My DIY journey began around June of 2016.
I had found a few flavors I really enjoyed but ran across issues that pushed me into DIY.
One juice was inconsistent. The company isn't bad, but every time you have an issue, it's only you, never anyone else. Even if someone get's the same batch number...just...sick of that stupid petty shit.
Another place had a flavor I loved, expensive as hell, so it was a treat to get every now and then. Well, they decided to discontinue the flavor...well fuck you too.
The 3rd place, great all around really, prices are a bit high but considered premium. My only bitch would be their nic choice...if I left some of it sit for awhile, it would get peppery and just a turn off...
So...my first task was to start cloning the ones I loved, do my research and get this done. What a task! I really had no idea how deep the rabbit hole goes and still don't, but this sub has helped out a lot.
I made my first one and have already posted the recipe for it. I plan on going back and trying to tweak it some more. I was surprised how quickly I was able to get something together I could at least vape while I worked on the other flavors.
So, I bought a bunch of flavors, and I tested each one to get the flavor, and I took notes and started to mix and match flavors and get some ideas, and buy more flavors and do more reading and mix some flavors up, let them steep for a week and then think about giving up and not wanting to mix and just a big old UUGGGHHH!!!
But, progress was being made, yet slowly. Understanding flavors and mixing flavors and finding what I want and like, etc.
Finally earlier this week I went over to my friends to sample my latest batch of sample mixes. It was on week two of steeping, I like to give it 2-3 weeks of testing while I make notes on it, to see if the flavors change at all.
I'm happy to say I was able to get 3 more juices down to my liking and even my buddy praised me how close to the originals they are!
Finally! I don't have to vape on one juice anymore! I like to have a variety and man that juice is getting tired. So I mixed up some 120ml's of my 3 new flavors and yet, I need to let them steep for a few days before I can even tear into them.
I felt at times I wouldn't get to this point, but now I have. I now have 4 flavors I mix and enjoy but like I said, 1 I need to revisit and tweak, as for the other 3 I will gladly post them if anyone is interested!
Thanks again for being helpful!
Edit: Here are the 3 I came up with and feedback is welcome!
Ok, this first one is a clone of Velvet Cloud's Thoriange.
It is a discontinued juice. The flavor profile from the description read something like Tangerines and Oranges and a bit of smoothness. They tout they are 100%vg and all that jazz, and 120ml is $60!!
Anyways, I fell in love with it and they discontinued it, so the challenge began to figure it out:
Vanilla Whipped Cream (CAP) 2.5%
Orange Creamsicle (CAP) 2.25%
Sweet Tangerine (CAP) 0.25%
My first issue was recreating VC's base. I wasn't going to do a 100% VG juice, but getting they base down seemed like a good place to start. I did sample other flavors from them, that's how I noticed their "base" and started from there.
I tried Marshmallows at first, and went thru a few different ones until I decided to go the Whip Cream route, and that vanilla whipped cream was spot on to me! Next I tried a few different orange flavors, but they all seemed to be in your face flavors. What I recall with VC was the citrus flavors were not as in your face, they were apart of a juice not a dominating flavor. It wasn't until I got some of the Orange Creamsicle flavors to start messing around with. Turns out the OC(CAP) was the orange flavor and smoothness I was looking for, so in it went! The tangerine was a bit tricky. Not a lot of choices out there, and like some flavors a tiny bit goes a loooong way. Now it was a matter of getting all of this balanced out just so. After a few months this was the formula that gave me the nice balance of flavors I was looking for!
2nd: Ok, this clone is from Moonwalker - Mitten Vapors juice.
When I started to vape that whole GRE-Liquids/Mitten vapors split was going down, and they were flooding the ERC sub with their drama and coupons. Moonwalker is a copy of the old Hi-C drink Ectocooler, a orangy type drink. I really liked it! It had this nice orangy citrus taste to it, but with most "cheap" juices, there was a bit of a harshness to it that, while wasn't pleasant it wasn't dominate in the flavor profile to make me not vape it. If that makes any sense. I got lucky, kinda, when I made my first order of VG and other DIY stuff, I grabbed some flavors from Nude Nicotine, only one flavor I liked from them.
