Taking the DIY plunge!

[cmoorewv]

Well, I did it-I spent about $50 in flavoring, VG, and nicotine base. Hopefully I'll have my stuff in a week or so. I'm excited to try it. I got most of the flavors someone suggested for a sweet cookie dough tasting juice(brown sugar, chocolate, marshmallow, cookie, etc) plus some custard and some fruit. Blueberry and Apricot. Wish me luck!

 

[AO_DICE]

wow, the sweet cookie dough sounds good...

 

[cmoorewv]

Yeah, I'm seriously hooked on a juice that reminds me of cookie dough ice cream. It's wonderful, but pricey, so I'm going to attempt one on my own. A blueberry apricot similar to April Moon is on my experiment list too. Something about the actual juice had an unpleasant bite, but the fruity notes were good. Maybe it's higher in PG than I'm used to, or the nicotine level is higher than I'm used to. My husband bought it in an 18. I'm going as max vg as possible. I ordered velvet cloud unflavored base in 18 and I'm going to dilute it to 6 or so and add flavors.

 

[PuffPuffPass]

My bet is, that bite was Bilberry. Used in some BlueBerry recipes.

 

[cmoorewv]

My bet is, that bite was Bilberry. Used in some BlueBerry recipes.

I have noticed that same nasty bite in all the 18 mg juices I have - especially after dropping to 6 mg nic max vg juices for my sub ohm tanks. So if not the flavorings used, it's possible I'm tasting the nicotine base. I have some Hot Rod cinnamon juice that's 12 mg and 50/50 pg/vg that didn't bother me, so that probably blows my pg theory. LOL. Who knows. AIV doesn't disclose their ratio, so I can't be sure about what was off putting to me. But, here's hoping my experiments go as planned...

 

[PuffPuffPass]

If it's peppery, it's probably the Nic. Welcome to DIY

 

[nabibrian]

Awesome, welcome to DIY!!

 

[cmoorewv]

Thanks. Now I'm just waiting on the mail. : )

 

[cmoorewv]

Forgot - ordered a graham cracker too, so I'm thinking about a s'mores recipe also. Graham, toasted marshmallow, and chocolate.

 

[BluntForceOne]

A few notes:
1.) Chocolate is a fickle mistress, barely not enough and it's like it doesn't exist. A tiny bit too much and it's peppery.
2.) Don't dilute your base before you mix. Just use a vaping calculator and you'll know exactly how much of the 18mg base to use to hit 6mg per batch.
3.) Have fun and get creative!

Welcome!

 

[cmoorewv]

Thanks, I'll keep it all in mind. KISS is a good motto in my case - keep it simple stupid. LOL. I'd like to try a blueberry apricot first. Got some eggnog flavor too. I wonder if that would be good stand alone...

 

[cmoorewv]

Bull City order shipped. Yay! The nicotine base hasnt, but the flavors and the VG are in transit.

 

[BluntForceOne]

Should've picked up some rum for that eggnog!


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[PuffPuffPass]

Should've picked up some rum for that eggnog!


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Hobby Lobby $2

 

[cmoorewv]

Yum! No hobby lobby in WV though. Closest thing is Michaels and their selection has seriously gone downhill. I'll be on the lookout, though.

 

[cmoorewv]

Loranns is available in a lot of stores though, so I may be able to find it somewhere.

 

[cmoorewv]

WooHoo! Velvet Cloud has shipped too. It will probably be a few days behind the BCV package (CA vs NC), but it is coming. ; )

 

[mjag]

Quick tip, try mixing small samples without nic to see if you like it at first. The nic is the expensive ingredient so it gets more economical if you skip the nic at first in case you mix goes down the drain. If you drip then 5 ml would be enough to test and get an idea if you should make a bigger batch and then add nic. It will also give you an idea of the quality of your nic, if it tastes great with no nic then tastes like pepper or off then you know your nic is not good.

It is also a good idea to smell your flavors so you get an idea of it's strength. If it smells really strong and you other ingredient smells weak it will give it will let you know that an equal percentage will make the stronger smelling ingredient the dominate flavor.

Good idea to know your flavor makers and what percentages are best. For FA and Inawera they are more concentrated so 1% is a good starting point per flavor. For Capella and TFA are not as concentrated so 5% is a good starting point, sometimes a little less or sometimes a lot more depending on the favors. It is usually best to start low, adding more doesn't always mean more flavor, too much can be horrible.
With FA mixes can get harsh if too much overall flavor is used, a little goes a long way. With Cap and TFA mixes can get up to 25% total flavor and be quite good, sometimes even more but that is definitely the exception, very rare to have mixes be over 25% and be good.

