I've read all the beginners tutorials, guides and so forth, but I know there is going to be some hiccup will mess my first batch up that wasn't foreseen by the guides. What is something you learned about creating your e-juice that wasn't necessarily mentioned within the various beginners resources? Or perhaps something that wasn't emphasized that one should pay extra attention to?
Thanks in advance. I look forward to making some really good juice soon and just want to start off on the right foot.
It's all trial and error, honestly. Even if you work off of tried and true recipes you find on here, ELR, or All The Flavors (wink wink), you're still going to have to tinker with percentages to really hone in on a recipe that works if you're really creating your own. The main thing to remember is that sometimes you'll find a percentage of a flavour to work beautifully in one recipe, only to have it completely ruin the flavour in another. The concentrates play off of each other, but also sometimes don't jive very well.
The best thing to do is keep track of everything you do. Keep detailed notes on what works, but even MORE detailed notes on what doesn't work. I can't tell you how long I fucked around with trying to "fix" my cream bases by adding more shit to them, when sometimes all you have to do is use less of something.
Find some recipes on here that you know you'll like just from the flavour profiles and get the flavours needed to mix those. Mixers like /u/NotCharlesManson , /u/skiddlzninja , /u/Vurve , and /u/ENYAWREKLAW are great resources to find something you'll definitely like. This way, you'll always have something to vape on while you work on your own recipes. The worst thing is to mix something up completely unvapeable, and then need to run to the B&M and spend even more money because you don't have the supplies to make something that will definitely taste good.
On top of the flavours to make recipes from the community, also pick up a few flavours that you think you'll personally enjoy. When those come in, start tinkering. Do individual flavour tests, see what works, see what doesn't. You'll make some juice that makes you want to gag. But then you'll stumble across something that just works.
tldr; experiment and keep detailed notes.
Yes! All of this. I've spent a long time looking for good recipes. If I had found Bangin Bourbon Bread by /u/skiddlzninja and Strawberry Shortcake Bar by /u/notcharlesmanson when I was first starting out that would have prevented SO much frustration! I'm bout to get on this /u/matthewkocanda and /u/vurve hype train. ;-)
So true. I spent like.. my first year just continually being on the verge of giving up because I couldn't create jack shit. I'd try a vendor juice and say "what the hell is the secret ingredient they're using? This is bullshit". And I'd spend weeks searching, trying to find out what weird additive was making everyone else's juice so great. But the secret ingredient is just research and development time.
Sometimes you get lucky and your mix is A+. 99% of the time you spend weeks working on it.
I agree with all of this.
Record EVERYTHING you do. I can't tell you how many times I've decided on a whim "Hey, lets add a little bit of this instead" forget to record what I added it how much, and then I go back a week later and it's the best version of my recipe (see my vanilla wafer banana pudding past).
Also, a label maker. I used Avery stickers for a while, but they start to peel off and get nasty
There are quite a few things I've learned over the last years that I wish I knew, and listened to others.
- Time is the best methiod
I know this goes with out saying, but when I first started mixing I was in such a hurry, and I tossed out a lot of juice that could of been really good if I had let it sit for a few weeks. Even if you think it's bad let it sit for a bit and come back to it. It's how I figured out my blueberry muffin recipe was amazing after three weeks of steeping, when I got lazy to dump the bottle and it had a lot more time.
- Don't be afraid to toss the bad stuff
We all have made bad batches, it's going to happen and it's going to happen a lot over time. What we make is super cheap and fun for a lot of us, but there are times that we make 'death in a bottle' ™ and it just has to go. Sometimes it just needs to sit, others it just needs to go.
- Use clear tape on syringes
I mix using 0.5 ml, 1ml, 3ml, 5ml, 10ml, and 35ml syringes, and when I'm done I have to clean them off and out, however these are not ment to be used multiple times (unless you got like a glass one), and the ticks on them rub off WAYYYYYY to easily. I've found that using some clear packing tape WHEN YOU GET THEM over the body of the tube, makes them last A LOT longer.
