Considering the upcoming holiday and the fact that this post won't be stickied on the front page, I figured it was a good time to change things up a bit. I've noticed a fair bit of negativity happening in all but a select few posts lately and while I agree, to some degree, with the sentiment behind it, I would prefer that certain people move past without always having to comment--it's not a good look for these people and in turn not a good look for the subreddit as a whole.
For this week's discussion thread I'd like us all to focus on the things we're thankful for.
In all the years that I've been here there have been an incredible amount of amazing recipes, posts and discussions around DIY that have kept this hobby interesting and fun but one of the most under appreciated aspects of this hobby and this subreddit, that has been around from the start is New Mixers.
New Mixers are the reason that so many of us stick around to share our experience and offer advice, direction, encouragement, and answers. While it may be true that practically every question that could be asked already has an answer if you look around long enough, those answers would typically not be in the search results if someone hadn't stepped up to ask. So if you have the answer and want to take the time to share, awesome. If you have the answer but don't want to take the time to share it, feel free to move right past it . I also really appreciate the people who take the time to share their experiences and recipes and try as much as possible to highlight those people because often it is a thankless and repetitive task--believe me, I know.
TL;DR: Here are the highlights from last week and bunch of weeks before. All of these posts are still active so feel free to jump in and thank the poster or upvote if you feel they're worthy.
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/u/FlCaspr shared a cautionary tale and offered up some safety advice.
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/u/mrgruszka has now contributed a dozen flavor reviews as of their latest review of INW Lime Monster
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/u/ChemicalBurnVictim wants to talk about NET's and as usual, when it comes to tobaccos, has no shortage of interesting things to say about the subject.
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/u/ID10-T declared a somewhat premature end to sidebar revamping project Throwback Thursday (I'll have one more post this Thursday)
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and /u/A-LoneTree like so many before him, discovered the wonders of Grack Juice exclaiming it to be "the prototype for DIY" /u/philosaphucker, the creator himself, jumped in the comments to respond.
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/u/OmegaTigBitties shared a very classy and thoughtful email from NicRiver about the impact of the wildfire in California.
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/u/eyemakepizza made a Flavor Inventory spreadsheet to keep track of your stash.
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/u/AlfredPudding made a Recipe Template to make posting recipes to the front page easier and more beneficial to everyone.
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/u/Johnbelwell hit us with some mild title gore about sore throats and zero nic hit with an explanation that everything but their own DIY was working just fine. /u/juthinc was kind enough to pinpoint the most likely cause.
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/u/jerichos_cowbell shared their gratitude to the sub and got reported several times for doing so. Apparently we’re so humble around here that not only are thanks not necessary, they’re actively discouraged ;)
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/u/bigtidder shared their first recipe post with the sub PB Custard Cups and with development notes like those, I look forward to seeing more from them in the future!
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And finally /u/PepperMyJabrill enlightened us with 3 reviews of EuroFlavor: Fresh Blueberry, Graham Cracker, and Blue Raspberry which happen to be the first and only EuroFlavor reviews in the Flavor Review Wiki
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The brilliant contraption known as the “LoganPhyve bottle turner for kids who want to learn how to mix good and do other stuff good, too” was revealed to the world. Is it a better world? I don’t know. But it’s different.
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/u/CherryDarlingxx had a message to new mixers from a new mixer--It’s good advice that will help you IMMENSELY.
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/u/KreativniNeredA1355 made a request for recipes with a few ingredients that were fruity and stuff.
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/u/oblivion2k inquired about the elusive sour flavor that, according to experience and /u/nipar, is basically unobtainable.
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And finally /u/AlfredPudding, future recipe of the year winner (if I had to bet) dropped another excellent looking recipe called Cap’n Burgundy’s First Mate
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/u/qu38mm gave the subreddit a quick thank you because clearly we’re just that awesome.
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/u/apexified (oh, that’s me) updated the flavor review wiki with a bunch of new flavor reviews.
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Speaking of flavor reviews /u/Ernie_is_dead reviewed the whole FlavourArt Pazzo line
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/u/juthinc confirmed that there are a few flavors he actually likes with his latest, cleverly named recipe GIGI a recursive acronym for GIGI Is Grack Improved. What a bold claim!
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/u/jaydedrag0n asked about Trinities which, if you don’t know, are combinations of 3 flavors to make one specific well rounded version of a flavor.
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And finally there was Throwback Thursday with it’s request for recipes that are made entirely of Flavor West… unsurprisingly the thread is rather bare. If you have some all FW recipes, go there and share.
