OK new mixers, this is your thread to ask any questions you want of the DIY eJuice community. All posts are allowed, but we still encourage you to use the sidebar and search features before asking any questions.
- Placing your first DIY order and want to make sure you have all you need?
- Not sure about how to mix your first bottle?
- Want to get started but aren't sure how?
- Any other questions? ... then this is the thread for you. FWIW, the answers to the first three questions will eventually be found in the wiki (still in development); link at the top of the page.
Ask away!
Why does it seem as though keeping it under 15 percent total flavoring is good advice that is often given out, but I'll look at some recipes for some premium juices and they go up to 25 percent flavoring! But there's no harshness or anything. What is going on?
The correct amount of flavoring to use is going to vary wildly depending on which flavor you're using. A lot of flavors from Flavour Art are pretty potent and can be used in the 2-3% range. Others like from Flavor Apprentice or Flavorwest need to be used in the 10-15% range. That's not to say that every flavor from these companies needs to be used at a higher range. For example, FW lemonade works well in the 3-7% range depending on what you're doing with it.
In a more advanced recipe, you may have a main flavor or flavors that you use in the 5-8% range, a supporting underlying flavor or flavors in the 2-4% range, and flavor enhancers, like creams, sweeteners, souring, and smoothing flavors anywhere between 1/4% to 2%.
The reason you see 15% as a standard is because we see a lot of posts from people who want to know why they mixed up some FA fuji apple at 20% and can't taste anything. That's way too much flavoring, and using too much has the opposite effect of muting the flavor because your taste buds just shocked into submission after the first vape.
I have recipes that use anywhere from 2% flavoring to 24% flavoring. There is no one correct percentage of flavors. In order to figure out how potent a flavor is, you can search for it here or on eliquid recipes and see how it's used in other recipes, or mix yourself a small 5ml bottle using it at a small percentage (2-5%) and work up slowly until it tastes just right.
We say to keep it under 15% because in DIY, less is more. Remember the old saying "once you go black, you can't go back." Once you overflavor, it takes a lot more calculation to drop your % by adding VG or PG, but if you underflavor, just add a a fraction of your orginal flavor mix and there isn't much difference between target and actual flavor amounts.
Any suggestions for a flavor that compliments the exhale? My juices seem dry on the way out!
Check out Meringue in addition to marshmallow.
Would it be possible for this subreddit to put together a list of flavors that fall into categories?
What I mean is it seems most people have decided some flavors are primary while others are secondary or enhancers.
Maybe if we had a list like this we could get a simple solution going where we line up flavors to make new juices easier.
Thoughts?
Deciding which flavors are primary and secondary depends on the recipe, and what you want to make. Let's say you're making a strawberry banana juice. If you want to taste the strawberry more than the banana then strawberry will be your primary flavor and banana the secondary.
Enhancers are another beast. Some, like sweetener, will only be used as an enhancer. I can't even imagine making a flavor where sweetener was the primary ingredient. Ethyl Maltol tastes like cotton candy at around 5% or so but as a sweetener in smaller amounts.
You can also further divide enhancers by creamers, such as sweet cream, Bavarian cream, fresh cream, dairy, etc. Mints, like menthol, peppermint, spearmint, maybe throw koolada in there, sweeteners like sweetener, em, marshmallow, souring agents such as malic and citric acid, and smoothers, like TFA smooth.
Edit: you might find this post useful conveniently located in the sidebar: http://redd.it/1rwsd4
Thanks for the thoughtful reply. I am well aware of the sidebar and that section in particular.
All I was trying to say i guess poorly was we know that some flavors are stronger than others and maybe some are enhancers like the ones you specified. I was suggesting maybe a way to group flavors into some sort of reference table.
It was just a thought (:
You make a good point. Some flavors are more potent than others. As a brand, Flavour Art, Flavorah, and definitely Medicine Flower are more potent than the others.
You can also tell that some companies version of a flavor is better than others. However, taste is subjective. If you check the first flavors order list, you will see 3 different versions of strawberry, and a hundred different DIY'ers can tell you why each one is better than the others.
On a personal note, the flavors in my DIY cabinet are separated into fruits, candies, tobaccos, sweeteners, mints, creams, and other to help me find them when I make a recipe.