someone has spent maybe 2 years adjusting things just right to taste how THEY like it. tweak those recipes they way YOU like it or trash the idea of recipes out the window completely and just start with 2 flavor combos and start from scratch and work on your own signature recipe and style. pick something you did like for example one of HICs coffee recipes. maybe the espresso tasted good but you didnt like the additions that great. regardless of anything you know you like esspreso at that % and now maybe you tried a choclate cake someone else made and didnt like anything about it but you did like the chocolate part about it. just mix those 2 up at the % you like in the other recipes and who knows maybe you started the greatest chocolate espresso ever. now its not that easy as you know from experience lol but you see what Im saying and just trying to toss some ideas around. you have supplies and no ADV yet so why not throw caution to the wind and whip up some vanilla bourbon and roasted chicken haha

From the looks of it Id say you are winning the battle

 

[RonJS]

so why not throw caution to the wind and whip up some vanilla bourbon and roasted chicken haha

Thanks for the great idea!



Chicken Roasted flavor

While I'm not too sure about using the vanilla bourbon, Sounds like a future ADV for me!

Ron
-----

http://flavourart.com/en/store/flavors/savoury/chicken-roasted-flavor/

 

[Heabob]

I had high hopes for these two.

First Recipe, Conflicting flavors IMO, but I just don't like Dragonfruit in anything


Mustard Milk, I can see where the "Mustard" part came from, ditch the Vanilla Bean Gelato, yuk.
Replace it with CAP/TFA Vanilla Bean Ice Cream 4%, or TFA Vanilla Swirl 3%.
TFA French Vanilla Deluxe is better than French Vanilla IMO.
Optional: sub the Fresh Cream with 1% TFA/CAP Sweet Cream.

If you're looking for Strawberry type stuff, these are better flavors to build from IMO.
INW Shisha Strawberry
TFA Strawberry Ripe + CAP Sweet Strawberry

 

[AndriaD]

or I personal believe that people who vape with cotton wicks with high watts use less flavourings,because each hit they take is about 3ml, and so in each hit they take they are consuming say twice the amount of flavorings into their mouth than someone whose vaping a .8 build on ss mesh.

I dunno. I've always used 1.5-2.5Ω, and never over 10w, so I really have no idea how things taste at low resistance or high power -- either way, to me, is too much heat and too much vapor, which means I'd be too busy coughing up both lungs to be concerned about the taste.

Andria

ETA: but -- those using low ohms/high power probably have MASSIVE airhuffing going on, so they might need more flavor to compensate for all that hot air.

 

[Heabob]

I dunno. I've always used 1.5-2Ω, and never over 10w, so I really have no idea hiow things taste at low resistance or high power -- either way, to me, is too much heat and too much vapor, which means I'd be too busy coughing up both lungs to be concerned about the taste.

Andria

I've tried sub-ohm, high watts, and DL with the "big air" tanks and just don't care for them, all show and no go.
MTL, 7-10watts, small micro coil(1.7ohms), & low air flow from under the coil, they just give me the best flavor.
Oh, and 70/30VG, fuck dem clouds.
Taste buds are located in the mouth, not in the lungs.
It makes more sense to savor the flavors in the mouth rather than just "passing by".
More Air=Less Flavor
More VG=Less Flavor

(At least for me anyway)

 

[ayersbj]

Become a mad scientist. Do something crazy. Get all your flavors and add one drop of each to a batch just for the hell of it make it a 30 mil or something you can hold all that in. Steep don't steep doesn't matter. Throw it in vape it and gag or don't gag doesn't matter. Then take that bottle put it on a shelf. Label my crazy moment or whatever you want. Now down to the real reason why I'm doing this. Whenever you go to mix pull that bottle down and keep it with you. Mix that recipe damn it failed. Mix another hey its ok. Whatever man... Look at your crazy bottle....WTF did listen to him for that was crazy or damn this was actually good..whatever but I bet you you smiled when you did. That's what diy is for me. A hobby, A job, A money saver who cares. It was something I wanted to do and I did it for myself. That's my point. The satisfaction is in the pudding. If you don't like what you made doesn't mean you failed you just got a memory that can't be taken away. Unless you get alzheimers or something.

 

[mjag]

Here's a question for anyone...how do you sample each flavor? What's your method of honing in on how much of a flavor you like?

One thing I always do is smell a flavor, first to see if I like it and second to see how strong it is. You will or course then use less of the strong flavor and more of the weaker smelling flavors. If you have one of your favorite store bought juices try smelling it to figure out if you have the same ingredients, I was able to clone one of my favorite strawberries and whipped cream doing this very method.

I haven't tried Nana Cream, the mix doesn't look appealing to me. I did try the Mustard Milk and it was pretty good but not great. If you are searching recipes at that site then try the Maiden's Milk, that is a tasty mix but it does need about a week of steeping.

What are your favorite store bought juices? I had gotten some samples from friends who wanted me to try and clone there favorites and some were just loaded with sweeteners. One juice in particular had at least 3 to 4% sucralose sweetener in it, I personally could not even finish off a tank but was able to come pretty close to cloning it for him and he was happy.