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At the top we have a collaboration that's not quite a collaboration, Back Nine: presented by /u/ID10-T but bearing name of Jr. Prolific mixer /u/AlfredPudding. It's the classic Arnold Palmer but catered to the lushes in the crowd as it's spiked with the soon to be standard "Bourbon Trifecta"
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/u/isuamadog put together a sidebar worthy writeup on your "DIY First Order (on a Budget)" with a plethora of useful advice and tips on getting started.
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/u/AlfredPudding is back at it again, this time with BLITZ a "hop infused rhubarb and dragon fruit energy drink" which has at least one flavor you don't have--I guarantee it!
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/u/padishar123 polled the community about coil gunking flavors of which there are so many (some are even worth it)
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/u/VoopiesEliquid shared Heckin Strobbies which contains four strawberry flavors and some kind of magic that makes them less volatile.
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And, last with a last minute recipe post as usual we have /u/xGRANITEx's County Fairs and Bourbon Glazed Pecans which looks absolutely decadent and on point for what was unofficially FOTW: Bourbon.
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Flavor of the Week took the top spot. It’s been 106 weeks since /u/ID10-T started posting FOTW and here we are 106 posts later, still getting fresh puns and conversation.
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/u/AlfredPudding got us hyped about a Cola recipe without.... any cola flavors? Preposterous and intriguing!
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/u/flavorah invited us all to hang out with them in Vegas where they’ll be pimping out the best mixers and making them striptease or jump through fiery hoops for our entertainment.
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/u/YellowGreenKappa invited everyone to share the worst flavors they’ve encountered, which was reminiscent of ID10-T’s post, not so long ago
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And before I forget again shoutout to /u/OdieDoodah for putting together a really helpful table of flavors, recipes, and reviews for all the recent Flavor of the Week posts. Such a selfless and useful task. Thank you and keep up the good work, it's appreciated.
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/u/AlfredPudding released Alfred’s Pudding
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/u/FullerAwesome thinks we’re awesome
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while /u/juthinc thinks we’re dummies
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FOTW became sentient and asked us about creams
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/u/padishar123 went crazy with their latest order
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/u/CircoModo1602 updated us on their mad science experiment
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/u/Dampferich posted about RY4 (again)
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The questions thread is getting more upvotes for some reason…
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And, last but certainly not least, /u/therapy420 asked about pairing your vape flavors with stuff.
And many, many more but that seems like enough for now!
I am most definitely thankful for people's flavor reviews! I've been around on and off for a couple of years now, and those reviews have easily been my most utilized resource. They've saved me a lot of money and also encouraged me to try flavors I normally would have avoided. I've been trying to give back by posting some of my own, and hopefully I'll have a lot more to post in the near future!
I especially love the new mixers who know absolutely nothing, and I wish they'd post more! This sub is sometimes guilty of group-think, and popular opinions have a tendency to get treated like gospel. I like seeing those opinions challenged, and it's usually the newcomers who do so. I feel like I was most creative when I first started mixing (not good, just creative) because I just sorta jumped in without being influenced by others. I don't want new mixers to be afraid of sharing recipes or other notes just because they think it goes against the grain of this community.
I'm a BRAND NEW mixer (aka waiting on my first order to arrive this week) and I am thankful for all the excellent resources here! I almost jumped in and bought crappy nicotine, a million unrelated flavors, and volume mixing supplies...Throwback Thursday, the wiki, and the first order posts all prevented a big mistake. Can't wait to get started!
Hey man, classy post as always. Let me tell you all again that I absolutely love not smoking. Now, my kid complains about my vape stuff and I love her for it. It’s a reminder that this isn’t a game. She never has to know me as a smoker. She just complains because I smell like... ‘berries’? I can live with that.
Seeing all those posts lumped together, we’re gonna start expecting you to do a monthly recap now. Hopefully this week, I’ll get some time to organize and move forward on writing up some stuff myself.
For me to even be able to answer or have a knowledgeable opinion occasionally is an amazing thing. Wish I had more time to dedicate to the process. Until then, I’ll just keep carrying on.
Side note: I just realized that crazy mixing lab was you. Now that I know you a little bit, goddamn bro. That’s wicked.
I actually plan to do a highlight recap for the year similar to last years post 'A year in reviews' maybe even dedicate a page in the wiki to the weekly highlights so there's one spot to find them all instead of going through all the discussion threads.
Sidenote: your libidinous leering at my lab is making me self conscious ;)
You’ve got nice labs. I’m ok with saying it. I’m secure in my mixing capacity. :)
Calling this a hobby isn’t quite accurate. It’s some weird passion. Like some weird life raft for those who want to jump off the titanic cigarette. The posting, the sharing, the encouragement and the nonjudgement, it’s lovely. And all the work that goes into one single meaningful post is tremendous. That’s why I want to see more people involved at any level of expertise.
