Hey y'all, how's it going? I've recently made a second attempt at making ejuice and the results were the same as my first batch: muted flavours. For context, I'm vaping on a Smoke Pen 22 with it's compatible mesh coil which I know isn't the best but it vapes store bought ejuice very well and full of flavour.
I probably should've tried replicating some well established recipes first, but alas I went for my own mixes and here I am. I don't have the recipes for my old batch, but this last one I made 30mL for each of these:
"Milky Strawberry"
Dragon Fruit (Pitaya) (INAWERA) 2.00%
Malted Milk (TPA) 3.00%
Strawberries and Cream (TPA) 6.00%
Vanilla Swirl (TPA) 2.00%
"Sweet Tropicalia"
Kiwi (FA) 4.00
Raspberry (FA) 5.50
Strawberry Ripe (TPA) 3.00
Vanilla Swirl (TPA) 2.50
BOTH MADE @ 60 VG/40 PG
Milky Strawberry gives me some sweetness and a hint of Strawberry, while dragon fruit overpowers the smell. Can't taste the vanilla nor much of the milk. Sweet Tropicalia has a muted raspberry flavour with no Kiwi or Strawberry. Can't taste the vanilla either.
Am I using too little flavour? Too much? Or is it the PG/VG ratio?
My BIL went for simpler, two ingredients recipes and while they're a little more flavourful, they're still nowhere near the tastiness of a store bought ejuice.
We've let them steep for 4~6 days before vaping them, and even now, 2 weeks later, the taste is pretty much the same.
What gives?
In regards to the first recipe, Malted Milk mutes flavor, so you can't use it that high. Not sure it's the correct choice for your recipe, anyways. INW Pitaya is an actual Dragonfruit flavor. Not like TFA Dragonfruit, which is used as an additive in fruity mixes. You'll learn very quickly that you can't always sub brands in.
Do you read flavor reviews and look up notes for these flavors before you buy them?
For the second recipe, you have FA Raspberry too high. Where are you getting the percentages for your mixes? Strawberry Ripe is also not a good standalone Strawberry flavor.
> Do you read flavor reviews and look up notes for these flavors before you buy them?
not really cause I didn't find a good place for it, where can I do it?
> For the second recipe, you have FA Raspberry too high. Where are you getting the percentages for your mixes?
guess work lol learning through trial and error I guess
I would listen to his recommendation your just going to save money and not make good e liquid take some time out and read through everything on here i would go on allthe flavors or eliquid-recipes and plug in what flavors you have itll tell u the recipes ppl have come up with using you flavors and how much u have to use all that
Try this:
Strawberry (Ripe) @ 1%
Raspberry @ 0.5%
Vanilla Swirl @ 4%
It is simple, and it won’t be the best recipe ever, but it should be a whole lot better than what you’ve already tried.
will it taste more like strawberry or vanilla? 'cause I'm not the biggest fan of vanilla, it's only meant to be an additive
btw, is this enough flavour? 5.5% won't be too low to vape on a 'starter kit' mod or it doesn't make a difference?
TPA Vanilla Swirl is, from what I remember, an ice creamy kind of vanilla flavor, and it's NOT strong. I use TPA French Vanilla at 3% with FA Vanilla Tahiti at 4% as a base for a couple of my mixes, and really only the FA flavor comes out when tasting.
Fruit flavors seem to punch pretty hard (depending on the company), I have the Raspberry, and can't use it (I apparently don't like berry flavors in ejuice).
I've made mango/apple recipes using FA/TPA flavors and really don't have to use much to make them pop.
Milky Strawberry
From what I've read, TFA Malted Milk can easily overpower a mix and work's better at low % as an additive (0.25-1.5%) alongside other creams; FA Cream Fresh and FA Vienna Cream, to name a couple. Check out u/wh1skeyk1ng's review of this concentrate on Flavor Reviews and Milk in Flavor of the Week. Not sure if TFA Malted Milk is the way to go personally. Look's to me like a combination of creams can do a much better job at getting closer to a milk flavour. But this is based solely on research.
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Sweet Tropicalia
You'll want to lower the FA Raspberry as it's very much on the high side. u/ConcreteRiver recommended 0.75-1% as a supporting note and 1.5-2% as a primary note in his review on this concentrate. Also, check out Raspberry and Raspberry II in Flavor of the Week.
TFA Strawberry Ripe doesn't work very well as a standalone flavour. I'd consider pairing it with another Strawberry at a lower % (1-2%) as an additive. Check out u/Chrisdvr1's review of this concentrate on Flavor Reviews, as well as Strawberry and Strawberry II in Flavor of the Week.
Thinking a little ahead, you may also want to consider lowering the FA Kiwi too. I wouldn't push it past 3% even as a standalone, as it's a strong flavour. In his review, u/CheebaSteeba recommended 0.25-2% in a mix. I'd say 1-2% would be ideal. Also, check out Kiwi and Kiwi II in Flavor of the Week.
Thanks a lot! So overall less % of flavouring relative to what I'm using? I'm around 15-12% of the total volume, should be ~7-9%?
Also new to the flavour review thing, altough I did try to find something like this before, I ended up going in blind.
It's not really that simple, some brands, or particular flavours within brands, are stronger than others. Some willl be overpowering at 1% and others not enough at 8%.
Not only does this depend on the brand of flavouring you’re using, but it also depends on the flavourings within that brand. Some are stronger than others. Check out this thread; here you'll find Flavor Reviews, Flavour of the Week and MUCH more. If you're looking the Single Flavour Test (SFT) your concentrates, u/ConcreteRiver has a two part Single Flavor Testing guide, also found within the attached thread under FAQ Friday. Hope this helps.
Have you read the flavor review for TPA Malted Milk? Check out the uses part. I searched reddit for your TFA Strawberries and cream, seems like people really don't like it. Check out the flavor reviews for these flavors. Nothing on sweet tropicalia. Based on what I'm seeing you're going too high on your rasp and malted milk. You should try single flavor testing your stuff if you don't see a review on it.
You're using a MTL device, right? I'm not familiar with it at all, but if it is mouth to lung, then complex flavors won't work well in them. Try using something more simple, like 3 flavorings max...
Nope! It's a sub-ohm device ;)
Smok Pen 22
Oh gotya. Well something someone else suggested to me is to mix all of your flavors in the bottle first, then nic, then PG, and mix it up each time, then add Vg last and all of my mixes have been coming out great since doing this! Also, maybe try steeping it for longer?
I juat said this to someone else a few weeks ago but .5-1% of super sweet by capella will make a world of difference.
I think 1% will give it wayyy too much of that artificial sweetener nasty aftertaste. But that's just my take on it, I can't stand that sucralose aftertaste it's just horrid.
Yea depending on what they are smoking out of sometime 1 % is needed to give it that boost and not make it taste muted. I make my buddy juice for his juul and every time ive used .5 he says its not sweet enough. I cant add more than .5 to mine because I run a .16 ohm stapled Clapton coil.