Hi guys,
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hoping someone can help me out. So i got into DIY Vaping, its good, very cheap but the flavours for me have not been great. Thinking that maybe i was just buying awful flavours i stuck to what i know, my ADV has been KONCEPTXIX Pinkman for a while now, really amazing flavour. So i bought it as a concentrate mix. I mixed it precisely as instructed (between 10-20%) i tried a bottle at 15% and a bottle at 19% (Didnt go for 20% since im still working on accuracy when mixing and didnt want to overflavour.
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I left both to steep, gave them hot water baths, dry place, open bottle, no sunlight. All of that stuff.
The flavour just seems muted and bland, its there but no way near as sweet as the real deal. Im imagining that the companies maybe put sweetener in their premade juices? although i dont know why they wouldnt put sweetener in the concentrates as well.
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If anybody has any ideas as to why my juices all taste blande please let me know,
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Thanks
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EDIT: I mixed at 70/30 tota at 6mg, didnt have any need to add actual PG due to the concentrate and nicotine (70/30) having enough between them;
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Bottle Size:
100 ML VG/PG Ratio:
70/30 Target Nicotine:
6 MG - (70/30 18MG Base)
- VG - 46.667
- Nicotine - 33.333
- Pinkman - 20% - 20
I don't know where people keep learning these methods, but the problem is how you're "steeping" your juice.
Don't leave the cap off, don't put it in hot water. Just mix it, throw it in a bottle, then put that bottle in a drawer for a week or so. There is no replacement for time when it comes to steeping. Popping off the cap and getting the juice hot is just going to make all those flavoring molecules jump out of the bottle.
Sorry if I seem ranty, but I feel like we have to debunk these methods twice a week.
I leave it for a week usually, in fact the 15% bottle has been in my draw for 2 weeks at this point and still tastes bland. I simply did those methods for the first few days as i heard they could accelerate things and i could vape it straight away.
To be honest, i didnt think they made a difference and now ive had my theory proven, thanks
I also appreciate your username, steeping takes time haha
They don't accelerate anything. They ruin juice.
What about flavourings that contain ethyl alcohol/ethanol? For example, TPA's Juicy Peach. Whenever mixing this, if I don't give it a heat bath first then it's extremely harsh and this harshness will only go away if I steep with the lid off. To speed up this process, I will put the TPA Juicy peach into my bottle first when mixing a recipe that uses it and then place that bottle into warm water with the lid off for 5-10 minutes which seems to evaporate the ethanol. After this I'll mix the other flavourings + PG/VG in and then shake it up. This is the only way I can vape TPA Juicy Peach.
There seems to be some merit to the idea of either heat steeping or leaving the lid off but if you don't fully understand the purpose of either of these things then they're unlikely to make your juice any better but if you know why you're doing it it can make your juice better, imo.
>Im imagining that the companies maybe put sweetener in their premade juices?
They do indeed. A ridiculous amount actually. Your bland juice is a combination of the steeping methods used (which have already been discussed here) and a lack of sweetener. You would be used to commercial ejuice so to 'improve' your DIY juice you need to add precisely 1.723 metric shit-tonnes of sweetener. They use anywhere between 1.5%-6% at a guess. Maybe start off on the lower side - see if your recipe improves with say 0.5-0.75% sweetener. If not then you can bump to 1% etc.
If it's a one shot by the same company then they can/should put the same amount of sweetener in as there is in the juice, surely?
In theory. However, they probably aren't making as much off the one shot as the finished juice, so they probably want to make it close, but not as 'good' as the commercial juice, to discourage people from going further into DIY or even just switching to one shots.
What, doesn't everyone love a good conspiracy explanation?
The conspiracy theorist in me wonders if manufacturers purposefully don't make their concentrate versions as good as the premixed to turn people away from DIY. Make them think they're doing something wrong, that DIYing ejuice must be out of their league, so they keep buying the premixed and keep their revenue stream.
I'll leeave the cap off if the smell is very stingy after a week (for example game over custard). Just to get the smell away. In general, leaving the cap off will mute your flavours. Keep the cap on and put them in a dark place like a closet for 2 weeks. Don't put them in a hot bath. It should be better :)
Hey thanks for the advice man,
What do you mean by “stingy smell”
Do you mean the chemically sort of bleach smell
Yes. I think we all agree it's not nice :)
Was the concentrate purchased from the same place you purchased the original juice from?
Was it manufactured by the same company?
Are you using USP grade VG/PG?
Are you using any scales or mixing with syringes?
What kind of bottle did you mix the juice in?
Did you shake the bottle for long?
Are you sure you bought flavour concentrate and not a shortfill bottle instead?
Hmmm my VG is “EP Grade” is that what’s causing the bad flavour?
Edit: Turns out EP Grade is 99.5% purity and USP Grade is 99.8%?
Will that .3% make a difference? Even the Lucemill stuff is EP Grade (99.5%)
Can you link the website you purchased the concentrate from? Google only shows the original juice or shortfill but no concentrates. If you're trying to use a shortfill as a concentrate then that is more than likely your problem lol.
Eliquidflavourconcentrates.co.uk
You bought the 30ml flavour concentrate right? That's so strange. It should taste fine. Maybe you just got a bad a batch? I would suggest trying again but use http://e-liquid-recipes.com/ as a calculator to figure out the exact amount of everything you need to add and mix by weight (using scales). Try doing 20% and let it steep for 3 days and see if that tastes anything like the original. Also try to copy the vg/pg ratio of the original.
Everything above, but since I just made a different comment about this, did you shake up your concentrates?
I shake up all the ingredients before I add them, and then thoroughly shake the finished product very vigorously for as long as my arm can manage