- Kimble flasks are amazing
I mix experimental batches in 30ml or 60ml bottles. However when I find a really good mix or got a recipe down that I really love I make much larger batches. I find that a $5 or $6 flask makes my life a lot easier for mixing, steeping and storage than some other options. I have a lot around because I'm a total science-geek-nerd girl who makes soap and beer so I use them all the time ;p
- If you get a lot of flavors, use different bottles
This might just be me, but a lot of the bottles flavorings come in have been a total PITA for me and some of them are outright rage inducing to get the caps off of to get a syringe in. I've started getting glass bottles to transfer my flavoring liquids into to save my nails (can't tell you how many times I've chipped my thumb nail on f'ing INW bottles). I also like a more clear bottle to see how much I have left and if I should reorder more. If you mix, or will mix, by weight having them in a dropper bottle is awesome as well. Less clean up. ;p
- Mix for your device
I know that might be confusing but if you try and mix a 100% VG juice and put it in a kayfun, you're going to have a bad day. However if you do the same and use some water or PG, your going to have a good day. Personally I've just gotten tanks that allow for max VG at this point or just outright drip.
- Don't be afraid to go outside of the box
There are a lot of general rules about do's and don't when it comes to flavorings, and while for some the tried and true mixes and groups of flavors that go well work, it does get old. I've started playing with champagne a lot more as of late for example.
- Less is more
Ok so we all know this phrase but it holds true even to mixing. Some recipes call for 20-25% flavor mix, I personally think that's quite the top limit and over powering in a lot of cases. Sure you need to use more of one flavor to balance out, but at the same time there is no need to use A TON to get the same effect. Example, Bronuts is only 9.4% flavoring, and unicorn milk is 16.5%. Don't be afraid to use less. I find that a lot of the HIGH flavor mix % recipes are not just using too much, but the ratio of flavors is so out of wack they need to use a ton to cover up a bad mix ratio of flavors. IMO
- TAKE NOTES
I can't stress this one enough in text. When I started I never took notes other than the first time I mixed. I knew it needed more but when I went back I forgot to put in what my idea was or what was the flavor notes and how strong they where. Doing things like that will help you prefect a blend.
- You will like something no one else will
When you are mixing you are mixing for your self and not anyone else. You might make something that you love but your friends don't (assuming you are sharing ;p), and that's ok. Also you will make something you hate but a friend loves.
- For god sakes, use gloves, eye protection and near a sink or easy clean up area
We can make the best plans and be as careful as we can but there will be that one time where you knock over the nicotine and it gets on you and will be tankful you where wearing gloves and a full shirt. Most of the time, sure, nothing will happen, but it's that 1 out of 100 that is what we worry about. Be safe.
I hope some of this helps and just my basic insight to what I wish I knew when I started.
My first mistake was buying a shit-ton of glass vials from RTS and Wizard and not buying a scale. All that paled in comparison though to the PTSD I endured after vaping TFA Coconut Extra @ 5% because that's what some stupid spreadsheet said to mix it at. Wow, I almost gagged while typing that. Start your percentages lower than you'd think, that's all. It's hard to like a flavor after you overdid it that one time. Source - everyone that doesn't drink tequila any more.
RTS and Wizard Labs are great companies but mixing by weight is the way and the light. Glass vials just get in the way.
Make small batches to test flavours/mixes. Too many times I've done a 'this'll be nice' and ended up with something horrible. Other people will find things nice that you hate, and vica versa.
So much this. I still think adding a little bit of this or that to my big batch of ADV without testing it small scale first seems like a good idea, but it never is. Even if it doesn't actually taste all that bad, it's highly likely that you will not actually want a large batch of it. Never try anything new on a larger scale, as great idea as it may seem.
1- I bought TFA Cheesecake. It sounded good. It smelled nice. It tastes like rotten socks. I now research a flavor before I buy it.
2- I got some sort of mint/menthol and put 5% in my mix. 5% is pretty good for most fruits and a lot of tobacco and even tolerable for some bakeries. It was so minty it hurt. I should have added drops instead of milliliters. I now make small test batches with new flavors and research common percentages.
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Mixing by weight was such a game changer for me. After seeing /u/botboy141 go on about it constantly I gave in and I will never look back. The last year or so of DIY for me has been so much simpler thanks to that.
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When starting off, don't just buy a bunch of random flavors and try to make something right away. Find some popular recipes from here and ELR. Buy the supplies for those and try them out. Once you see what you can do with DIY, it's a huge motivation boost. Otherwise you'll probably try 40 shitty creations of your own and say "screw this" like I did fifteen different times.