Citrus Slap (Nude Nic) 0.50%
DX Marshmallow (TFA) 0.25%
Whipped cream (TFA) 0.25%
Orange Creamsicle (CAP) 0.50%
Smooth (TFA) 0.50%
The Citrus slap is fantastic, that is some citrusy/orangey flavor if you are into that. This flavor I knew had to be in it to give it that "bite". From there, it was a bit of a guessing game and trying to figure out what else makes up this "drink". I did try just Marshmallow, but the DX seems to give it more body. The whipped cream compliments the marshmallow in the flavor. The orange creamsicle adds another layer without taking away from the citrus slap flavor it mixed very well. As for the smooth, that could be optional. Mixing this without the smooth does make the juice a bit "gritty" feeling, the smooth really does help tone done and get rid of that "gritty" vape feel.
3rd flavor: TBD Watermelon cooler.
Man, I love TBD. They are a good company, good people and great juice. There prices are fair for the product they put out, I've ordered a lot of juice from these guys. My only complaint would be the nic they use. After while the juice gets peppery and unvapeable. :( No hate, nothing but love for TBD!
I love this juice from them and Harvest Berry (HB is another one I am working on but haven't gotten there yet). So it seemed pretty straightforward...watermelon and lime, right?
Watermelon Colorless (LA) 1.75%
Sweet Watermelon (CAP) 1.00%
Lime (e-aroma) (INA) 0.10%
Man that lime is strong! Just need a touch of it, a hint of it to add that nice tart lime on the backend. The watermelon part wasn't too bad, a mix of these two watermelons provide a nice candied melon with a fresh juicy melon and makes a nix blend.
I recommend a 3-5 day steep on these juices depending on how much you mix up. I would make 10ml sample flavors and steep them from 2-3 weeks to make sure I got the flavors and profiles of the mixes.
As for my previous juice, you can read it here
I do want to switch out the Papaya from another maker. I need to order a bottle of it again to re-sample and try to get closer to a real clone.
Grats Jobe! Have you considered writing about the process you go through to clone? This sub lacks that information. It would be information many people would be interested in. I have been contemplating writing up a how-to-clone article myself and imagine there are many different angles to approach the process.
Posting a recipe's up to you and how you feel about it. But if you do, the more complex, the better.
Congrats, Jobe!
Yes, please edit this post to include those three recipes that are finished, with notes about the flavors you used and how you developed them into recipes. It's your turn to be helpful, maybe your recipe notes will inspire someone.
If you want, show us the fourth recipe too and note what you're contemplating for potential future tweaks, maybe people can offer you some suggestions.
Updated
Awesome! Thanks! Citrus can be really tough, especially orange, it's nice to have someone newish with an interest in those. I can't comment much on your clones since I've never tried any of the original juices, but that watermelon cooler looks really tasty.
You can still get the TBD Watermelon cooler, dunno about the Moonwalker, I think Mittens is still in business dunno if they sell that flavor.
Yeah, I don't like baked juices, and some melons (like honeydew) I get a bad chem taste off of. I'm a bit picky and like a nice flavorful juice. Orange/Citrus in general, I'm still working on some lemon juices, is tricky for sure. You can easily go too little or too much.
That's pretty cool, man!
I just started out, i can whip up some stuff that's ok but that's it, so it's pretty good to read this and know i can probably get better at this aswell :)
Have you thought about sharing those recipes or maybe some of your notes about cloning?
You should probably share those recipes with notes. Also share them in the February 2017 Recipe Thread
Might help more people like yourself!
Beautiful man. I just recently got into DIY and it's a bit overwhelming right now x.x I just hit the head on the nail for a liquid I love by DBLiquids; Strawberry Dragonfruit. It was seemingly really easy to replicate. I will admit I did use a bit of help from other people making SD mixes, so that helped a ton. The thing I remembered most about this liquid is that it did not gunk up my coils ever so slightly. Still fine-tuning the recipe though :). Thanks for the inspiring post to not give up ^_^
Okay...?
Dear Diary,
Today, I was a good boy. I am so happy I made juice. I thanked people who helped me. Mom said I will get an extra cookie after dinner. I like cookies.