Hey all,
Just starting my DIY journey and loving it so far.
Having some problems with few of my flavours. All of the fruit I bought have a chemical taste I can not get ride of.
TPA strawberry TPA raspberry sweet CAP sweet watermelon FA kiwi
I tried them at different procentage as directed on all the guides I read. Lowest I went is %1 all the way to 6%.
I tried them on their own and then added TPA banana cream, TPA marshmallow, Cap vanilla ice cream, MERINGUE. (one by one and not all togheter started with 0.5% to 3%).
The additives taste good on their own, but the fruits have a bad chemical taste. Like shit medicine or cough syrup.
Example: TPA strawberry comes in decently strong at %4, chemical candy strawberry taste on inhale, sweet in the middle, bit green chemical at the end. Strong chemical taste after. Combined with banana cream, hides it a bit and added a bit of CAP super sweet to hide the chemical taste, and it does to some degree but now I'm vaping on super sweet candy with chemical after-taste. The flavour itself smells chemically, since I'm a novice I thought it's normal and will go away with steeping.
I tried steeping for 3-5 days. I cannot get ride of the chemical taste. I tried different wattage on my mod. Changed the coils and anything I could think of. I used a drill to shake it.
Bought all the concentrates from the same local shops that does its own flavours as well. Have not dealt too much with them.
I only bought decent vapes so far, zamplebox and the like and this is the first time I'm trying diy but never tasted anything like this.
Please help as I love the idea of diy and coming up with my own flavours not just because it's cheaper.
TLDR: flavour have strong chemical taste. Tried everything. Especially TPA strawberry.
Edit: all bottles say they are bottled in store. It's the only thing I can think of. The shop is a local small store that makes their own in house flavour concentrate as well. Thanks everyone for their help.
Definitely know what you mean about the green chemical taste from TPA strawberry. Had to toss my bottle cause I couldn't stand it. TPA strawberry ripe is much better though
This. Strawberry ripe is the way to go.
Thirding, Strawberry (Ripe) TFA is superb. It tends to weaken or get lost after a few weeks, but I combine it at 5% with Strawberry Shisha Inawera at 0.5%; it's delicious and I've heard has a lot more staying power. (I don't know yet if it does personally; I only got SS INW in yesterday, but damn it was a glorious mixing day!)
I ordered ripe and see how I go. I'm a bit disappointed as I love strawberry and planned to put it in all my recepies.
I actually like TFA strawberry personally, it’s one of my main ingredients in most of my mixes. Mixed with peach and watermelon it’s actually pretty good.
I ALWAYS throw in strawberry ripe with it though. Maybe 1 or 2% ripe and 4% strawberry for a heavy strawberry mix.
The thing is strawberry ripe is a little too strong/sweet to carry a full strawberry flavor on its own at more than 3%.
Also the chemical taste can be there early on but usually dissipates for me after about 72 hours.
This is just a thought, but you might want to make sure your shop gave you what you paid for and not something else. A lot of times they buy in bulk and fill smaller bottles to sell to the customers instead of buying individual bottles of flavors. Also maybe the flavors are old. I have been using tpa strawberry in my DIY for over a year and never had a bad bottle yet. Try getting a small bottle of those flavors from a different supplier like bullcityflavors.com or ecigexpress. Com or somewhere else. Just to see if it tastes the same. I hope this helps. I love DIY and would never go back to pre made juice, but it can be challenging. Good luck
So the shop does fill up small bottles. From the conversation I over heard in the shop but I thought that's normal. They also said they're super low on juice and didn't have most flavours I asked. I was thinking maybe they used their own concentrate since they have their own brand. Hopefully not, that so dodgy.
Do They have there own brand of juice? Or is it house juice? If it’s a major company then you should be fine but maybe just try elsewhere and see to compare.
Have you tried that raspberry solo before? Raspberries generally taste a bit chemically to me. Its offnotes could be combining with strawberry's leafy green offnotes.
It could help to see the full final recipe
Haven't tried the raspberry solo. But I tried the other ones by themselves. That's how I started, thinking I can improve my pallet and take some notes.
I was curious if this is my fault or maybe bad flavours. It taste like a cheap Chinese vape. Never had one but that's how I imagine they would taste hahaha
When you got your tank - did you wash it before use?
Washed it in warm water every time I taste my diy.
Used it for a while it never tasted like this :(
Okay, perhaps a dumb question, but are you washing your coil along with it? If you are, then that's probably about 90% of your problem. Washing coils degrades flavour.
I've used over 400 different concentrates and I honestly can't remember one of them having a chemical taste. Knowing your setup may help in this situation. Whichever tank I use it is stripped down and washed in hot water once a day, probably not necessary but I really like the flavour boost from fresh cotton. Wire lead screws, 510 screws and all rubbers are removed and thouroughly washed. You'll be surprised how much juice can collect in rubbers which then imparts it's flavour into your next tank of juice.
So I soked the tank in warm water and changed my coil to a new one when I tested tonight after steeping for 5 days. It taste like a vape I'll buy out of a cheap Chinese market too sweet, like a cough syrup that has medicine after taste.
I think you just may need a longer steep, if you ask me there is no such thing as shake and vape if you want your juice to be decent. I steep everything at an absolute minimum of two weeks but it's usually a month. I get a perfumey or chemical taste if I don't steep long enough with a lot of mixes. could also be bad nic but that usually gives off a peppery taste. are you using free base or salt nic?