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Fuck flavor percentages. Use what works. 20% is "the max" for most people and I'd agree, but if you like a juice that has 30% flavoring, nobody can tell you you're wrong. Same with 5%. You made a recipe with 5% flavoring and you like it? Awesome.
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When making your own recipe, try to find similar recipes online. This way you can figure out good starting percentages for the flavorings you want to use.
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You will never, ever, ever have enough bottles. Buy more bottles. Seriously.
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If you don't mind PG and you're also not a klutz (I am, but whatever) just get 100mg/ml nicotine in 100% PG. 100% VG nicotine is hard as shit to shake.
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Shake the shit out of everything. Before you use a flavor, give it a good shake. Before you test a juice, give it a good shake.
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Be patient. If a recipe tastes "meh", let it sit for a week or so. Give it time. Don't immediately toss it in the trash. I've wasted so much potentially delicious juice because of impatience.
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One of the best learning experiences you can have making your own juice is to try to clone a vendor juice you like. I created a Blue Voodoo clone a long time ago and that taught me that sometimes the most complex tasting juices can be just three simple ingredients. Now I've been working for months on a Shurb clone and while it's driving me insane, it's teaching me so much about how different flavors interact and how to create different profiles.
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Get good nic. Vape Clarity and Nude Nicotine are my favorites. Many nicotine bases are already oxidized to the point where they're dark and harsh by the time you get them. It really affects your juice.
If I could go back and do it all over again, I would probably say I would get small amounts of flavorings in at a time, test them all individually at different %s, and take REALLY good notes about what you get from them at the different %s, and how they're affected by steeps.
I made a few bulk purchases of like 30-50 different flavorings and now there's no way I can go back and test them all individually to get a proper idea of what all they can do. If you just buy a few ingredients for a recipe or two at a time you can really get to know those flavorings. Not only will it help you with those flavorings you have, but get you the experience you need to know how other flavorings will probably work, and your skill will just grow exponentially.
That and buying way more bottles than you ever think you'll need. 5ml plastic is nice for testing single flavorings & making dilutions; glass & unicorns are nice for what you'll be vaping since you can clean/reuse them easily.
Learning how juice goes together isn't enough, you also have to learn how it falls apart to be a reasonably good mixer.
Knowing that this concentrate at 3% is amazing and 3.5% is terrible, knowing that heat will help mixture A and destroy mixture B, knowing which additives will help or harm a recipe... These are things that can generally only be discovered days, weeks, sometimes months after you have added the last drop and sealed the container.
But every lesson is valuable, and I have learned more from my failures than my successes. Mostly because there have been more of one than the other to learn from. :)
The biggest lesson I've learned over the last year is that taste is very subjective. Some of the most hyped up recipes are completely unvapable to me.
Same with flavors. It took me forever to get a hold of some flavors that I had been dying to try, only to find them very hard to use for anything.
measure by weight and calibrate your scale often. keep a hand full of syringes for nic, delicate amounts of pg/and flavoring. buy a bunch of 5 or 10ml bottles for trying new flavors and trial mixes. it may not be taste good, but at least you know what it taste like, if that makes sense. steeping sucks but just accept it, unless the goal is to make a shake n vape. ive never really had any "big mistakes" other than one time i grabbed the wrong extract and ruined a 200ml batch. oh yeah and label everything and keep all your recipes in one place. nothing worse than mixing up something awesome only to not remember what it was.
Trial and Error & write everything down! BUY A LABEL MAKER! It is so much better than taping loose leaf scraps to a bottle!
Sometimes, the more individual flavors in a bottle are better than, mixed flavors from a manufacuter (berry crunch ceral, fruit fusions, skittles flavors, etc...). Actually that is one of the biggest, Taking individual flavor notes over combination flavors is better for a mix than pre-made flavor mixes. I think this is how the truly good "premium" juices are done.
Less is more, for most of the flavors you mix.
Get good nicotine, the best I have had so far comes from Nude Nicotine, the worst, NicVape (causes good juices, to taste like garbage.)
One thing that I have started doing recently, is adding nicotine after steeping. I do not know if anyone else does this, but it seems to help with harshness and nicotine oxidation. I let me juices steep for 2-3 weeks, then add nicotine to them.