I've been making my own juice for about 4 months. I spent a lot of time here and on ecf gathering notes to begin the process. I've read through countless threads and feel like I've gathered a lot of useful information and also quite a bit of advice from poster's that is merely regurgitated claims they have read and simply believe to be factual even though the poster's of this information have not actually done any extensive testing on their own of these claims.
The biggest disclaimer in the vaping community is "taste is subjective" and while there is a measure of truth in this statement, I believe there is also another component to the equation which is "taste is physiological" ...and not only in taste but certain devices that are raved about by the masses. People have a propensity to believe certain juices/devices are great because of hype/hyperbole. I've seen too many superlative accolades being thrown around on mediocre juice/devices to believe otherwise.
Something I notice much more on ECF than I do here on reddit are "self-appointed experts" ( I'm in no way referring to the OP of this post ) ...the ones that feel they rule the forum, "cock of the walk" ...Now on to the Master Mixers ...I've read every word on every page of "The DIY Master Techniques" on ECF....and you will see novice juice makers regurgitating this info as the gospel truth...as though the ones regurgitating this information come off as actually having done extensive testing on their own to lay claim to the effectiveness of these tips and tricks...hell I've even been guilty of doing so myself in the past...banging head :(
I simply don't have the time nor the desire to personally do extensive testing on every additive and or so-called flavor enhancer. I have found the flavor of my mixes fared better with the exclusion of certain additives that are said to enhance flavor.
Now back to ECF's "DIY Master Techniques"...I've ran across a few members there that I know for sure that are seriously doing extensive side by side comparison testing on minute flavor percentages and additives. I've been interested in reading where they have repudiated the effectiveness of certain so-called thought to be, Master Mixer claims.
So I guess what I'm trying to say in this long-winded babble is...take everything you read with a grain of salt. It is my understanding from a precious few who in their finding beg to differ that some additives may or may-not enhance initially but will actually serve to mute flavors in the long run.
Bluesed. Thank you so much for your post - This is something that I will try to reflect on my post. I definitely don't see the tips and tricks as hard truths, but something to try, if you feel that you mixes need that extra something.
I'm in no way an expert myself, despite having written the page - I have only tried to gather together in one place, everything I've read about various ingredients and tips and tricks.
As with everything you read on the web, one must always use common sense, an grain of salt. And after that you should draw your own conclusions, which may or may not be in line with what you've read :)
I'd be interested in the results too, of their testing the various ingredients!
Again, thanks for your reply.
Hey daath, if you look over in the "stickies" Notes - Additives - Flavor Enhancers...that is my post..haha. Heresay I gathered from ECF. After some thought and several, several PM's with the naysayers over at ECF about their test/findings, I made a request to the Mods here to either remove the stickie or my name as I felt I had no right to be posting the usefulness of something I hadn't personally tested. I just didn't want to give anyone heresay advice that may or may not be true. Anyway, I tried to delete the post but it only deleted my name from the post.
Ah, yes, I did notice that that was more or less from the ECF-threads too.
I totally get what you're saying, though I don't think that there's anything wrong with that kind of hearsay - Otherwise we wouldn't have a single place to read it.
As I wrote, I will have to write a short introduction to explain it :)
If you want it gone, I recommend that you keep trying the "Message the moderators"-button - It took quite a while to get my site in the side bar - but eventually it happened :)
I forgot, I also added an abbreviations page for those that are confused about that :)
Vaping Abbreviations (as well as a few others)...
Accessible from the resources page on my site :)
I would add that any kind of coloring in flavors (caramel color comes to mind right away) will gunk up coils pretty bad. You sort of say this about dark liquids, but why not list what's actually causing it?
The "dark" I speak of is not necessarily coloring. I've made some tobacco mixes that were the lightest brown at mix time, and very dark brown when fully cured, those mixes also shortened the life of my coils - some more than others. But I still need to add coloring to the document! Thanks!