So, I mixed 6 flavours all around 15% total flavor a couple days ago and I stared at my musk candy single flavour today and was like “I bet I could cut this down.” So I did, and cut it to 5% and. . .I literally can’t tell the difference.
What the hell is that? Like, no difference at all.
I’m guessing it’s the parfume effect. Open a bottle of violet parfume in a classroom (for room size) and sniff it. More than half the people who do this won’t smell anything at all, it overpowers entirely. While the rest of the room of course suddenly feels like they’re standing in a field of the damn things.
Since all my flavours are flowers I’ma make it real simple, split the bottles, add 1ml of 60mg/ml nic and 14ml VG. It’s not quite exactly a half cut, but close enough for what I’ve already made, and no math
First I would be interested in knowing why you started at 15%.
Secondly, I’ve found many flavors will remain kind of consistent in their flavor strength until you use at a low enough percentage. Perhaps your flavors could be used at 1%, or 0.5%. There are many out there, especially florals, which are so strongly perceived by our sense of taste and smell that we don’t notice a difference until they are used very lightly.
Personally I would try again…small test batches…0.5%, 1% and 2%. Just flavor, vg/pg as usual. That will help you gauge how to use them.
why did I start at 15%? Cuase… I don’t know what the hell I’m doing? I did DIY years ago and seemed to remember that being average so, I started with that.
But I did learn that you can see an actual single-mix % on the flavours’ pages rather than just various usage percentages I didn’t find useful in the abstract and therefore ignored.
Yup… back in the day, I would make up 3 single flavor test batches, as you described, every time I got a new concentrate; worked out great for noting usage percents for future mixing.
About the only concentrate or extract I can guarantee you will work these days at a 15% starting point would be my NET extracts… unless it is heavy Latakia based… then I start at 5% and work up from there.
Many flavors these days are far more concentrated than what was available years ago. I always like to give the example of Flavorah Lime and Flavorah Rich Cinnamon - those I use at 1 or 2 drops per 30ml of juice in most mixes. At 15% of either of these I would expect my tongue to catch of fire followed by cranial explosion
Valuable lesson and thanks for sharing. Maybe our physical sense of chemical taste and smell has molecular concentration limits. Maybe some flavoring like peppermint can become ever stronger the more we add, but it may be the Human mechanical limitations which only allow us to detect other extracts …each at their own maximum “volume”. Like some limit of individual olfactory receptor count or just the chemistry of Taste. As you say and we all agree …subjectivity. Perhaps that “subjectivity” has a mechanical basis.
Men can small one flower, and women cannot, and vice versa. Surely we are all little olfactory snowflakes …no two alike, but with enough similarities to share the flavor experience …mostly. My most important finding is that VG/PG vape cleanly as far as coils and wick lifespan goes, so keeping your flav%s low results in less hassle re-wicking atomizers as often.
My point about possible physically organic limits on flavor detection would relate to another DIY concept we share that “pairings” are how to pop flavors. Like you want more Apple …you can’t just add more of the same …add some Strawberry or another Apple. The “Notes” on the Flavor database can be confusing, but if you look carefully people have already taken most flavors to their high limit % just as Human Nature …maybe lacking expertise, but excersizing their Curiosity. Thanks for sharing yours.
Some good advice up there …less can be more. Maybe we should be looking for the lowest level an extract can be detected? I believe our brain fills in alot there. Maybe we could focus more on how these chemicals trick our neurotransmitters into believing there are flowers or apples or caramel? Oh wait we could just look again at “Notes” for bottom % too …the ELR Database is mighty! Is it not Subtlety that creates desire?
