Flavour testing

E-liquids Flavors
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HI all,

I’ve got about 15 flavours over the last week or two I’ve not tried yet or had before. (I’ve only been vaping for a short while, let alone DIY)

What would you guys advise is a good strategy for me to tackle getting a feel for them.

All I need is a couple of hits really? do you let an individual flavour mix steep too? I suppose you would want that.

I’ll keep notes , but I’m after more the strategy on doing it as efficiently and hassle free as it can be? What are you ELRsters methods. Please don’t be shy I’d like to hear about them all. Then I can pick and choose. Lazy, aren’t I! All and any advice greatly appreciated.

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I royally suck at doing sf tests, I’m way too impatient. But it is a good way to get an idea of what your flavors are like. Definitely steep them like you would for any liquid. I’m gonna go ahead and page @Sprkslfly , king of sf testing! Maybe he can shed some more light on the subject.

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My method is tedious, but it works for me. I mix up 5ml at a strength that is somewhere around the suggested mixing %. If I don’t know what that is or there isn’t much info, I usually go for 5%. Unless it’s FA, Inawera, or Flavorah and those usually get 2 or 3%. I test it within a day of mixing (my idea of “shake and vape”), and then again every week for a month. I’ll take notes every week on what I think is going on. At the end of the month I put my notes, a rating, and what I think a good mixing/single % is on ELR in the hope it helps others at least get some idea. :stuck_out_tongue:

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I test them like I do any recipe. I have a lot of flavors I never did single flavor tests on as they are well established with recommended percents that seem to work well but currently working my way thru my 24 new flavors from RF to get an idea for what percentage they will be best mixed at. I have 12 mixed so far, 2 batches of 6 x 20ml in 30ml glass dropper bottles. I let them steep and test them on my dripper once or twice a week as they steep. After 3 or 4 weeks they should be down under 15ml per bottle and I will pour 2 flavors together into a 30ml plastic dripper tip bottle that I think will compliment each other to vape on later. Then I can wash out my glass bottles and make more single flavor, or recipe, testers.

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Lol… Hardly the king, but a very sweet compliment all the same. Ty!

I am definitely a firm believer in SF (single flavor) testing though. But I’ve also been approaching this whole thing like cooking. For the long haul. I figure if I smoked for decades, then it’s likely I’ll vape for that long (barring any unforseen circumstances). With that said, I wanted a methodic approach, and thus far, it’s been showing nice results.

One thing to bear in mind though, is that I’ve learned that I have a more sensitive palate than the “majority”. At least according to the “recommended percentages” often seen (especially with the aggregate numbers in the ELR flavor database when it comes to the most popular flavors).

Of course, if you’re like Fozzy71, consider yourself lucky! My experience shows quite the opposite, thanks probably in large part to all the (what I assume to be) MTL users, or folks with half dead taste buds. Lol (I love peppers too, but not enough to kill my taste buds for enjoying other stuff! :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

Anyways, the following “rules of thumb” are what I’ve found to be working well for me, at least with regard to well established flavor vendors.

I generally do two or three 15ml test bottles of a recently added flavor at the following percentages:
Capella: 4%, 6%
TFA: 4%, 6%, 8%
Inawera: 1%, 2%, 3%
FA: 1%, 3%
RF (vg): 8%, 10%
RF (sc): 1%, 3%
FW: 6%, 8%, 10%

Newly added testing procedures for MF (medicine flower AKA lotus) are falling in the 0.5%, and 1% ranges (according to those I trust and respect).

The nice thing about most of the above numbers, is that it allows for “in tank mixing” to get a feel for the in between numbers.
EG: if I wanted to test TFA at 5%, I simply mix one dropper of 4% with one dropper of 6% in the tank. Same for 7%. One dropper of 6%, and one of 8%.
this way, it’s easier to zero in on the personal preference. If 6 was a touch strong, and 4 was a touch weak, then while yes, it would be obvious to think 5 is the sweet spot, my way gives confirmation without having to mix that last separate batch to confirm (at least well enough for me)!

Part of me envies the ones who can be “all willy nilly” and mix on a whim. But that just isn’t my personality type. Lol My hope and goal is, that once I reach that “magical point” of familiarity, that I’ll be among those that can automatically look at a recipe idea and get close to target outcome just by knowing the flavors. The only thing is, most want instant gratification (myself included often times), but this goal/method demands putting in the time and testing. To me, the existing recipes are there to help me bide my time until I achieve such. And, The Dude abides! :wink: :laughing:

All the best, and sorry for the novel!

EDIT 1: completed reply after a phone reboot.
EDIT 2: added FW numbers.

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Geez, way to leave us hanging! :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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Thanks guys so far.

A question just popped in my head. So I’ve seen notes or posts like this flavour at 3% was terrible but at 1.75% it was awesome. How do you deal with that through the process.

I’d think you’ll know if a percentage is over or under generally. But how do you discern between I don;t like this flavour vs. it’s at the wrong percentage is why it’s no good. I’m assuming it’s just instinct and kind of obvious. is that right.

From the limited SF’s I’ve done. I got the impression of the flavour and made notes like could try a higher percentage, etc.

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I’m going to bed here it’s 2am and my flavours have lovely coloured dotted labels on them now. Let sparks know . I’ll read your responses tomorrow. Thanks all.

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I mix up a 5 or 10 ml sample bottle at the lightest suggested percentage, make notes of how much nic is in it what ratio of VG/PG it is. I use tanks so I’m stuck using the coil modules so I’ll prime one with plain VG and vape it once or twice. At that point I’ll vape 1ml noting the flavor, how strong it tastes, if I think it needs to be made stronger or weaker. Next put the sample up to steep for a week and repeat the tasting procedure taking more notes. Back up to steep for at least one more week, at this point I usually know if I need a stronger mix of if what I have is good. It takes a while if you are going to do individual tastings. Shen I started DIY I didn’t bother doing a bunch of single tastings but went straight to some recipes that I had. it’s easy to get tons of simple recipes to taste several at a time if you don’t feel the need to taste each one by itself

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One thing you have to remember is that taste is purely subjective. What I think is heaven might very well gag say @VapeyMama or @JoJo

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As always. Very true my friend!

And while I kid (above) about the half dead taste bud and MTL crew… Hardware can and does heavily influence the individual experiences.

15-25% of a SF would put me in overdose. But I could easily accept that that might be fully appropriate for someone who’s using, say, a nautilus mini. You’re not getting near the amount of vapor in a single pull (draw). So it only makes sense that they would want/need more flavoring!

That’s why I wish we had a tick-box(es) for MTL, tank, dripper on the recipe side. That way, when those numbers were collected (for the usage part) of the database, we’d actually have a far more accurate indication of where we needed to start, WRT testing! But that’s quite a tall order. Maybe over the long haul it will happen though! Can’t become a reality unless/until someone dreams it up right?! :wink: grins

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It would be cool for their to be three boxes next to the recipe title with the comment
"This Recipe Was Designed for Dripper, Subohm, Low wattage tank or MTL Tank. Maybe we ought to start encouraging others to state what their recipe is designed for in the title line I just started a recipe that I need to put up pretty soon. Here’s how I titled it

White Chocolate Covered Cerries Jubilee Designed for Subohm tanks

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+1 for this suggestion!