####Warning: Long.

First and foremost, a huge thank you to everyone who has contributed here one way or another, and for the extremely helpful sidebar notes, guides, tips, links, etc. Thanks to the information I and my boyfriend found here we've begun the transition to DIY heaven.

I decided to start DIY after realizing that my consumption had risen to 120ml every two weeks, and with my kind of taste and only two commercial juices I found ADV-able, it was going to cost me in the ballpark of $100-$130 monthly, not including tax or shipping. This was unacceptable, obviously.

Still, I had my doubts about my ability to handle DIY, as I don't like tinkering at all and am very impatient. I was worried about handling nicotine (which is a must for the vaping experience for me personally), about steeping and my impatience, about the flavors turning out horrific or bland or whatever...

...but I'm so very glad to say I was wrong!

It took 4 iterations, removing and adjusting various notes, but I finally found something that is shake n vape-able AND fucking delicious. Not to mention it packs a nice throat punch if you're into that at 6mg nic content, and a decent enough hit even with no nic.

DISCLAIMER: I like strong flavors. I mean hit you in the face flavor. So the flavor percentage total is QUITE high in this. But I have not gotten flavor fatigue or muted-ness from it, and I absolutely love it, and that's what matters, right?

I hope someone gets something out of it, too.

After searching high and low, and not finding many chocolate recipes/options that sounded good (besides of course Bronuts - I'll try this one eventually when I can afford the flavorings), or at all, I decided to take on the task myself. First I was going for a straight creamy chocolate milk.

First Iteration Was:

• Chocolate Cream - INW - 4%
• Cocoa - FA - 4%
• Dairy/Milk - TFA - 3%
• Vanilla Bean Ice Cream - TFA - 6%
• Sweetener - TFA - 3%

This turned out pretty damn good, but was a little off. A more sour creamy milk note than sweet. Not good sour like a little bit, but a little full on sour. The flavor was also muted somewhat. It lacked richness, if you will. Not thickness, richness. So since I read that sweetener, when used too high, can mute flavors, I decided to cut that out and instead add TFA - Cheesecake (GCC) in its place, same percentage.

This second iteration was as follows:

Second Iteration Was:

• Chocolate Cream - INW - 4%
• Cocoa - FA - 4%
• Dairy/Milk - TFA - 3%
• Vanilla Bean Ice Cream - TFA - 6%
• Cheesecake (Graham Cracker Crust) - TFA - 3%

This was like two steps back. Now it was even more muted and less sweet than before. So I did some taste testing repeatedly until I hit on it. The chocolate cream was producing the sour note a little bit, I think. Based on that theory, I switched to Milk Chocolate by the same company, and voila! It was fixed!

But it was still missing something. It still wasn't quite 'there' albeit pretty fucking wonderful. Then I had an ahah moment and thought to make it a minty refreshing vape with just a dash of Chocolate Mint and Koolada.

Thus, the final iteration has been born. Named after its 3 main chocolate components that synchronize blissfully into an epic vape.

Final Iteration:

• Milk Chocolate - INW - 4%
• Cocoa - FA - 4%
• Dairy/Milk - TFA - 3%
• Vanilla Bean Ice Cream - TFA - 6%
• Sweetener - TFA - 3%
• Chocolate Mint - FW - 2%
• Koolada - TFA - 2%

And it was a glorious explosion in my mouth. Rich, creamy, minty, refreshing, hard-hitting and best of all, no steep time required juice! I can only imagine it'll get better from here, although realistically speaking steeping can make or break juices, so time will tell.

And I realize that's a lot of different flavors to be playing around with as a beginner, but I tend to go 'all in' when I do things. I also know less is more, so I'm determined to find just as pleasing, simpler builds along the way. That said, this has been an incredible learning experience for me.

Another thing I'd like to add is that I was so unsatisfied vaping my other, mediocre juices, that I'd need way more hits than should be necessary. Now, I take one to two hits at a time every so often and feel completely satisfied. That's a first in quite a while, and may further save me money on juice.

So again, thank you all so much for being here, for being this community, for helping myself and my partner and all of those passerby folks. I hope to one day be able to contribute quality material to you all, but until then I'll leave you with this and continue to lurk.

Take care and happy vaping!

EDIT For Passerby folks: Important

A couple of things I forgot to mention in this post that I feel you should know:

• There are diketones in this flavor, I believe in the Vanilla Bean Ice Cream and Dairy/Milk. If it's any concern to you, consider yourself informed/warned so you can make an educated decision.

• The sweetener, alongside it being a medium level coloration juice, WILL gunk your coils/cotton up after a bit. I only drip so I cannot attest to its lasting ability in a tank, but I already change my cotton daily so it wasn't a big deal for me. It may be for you, if anyone wants to try it to begin with. So be aware.

I felt it important to note these factors for everyone.