Great point @Sprkslfly.
When I reached 700+ flavors, I knew I was in too deep. That’s when I realized something needed to change. Random flavor buying and mixing just didn’t work.
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Absolutely! Single flavour testing was one of the best pieces of advice I received.
Time and research are what have increased my confidence and experience in mixing. Same with any other skill - cooking, driving etc.
When the fun stops, stop 
(it’s a line from a rubbish commercial over here, but quite true - for me, anyway - if there was a Nobel Prize for mixing I wouldn’t bother entering 
)
I kinda like throwing things together, but I throw together all the time in cooking too and it works (through experience, not just randomness). But then if randomness is what works for somebody else, I’m totes cool with that.
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@TW12 A few other people have mentioned this but I’ll say it again because to me, it’s the most important thing any one ever told me. Test each flavor as a single. The reason this is important, even if you intend to only mix other people’s recipes, is in case one particular flavor hits you wrong, you’ll know which one to sub and with what.
Example, several of the recipes I really like call for Vienna Cream. I have no doubt this is a great flavor, I can taste the greatness in there but for my mutant tongue, I also get an off putting undertone of rubber cement. If I hadn’t tested as a single, I would HATE those recipes without giving them a fair chance. Now I know to sub out a different cream.
When I began I also over thought things. I did a lot of research while deciding if I even wanted to try DIY and when I decided to take the plunge, I figured it would take me a year to get anything good enough to share. I would have been happy enough to get something halfway vapable so I could cut down on buying retail juice. It was a pleasant surprise to find a lot of the single flavors I tested were good enough on their own and with slight tweaks they’re delicious!
Don’t let anyone bully you into thinking you have to have any super expensive equipment or “elite” flavors. You don’t have to make complex original recipes to be a good mixer. Good, is all subjective here. Sure some flavors are of a higher quality but most of the so-called “common” brands are wonderful too. Decide for yourself which course you want your mixing journey to go. Maybe it will become a passion that you spend hours a day on or maybe you’ll just mix what you like when you need something to vape. It’s a very personal journey. Only you can decide what suits your pallet and your mixing style. Very few people around here really care about prestige or internet fame. Just find the flavors that appeal to you and mix what you like, even if it’s Rhubarb Anise Menthol Tobacco.
Best of luck!
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Awesome share! And a point that’s frequently omitted or forgotten. But entirely accurate and when applicable, critically important!
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Just food for thought. I don’t SF test every single flavor myself. After so many SF test I’ve learned to judge a flavor by a sniff and a finger taste of the concentrate. Maybe it’s something learned over time, but it usually give me a good idea of that flavors accuracy/strength and offers a good starting % for some flavors.
If I’m not mistaken @Ken_O_Where test some flavors with this method also.
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Wow! That sounds different. Not pleasingly different, but different none the less. All I need now are 3 more flavors and I might have to try it out of curiosity.
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If nothing else, tasting a flavor straight from the bottle would give a new mixer a very valuable lesson, lol.
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IMO taste testing concentrates will be a valuable lesson for any mixer when learning to gauge flavor accuracy and a starting point whether you SF test or not. I’m only offering other options for those that would like to try it.
I’ve probably done more SF testing than most here, but there are other options.
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Not to beat on the same drum…but single flavor testing is the most accurate way to learn a flavor with this knowledge you’ll be able to know what the flavor profile is, at what % you feel comfortable using in a recipe by gauging what strength you tested as SF. There are other methods like the shot glass method and many many ppl enjoy this method and its a quick way to get an idea of a flavor.
Once you build your confidence around your flavors start to look at flavor pairing this is paramount as oil and water do not mix …meaning some flavors just don’t behave nicely with one another…but the beauy of DIY is the challenge and that my friend is what I adore I love to mix obscure odd ball flavors that juxtapose and go against the norm.
You drive a great point on all of our taste differences…my biggest suggestion is that you make things you enjoy and the rest will fall into place. As I increased my knowlwdge and my palate I ensured to leave no stone unturned… ( had some really gross mixtures and some really good ones ) like TFA Pizza and LA’s Pineapple are a smashing hit together although that sounds horrible it wasn’t to me !
