Disclaimer, I've tried literally hundreds of commercial juices and have maybe 5 that I really like. I figured instead of wasting money and never finding what I wanted I would get into DIY.
Now I've invested a nice chunk of change in equipment and flavors and mixed up 20+ top recipes from ELR and I only have 2 that I like (not love) so I'm starting to get discouraged.
Do you guys have any recipes that you just can't get enough of or you fall back on when you get discouraged with other recipes? I'm sitting here about to order more flavors and I'm just feeling lost. I'm ready to place one last Hail Mary of an order in the hopes of discovering what you guys have found.
Check out the discord man, we'll help you out with your mixes and your flavor orders. Don't be discouraged, the community lift you up :)
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With the disclaimer that it's my own mix Blue Eyes White Dragon has not left my rotation since I first mixed it over a year ago.
Past that, one of very few recipes I will actively mix by someone else is /u/eyemakepizza's summer drink
I'll get what I need to try those, thank you!
Since I somehow missed that you are largely MTL at this point, my Lychee candy is my go-to for MTL gear.
ID10-T's Simple Sugar Cookie:
8% CAP Sugar Cookie v1
4% CAP Vanilla Custard v1
(add 0.25 (TFA) Brown Sugar + 1-1.25 (TFA) Blueberry Wild for a decent blueberry fritter remix of mine I enjoy)
I can have this anytime of day and can be enough to fix a bad vape day. Recipe is simple yet so good and mixing wise it helps me take a step back and try not to over think a recipe and muddy it up.
I'm gonna mix this one up tomorrow! I'll do one with and one without the blueberry/brown sugar. Thank you for the suggestion. Any recommend steep time?
I've never heard of someone not liking Coop's Kiwi Bourbon and it's a pretty simple recipe with 3 flavors. It's among my favorites.
I tried it a long time ago and only thought it was ok. Not helpful I know. But true.
Tastes differ for sure. A couple of points though: 1) it changes drastically with a few days to a week of steeping, at first (shake & vape) the juice tastes bland with a bit of kiwi and not much else 2) as with all recipes, flavor vendor matters. I cheaped out and got a much less expensive kiwi from a different vendor and it's nowhere near as good. My next flavor order will correct this.
>Do you guys have any recipes that you just can't get enough of or you fall back on
Encouraging Berry Mix
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|Co|Flavour|%| |:-|:-|:-| |FW|Blackberry|4| |TFA|Blackberry|1| |FA|Forest Fruit|2| |CAP|Blueberry|2| |INW|Raspberry|0.5| |TFA|Marshmallow|0.5| |FA|Lime Cold Pressed|0.75| |LA|Lemonade|0.75| |WS|23|1|
If mixing this for your Kayfun Lite, you could bump everything up by 10-25% if it's not intense/juicy enough.
So do I need to increase flavor ratios if I'm vaping at lower wattages?
Some people don't bump the ratios - some people do. I personally think there is benefit in doing so. You just need to be mindful that some flavours contain an ingredient called Ethyl Maltol (EM) which can mute a mix. So there's a point where the more TFA Strawberry you add for example, the more muted your mix becomes.
Maybe just try it first, and bump if you think it needs it.
It's interesting you mention that because looking back at the recipes I have done the ones in the 7%-12% were just blah but the ones with 15%-25% I got much better flavor even if it wasn't my favorite flavor.
I'm gonna bump up the percentages on a couple of them that I thought I should've liked and see what happens.
To keep myself from being discouraged, I tend to mix and buy stuff with this mindset:
Have some one-shot or good single flavors. FLV Pink Guava 2% with 0.5% CAP SS and Koolada. You just can't go wrong, they're so easy to mix.
Have established ADVs, commercial or DIY. Just have something you always turn to to enjoy.
I often run a few recipes, simple ones at first.
With my own recipes, I try to develop from single flavors or stones. So I'll taste a flavor, think about it, and then add to it until I get something I like.
On a side note, your tanks might be the issue as they're both rather small tanks. Do your juices taste BAD or LIGHT? For example, I really like Water-Malone, but even in a Hadaly it's too light; I make a 1.5X recipe with additional CAP SS to it, and it's still light. But other recipes like the Simple Sugar Cookie one that was given to you is too strong for me, so I reduce it. I'm typically running larger single coil mods, claptons and wahtnot, so I get a lot of vapor and flavor. With a Kayfun and Femto, I'd expect the flavor to be rather light as they produce less vapor.
This isn't meant as a commentary on Kero specifically, just an example of "different stokes and folks". I fucking hate FLV Pink Guava. I fucking love CAP Sweet Guava though. The flavors couldn't be more different, despite the same fruit in the name. I see a lot of love for Pink Guava here but it's just not for me. CAP Sweet Guava is one of my new faves and I'm pissed it took me until a couple months ago to find it. I'm 4+ years and 400+ flavors in, for reference.
Yep, the rochatch test strikes again!
tbh, anything that resembles grapefruit is coin toss for folks, I find. That citrustry tartness, regardless of guava or not, is just wrong for some people. I find this to be true for commercial juices or DIY. Might be in the same vein as strawberry and vanilla and such not working with tastebuds (like me, who can't taste strawberry and vanilla is pepper, regardless of amount).