It is a lot if fun but can be a bumpy road at first until you get the hang of it.

 

[cmoorewv]

Great advice. My flavors are from all the above. LOL. I think the only Inawera flavor I got was biscuit. The rest are a mix of TFA, FA, Cap, and FW. I do plan to experiment without the nic first. Any particular flavors that are good shake and vape? I'm trying to attach a shot of my order.

 

[cmoorewv]

From what I've read, the custard will definitely need steeping, but how about the fruit or marshmallow? I realized a bit too late that I should've gotten cocoa to go along with the chocolate. Oh well...

 

[Jimi]

Most fruits are shake and vape, yes cocoa and chocolate, custard- give it a week to steep. Hope this helps you, good luck and have fun!

 

[mjag]

Inawera biscuit is strong and can take over a mix, in 1 mix I use I have it down to 0.50% so that it mixes well but not overpowers. If your looking for it to be the main ingredient then the highest I have gone is 2%. Cookie is about the same and real tasty, I use it around 2% which gives a nice base for a cookie recipe.

Don't have a lot of experience with the other flavors and don't have FW Vanilla Custard or eggnog, there Dulce de Leche, Yellow Cake and Tres Leches are pretty tasty and I plan on trying more of there flavors in the future.

I don't have Toasted Marshmallow but the ones I do have can be very effective as a sweetener.

Only tried Graham Cracker once so far and it is tasty but the cinnamon was evident at a small percentage so you might want to start around 1% and adjust from there.

 

[cmoorewv]

I just found out I'm going out of town this weekend, so I won't be able to start playing until next week. Hopefully I'll have something positive to report in a couple of weeks or so. : )

 

[Diescum88]

Good luck with your first batches diy'ing is a blast and way more cost effective than buying premade, for steeping in fruit flavors I generally cover the bottle opening shake the shit outta it for bout 30 seconds to a minute, then do a couple small light squeezes on the bottle to breath some air in and out and then set the bottle up somewhere uncapped overnight

 

[cmoorewv]

I just got something in the mail today. Probably the Bull City order which was vg and flavors. I just got home though so I haven't opened it yet.

 

[twisted]

Vape mail is the best

 

[mjag]

Vape mail is just God's way of showing us we are loved

 

[cmoorewv]

I must admit, seeing the box made me smile! It was the Bull City order. Too tired to fool with it tonight, but tomorrow...

 

[cmoorewv]

Velvet Cloud nic base is here! Hoping I can mix something up simple tonight. Something shake and vape, because I'm headed out of town at the butt crack of dawn. Maybe I'll try a fruit. Blueberry/apricot. Would marshmallow need steep time?

 

[Mattp169]

ok FA chocolat eis more choclate liquor not choclate candy bar
HIC has a great recipe for a candy bar
off the top of my head its% TFA Acetyl Pyrizine
2%fa chocolate
1% fa Cocoa
.5 TFA acetyl pyrizine

i use that as my base when adding chocolate to anything

 

[gopher_byrd]

HIC's 3 Milky Musketeers is chocolaty goodness... http://vapingunderground.com/threads/hics-3-milky-musketeers.30662/

 

[Mattp169]

HIC's 3 Milky Musketeers is chocolaty goodness... http://vapingunderground.com/threads/hics-3-milky-musketeers.30662/

or buy it premixed at mamajs

and its not 3 milky musketters its GOC Game Over Chocolate

 

[cmoorewv]

I mixed up a real quick small batch of juice Friday morning before going out of town. 6 mg nic, mostly strawberry with a bit of custard. It steeped in the car all weekend and I just broke into it. Smells great, but the flavor is not too strong. The first pull was a bit harsh, so I cut the wattage on my istick back to 22.5 and that went away. Not as good as storebought, but not bad for a first throw together attempt. I did some BlueBerry apricot also, and I wasn't too keen on it but it has had 4 days to sit also. I'll give it another shot and see how it tastes.

 

[cmoorewv]

I used Loranns strawberry - the only strawberry I have, FW custard and velvet cloud nic. All vg except what's in the flavoring. Vaped with a smok sub ohm vct.

 

[All Your Base...]

I used to use FW. My opinion: sub-par. Switched to old faithful TFA and Capella.

 

[cmoorewv]

I have some TFA and cap flavors too,. Probably the apricot is cap and the blueberry extra TFA. I need to vape that mix again and see if steeping helped it out. I think I added marshmallow also and it was very sweet.