As far as naming recipes I suck at it and have 9,000 strawberry something or others in my recipe bank lol !
For inspiration I visit websites of delicious bakery recipes or I actually bake something those work for me as well as looking at flavor pairing and getting ideas of the different flavors I have in reach and want to work with ! Good luck don’t over think it , that makes it seem too much like work instead of fun !
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I want to thank everyone for the attention the thread got. After consuming your thoughts, I am left with two possible answers to my query.
1.) Time, experience, and tireless R&D will lead me down the path I seek.
2.) You have figured out the secret, and there’s no way in hell you’ll ever tell me. Like they said in The Incredibles, ‘If everybody is special, no one is.’
At this point, and until proven otherwise, I will stick with #1. 
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Whew.
Alright everyone! Bullet dodged. 
He bought it. 
Back to DEFCON Green. 
.
/seriously though
About #1…
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Simple answer is: create a number of the highest rated mixes on ELR (after narrowing for the fewest flavors to buy that have a variety of different applications), vape them a lot and learn from experience how those flavors work together.
Personally, I can’t be bothered to create recipes. I’m a creative type in that I garden, using seeds, not cuttings or grafting plants together. I love to duplicate famous paintings, but I don’t create my own images.
I’m a great cook and have learned tricks, how to eyeball ingredients and their measurements, and what to expect as far as temps, time, taste, etc. through years – no, decades – of following recipes.
If I happen upon a good mix of flavors, it is purely accidental in that I’ve dripped another single flavor mix on a dirty atomizer. If it’s good, I’ll definitely share it as others have with me.
@Lexie3 and @Bob_Bitchen, great idea for testers. I have hundreds of rinsed pre-used Rx pill bottles I use.
Hey, I bet your taste buds work better and your palate is more sensitive now. Does it mean more things taste like shit now if they’re not precise?
I’m with you. I always have about 25 mixes going and switching up all day.
This week, I finally got around to SF test DX Banana Cream and surpringly I’m in LOVE with it. Separately, I’ll also SF vape A.P. and my main thang is NUTS of all types. When I decided to branch out with BanCream to a nut bread, EW, it muddied that clean, clear BC delightfulness and I can’t get the taste out my mouth and nostrils. Back to square one!
I read somewhere that RY4 Double is mainly E.M., so if thats the case, why not mix these? Original RY4 is a light (and usu. sweet) tobacco with a bunch of caramel and vanilla, and a splash of chocolate. Cookies, sugar, and marshmallow fit in perfectly. Actually, I’d say it’s the profile of the Non-“Common Brand” concentrate they named SOHO. God, how much money does one have to fork over for 700+ flavor concentrates? Sounds obscene 
@JoJo SB, yes, LOL! Seriously, has this convo been had before.? What is it about vapers and freaking STRAWBERRY, tho? Really!
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You are right… That was obscene and bordering on insanity. Of those 700+ flavors about 200 was sent to me for review by some vendors. I’ve since downsized and now work with about 100 or so.
At this point my goal is to help others avoid the same mistakes I’ve made by suggesting researching flavors before they purchase them. This method has helped me narrow down my stash to the essentials I need for my recipes.
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Bookmarking that one…
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I have no idea what people like, so i just try to see what flavors are popular (unicorn milk, cereal milk etc).
For myself, i also have no clue until i try it… Its like food, if it sounds good ill try it, but i really wont know if i like it until i try it… If its meh then i can try to tweak it a bit to taste better, or sometimes i make something just plain awful… Happens. I think the closest thing to a “right answer” is probably simply a. Paying attention to social trends, and b. Experience.
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Yeah, but you know now. My advice would be to find a Strawberry Cheesecake recipe that has a lot of likes. The thing with this is that it contains fruits, creams and biscuits [cake] flavours. Then figure out what you think needs changing. Is there too much biscuit? Not enough? Do the same with the creams and the fruits, and adapt your recipe accordingly. It takes time, but Rome wasn’t built in a day, but you will get there in the end .That way you will start to learn how to deal with the 3 main ingredients in most recipes, fruit, cream and cake. Good luck.
