I've read about testing your flavors before mixing and writing down what I taste to better understand the flavors. A couple of questions are.... If you are mixing up 10ml (?) what % of each flavor do you test that flavor in? And, what kind of device do you use? Do you have a stand alone mod/Pod for testing only? Are you changing the coil for each flavor? Thanks for and help.
I have an Aegis squonk which is filled with unflavored 50/50. When the cotton is almost dry, I drip my new flavor on the rda and taste test. I can keep dripping or squonk some unflavored juice to clear out the rda of the flavor, then try a different recipe. I keep my squonk filled with unflavored juice full time and then use my good recipes in my other rigs. So far, so good! Find a recipe you like and use the percentage amounts for a starting point, then tweak it to your liking. I'm always learning and experimenting, thanks to the folks here!
When I test flavors i do around 0.5% 1.0% and a 3.0% just see when it becomes over powering. Some are to much at 1.0% some aren't enough at 3.0%. The device doesn't matter that much. I use a single coil RDA like a little moonshot with what ever coil i normally have in and just change cotton out after testing the flavor
I have a pretty different process for testing flavors. Whenever I get a new flavoring I get 5ml of water and slowly add the flavoring, tasting it frequently. I note down the amount that I can begin to taste the flavoring and when it becomes too much. That gives me a range that I know that I will generally want to stay between per 5ml of juice. When I am coming up with a recipe I use the 5ml of water again and consult my notes for the individual flavorings and start light on each of them and add more until I get something that tastes similar to how I want it, keeping in mind that it will be significantly sweeter when I mix it as juice. From that point it's just a matter of scaling up my recipe from 5ml to my actual batch size and testing it on an RDA. With this method I can generally get very close on my first try with the juice.
Just want to make sure I'm understanding this right. You're drinking the water, right? I usually squeeze the bottle a couple of times and wipe off a small droplet onto my finger to taste it. I mean, it basically works but it's always really, REALLY strong (obviously). Don't know why I never thought of trying this instead.
Never heard of the water test. Each to there own.
I got the drop solo rda for testing purposes. It's a single coil build and simple to use.
As for testing flavour start below manufacturers recommendation and add if to weak. I usually straight up mix 2 flavours based off smell. I did strawberry and watermelon. The watermelon smelled a lot stronger so went 3% the watermelon 1% . It's a nice mix. I like inewera flavour very potent and go a long way at small %
Correct me if I'm wrong but part of what you're asking is what percentage of each flavor do I single test mix?
Look up each flavor on both ATF and ELR to find the average and single flavor usage rates. Neither of these numbers are set in stone but will give you a pretty good idea of where to start. Testing with an rda is great, they're are all I use, but you should consider testing them in whatever device you use the most if at all practical. This'll give you the best indicator of what it'll taste like to you most of the time.
So, I’m a big dork and I love spreadsheets lol. I have a massive spread sheet with all the flavour I have in stock (currently over 500). When I get a shipment I add each flavour to the sheet with a column for category (bakery, beverage, fruit, etc), back notes (like a vanilla with a citrus back-note), manufacturers %ge in single flavour, %ge in a mix, average %ge based on ATF, finger taste, smell and then my notes as well (where I make note of things like certain combos that work well together etc). I also give it a 1-5 star rating based on how much I like it and it’s versatility.
This helps me allot when I’m making mixes so I don’t go digging through everything and can remember what %ges are good for each.