I do use sweeteners from time to time, not sucralose based (at least for the stuff I vape) but rather Stevia or a new sweetener I got from One on One flavors which is not sucralose or Stevia based. The Sweetener from One on One is actually pretty good but it smells a little like lemonade, the mfg did say it has some citrus notes. It really helps to brighten a fruity mix as long as you don't go over board and it may be what is missing in your mixes. About 1% of the OoO Sweetener would definitely brighten up that Mustard Milk recipe you posted.

 

[JahLove7124]

One thing I always do is smell a flavor, first to see if I like it and second to see how strong it is. You will or course then use less of the strong flavor and more of the weaker smelling flavors. If you have one of your favorite store bought juices try smelling it to figure out if you have the same ingredients, I was able to clone one of my favorite strawberries and whipped cream doing this very method.

I haven't tried Nana Cream, the mix doesn't look appealing to me. I did try the Mustard Milk and it was pretty good but not great. If you are searching recipes at that site then try the Maiden's Milk, that is a tasty mix but it does need about a week of steeping.

What are your favorite store bought juices? I had gotten some samples from friends who wanted me to try and clone there favorites and some were just loaded with sweeteners. One juice in particular had at least 3 to 4% sucralose sweetener in it, I personally could not even finish off a tank but was able to come pretty close to cloning it for him and he was happy.

I do use sweeteners from time to time, not sucralose based (at least for the stuff I vape) but rather Stevia or a new sweetener I got from One on One flavors which is not sucralose or Stevia based. The Sweetener from One on One is actually pretty good but it smells a little like lemonade, the mfg did say it has some citrus notes. It really helps to brighten a fruity mix as long as you don't go over board and it may be what is missing in your mixes. About 1% of the OoO Sweetener would definitely brighten up that Mustard Milk recipe you posted.

I've honestly only tried a handful of b&m bought juices. I'd say Good Life Vapor were some tasty ones that I'd definitely buy again. Melon Boba was great, their bubblegum flavor I really enjoyed and I couldn't get enough of their ice ice baby.

 

[Chrispdx]

Lots of good replies here. Figure I would add acouple short thoughts.

Testing is a must. Sure your first mix may not be good, but you need to be willing to make adjustments. A recent example was that I made an odd cookie FA and biscuit IW mix...kinda dumb of me because it was just all grain and no fun (and I knew better)...after the test I was like let's toss in some blackcurrant...and now the grainy part dropped and I have a light pleasurable flavor with bits of biscuit/cookie. Sure I could have poured out the mix, but hey, 7 drops of a fruit flavor saved the mix. And I now have a new wacky flavor to play with.

As referencing the copied recipies above. Flavor preferance is unique to everyone. (I loved the "f" this post above) The mustard milk recpie is probably good for a lot of folks. I am sure it was a great share on ELR. However that recipie would never ever ever work for me. I have to have Atleast two different strawberrys in the mix to make me happy. This is what I learned for Vu and TESTING. But this is just for me. I would bet if you add 1-2% strawberry FA to that the mix would start to sing alittle more.

 

[FL_David]

Become a mad scientist. Do something crazy.

I got better at DIY when I got over the fear of failing to make a great mix. I have only made a handful of "dumpers" in the 2+ years of mixing from recipes and my own concoctions.
I'm always adjusting other people's recipes to suit my taste. While I like HIC's Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookies recipe I still don't have the The Flavor Apprentice Brown Sugar Extra or FlavourArt Caramel, but both flavors of different brands. So mine isn't as good, but it doesn't matter because I add more FA Peppermint and turns into an Andes Chocolate Mint.

When I have the time, I really enjoy being a mad scientist and taste what becomes of it. It might take me hours to adjust the flavors to make it worth vaping or have to start over with fewer or different flavors.
When short on time, Strawberry and Banana Cream is my go to quickie flavor, but I rarely make the exact recipe 2x in a row.

stop spending money on flavors, and call it quits

My lack of hardware had me thinking the same thing a few weeks ago. I bought a new TC box mod and a few more new flavors. I'm back to vaping happy again. I donned my mad scientist hat today and mixed up some new flavors that I may share.
I wish you well with getting back on the DIY horse and riding it into the sunset.

 

[Chuck H.]

This exactly... I've heard a LOT of other people say 'with Inawera flavors, you only need (some minuscule percentage)' -- FUCK THAT NOISE, I want to TASTE my vape, not just smell it! So I use 15%-16% Shisha Strawberry. Yeah it gunks like a mad mofo, but so what?! It tastes GREAT!

The guideline I've heard, and used to great effect, is 50% "main" flavor, 50% supporting flavors -- creams, vanillas, sweetener. Absolutely superb. Here's the 30% flavoring strawberry & cream recipe that I've vaped as my ADV for about 14-15 months now -- because NOTHING else tastes as good as this:

Strawberry & Cream
Inawera Shisha Strawberry 15.6%
TFA DX Bavarian Cream 5.7%
TFA Vanilla Swirl 4.3%
CAP Sweet Cream 1.9%
TFA Sweetener 2.5%

The 50/50 percentages aren't exact; the supporting flavors come to 14.4%, but it's very close.

Also, high VG tends to mute flavors; with high VG you either need to use a lot more flavoring, or steep it a long time with lots of daily shakings. That strawberry recipe, using high PG, is vapable when mixed, and at its best about 3 days later.

Andria

I'm with you piss on what you hear depending on the source ! I want to taste my flavor as well !