No nicotine. Steeped for 5 days. I'll try longer. I'm ordering new flavours from bullcity and hopefully they taste better. If it's me I'll work harder to get them where I want them to be. If they are just bad flavours then, I'll never shop there again :) live and learn
Speed shaking wouldn't cover for steeping, but can you post exact recipes that you are mixing? A chemical taste is usually a symptom of too much chemicals. 5% strawberry by itself might be a user preference of chemical taste, but 5% in a recipe that has an overabundance of other flavors, we need to see the whole picture, not just a page in the book.
Ok so I started with the strawberry at 3% by itself and got to 6% by itself on 50/50 pg vg. No nicotine. I noticed that it had a wierd taste, something I would describe chemical definitely artificial, candy with a strong taste of medicine almost like flavour. Raising the percentage only brought it out more. Then I thought maybe you can just vape on strawberry and it's meant to be accompanied by other things. So I tried TPA banana cream, started at 1% all the way to 3%. Banana covers a bit of the taste but the chemical side stays. So I let them steep in hope it will go away.
I tried kiwi 3% Maringue 2% Marshmallow 2% Banana cram 1% Some sort of pavlova recepie 70/30 vg pg
Strawberry 3% Sweet watermelon 3% By itself then added dragon fruit at 1% 50/50
Strawberry 4% Waternelon 3% Banana cream 1% 50/50
I tried these 3 tonight after 5 days steeping. On shake and vape I tried heaps more combinations.
The smell is bad and my partner said she can also smell a wierd chemical. They were all unvapable. To the point I gave up washed my tank and got a new coil and put one of the comercial vapes. It's so bad I can still taste it after a few hours in my mouth.
A new coil and you can still taste, that sounds like a phantom flavor, to each their own though, 5% is well below the recommended tpa usage and each person receives each flavor in their own way. Strawberry Ripe or Sweet Strawberry (CAP) are go to flavors though. I hope you find the flavor you are looking for!
Could you please explain what you mean by phantom flavour? I thought it could be me and some sort of palcebo but tired my mixes on different days, some days I tried to brush my theeth or have a sip of orange juice to clean my mouth some days I didn't.
So for example, my snozberry flavour which has watermelon, comercial, came from zamplebox. Taste like nice candy like watermelon with berries, smooth, sweet. Like a nice juice I get from the shops maybe that is not 100% natural but I like it because it reminds me of something.
My mix, sweet watermelon at 4% with 2%banana cream. Taste like super sweet candy like artificial flavour with a very bitter and annoying taste at the back that will linger for a while. Reminds me of poorly made cough syrup that no one put any time in to make a proper flavour and they just want to hide the medicine taste but you still taste it. With just a hint of banana at the top, vapes pretty well especially with dx gives me a full mouth feeling.
5% is recommended but that doesn't mean I can't use it at 4%. And I did tried them from 1% to 6% in increments off 1%. To adjust my pallete and get familiar with notes :(
I bought a 3 pack of coils for $9 For my prince tank online and all 3 were shit and I thought it was my mixing supplies, ended up throwing away a $13 bottle of flavoring cause I thought it caught sunlight, then my coworker tried it and it was fine
I mix my TPA strawberry with strawberry ripe, much stronger - about 12 - 15% (sometimes I add Bavarian cream or waffles etc.) But I let it steep for a lot longer, I'm talking 2-3 weeks. The smells and taste can really change a lot (and colour). I also add some drops of other fruits like dragonfruit or/and blackberry to add an undertone of fruitiness.
Have you smelled them from the concentrate bottle?
I have they don't smell nice. Very artificial fake strong smell with a tinge on what I could only call chemical and bitter.
But I don't have anything to compare with.
The fuji I have doesn't have that chemical side of it.
You’re definitely more than thorough in your elimination process and I think you’ve done the smart thing....;) looks like you’re well on your way to falling deep into this rabbit hole w the rest of us 🤪 welcome! I suspect, maybe because they knew you might not know better, you might’ve got bottom of the barrel juice or ( and who knows for sure ) but quite probable it’s the source of your juice is the chemical problem...or maybe you’re sensitive to those flavors and the chemical properties in them? Perhaps they’re similar idk? Only time will tell and if you’re not a patient person you either will learn to be or this isn’t going to be the gig for you because it’s all about hurry up and wait for something or other all da time around here, haaa! You’ve got a good head on your shoulders and seem to have been educating yourself well so far and I can tell you’re going to make great juice in the near future! It can get discouraging but don’t give up just keep reading, learning, watching videos and I look forward to hearing more about your progress. Have fun and enjoy ...:)) Also, take all the great advice you’ve been given about pairing it up w straw ripe and definitely try other strawberries there are many great ones out there, probably more good than bad even in the major 6-8 distributors we use. The flavor reviews will guide you best on that...
Wow thank you so much for taking the time to read through my "problem". And thanks for the kind words. I was super disappointed last night when I was trying my mixes. I love to research and read and I almost always excel in what I do. If the flavour is bad then I can change it, if I'm bad then I will get better :)
I ordered 40+ flavours from bullcity and hopefully I will find my rhythm and make some decent mixes soon.
The journey is in front of me and I love taking up new hobbies. I feel much better since I quit smoking. After 15 years and my SO being diagnosed with cancer recently it was long overdue.
Thank you for making this community great. All the best to you and your endeavours :)
I'm suspecting the shop that you bought the flavors from is reusing bottles. They might wash them in a dishwasher or with some kind of detergent that leaves a residue in all of their bottles. Which in return, makes the flavoring they pour into taste chemical. A lot of detergents leave residue that are really hard to get rid of in bottles with small openings.
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