Hey guys, I’ve been into DIY for almost 6 months and I think I’ve got pretty good results, some of my original mixes are fantastic (at least for me and friends). However one thing that still puzzles me is the total flavor percentages. I found out that I tend to do all of my mixes at 13-15% of total flavoring. I just feel the lack of flavoring if I put less flavors. But, there are so many recipes here that use as low as 5, 6% of flavors. And commercial juices go up to 30% AFAIK. How could it be that a juice with 6% could still be tasty?
> 30% AFAIK
Most of the commercial recipes you see, you're only seeing because they're old and/or no longer profitable. i.e. they didn't translate well to new devices.
Total flavor percentages are essentially meaningless because every flavor is more/less concentrated than another. So 10% of one flavor might be weak and 1% of another can be way too much. There's no set percentage for total flavor with that kind of variable.
Total flavor percentage is a completely arbitrary number. For example, with some FLV flavors, 1% might even be too much, and some TFA flavors, where 5% might not even be enough.
I've got a red cinnamon that is 1 drop per 10ml... Even that is sometimes too much
I use FLV Rich Cinnamon with a 10% dilution because it's impossible to use when mixing 10ml testers of recipes otherwise. Typical use of that flavor at full strength is like 1 drop per 60ml.
There was a guy a little while back who posted all of his old recipes that he used to use in a store he had, a lot of the recipes were at like 20% to even 30 something %, these were from a few years ago where the flavours probably weren't as concentrated. I currently run somewhere between 4 and 7% and even then sometimes is overpowering or bland from using too much of one or two of the flavours. Take the advice from a lot of the posts on here and also check alltheflavors to see what % some of your flavours are generally mixed at to give you a better idea.
Try it and see how it goes!
Any change you could find that recipe site again? I'd love to try some of those.
You're in luck! I'd commented on that thread so managed to find it through my profile, They're incredibly high % mixes and would recommend probably halving the amount used as when these were created, the flavours weren't as strong. Since then, some of the flavours may have also been changed to a "V2" so the taste may be different also.
https://www.reddit.com/r/DIY_eJuice/comments/gy6qh8/dump_of_all_my_recipes
Agree with the other commenter different concentrates will have be different. You could get the same flavor from 2 companies and one will blow you away with a small percent while the other barely comes through at a high percentage. Plus you have to factor in personal preference and what your vaping it on, some people may get enough flavour for them from low percentage but you may need that extra boost of flavour. If you want to cut down your percentage maybe try a different rda/tank as that can make quite a difference, for example I've recently done a neopolitan ice cream and on the dead rabbit it was alright but nothing special, but on my innokin thermo I get all the different flavours come through and it's become my adv.
While I understand the points made here by the commenters, still.. The most usable range for almost any flavor is: 0.5% for a slight hint, 1% for a more pronounced presence, 1.5% for a very visible presence, 2-3% is a lead note, 4-5% mix domination. This applies to almost every flavor I have (except tobaccos and TPA, of course). What I mean is I am not getting enough taste, when I mix less than 14-15% in total using this rules. I mixed some 7-8% recipes and it’s just some slight flavored VG to me.
Keep in mind also that, not only is there no standard concentration of flavor compounds in the flavorings, i.e. flavorings from different companies may be different in strength; but another very important aspect of this whole thing is that scent and taste neurons as well as the brain respond very differently to different flavor compounds. Flavors are simply chemical compounds that these neurons and the brain happen to recognize, and further recognize as "pleasurable", based on millions of years of evolution. But neurons will fire at different rates, and the brain will interpret signals more or less in strength, for different flavors. This is why, even if chemical concentrations were standardized, some flavors may taste just right around 10-12%, and others at 1-3%. This is also why some flavors (e.g. some strawberries) will be pleasurable at low concentrations, but at higher concentrations will taste "off", unpleasant, or just plain disgusting, or even change flavors entirely. There's awful lot going on, e.g. signal aggregation, modulation, compilation, etc., at the cellular level before you even taste a flavor, not unlike what goes on with electrical signals before they even get to the socket in your house.
are you using just flavors and VG? or are you adding PG aswell?
a juice with 6% flavoring in a 70VG/30PG mix is going to taste much stronger than that same juice with max VG
Don't worry about it if it works for you, that's the main thing. Everyone has different tastes and enjoys a different level of boldness and complexity not to mention different atomizers.
If you made an all flv or something mainly\all inw\fa even you'd be hard pressed to make something vapeable with 14-15% as it would be almost all off notes from being pushed too far. If you're mixing with something like osdiy blue raspberry slush 7-8% of your recipe could be that flavor alone and it won't be dominating.