In AA the newcomer is the most important person in the room. They’re a grounding reminder of what it was like out there. Keeps you humble and gives purpose to the knowledge we amass after time being off the sauce. Same applies here. My greatest confidence is in helping new mixers get their first orders right to keep doing this. I can’t mix worth a bean but I don’t smoke.
A yearly highlight would be incredible. Your work here to have created, curated and maintain this environment is deeply appreciated by me and countless others. I speak for me, thank you dude.
Just about every morning after I get ready for work, and before I go wake my son up to get him dressed, I go down in the basement to sample something that I mixed the night before, or a week ago, or whenever. Sometimes there will be days where I’ve tried out 3 or 4 recipe ideas, so not all of them get tested in a timely manner. This morning, one of those caught my eye. It was a bottle that said “Warm Autumn- 9/28.” Didn’t know what hell was in it, so I gave it a back of the hand lick. Not too shabby. Gave it a drip. Pretty damn tasty! Got on ATF to search it and found this recipe:
- INW Dark for Pipe- .75%
- INW Gold Ducat- 1%
- FW Hazelnut- 1.25%
- FLV Pumpkin Spice- .5%
- HS Smooth Tobacco- 3.5%
Ohhhh yeah, I forgot about that! It was a bit funky when I tested it off the shake, so I sat it down and just forgot about it for a month and a half. It’ll still need a 30 ml test to see if it’s a good ADV before I’ll post it in the monthly and make it public on ATF, and by that time it’ll be way out of season, but I’m still pretty excited to mix it up.
So I reckon I’m thankful for a couple things: forgotten failures that turn in to decent recipes after a really long steep, and easily searchable recipe databases. Sure beats my original method of either scribbling things down on a notepad or saving a recipe in a note on my phone.
I'm thankful to everyone who convinced me to DIY. I'm also thankful for flavor vendors being competitive. I read old sections of DIY forums a lot. I found an old Flavourart thread and where to get them. The prices used to be over double what we pay today. So thanks flavor stores for making our craft affordable to practice.
Came here expecting some turkey ejuice recipes.
:(
Hmm, this would be a good time to break out the cranberry-related recipes. This is the one I keep meaning to make:
https://alltheflavors.com/recipes/86917#1_2_3_cranberry_sprite_by_id10_t
Man, I just put a kinda big flavorah order in though, and I didn't even think to grab their cranberry. I have at least 1 other though. I may just go order it right now though.
Things with hops also feel Thanksgiving-y/Autumn-y to me. Or, I just want to put hops in everything right now.
Yakima Hops is going on my Black Friday list. That I'll be ordering from a UK vendor.
Kidding people. Sorry about that again. But I will be getting YH
I actually just snagged a backup of YH! I only very rarely buy a double of anything (I'm more of a buy-the-smallest-size-and-use-it-up-before-you-replace-or-buy-bigger person)--only the stuff that I'm like, Whoa: if I couldn't get this again, that would really suck.
So far that list for me is only Mix Mint (yah really), INW Euc Mint, INW Sesame Sweets, TFA Honeysuckle, and now this. Love it. It's so freaking versatile too.
Nothing like airing out the closet with the family around the thanksgiving dinner table.
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What's the elephent in the room, the negativity?
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Just curious, I have subtle opinions on what it may be, but no better wayt to get it fixed than having it addressed.
Feel free to address it. I'm not here to censor any kind of meta DIY conversations. I'd prefer to highlight the good things going on and hope that encourages those types of discussions, rather than calling anyone out in particular but that's just my style, I don't expect everyone to follow suit.
I think the people in question know who they are and if they can't dial back the negativity with a subtle hint, I'll be addressing it with them privately...
This is a delightful summary and had me clicking through to a couple of interesting posts I missed. So thanks for the time investment on this post!
Oh, and thanks DIY for draining my wallet continuously buying "that one flavor I don't own to mix this interesting looking recipe" :)
Ok, I'm a bit late to the party, but that's nothing new! I'm grateful for this sub and everything it has to offer! I'm thankful for /u/Apexified not only for the wealth of information he shares with us all, but for how he handles everything in the most positive way, always encouraging others and pointing out the good stuff rather than focusing on the negative. I'm grateful for all the talented mixers who share what took them many, many hours to learn just to save us from making mistakes they made. This is such an awesome place to learn!! Thanks to all of you!