So, I sell my liquid to a few people at work and people seem to really like it, so there's word of mouth of course. A co-worker was interested so I told her I would whip up some free samples for her. She also mentioned that her BF liked fruit loops vapes, so I worked pretty hard on a fruit loops recipe over the weekend. Mixed up that and some of what I would consider to be the best recipes I've tried (ENYAWREKLAW's Funfetti & BotBoy141's Awesome Apple Pie) at 6mg.
So I finally get a hold of her (we work in different departments) and let her know I've got some stuff for her to try, and she says "That's ok, me and my BF bought some juice over the weekend and we're really happy with it." Like really? You don't even want some free juice to try? Maybe if I put a fancy label on it, load it up with sucralose, and mention that it's ultra-premium-topshelf-competition-limited-custom-reserve nectar squeezed directly from the nuts of the Gods and aged for 2 years in a gold-plated stabilized wood casque, maybe then she'd try some free tasty juice.
Anyway, that's the end of my rant. I was able to give the 6mg juice to a couple of friends so it's not a total loss. Just irritating is all. Anyone have similar experiences? I feel like people always undermine or look-down upon DIY liquid. Like, what do you think the juice vendors are doing? They're doing it themselves...
To be fair, most people's DIY sucks compared to retail juices.
They don't know what DIYorDIE is, they don't know who the first class mixers are, and have never heard of their recipes.
It's a perceived quality difference because of the source of the product. People who don't cook assume restaurant food is better than what you make at home. People who don't know about open PV think that their X-Cube II is better than a 1590G box mod. People who don't DIY think Cuttwood is better than your unlabeled PET bottle.
I fooled one of my friends once by slapping on a fake label on one of my beta recipes. Told him it was some new company out of CA. He said it was one of his favorite juices. Told him to try my clone of it (same juice and batch). He said it wasn't really that good or close. The power of appearance and marketing on your perception of taste is a weird thing.
I'm dying here. 😂 I would love if there was a reality show where they did that with food, soda, beer, liquor, etc.
"SURPRISE, BITCH! IT'S THE SAME THING! HOW'S IT FEEL TO BE A CONSUMER WHORE? "
In this vein, a study 15 years ago by a French PhD candidate named Frédéric Brochet showed that 54 supposedly expert wine science students, when presented with a wine that had been dyed red, described it the same way they would an actual red wine. Wine snobs lost their shit in response.
Further along on this tangent, you've got stuff like this talk by Malcolm Gladwell about the platonic ideals of spaghetti sauce, actual preferences, and the suggestion that people don't seem to know how to describe what they want.
You can go deeper down the weird rabbit hole that is our senses by considering the idea that until modern times, your ancestors might not have understood the color blue.
> 54 supposedly expert wine science students
Wasn't that the problem with that study though? It's commonly reported that they were experts but in reality they were only students.
Either way, it's relevant here. I just see it used so often to say 'haha wine tasters are retards!' when really it was more of a case for why blind tasting is important.
> They don't know what DIYorDIE is, they don't know who the first class mixers are, and have never heard of their recipes.
Not a bad thing imo. "First class mixers" are usually people who post a lot, write very lengthy notes, name their recipes and other things like that that get them noticed. In a way they're the premium juice of DIY. The superstars because they're louder.
They contribute a lot so it's all good, but there's some discrete guys who post great stuff as well. Knowing these things you mentioned doesn't make a good DIYer at all.
Yeah, that's definitely true. To be fair I label them in glass bottles but I guess she'll never know! I think the most frustrating part was that I worked on a recipe for her, just for her to be like, "Nah, nevermind."
Yeah, it's this reverse snobbery. People become so reliant on an inferior product with superior marketing.
I'm sure your juices are awesome compared to what she vapes, but she'll never know because 500 bros and neckbeards aren't extolling your virtues on ECF and nobody at her vapebro B&M has tried it.
I'm not sure /u/enyawreklaw and /u/Botboy141 would necessarily want you selling their recipes to your co workers.
Well I don't mind if people sell my recipes if I'm credited and they aren't a business. I encourage it actually. Vaping for free is a great way to stay away from smoking. It's only if you do it as a business I have big problems and I don't think /u/CheebaSteeba is setting up a paypal anytime soon. At least I hope not.
My recipes are open to the public for a reason. I could care less at this point TBH, just biding my time before I close the doors on GGG. No time for it anyways...
Haha, yeah I remember in one your articles you had mentioned you didn't think it was a big deal. Any recipes that aren't my own I make sure to give proper credit. Really it's only selling to make up material cost, I don't profit off this stuff. Big reason I went for those two as free samples was just to show that DIY can be some seriously tasty sh*t.
