I've been attempting to make my own juice for a few weeks now and it's been a disaster. I was under the impression that I would be able to make flavorful "premium" juice but everything has been coming out muted and just not very good at all. I mean, MBV juice tastes 10x better than what I'm making and I wouldn't consider their juice premium
I sourced all my supplies from wizardlabs and have tried these recipes at 40PG/60VG, 3MG Nic:
TFA Orange Cream @ 15% steeped for 3 days. sort of tastes like orange and cream but very muted and faint.
TFA Pear 6%, TFA Apricot 5%, TFA Ripe Strawberry 4%, TFA Honeydew 1%. Steeped for 3ish days. Man, this tastes awful. I can't describe it but it's muted and just ughh..
Cap Vanilla Custard 7%, TPA Vanilla Swirl 1%, Cap Strawberry & Cream 3%, TPA Ripe Strawberry 5%, TPA Orange Cream 1%. Steeped for about 3 days. This only tastes like weird custard. very faint flavor too.
Cap Banana 8%, TPA Ripe Strawberry 4%, Cap Vanilla Custard 7%. Steeped for about 3 days. This tastes like crap too.
annnd there's like 10 other recipes I've tried that all have come out the same, just really crappy. I'm using a Cana mod with a Fogger V4 and organic cotton wicks if that makes a difference. Anyone have any advice? At this point, I'm regretting getting into DIY. Everything I'm making is almost unvapable
Start with single flavor mixes. This lets you learn about each juice so you'll have more success blending them. It takes practice and patience. Best of luck to you and don't get discouraged.
I've done single flavor mixes with Cap Straw & Cream, Cap Banana and TPA Ripe Strawberry all at 15%. none of these standalone mixes tasted good, flavorful, or as it's described
Sometimes 15% is too high. Especially with TPA, you'll even see people mention this on this sub, the flavorings you get differ. For example, in the TFA flavoring thread it says use Ripe Banana at 8-20%. I've made a test bottle using even 5% and it tastes terrible. It varies so much.
Doing single flavor batches to learn is a good idea, but how I learned how to mix was to read every clone recipe thread and try everything that I had the flavors for. This way, at least you have an idea how it'll come out and people backing the mix, and you can see how flavors interact with each other.
(1) you could try 60 PG/40 VG (or maybe 70/30)... PG is a better flavor carrier than VG.
(2) too MUCH flavoring can actually diminish how flavorful a mix tastes. Always make sure you're using the ideal %
(3) "Aging" (sometimes referred to as steeping, or curing) over time sometimes helps flavor develop and helps round off the rough edges
It sounds like you need to get into dripping and/or change your coil set up.
Maybe someone would be kind enough to give me a foolproof recipe with the flavorings I have?
Capella:
Vanilla Cupcake
Strawberry & Cream
Vanilla Custard
Banana
TPA:
Ripe Strawberry
Orange Cream
Vanilla Swirl
Chai Tea
HoneyDew
Apricot
Watermelon
Pear
Dragon Fruit
Coconut Extra
Banana Cream
French Vanilla
Toasted Marshmallow
Sweetener
I followed this recipe. I am quite fond of it.
I use very few TFA flavors but you are way over-flavoring. I mainly use FA, INW, HS flavorings and most of my mixes run around 5-7% total flavorings...seldom have I ever gotten up to 10% total. If a mix doesn't taste good enough to vape right off the bat...no amount of ageing is going to make a significant difference. Once you get your percentages right and learn which different brands of flavorings offer the best quality in comparative flavors you'll find that your mixes will blend much better and quicker, eliminating and/or drastically cutting down any ageing/steeping ritual...also consider your source of nicotine is a major factor in making a great tasting mix.
What flavorings do you recommend? I am getting some TFAs in the mail tomorrow morning and am going to start DIY for the first time tomorrow night. I just want to know what flavors work best in small amounts because I thoroughly enjoy higer VG juices, I never liked a "throat hit" and would like to keep my juices at 90%VG + flavoring if at all possible :) Thanks for the info in advance!
How are you meting out your %'s? Are you using drops or syringes? You're better off using syringes as they're more precise and can be easily/cheaply sourced on ebay. I've never tried any of your stated recipes but they're all pretty close to 20% total flavoring, which leads me to believe they should be pretty flavorful, if not slightly over-flavored. Invest in a few syringes and try them again. You might be pleasantly surprised. Good luck!