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And of course check out other mixers on this site, or You Tube. There is a lot of information out there andmost mixers are only too keen to help out. It’s a good community.
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Hello, TW12. I was overwhelmed too, when I started DIY. Until i remembered that it was only going to be as complicated as I let it be. LOL
Here’s what I started doing and have been doing ever since: make 100 ml bottle of base liquid whenever i am running low on juice. That is, make 100 ml bottles of VG/PG/nic in preferred proportions.
I usually make four or five at a time.
Then I use that base to make 60 ml bottle of flavored juice when i need some or have something I want to steep, like Chocolate Cherries. Most stuff I don’t steep. It works for me. In other words, I take a 60 ml glass bottle and add my flavors, then i just fill it up with my base.
Yes, this means that your proportions will not be exact or the same as they would be if you mixed all ingredients at once. But, you could make it so if you wanted to. It would just be a little bit more work.
I hope that makes sense. Anyway, I don’t bother with that and it’s been working fine for me. I figure if it’s like not enough nicotine I can just take another hit. Whatever. YMMV. You have to do what works for you in the end.
Anyway, having a premixed base is very helpful for testing single flavors. I fill my 4 ml tank halfway (clean tank and clean coil)with my base and then add five drops of flavor to start. Then vape. Add more drops if needed or add fewer drops to start if you have read that the flavor is very strong or something. I read opinions of flavors before I test them.
When i first started, I mixed everything in my tank. I would put in some of my base, then add 5-10 drops each of different flavors (like say vanilla, chocolate, butter, and erythritol or caramel, brown sugar, butter, and vanilla, etc). Usually i would add more of the main flavor i wanted, like chocolate and then half that much butter and vanilla and cream or whatever. Then I would shake it and vape it. I could add more or different flavors after tasting. After a while, I knew what flavors I liked together and I used basic math and a scale to calculate how many grams of each flavor I needed to make 60 ml of my best recipes.
I looked at other recipes to see which flavors people were putting together in what proportions to get ideas and to decide what flavors to buy but I have never followed another recipe completely.
It does help if you are familiar with cooking and baking and know what flavors you like together.
Hope you find this helpful. LIke I said, it works for me but you do what works for you, And enjoy it. Having fun and using flavors that make you happy is all you have to do, really. There are no mistakes, only experiences. Listen to your gut and follow your Heart! xoxo
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This last about SF testing
BASIC METHOD of SINGLE FLAVOR TESTING
(Easy, Quick, and thorough) :
Stir a drop of concentrate in about 1/2 cup water, then sniff and swirl in mouth (kind of like tasting wine or a cigar).
By the time you’re done drinking it all, you know what the flavor is without question. Straight to the point and wastes zero Nic base (which btw really shouldn’t be poured in the sink or toilet since it’s a poison).
I read this helpful technique elsewhere and had a kinda DUH! moment 
Adding more drops in water is usu. not necessary. If I like the flavor, I’ll move onto vaping 1 drop → 10% or I might start mixing then.
Interesting findings. As an example, Pistachio (TPA) is not a bit sweet nor creamy; one-note that seems flat - a party-pooper - but is solid as a rock and a great contrasting note to something like creamy, sweet Hazelnut (FW).
Exactly, @Mizzzz_Z_Hobbit. This is how I’ve always felt about flavor concentrates. Many are already complex, some incredibly complex, or a full-on actual mix of flavors; e.g., Reindeer Poop (FW).
This is how I started. A small number of flavors and vape the hell out of them. Only then to enjoy it so much that I bought more flavors before I even knew the firsts. And so it goes.
I like recipes but, for me, they aren’t essential. I still haven’t exhausted/gotten tired of many flavors as standalones, yet.
And, hey, Tropical Breeze flavor sounds interesting, Unicorn Vomit. “Hey, Look a bird.” Taro and Pear are both creams? Whaaa…? 20 FA flavors basically provide “mouthfeel?” Oh my.
@Amy, throw some of that freekin’ HAM (Ham?!) on your Hawaaian pizza. It’s delicious! Add it to your next order LOL
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