Couldn't resist a little alliteration. ;)
Hey, DIY_eJuice! I'm mostly a lurker here and have been mixing my own juice for a few months now. I just want to start off by saying that the recipes you all post on this sub are incredible. Tweaking your recipes to my exact personal taste has been a sometimes difficult but always satisfying task.
For example, the first "personalization" that I made was that damn 2.25% INW Cactus in Grack Juice. The first time I mixed that recipe (exactly as-is), I literally dry heaved from the cactus. But if I drop it down to 1.25%, it's beautiful. Grack Juice is now a recipe that I always have steeping. Then I realized that this was true across all recipes that have INW Cactus: I have to drop the %, otherwise it's too powerful, and literally makes me dry heave.
On the flip side of that, there's CAP Vanilla Custard V1. God, that buttery diketoney silky goodness. Hit after hit of Third World Custard on the Goon RDA, and it's like I can feel the diacetyl dancing on my tongue, kissing my olfactory bulb, constricting my small airways, making me crave some actual custard, constricting my airways even more, making me salivate, wait what the fuck? Surprise, can't breathe. That's how I found out that CAP Vanilla Custard V1 triggers some kind of inflammatory response in my lungs. I can handle it in small doses, but if I start to get crazy and drip a heavy custard mixed with it, I'll be left reaching for my inhaler. I replaced it with V2 and all is well in custard world for me! Only downside is the extended steeping time, but it's worth the wait.
Anyway, those are just two simpler examples, both which I've encountered other people discussing in this sub.
Then there's this absolute fucking mystery: I cannot detect Koolada below 4-6%. Seriously. People on this sub talk about 1 drop per 2 mL and I'm stuck there scratching my head because I'm literally buying it by the oz and squeezing it into the mix like it's god damn VG. Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but still. I have to kick the Koolada in Grack Juice up to FIVE. PERCENT. to get a cooling sensation. I also admit that Hawk Sauce is still my daily driver (all other MBV juices taste like shit to me, but Hawk Sauce is magical for some reason), and "out of the box", Hawk Sauce isn't cool to me. I have to add 4.5% Koolada to get it where I want it.
So, I guess the point of this post is this: do you have any similar experiences with certain flavors or ingredients? Are you an obscure olfactory outlier?
Also, I know we have some chemists (or at least a chemist) on this sub, so if you/they see this, and you have some time to share thoughts on it, please do. I have a pretty good working knowledge of chemistry, so it doesn't need to exactly be an ELI5. ;)
Did you consider you can't taste Koolada because you vape Hawk Sauce everyday?
If I vape watermelon crack every day I get olfactory fatigue from everything in the mix and the menthol is almost not noticeable any more. Menthol and Koolada are very similar to me. I vape one than the other isn't as intense.
The solution here is to take a break from menthol and koolada for a little bit and that 5% you're using will feel unbearable or at least it should.
Another thing you could try is FA Polar Blast as it's a little more than a simple dilution of Koolada in PG.
You know, I'm now sitting here trying to figure out why I didn't consider olfactory fatigue. Well, shit. I guess it's because I disregarded koolada as a "flavor". That was a short-lived mystery, since everything I vape, minus desserts/bakeries, gets either menthol or koolada.
I will say that in Grack Juice the Koolada isnt there for the cooling factor. It does something that improves the flavour.
But its not there to give you the cool that koolada normally does.
One of the most interesting uses of an ingredient I've seen in a while!
Oh, yup, I'm totally aware of that. I actually read the creator's recipe notes for the first time a few days ago; definitely felt a twinge of guilt for bastardizing his process. I have a bottle steeping right now with the prescribed level of koolada, but with my adjustment to cactus remaining.
I have to say, though, for those who like Grack Juice and cool/menthol juices, try bumping up that koolada percentage to your personal cool/frosty level. It surely moves the recipe in a more "standard" fruit/cold direction, so I don't claim it to stand up to the original.
Cap sweet strawberry to me just tastes like I'm vaping green strawberries. Really bitter and green taste. As far as inw cactus, I tried it in a raspberry peach recipe at 1%. It's unbearable from the smell alone, it smells like lubriderm lotion. I'm going to try it at a lower percentage and if that doesn't work I'll probably try dragon fruit.
Almost every recipe I've tried with TFA Honeydew I have to remix it at a lower %. Once I do that, it's great. But at the amounts other people use, I taste soap.
I don't know if this counts, but can't vape FA Passion Fruit or CAP Bubble Gum. Those two must have something in common that I just have some kind of intolerance for. I can vape peaches, citrus, no problem. But those two tear my throat up.
Hahahaha oh TFA Honeydew. Long story short, the first juice I ever bought/vaped had TFA Honeydew in it (which I obviously only just figured out a few months ago, but I digress). I loved that flavor so much, and it had finally gotten me off the death sticks. Then I got a stomach bug out of nowhere. I shit you not, I had to buy a new tank and deep clean the apartment because even the faintest whiff of that fucking honeydew flavor made me retch. I still can't vape anything melon-flavored, but I can at least stand to smell honeydew again.
I'm with you on the CAP Bubble Gum, it makes me gag and get a headache. Most citrus will make my head hurt aswel, for some reason. Peach i chug down.
It's the throat hit that kills FA Passion Fruit and CAP Bubblegum for me, and it's a shame, because they taste good. Especially that Passion Fruit. Sucralose overdose will give me a headache though. Gagging? So far only FA Condensed Milk, FA Pineapple, and the smell of OoO Cheese in the bottle (haven't been brave/stupid enough to actually vape that one yet).
I really can't stand CAP VC, no matter how much I try. It just tastes like dirty butter to me, and the longer it steeps the more I hate it. I can just about tolerate it in a fresh mix at like 2%.
A lot of commonly recommended dessert/bakery flavours taste kinda dirty to me. Any recipe that includes the likes or CAP Sugar Cookie sounds amazing to me, but I can't vape it. It tastes like someone made a nice fresh batch of cookies, then left the greasy tray in the oven for a few days, scraped it clean and mixed up the residue. Damn annoying 'cause if I could get away with eating cookies all day long, I probably would.
And don't get me started in INW Biscuit. I'd rather vape straight FA Joy.
I don't like koolada either, tastes weird.
Oh my god, yes: I despise INW Biscuit. It takes like a pair of deep fried gym socks. Do you have any non-CAP recommendations for vanilla custard? I'm always willing to venture out of my comfort zone.
To be honest, I have no idea, I'd given up a long while ago on custards and creams because they all taste like buttered up ass crack to me. FA Custard is ok, but not quite the same thing. FA Vienna Cream is about the closest thing I like. If I want a vanillary layer to my juice I tend to stick to Vanillin.
This is my experience too. I avoid bakery flavors because while I can enjoy the less heavy ones after a period of continuous use, when I switch to a fruit mix, or something herbal or floral, I immediately am reminded of that cloying, stale popcorn flavor I taste. I hate it, because the recipes seem really awesome on paper, but the flavor just makes me gag.