Heyo all, got my supplies in the mail yesterday, went through Liquid Barn and I'm not disappointed with my order... but.
I mixed everything according to the Steam Engine DIY calculator, but the juices that I've made have tasted uhh... Less than satisfactory. I'm not discouraged, its my first time making juice so chances are I'm fucking up somewhere.
They all taste bitter, like its leaving a bitter taste on my tongue. Running a standard dual coil 22g 8 wraps on each around the number 30 Coil Master.
I had heard that Liquid Barns percentages on how much flavor to add was usually way to high, so I lowered them slightly
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Flavors I've made so far.
70VG 30PG, 0.3% nicotine, Liquid Barn Blue Rasberry at 7% flavor
70VG 30PG, 0.3% nicotine, Liquid Barn Pina Colada at 14% flavor
70VG 30PG, 0.3% nicotine, Liquid Barn Vanilla Bean Ice Cream at 9%
All of them in a 60ml bottle, shaken very aggressively.
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I've noticed that each one of them tastes bitter, its definitely not a pleasant flavor thats for sure. I plan on letting the Vanilla Bean one steep for a little while, but on a previous thread that I had read on this subreddit, I'd read that usually when a flavor tastes like shit right off the bat, chances are steeping wont help much.
A bit upset, but still optimistic haha. Any pointers?
I plan on trying out a few other flavor brands when I get the extra cash.
I don't go over 6% on any single flavor and my highest total percentage for a complex recipe is 17% with multiple flavors. Try making a batch without nic and see if it solves the problem. If it does you have bad nic. Bad nic is harsh and peppery but overdoing flavoring can also be harsh. You can also try adding .5% super sweet to your mixes. I don't have much experience with liquid barn flavors. They have the best chocolate I've tried though.
Welcome! Looks like you're trying out single flavor mixes. Not familiar with the noted calculator, but I've always just kept a rule of thumb shared by a lot.... INW, FLV, SC I tend to keep around 2-3%. CAP, TFA/TPA, PUR, MOL I'll go 5 and above. I usually mimic this pattern even with 10ml test batches, when trying new flavors.
Not to say 'jump on in the deep end', but you might want to test some simple multi flavor recipes that are popular and/or an already discovered clone you'd like. You can search All the Flavors, E- Liquid Recipes, and other sites, and filter by 'top' or 'starred' recipes. Pick something you think you'll like, and confident in mixing. I think you'll quickly find flavor jumping out a bit more. Keep in mind steep times as well. Can do wonders!
Good luck!
Edit: your/you're
Get Cap Super Sweet. Out of the flavors you listed I'd say only LB blue raspberry is suitable as a single flavor mix. Lb Pina colada is meh and lb vbic needs some other flavors to back it up.
Flavors on their own--even Liquid Barn, which may be more geared for beginners than some other brands--are almost never enough by themselves. You can buy oneshots as rec'd in the previous responses, but for now, check out https://e-liquid-recipes.com/flavors
(I don't think you need an account, but if you do, it's a simple sign-up.)
Type in the flavor you want to work with, say LB Blue Raspberry. Hit enter and you'll get to a page that has links for flavor notes and recipes for that flavor. Click on the recipes link and peruse to see if you have any of the flavors to make listed recipes. One simple example is:
https://e-liquid-recipes.com/recipe/3217006/Ra%27zz%20al%20Cool
I can't vouch for it, but it looks ok to me--EXCEPT the %'s are too high. I would cut them in half.
You can also drop the menthol if you don't want/don't have it. Adding 1% Cream to any recipe almost never hurts and can help to round out harsh edges and bitterness.
Looking at the recipes list should give you some ideas, but you can usually count on a little bit of some type of cream + a little sweetener to take the edge off.
I'm sure you've heard it before, but at least an overnight steep will help, too.
Oh, and the LB Vanilla Ice Cream - that is likely to need at least 3 days, so don't judge it quite yet. A sweet fruit added to it in moderation will help if you are getting bitterness.
If you happen to have LB Strawberry Cheesecake, that is one of the closest to single-flavor vapability flavors I've tried from them. Just don't overdo it. Start w/ low percentages--you can always add.
Good luck.
Hey there, fellow Mi refugee here, I'm still waiting on my flavoring to come in the mail, so I don't have any actual experience, however, I saw that the perfumers apprentice has "Triacetin" in their diluting liquids section. After doing some googling, it supposedly helps with bitterness and can fix some juices. Heres a link the reddit post I got info from. I'll probably end up picking some up or something similar next time I order.
thats a 3.0 mm, not a #30. also maybe a long shot but if it was fresh cotton you may just have been getting that flavor and it could taint your tests.
maybe try for 80/20 and a little bit of your chosen sweetener. it takes a minute to get used to the less sweet juices when you first start mixing, take advantage of VGs natural sweetness and add a little extra with some cap super sweet or a hint of marshmallow, stevia isn't bad either.
I'd use a different calculator like ELR. The steam engine calculator is just ok. You should use mg/ml for nicotine, not percentages. Also, where did you get those flavor percentages? from LB? BTW, just a quick read it seems that the Blue Raspberry is a VG concentrate. You may want to read up on these
https://www.reddit.com/r/DIY_eJuice/comments/79fgzz/lb_blue_raspberry/
https://www.reddit.com/r/DIY_eJuice/comments/7e76y9/lb_pina_colada/
https://www.reddit.com/r/DIY_eJuice/comments/7hwecx/lb_vanilla_ice_cream/
As for the bitterness, I can't say. Maybe you got the PG mixed up with the VG. You may have to do some small batch testing to isolate where the bitterness is coming from. Also, 60ml is way too much juice to be mixing as a tester. If you don't have smaller bottles then just mix a 10ml tester in a 60ml bottle. You could probably improve on the flavors by mixing other flavors together, not just vaping single flavor mixes solo.
On the bottles of LB flavoring it gives a "Suggested Starting Percentage" Like I said, I had watched a few videos where everyone was saying "Drop the percentages a bit, they are stupid high on the recommendation"
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Regardless yeah, in my haste I just went all out with the 60ml bottles. Oops :(
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I just whipped up a 15ml tester of the vanilla bean ice cream and its still like, something about it tastes bitter on my tongue. Its all on the exhale, its not like, a terribly bitter taste, its slight, but just bitter enough to make me not want to vape it.
Try to order a few basic flavors. Like creams. They're very different, but some can be replaced for a similar flavor. You'll come to learn that recipes all have the same basic formulation. Follow some of the simple recipes like fizzmustards mustard milk. There are a lot of amazing flavors out there that are two different flavors. One thing I learned is not to follow recipes from specific vendors that use only their flavors. While you can obviously make flavors that are decent from one compapny. Most recipes listed have multiple brands because each company has flavors that are better than others. If you have any questions at all, please feel free to message me.
I agree with the others. Bitter usually (for me anyway) means the flavor % is too high. You can also get a lack of flavor (muting) if you mix too high as well. It's better to start low and increase until you get a feel for what tastes good to you. Some of these sites have outdated information, especially where % are concerned so you have to bear that in mind. Sweetener/Super Sweet will only potentially cover up whatever is causing your issue. I also agree that at some point/next time you buy, you should get a couple One Shots. A lot of these flavors are not ideal on their own. (Also, make smaller testers. 60 ML of bad juice = bad time)