I sometimes wonder if we DIY types don’t get a little too hung up on precise flavors. I mean, most people who vape do so because we came off of cigarettes - and really, how many flavors of cigarettes did we have? I’m not so much worried about my precise balance of strawberry to banana flavor as I am about the fact that I’m determined not to run down to the gas station to buy a pack of Marlboro’s. Almost anything would be preferable to that. I turned to vaping to get completely off of cigarettes (successfully!), and if it were to ever to turn into nothing more than a gourmet competition over flavors, I figure why vape at all? If you just crave flavor, then eat food.
While that is one way of looking at it another maybe:
When people started cooking food and wanted it to taste the best, they talked to each other and stated things like… could use a bit of salt in there… or possibly things like “hey, an onion in that pot would make that roast flavor really come out…” Use a red onion instead of a yellow or white one… or possibly a yukon gold potato would hold up better than a russet.
I don’t think of it as choosing one thing over another to get picky, but as a way to possibly make something your vaping taste better than you currently are vaping, hey, maybe not, taste is subjective. Anchovies… I never tried them, and last year ordered a pizza with anchovies on half of it while my wife was sleeping. Tried one piece and thought “well I’ll never do that again I wasted half the pizza”. Later that night when she got up and had some pizza she praised me for getting anchovies on it, she missed them (we had been married 20 years).
Taste is subjective…
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I think with those who are really serious, it’s the same as comparing a McDonald’s hamburger with a really nice steakhouse burger. Sure, they’re both beef, but I’ll take the steakhouse burger over the McDonald’s one any day. Creating recipes, DIY, for a lot of us is a culture, a hobby, an art, a passion. It’s not just something we do to stay off cigarettes, it’s something we do because we love it. And I think any time you have a passion for something like that, you’re always striving to make it better.
But, I don’t think it’s for everyone. Not everyone likes the fancy restaurants and the gourmet food. And that is okay, too. 
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I understand what you are saying to a certain extent. I have a friend that works with me that really don’t care much about flavors or what’s in his tank besides the nicotine. Me… I’m the opposite. My nic level is 2mg now and I’m in it for the flavor. I guess it’s an individual preference. Whatever keep you off cigs is a good thing.
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Meh…not so sure about that 
As far as the original post goes, not sure how to answer that one?
I don’t really look at vaping as a nicotine vessel myself and sure I smoked for decades but I don’t compare the 2…outside of the nic I suppose.
If you could careless about the flavors and just need your “fix” then just vape straight nicotine in pg/vg but this is a completely different game for most.
Some look at it as a form of molecular gastronomy, as far as combining flavors to come up with something unique, a hobby and, well, just down right fun!
It’s a bit like asking an artist why he bothers to use colors.
This is all just my opinion of course. I completely understand if someone just switched to vaping to get off cigarettes and could careless about blending flavors and was only concerned about nicotine. After they successfully quit smoking though, I would think the blending of flavors is self explanatory
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Like many, I started vaping to get off of cigarettes. As a nicotine delivery system, it worked great. However, it only took a week or so for me to realize, if it was going to be a successful switch for me, it had to be more than just a nicotine fix. It had to also be a tobacco substitution system. I really loved smoking tobacco.
I quickly learned that with only vape shop tobaccos to choose from, my switch to vaping was going to fail. I was getting the nicotine, but the tobacco satisfaction was failing miserably. When we need a solution, what is the first thing we do these days? We search the net. I stumbled upon DIY, then I stumbled upon vendors that stocked a plethora of tobacco types and flavors. Then I stumbled upon some tobacco loving threads in some forums, and finally I found this wonderful resource called ELR.
I had to act fast, before I fell off the wagon. It worked. My pile of supplies and flavors arrived, and within days, I was vaping mixes that both delivered the nicotine, and satisfied (and surpassed) my tobacco loving taste buds. I haven’t touched a smoke, or had a craving to.
This thread and the comments started me thinking. I don’t vape the fruits, sweets, desserts, custards, etc. The only ‘success’ measuring stick I have, is with my tobaccos. Do those that love the desserts, sweets, custards, etc find that vaping those flavors is a substitute for those delights, themselves?
Does vaping your favorite Oreo cookie mix, help you avoid grabbing the bag of Oreos, when you watch TV.? That nighttime bowl of Captain Crunch? That Creamsicle? Chips & dip? (Is there a chips & dip vape?..lol)
If so, I could see vaping benefits for those trying to avoid snacks as a dietary regimen. I’ve never seen that aspect discussed, or missed it, if it was.
If there’s a good Chips Ahoy recipe out there, I might have to look into it. I could make Chips Ahoy go extinct, all by myself. 
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^ This. If you don’t care about the flavor, then skip it. No reason to put flavoring in your liquid other than because it tastes nice.
