I've gotten pretty decent at modifying recipes to suit my personal tastes, but haven't dabbled too much with creating something "from scratch". I'd like to go through what I have so far, as well as my thought process, to hopefully get some tips or guidance.
Goal: To create my ideal winter ADV. Something creamy with a pastry-like taste, maybe hints of graham cracker.
To start off, I'd like FLV Milk & Honey as the dominate base. I got some in the mail about a week ago and seriously can't get enough. Even as a standalone at 3-4%, I find myself vaping that more than my other go-to flavors. It can be improved though.
Next, I know Yellow Cake is a "god tier" flavor, so I'd like to layer that in as well.
Caramel is the next thing that jumped into my mind, and FW Salted Caramel is what I have on hand.
Finally, some graham cracker to round everything else out and not just be a sweet creamy cake.
Round 1: No graham cracker, just dialing in the base.
NOTE - I'm not asking anyone to mix the below recipes; they're definitely vapable but not quite dialed in yet.
>>v1
>>Yellow Cake 2%
>>Salted Caramel 3%
>>Milk & Honey 2%
Results: Along the lines of the base I was imagining, tastes a lot like a yellow cake with caramel pudding. I can easily imagine some kind of berry or spice to "complete" the flavor.
Ok, not quite sure what to tweak here so I'll just layer in the graham cracker and see what happens.
>>v2
>>Yellow Cake 2%
>>Salted Caramel 3%
>>Milk & Honey 2%
>> Graham Cracker 3%
Freshly mixed, this wasn't anything to write home about. After 5 days steeping, the flavors blend together much better and I'll easily vape this 30ml bottle I'm vaping right now. The graham cracker is almost undetectable however; it seemed to mask the flavor base quite a bit and give it more of a "cookie" taste. Overall I get hints of yellow cake with a mish-mosh of other flavors going on. If I didn't know what I mixed into it, I would have a hard time describing the flavor.
If anyone read through this wall of text and could offer advice on where to take it from here, I would really appreciate it. Maybe graham cracker wasn't the right choice to add to the base, or maybe v1 needed some tweaking before adding anything else. Thanks in advance!
Yellow Cake 2.5%
Salted Caramel 2%
Milk & Honey 3.5%
Graham Cracker 1.5%
Bavarian cream 3%
Joy .5
Could be a crapchute, could be good, b cream should add creamy with milk and honey and joy should help yellow cake, I found too high with Graham would be overpowering and muddled but lowering helped add a nuance of it without the muddling (in recipes I've played with)
I've never tried Milk & Honey, to be fair, so this my or may not be a good mix. However, I am a creamy/custard/dessert fiend and have been making TONS of test batches lately and I'm happy to share the things I've learned.
- I would like to second the Bavarian Cream recommendation. Bavarian Cream is one of my very favorite mixing flavors, along with CHeesecake Graham Crust. Bav. Cream is smooth and creamy and may help your flavors blend better.
- I think the key to "not be a sweet creamy cake" and have more of a cookie flavor is acetyl pyrazine. I LOVE this stuff. I put acetyl pyrazine in almost every recipe that isn't straight fruit at this point. It makes EVERYTHING better, but specifically, it imparts a bready, nutty, savory flavor. Don't add more than 1% max, though. It's strong stuff. I usually use 0.5%-0.75%
- Butterscotch is a great addition to these kinds of flavors, in low percentages. It rounds it out and can give it a more full bodied flavor. Try 1-3%
Thanks for the input! Where do you get your AP from? I haven't used it yet, but I used to say that about citric acid up until about a month ago and I was really missing out. Will definitely have to try AP.
Will TFA Butterscotch work? That's the only one I have on hand, haven't really experimented much with it yet.
I get my AP from Wizard Labs, TFA. The only butterscotch I've used is TFA, and I think its wonderful.
I haven't heard anything about citric acid in ejuice (I've only used it in biology lab before) What kind of effect does it have? Just kind of makes things a bit more tart?
Awesome thanks, that will be in my next order.
Citric acid basically does for fruit flavors what it sounds like AP does for dessert flavors. Takes them from really good to great. Lower percentage can be used for mouth feel alone and getting a "wetter" vape. A little more than that to make certain fruit flavors pop and of course citrus. Near the upper limit (. 08-1%) adds a sourness and jolly rancher-like effect.