Typically a company will be looking for a specific profile or type of flavor. I'll think of the best in class concentrates and sort of put them all in front of me. Sometimes I'll google real world foods that include the ingredients I've collected and try to find something that fits that idea and then move forward.

Other times it's more simple than that. Spend a lot of time vaping and testing single flavors. Really knowing each flavors highs and lows and middle ground is really crucial to building a quality recipe. Sometimes I'll be vaping say FW Blueberry by itself and think, X flavor would go really well with this. So I'll do a second mix with just those two flavors while thinking about the next step. Recipe development can sometimes take weeks or even months. There's often 10 failures behind a good recipe.

Be patient. Know your flavors. Expect failure, because those failures teach where do something different in the future.

Start simple man. Don't worry about going too crazy with 5+ flavorings in a recipe. The more flavorings you add in the more difficult it becomes to manage. I guarantee you'll be surprised at how great your recipes will turn out with only 2-3 flavorings and a touch of sweetener. You'll learn your flavorings a lot quicker this way without wasting much, and you'll start understanding the value of balance.

If you don't already have a profile to shoot for, finding inspiration is step 1. If you're trying to recreate something you love in the culinary or aroma world then you have a much higher chance of success. More specific profiles will yield more success since you're pinpointing certain aspects (I.e. Not just any chocolate milk, NesQuick chocolate milk or Ovaltine chocolate milk["More Ovaltine please!"])

Knowing your flavorings is the absolute best way to make good mixes. Once you know your flavorings you should be able to put out a good v1 pretty often that just needs minor tweaks in % or accent flavors to get it where you want it.

PATIENCE!! You WILL fail. Your mixes WILL suck. They WILL tear up your throat. It's all part of the learning process. I still get frustrated when I'm working on a v6 or 7 and it's still seeming like I'm nowhere close. I actually think the failures are more educational than success since you can tell that something doesn't work, why it doesn't work, an what will work on it's place.

Don't force it. I can't tell you how many times I've been working on a recipe, reached a "breaking point," put it on the back burner for a while, and then a month or two later had an ingenious idea (or inspiration from an ingenious mixer) that made the recipe soar. If it's not working, it's not working, and you oughtn't drive yourself mad trying to make it work.

Disclaimer: not a professional mixer.

However, I sell juice to a fair number of my friends (~20), and with the exception of /u/Enyawreklaw 's Rhodonite, they're all my own mixes. (Sorry, Wayne. I was vaping on it and one of my friends immediately asked "how much for a bottle?") That aside, I've been reading this sub for about a year now. I check all of the flavor reviews, and I do some SFTs. The real work comes down when I get an idea. Whenever I have a good idea, I start with the very basics. I start with the base of the recipe, and slowly start layering in the rest. Yeah, it takes a feel for the concentrates, and that's where SFTs come in. Start with the base of the recipe, and work up to the supporting flavors. Play around with it. Some ideas are good, some are bad (especially if you haven't done single flavor tests or don't have a feel for your concentrates), but all ideas are useful if you pay attention. Finally, you can add those stronger top notes. Those can really screw with your recipe, so don't feel bad if they change. A lot. You'll learn from it. Also, you might want to check out the Beginner Blending podcast. I believe it ended, but it was good while it lasted, and it's nice to listen to while you're driving.

TL;DR: it takes time. Learn your flavor concentrates and that will get you an idea of how to make everything work. Listen to Beginner Blending.

Typically before ever picking up a concentrate or mixing anything, I like to think about what Im going to make. Think about possible concentrates. Toy around with different ideas in my head first. Generally this helps the mixing process go much smoother, or at least for me it does. I made my best selling juice by playing with the recipe in my head for several weeks first, then finally getting to the mixing. I guess you really need to know your concentrates as well, their strengths and weaknesses and how much to use. The other thing I will do is let's say I want to make something with blueberry in it. I will get out every blueberry concentrate I have to find the best one or combination to use for my particular purpose. Ive watched too many people just jump head first into mixing, dumping 12 concentrates in the mix with no idea or clue why they did what they did. Choose your flavors wisely, make them have a purpose in the mix. Im honestly not the best with words but I hope this helps.

A day late to this but anyway, Im a flavor compounder by trade and what I can tell you from experience is start simple, make a good 2 ingredient recipe. Lets say you want a vanilla then make a recipe with vanillas, let say sweet cream and vanilla custard, play around with the ratios and make a vanilla you like. Now make a nice peach recipe lets say, again simple 2 ingredient version until its right, then you could combine them play with the ratios again a little to match their individual intensity and you should have a decent peaches and creams vape. Also there are many flavor enhancers and sweeteners we almost always use in commercial recipes . I have a small youtube channel and there is a video about triacetin there, check it out when you have some free time it will give you some information to help you smooth out your mixes and how we use it almost in most recipes we make. ( I dont know the policy for spam here so I wont post a link but check my username my lasts posts are recent videos to the channel)

I too would like to hear the opinions of those who design juice for a living.

Always put everything in paper before starting any job. This is the most essential part of the business after the creation.

My two cents.

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