This is a fairly long post and contains a lot of background info that most of you probably don't care about. If you just want the actual information piece of this, skip down to the part below the line.
One of the best parts about making your own juice is that the cost to try a new profile is exceptionally low compared to buying “premium” juice. Before you started making your own juice, if you wanted to try a floral vape for the first time, you had to take a leap of faith and spend $20 or more. If it turns out you hate that particular juice, you were just screwed out a decent chunk of change.
Luckily for us, most flavorings don’t cost more than a few dollars, so it is very easy and economic to try new flavors and profiles.
We also have access to a ton of resources in the form of single flavor reviews, peer reviews on recipes, and access to instant help (if you are on the Discord).
All of that, just to say: don’t be afraid to venture out of your normal profile comfort zone. When I first started my DIY journey, I pretty much only vaped fruit profiles. Strawberry this, apple that, mixed berry, etc. I had tried a few other profiles such as bakery, desserts, and candy, but I never really cared for the bottles I bought, so I felt like I was wasting my money.
After my first order and seeing how much money I was saving, I decided to venture out. I tried recipes such as Breakfast of the Gods by u/Foment_life, Custard NOW by u/EdibleMalfunction, Boss Reserve (Folkart's Reserve) by u/folkart, and many others. I loved some of these new recipes and profiles, didn't like others, and was indifferent about the rest. The difference between making all of those recipes and buying "premium" juice? It was about $80 cheaper and I tried somewhere around 10 new recipes that I never would have tried if I was not making my own liquid.
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There are already some good posts that go over getting into new profiles, however they almost all are specifically for getting into tobaccos for the first time. A lot of the same principles remain the same, and I recommend this post, this post, and this post by u/isuamadog, u/juthinc, and u/chemicalburnvictim.
So what if you want to get into a new profile, but it is not tobacco? Well, the good news is there is still a ton of resources available. The resource that I recommend the most is... drum roll please... just try recipes that have already been published. You can even look for ones that have been reviewed a few times so you have an even better idea of what that recipe is supposed to taste like. You want to try a ice cream vape for the first time? Just go to ATF or ELR and type in “ice cream” you get hundreds of results. Find one that looks good to you and mix it up!
The second strategy is to look based off of a specific flavor. You get FLV Elderflower on a whim but have 0 experience with florals? ATF and ELR both allow you to search for a flavor, click on it, and then you’re brought to a page that shows all public recipes using that flavor.
We also have access to flavor reviews, FOTW posts, and a bunch of other resources on this subreddit.
Perhaps my favorite way to jump into a new profile is to head over to the DIY_eJuice discord in the #live-mixing channel and just experiment with somebody who knows more about that flavor/profile.
Basically, what I’m trying to say, and doing a poor job at explaining, is this: one of the greatest things about making your own juice is the ability to customize and try new profiles for a fraction of the cost. Don’t be afraid to tackle a new profile. The worst thing that can happen is you find out you don’t like floral vapes, or tobaccos vapes. Best case scenario, you find a new profile that you’re obsessed with.
I love a good Ry4 and I'm getting dangerously close to trying out some straight tobacco flavors. I don't want to get them all, I just want to try a few of the most used tobaccos people are mixing. I'm not looking forward to this since I started vaping to get away from cigarettes but it would be a new profile and I'm open to new things. I want to give tobaccos a fair chance by using the resources here to make a tiny list of flavors i may like instead of just getting some random tobaccos I may hate and just put me off of a profile I could have liked had I ordered the right concentrates.
It's fairly cheap to experiment this way. I did it with coolants and I learned I hate cooling. Other than cooling I've enjoyed everything I've mixed so far and after 2 years mixing I never had to hate vape anything yet
I just hopped on the tobacco train myself, and I can tell you that it is nothing like smoking the stinkies. Most of the tobaccos that I have tried are much more reminiscent of pipe and cigar tobaccos. Somebody on the Discord summarized it best by saying something along the lines of "cigarettes don't really taste like tobacco. they taste like filter, whatever chemicals they put in there, and maybe some menthol."
That is what intrigues me, how people can say tobacco flavors aren't like cigarettes. I was just kind of taken by surprise finding out how many mixers like tobacco profiles. If I do it right I think there's potential for me to like them too
I was the same- didn’t want to vape tobaccos as I started vaping to get away from smoking- hated the taste of cigarettes by the end. But now the only flavour I consistently vape everyday is a tobacco. I make loads of other stuff and vape all that too but the only one I miss if I don’t have it is the tobacco. It really is nothing like smoking cigarettes. To me it’s more like tasting how tobacco smells. Like walking into a fancy tobacconists and all the lovely scents you get.
The recipe I vape every day is called The Gindra’s by the fogvlog on ATF. It’s really easy too:
1% FLV Red Burley 1% Shisha Vanilla 1.5% FLV Sweet and Smokey
Although I increase the % a bit as I like pretty strong tobaccos- and it only hits the spot in one particular RDA with one set up. Weird I know! Maybe I’m so used to it tasting a certain way it seems off to me if I vape it any differently? If you do try it and don’t like it those are all useful flavours to have anyway. Whatever you do get the FLV Red Burley!
Thank you Robot, very inspiring words. My journey thus far has been the other way around - I‘ve basically been into custards/puddings/milks. My next adventure will be fruits, which I have pretty much avoided. I haven‘t yet tried tobaccos at all - I have smelled some - tbh they smell like Maggi seasoning to me. I never thought I‘d get so much fun and satisfaction out of mixing, it’s wonderful. I started mixing to save money, but then I found my way into the DIY_eJuice community and my eyes were opened to infinite possibilities. I love every aspect of it and am thankful to be here.
Kuri - I also used to roll my own cigarettes with and without filters - it’s a very European thing.