Could the fact that I'm using nic salt instead of freebase be playing a factor?
No, but if you're running high nic, thus low vapor then no matter what you're not going to get a ton of flavor. I tend to double up recipes for my MTL tank, but they still pale in comparison. To add: many DIY recipes are already low in flavor and sweetness compared to commercial.
my old fall back is tpa SB ripe, and inw biscuit... I'm one that loves inw biscuit...
That actually sounds pretty good. What percentages do you recommend?
count me on INW Biscuit lovers! You said you're ok with tobacco, it goes great with them. I hate to brag but I'm kinda proud of my:
Co. | Flavor | % ---|---|---- INW | Biscuit | 1.5 DFS | Holy Vanilla | 1 FLV | Kentucky Blend | 1.75 FLV | Native Tobacco | 1.5 FLV | Red Burley | 1
(drop the Red Burley and Holy Vanilla and it will still be good!) My pal says he doesn`t get tired, and he is a real chugger!
What kind of profiles do you like best? Fruit? Bakeries? Tobacco?
Typically bakery and tart juices like key lime pie or juices that are in the vanilla/caramel/tobacco category.
I have a Lemonade that I released recently that is really good. You should try that.
Also, dazcole's Lemon Tart REMIX is pretty phenomenal.
The best RY4 mix you could possibly find is also Cardinal by Fear.
Hopefully that will give you a good start.
I think it would be useful if people started labeling the recipes for the wattages they're meant to be used at. I almost only vape mtl at less than 15 W, and most recipes are crap, but they're "not bad" in a DTL tank, for very low wattages it's even worse due to so little vapor
I had the same struggle when starting mixing a few months ago. Couldnt understand how some of these recipes got so much praise. The thing is : 99% of the recipes you find in those top lists are 3 or more years old. So they were developed for a totally different gear that We are using right Now. What helped me was joining a fb mixing group and try out "modern" mixes recommended there until i got a feeling of what i really like, and how a proper recipe looks like these days. Those 2016 recipes with 10% vanilla custard and 9% strawberry ripe are completely unvapable these days. Keep searching, keep trying out and you will fall in love with DIY
New mixer here. I didn't care much for the first few recipes I tried. I have a couple more currently steeping that I'm still holding out hope for, but I think I might just be a single flavour / simple flavour kinda guy.
The two most enjoyable things of my own doing I've vaped so far have been a single flavour tester of Black Cherry, and a simple mix of Raspberry and Pineapple.
I'm mostly MTL as well and I am in a similar predicament.
For fruity mixes I've found adding a bit inw cactus maybe .25-2% can really make the flavors pop for me. At 1-2% it usually needs some steep for the cactus to settle or it's overpowering.
I always mix the recipes as stated first then I like to add other things if it is bleh, a little cap supersweet, tfa dragonfruit, ws23 and menthol. All in small amounts. I don't know if this is the right way to do it but it's really helped me enjoy some juices I otherwise found plain.
I don't know if this is the right way, but after mixing and tweaking 20+ recipes for MTL this gives me something pleasing to my palate with most fruity mixes. I'm going to try some of the recommendations in this thread hoping I find a home run. It's frustrating, I don't have the time or patience right now to mix and remix every recipe, and I get tired of flavors fast.
Right now I'm trying backwoods lemonade. The recipe as listed had just a hint of berries and some uninspiring lemon notes. I tripled the forest fruit and tweaked as I stated above and it's pretty ok.
My own diy I can always fall back on...
Peppermint patty: Peppermint 12% Chocolate 5% Coconut 2% Koolada 1% Menthol 5 drops of concentrate
Depending on my mood either vanilla swirl, sweet cream or custard 4%. Usually vanilla swirl.
I have my own Sucker Punch too
Dragonfruit 10% Bavarian cream 2% Vanilla Swirl 4%
I made a caramel for a co worker that’s been using it for 6 months now
Caramel 12% Vanilla Swirl 5% Add a few drops of menthol to taste if desired
Examples of the recipes you have tried?
These are the 2 I have liked so far:
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Bust-a-Nut
Bavarian Cream (FW) - 3%
Butter Pecan (FW) - 4%
Hazelnut (FW) - 7%
Sweet Cream (FW) - 5%
Sweetener (Sucralose) (FW) - 1%
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Flawless: Aftermath clone by DUNKNDRIP
Berry (Crunch) Cereal (TPA) - 1%
Blueberry Extra (TPA) - 6%
Glazed Doughnut (CAP) - 3.5%
Sweetener (Sucralose/Maltol) (TPA) - 2%
Vanilla Bean Ice Cream (FW) - 3%
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These are some of the others I've tried, plus a few other random ones based on available flavorings:
Mama Melons (Inspired by Monster/Mega Melon)
Butter Pecan Custard (BPC wonderfullness) (Still steeping but might be a winner)
For simple, 3-4% INW Grape and some cooling. Perfect purple popsicle. Add 5% LA Lemonade and .5% INW Lemon Mix and its a delicious purple lemonade. On the more complex end, GIGI is downright addictive. Just remember to alternate between cooled and uncooled juices so you don't build too much of a tolerance.