I've tried dozens and dozens of other people's recipes this year, more than I tried in all previous years of mixing combined, and even though I occasionally think something is amazing, and better than I could have come up with on my own, I still find myself thinking that this amazing thing probably or at least possibly would be better if ....

Someone asked me what my all-time favorite recipes were recently, I couldn't pick one so I gave them 10. Five of them were my own. Conceited? Shameless self-promoting? Nah, it's just really rare to find something you like more than something you painstakingly created for your own palate. But this is not meant to deter anyone from mixing other people's recipes either. It's one of the best ways to learn.

So, agreeing with you on all points.

And adding an important one: After you try someone else's recipe, give them some feedback. It's just the right thing to do, both for them and for people who might be looking for something to mix and want to use reviews to help them decide. That whole Do Unto Others thing. But if you're too selfish to care about that, consider that taking the time to really think about what you enjoyed about a recipe and what might improve on it and to putting that into words can be as helpful to your own development as it is to anyone else.

There's absolutely something to be said for trying other people's recipes. From looking for inspiration or experiencing a profile you're unfamiliar with, or just seeing how others use certain flavors it's a really rewarding part of mixing.

That said, many times it seems I find aspects of a recipe that I may wish to incorporate rather than locking myself into just vaping the other recipe as is for much longer than a tester.

I only make other people's recipes. I lack patience and any artistic ability so it rely on this group and other resources so much.

Thank you all for all the hard work you've done. Especially now, I live in Michigan lol

Solid points.

A few things to consider when following other people's recipes:

• If someone mentions their PG/VG ratio, take note. You don't have to follow it, but be aware how that may affect things. Especially with harsher flavors when you mix up a much higher PG ratio then they do. It can sometimes be a bit rough. I want to say I experienced this with TFA Dragonfruit in a Hobbes Blood clone years ago? Can't remember...

• Ditto for Nic levels. Obviously, that's kind of separate from the recipe and "more Nic will be more throat hit" - but, like PG/VG ratios, consider that when mixing certain potentially harsh flavors where someone's mixing 1.5mg. in their recipe and you're doing 18mg.

• While we're here, same for devices/builds/settings. I've mixed juice in the past that was either a bit too much for me or too "little" for my GF. Back then I ran ~80w on dual Twisted 26g's in RDA's - while she was only on smaller tanks @ 35-40w or less. I'd have to take a 120mL and split it to 70/50mL's and dilute my 50mL's with a little more VG or let it steep for a few days. Koolada first thing in the morning was one I remember having to play with or lower Wattage on before...

Past all that rambling, like many will say I'm sure - in the end, I definitely prefer my own mixes over following a recipe. Even when following a recipe, I'd almost always alter the mix somehow to suit my own personal preferences unless I'm trying someone's Clone recipe for the first time.

So, I greatly encourage people starting out to try their own mixes after they've gotten comfortable with following recipes and knowing what they like. Once you feel you understand what's what and how some flavors interact with others, you may be surprised how good your mixes turn out after a little experimenting.

When doing that:

• Start with smaller batches.

• Start with "simple" mixes or combinations. Say a Strawberry or Watermelon Freeze with just that @ near 8-10% and Koolada @ 0.75-1%. See where you want to adjust or add and go from there...

• Maybe no NIC until you know you like the test mix if you care about possibly having to chuck 30mL of "bad" juice with some NIC in it.

• Less is more with the flavorings. You can always add another few %'s if needed. I also personally avoid mixing up higher % than necessary in my juices. Especially when testing out your own creations.

Even with more flavorful Clones, after I've tested them, I'll look to see where I can knock a few %'s off the flavorings in future batches. I'll try to keep my clones (usually Honey Pearry, Miracle on Ice, Hobbes Blood, Space Jam's Andromeda, Snake Oil, Halo's Tribeca, Melon Boba) in the 10-12% range (or slightly higher) if they can work there. And that's with a "100%" VG juice mix...

Many recipes will have Clones up at seriously high percentages with the flavorings. Like 20-25% high...which may be accurate sometimes, but I often find it unnecessary. For example, my SJ Andromeda recipe is somewhere near 12% where most recipes are at/over 15% and mine certainly isn't bland @ 12% with the stronger flavors in that Clone - if anything, it's just as good to me and less harsh when vaped immediately.

But, that's personal preference, others may like the higher percentage mixes in clones and that's fine too.

I’ve tried a lot of recipes as well but maybe not as many as you have. I’ve learned from so many even as what I didn’t like. For example, I just figured there was something wrong with me but I don’t really enjoy custards and creams. But then sometimes I do. I’m still trying to pin it down. So it’s much easier to try a recipe and realize I like something rather than try to do all the work on my own. Especially when it’s a profile I’m not familiar with.

There’s definitely a moment when I went from “I’m subbing this because it’s the only strawberry I have” to “I really prefer this vanilla to that one, let’s see how it goes.”

The problem these days is having the time to follow up on the infinite possibilities that mixing provides.

Great post mo.

I mix others all the time. But as others have mentioned it becomes a what if factor in everything I mix. Tuning to you sweet spot is one aspect but there is nothing out there that can't be improved. Sometimes I miss totally but when it hits it becomes a edv in my rotation. That makes me smile 😊

Fantastic post for newbies to read! I started by mixing other people's recipes, majority of them I didnt like at all, I had the same problem with store bought juice I had to try alot of them to find a couple that I enjoyed enough to adv which is why I moved to diy. Mixing others recipes taught me alot, I will still mix the occasional others recipe but its generally if I haven't attempted that type of profile before as it will give me a base to work off as to what to improve or totally start from scratch for my taste buds. I only post my recipes that I absolutely love and its just to give other people's something to mix or an idea to work from, hopefully it helps someone else with very fussy taste buds like me! No matter if its my mix or someone elses I only mix 10ml to start with to avoid wasting unnecessary supplies. Once I love it then I make bigger batches.

I never really mixed other people's recipes at first, mainly because I never ordered any flavors with strawberry, peach, or vanilla elements and that meant I almost never had all the ingredients to almost any recipe. But eventually I branched out into tobaccos and was able to mix a few others' recipes. And a LOT of people have mixed a few of my recipes (GIGI, obviously, but amazingly Apple Blossom has either a few devoted fans or just a lot of people trying it - I wonder sometimes if I should go back and tinker with it, but I like having a 1-2-3 recipe that works as well as that does, so...) Occasionally I get feedback. Sometimes it's great ( "like something I would've made, only better." I loved that line.) And sometimes there's oddly crickets (Apple Blossom has been mixed over a thousand times, no reviews. The number of mixes, tho, is sorta a commentary tho...)

I still recall the first recipe of anyone else's that I mixed (was named "Lung Sauce") and even tho I made one sub when mixing it (my bottle of Cotton Candy was hiding, so I used Honeysuckle in it's place) it was pretty damn good. (Wish I could remember the mixer, and look up his stuff on ATF, to see if he had anything else I should try.) The experience convinced me to try to find more recipes to try, and that led to diving into the tobacco rabbit hole.

But yeah, while the accepted wisdom is "start by mixing existing recipes" I still think there's people out there who may not be able to find recipes that appeal to them, and so I always try to suggest the alternative approach if someone needs to go that route