 

[cmoorewv]

I can't really taste the custard I used with the strawberry, so I probably did not use enough.

 

[mjag]

Custards take the longest to steep, never tried FW custard but I would imagine it would be the same.

 

[cmoorewv]

OMG, I used the recipe someone suggested with a couple alterations, and it turned out great. I'll have to go back and see who it was to give them credit! Unfortunately, I didn't write it down exactly as I did it, so I'll need to do a bit of experimenting again. Ok- I just looked, and it was Heabob. Thank you!!!
I used cookie 5%, Inawera Biscuit about 1% ( meant to do .5, but got carried away), chocolate .5%, toasted marshmallow .5%, FW vanilla custard 1%, and I put a few drops of Graham Cracker in. I didn't have cocoa so I omitted it. The extra biscuit doesn't seem to have overpowered it but it hasn't steeped much yet. I guess that may change. I'll have to go back and see which brands I used, but so far this is a good sub for Vape Daugz Dragon Tears. Not exact by any means, but very yummy. Oh yeah, 1% TFA brown sugar extra.

 

[cmoorewv]

Not sure I needed the custard. I think the cookie, biscuit, and marshmallow are the stars. The bit of Graham Cracker is standing out also, I think. Not sure about the chocolate, but I'll keep it in the mix I think.

 

[cmoorewv]

I'll probably up the marshmallow a bit in place of the custard next time too.

 

[All Your Base...]

The MyFreedomSmokes nic is very harsh, maybe another company is smoother, will have to try other options.

 

[cmoorewv]

I don't have any comparison for nicotine. I bought velvet cloud, since it's vg based and I was already buying something else. I hear vaperstek is good too. I may try them next. The velvet cloud nic base is 18 mg and I'm cutting that to 6. The amount of pg I'd get from using vaperstek 100 mg would be negligible probably.

 

[Mattp169]

vaperstek sell both PG and Vg based nic

 

[Heabob]

OMG, I used the recipe someone suggested with a couple alterations, and it turned out great. I'll have to go back and see who it was to give them credit! Unfortunately, I didn't write it down exactly as I did it, so I'll need to do a bit of experimenting again. Ok- I just looked, and it was Heabob. Thank you!!!
I used cookie 5%, Inawera Biscuit about 1% ( meant to do .5, but got carried away), chocolate .5%, toasted marshmallow .5%, FW vanilla custard 1%, and I put a few drops of Graham Cracker in. I didn't have cocoa so I omitted it. The extra biscuit doesn't seem to have overpowered it but it hasn't steeped much yet. I guess that may change. I'll have to go back and see which brands I used, but so far this is a good sub for Vape Daugz Dragon Tears. Not exact by any means, but very yummy. Oh yeah, 1% TFA brown sugar extra.

I'd either drop the Custard, or, replace it with TFA Cheesecake Graham, but the Graham Cracker is a good choice too.
I made just made a simple test mix with 2% Cookie + 2% Biscuit, and I think I'm tasting more Biscuit than Cookie.
My guess would be a 2/1 ratio, 2 parts Cookie to 1 part Biscuit, will try that sometime soon.
Getting sidetracked again cause I wanna try adding 2% CAP Sugar Cookie to my original recipe.

 

[cmoorewv]

I'll probably drop the custard and the chocolate since I don't have cocoa at the moment. Sugar cookie sounds wonderful also.

 

[cmoorewv]

The extra biscuit was an accident. I was looking at another ingredient amount.

 

[martinelias]

I got a couple of mixes under my belt as of now. They're both peppery. Not too much that I can't handle but definitely enough that it annoys me.
What steps can be taken to avoid this? I only used 5.5% on an assortment of flavors and 8% nic which gives me under 6mg nic, will lowering the nic reduce the peppery sensation? Initially I thought to increase flavors as the taste was too subtle upon mixing but after a couple of days in the car the flavors pretty good so I think the flavors are on point I'm assuming the nic is the culprit. Next batch maybe I will go 5 or 6% nic and see how that goes.

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[cmoorewv]

From everything I've seen here in this forum, peppery taste is usually due to the nicotine. Either too much, or just the nature of the brand used. If you post the brand used and the amounts used in your mix, someone here may be able to advise. I'm a noob to mixing myself. I did get a bit of harshness with mine at first, but that went away when I turned my voltage down a hair, and it also naturally mellowed a bit also.

 

[martinelias]

It's the ecigexpress vg base 100mg nic. I used .8ml in 15ml bottles.

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