I haven't contributed much of anything to this sub-reddit, but I have taken away a lot.
Recently, I attended a vaping convention and received a ton of sample juice. I have been working my way through the many bottles, trying out each in turn, and I keep coming back to my own DIY juice. So thank you, /r/DIY_eJuice for giving me an unending supply of information and inspiration; and most of all for convincing me that I could do it.
And to the commercial juice makers: niener niener mine's better than yours!
I made my first 15ml last night and I'm so stoked. The depth and complexity of flavor is amazing and I can get premium tasting product at pennies on the dollar. Giving away all my old juice somehow, maybe on reddit.
Awesome!
I never dreamed it would be so easy and affordable. Now I cringe at the thought of spending $20+ on 30ml of juice.
Glad to hear it!
I got interested in DIY for a couple of reasons, but mostly because except for a couple of vendors, I really have hated most juice that I've tried. I've been happy with my own stuff too - mostly recipes that everyone shared in this sub.
Thanks for posting. As I'm only about to start mixing my own juices, you sure could give back by answering some of the questions I currently have laying around unanswered:
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There are so many e-liquid producers... I seriously don't know where to start on figuring out what which flavor names could actually mean in terms of taste, let alone how which producer will actually present a taste, in case it's a recognizable brand such as RY4. How did you go about it? My additional problem is, the community in Germany isn't as large as over in the U.S. so simple vendor recommendations probably wouldn't do much. I ordered like 15 different aromas from about 5 different vendors, so while it sure is a start after only vaping FlavourArt (I'm fairly content but feel like there has to be more to it), Dr. Jack and Liqueen (same Polish vendor, I'd rate it 4/10) and Dekang (yuck).
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Are there general rules to how long a mixture should ripen and in which conditions? Having difficulties finding guides with this information. Also, how should it be mixed (shake, stir, none of the above?), and what are some good ways to estimate how an aroma could potentially taste before waiting for the mixture to ripen for 2 weeks or more?
Thank you in advance and congratulations on going DIY!
EDIT: 3. also I see a lot of people calling the aromas by their non-brand names, such as pineapple, peach, etc... Not much of a fruit vaper myself, but was wondering, does this mean you guys actually buy food aromas and vape them, or is it common knowledge that, say, pineapple stands for a certain brand pineapple so good that no one uses a different one?
I'm happy to give you any help I can!
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I only use flavors from The Flavor Apprentice (TFA/TPA). I know that there are a lot of different flavor companies out there, many of which offer higher quality flavorings. In this sub I found that many people had experience with this line of flavorings, and also that there is a list of the flavorings offered by TFA, along with a rating of the flavor quality and suggested amount to use. For these reasons I figured it would be a pretty safe bet to start with this brand of flavoring. I rely heavily on other peoples' experiences.
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I'm not a patient person. I try to let my juice steep as long as I can, but I generally start testing it hours after mixing. If there isn't much flavor, I'll shelve it and give it some time. Currently I have some that has been steeping for 3 weeks, I believe most people recommend 28 days unless you use one of the advanced steeping techniques.
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I think there is a common similarity between most flavors across different manufacturers. If someone says, for example, that you should try mixing pineapple and orange together I generally assume they mean to use whichever is my favorite pineapple and orange flavorings. Usually the flavor manufacturer will be included in recipes if you are wanting to completely recreate someone's juice. For example, my current favorite is:
- 10% Bavarian Cream (TFA)
- 5% French Vanilla Deluxe (TFA)
- 5% Dulce de Leche (TFA)
This indicates that the flavorings I used in the recipe are from The Flavor Apprentice.
I hope some of that helps!
Thanks for the helpful info! I too was impatient to try a new "waffles" taste and it rocked 1 hour after mixing already! The tobacco aroma I got, I guess I'll give that one a week before I give it another go, they do say tobacco aromas take longer, 7-10 days at least.
The flavor apprentice seems to recommend no higher than 5% aroma concentrates in DIY mixes, and even "aqua" concentrates I've come across don't recommend any higher than 8% but you and a lot of recipes I've seen easily go up to 20%. Is it just ignoring the recommendation and going for your own flavor experience, or is there another mixing rule when combining aromas?
cheers!