Kind of barely related, but I bought some more "premium juice" the other day made by a local brand that's really popular. Everyone said the juice is orgasmic.
It's just TFA Pear and Cranberry with what I'm guessing is about 5% Sucralose. I want to vomit every time I take a hit because it's disgustingly sweet. I use sucralose every now and then, but this was overwhelming.
Why do these "premium" brands load up on so much sucralose?
I hear ya man, and I don't get it; I can't vape that stuff. I've always been a little sensitive to artificial sweeteners so I'm sure that plays a part.
When I first started vaping I bought all kinds of juice and couldn't ever find something I could stand for an extended time. Now that my SO diys, I've been using the same juice forever. No doubt it was all the sweetener. I'm sensitive to artificial sweetener as well (mostly headaches).
To hide the imperfections in their liquid.
Most use shitty Chinese nicotine, and are buying the cheapest flavorings they can get their hands on.
Why do people drink the shit coffee Dunkin Donuts sells when there has to be a local coffee roaster nearby selling quality beans? Cause it's cheaper, and comes from a reputable business.
I have "friends" who wouldn't taste my liquid out of a bottle with a hand written label. As soon as I printed a basic label and put on the bottle, they suddenly wanted to try it. It's perception and they're uneducated on the subject so they choose to follow the masses.
If you look at the American cuisine it's much sweeter and artificial compared to the rest of the world, so it's not surprising that the e-juice here matches our taste in food. I've never looked into it, but I wouldn't be surprised if vaping sucralose causes dopamine to flood the brain the same way it does when you it eat sugar laden food, creating a reward response. Also as someone who doesn't drink soda I find it disgusting for the most part and tasting overtly surgary. That being said, I used to love the shit and drank 48-64oz a day of the it, it wasn't until I quit drinking it that I didn't like it when I revisited it, much the same way that most diy juice makers hate sucralose laden e-juice.
My best friends, whom ive known for 7 years, lived with for three of them, and now live a 5 minute walk down the street know I make juice. They like the juice I make. They sometimes make their own. My stuff is always available for them to use.
Sometimes they buy store juice. No reason to get offended. We all did it. Sometimes you know a store-bought juice that you just like. Sometime I offer them some juice, and they say "Nah, im good". That's just their preference. No need to get up in arms and then have a premium-eliquid-sucks-sucraslose-circlejerk.
That's not the point of this subreddit. The point is to grow as a group, share ideas and all become better mixers. We all know about premium retailers "dirty little secrets". Most don't. Or don't care. Just let it be. If they want some juice from you, they'll ask.
Yeah that probably wasn't needed, just felt like doing a little rant. I don't mind people buying commercial liquid, in fact I prefer it because it's one less thing I have to do.
The upsetting part was that I worked on a recipe and whipped up some tasty liquids for her, for a request she approached me about, just to be told she changed her mind and didn't even want to bother tasting the stuff that was created for her.
My wife had an interesting take on your situation - - the boyfriend squashed your efforts. Your coworker told him "some guy at work is making me some ejuice samples," and that went south in one of a few ways:
- He doesn't trust DIY
- He doesn't believe it's better
- He's a jealous twat who thought you were hitting on her
Thats a bit more reasonable, I will admit. I won't fault you there in the least.
But yeah, commercial e-liquids are businesses. In order to find success and profitability more easily, they must do fancy labels and sweetener filled and charge high prices to profit.
One of the unfortunate side-effects of selling juice to people, either casually or in a business sense, is that people will change/cancel orders. Just ask any of our sellers here! It just comes with the territory, sadly. Getting upset at it will just hurt the business side of it for you : (
Oh I can only imagine lol. I would never get in to the liquid business specifically for those reasons. That and taste is so subjective. Only thing I've ever considered doing outside of hooking friends/co-workers up is offer some free consultation to my favorite local shop that has a house line. They've only got 5 liquids and they're pretty meh; I know they can do better.
Yeah a friend of mine asked for 60ml of a strawberry cheesecake recipe I make. Few weeks later he asks for 100ml. The day comes when I'm supposed to meet up with him, turns out he's sick and not vaping till he gets better. "that's fine, just let me know when you do want it" It's been 2 months and I haven't heard from him.
I allow my regulars to request special flavors but require a commitment of 1 bottle purchased. It's enough to cover the cost of special flavors that I have to order and my time. It's to avoid stuff like this.
I don't vape candy flavors at all, so I don't have any candy flavorings on hand. I get a lot of requests for specific candies and tell them
> Sure. $10, you get the first 30ml free, and I'll let you name it.
I've been their man. I have a lot of friends who love my juice so i started selling locally and many times i had people request something and i'd work my ass off to make it and they would never be heard from again.