I once met a gal at a vape meet who was vaping 0 nic sweet flavors because she was diabetic and thought it was a nice alternative to sugar-free snacks. IIRC, she was not nor had ever been a smoker.
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When I first started vaping I think flavor was less important than after I started DIY. Some of my mixes since that I thought were just meh would probably have been great back then. But after getting involved in the creative aspect of mixing I find dialing in on a specific, desired taste to be not only more important than ever, but also an integral part of the hobby. It helps maintain my fascination with DIY, it challenges me, and truth be told, it helps develop a skill set few in our society have. I’ve seen how my affinity for food has also parlayed into a mixing strategy as well as thinking eventually I will get inspiration for creativity in the kitchen as a result of mixing e-liquid.
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Actually, yes. I’ve joked about this before to my family, but I really do vape my dessert instead of eating it. Helps keep cravings for sugar at bay and it’s nice to be able to switch it up whenever I want. 
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Similar when I have to explain the reason I “messed up” the kitchen brewing
a new recipe of an IPA or Stout.
’ Why can’t I just buy a Microbrew from the store?’, she tells me.
Trying to get as close as I can to my favorite brews is a fun
and challenging hobby.
Going into Ejuice DIY with the same passion.
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Nice. It’s good to hear it helped the girl you met. Thanks.
One of the reasons I asked, was because my wife is a Type II diabetic. I got her an eGo ONE Mini (she refuses to use one of those ‘big clunky gadgets’) to help see if she could kick the cigs like I did. The kids & I would like to see her use it more than she does, but I don’t push. I know how pushing will just create higher resistance as a response. (The Inverse Ohms law of trying to convince someone to do something) I encourage her to stick with it the best she can, and I try and find flavors she likes.
Even though she smokes, she turns her nose up at my tobacco flavored offerings ‘too tobaccoey’ is her response. So, I’m trying lighter tobacco mixes, and just started to add a little DNB, to add a hint of the ashiness, which I hope will help. It’s a work in progress. My son in law likes the fruits, swirls, & sweets, so he’s made up a few fruit mixes, which she likes better than my tobaccos.
The side benefit could be to lessen the craving for snacks, and possibly help with the Type II diabetes. She does a good job of helping control it, with diet & exercise, along with her medication. We’re all working on it together.
I might have to bite the bullet and start exploring vape snack flavors, to help find her preferred mix. I’ve been perfectly happy in my little 30 flavor Tobaccoland, and avoided the sweets and swirls, etc. If it will help her switch to vaping, it’ll be worth it.
I may have to dive down the rabbit hole like the rest of you 1000 flavor lunatics. 
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I was the same way when I brewed, my wife use to just shake her head in wonder at me and my toys, until I made a Porter (which I hate… I’m a APA person), and she feel in love with it. Of course I brewed outside which was a bit easier to clean up lol. When she became diabetic I had to stop my brewing (beer being mostly high in carbs (a diabetic no no)).
DIY vaping is the same thing, allows for people to learn and progress, like the pot roast I just put in the crockpot earlier today, while living out of a hotel room I could just have gone to a restaurant but the question is… why settle…?
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For me it’s that abbreviation of ADV (all day vape). This is what got me off the cigs…an orange based flavor.
The adv is what helps get us over the hump. But being hung up on a flavor is what makes a juice an adv. searching for it is the hobby, art, and passion as said easier. Wether that be a Tabbaco, fruit, bakery type
As a diy’er, I still can’t believe that I had to try 15 different strawberry mixes at all the local vape shops never to find one. I thought SB would be so challenging to make. Not a single one “floated my boat.” Yet, by mixing my 3rd SB mix…wam’oh a SB that I was happy with. Now every SB recipie I curtail to my liking and everyone is an ADV with different twists and turns.
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What comes to mind is personal preferences. There’s DIY’r who like to create and craft their own blends bc they seek out a healthier alternative, a cost reduction and then there’s the just want to keep from smoking vaper. There’ s plenty more sub categories I am sure, but for the most part we fall into one of these at some point in our time we’ve been vaping.
At first I’d buy a gas station ejuice just to keep from being bombarded by the cigarettes on the other side of the counter. In fact I did not set foot in a gas station nor a pharmacy ( CVS) for a very long time almost a year to be exact bc it was Trigger for me and it made me feel insecure as if I left that store still " needing " something yeah I forgot my pack of Marlboro’s is what I forgot and forever.
I like to be able to build a recipe and use any ingredients I chose to that’s what is so liberating about DIY and the simple fact that it’s at a fraction of the cost is kudos for me. The precise-ness of a flavor well that comes with becoming more and more knowledgeable about the product your using and in do time it does become a concern d/t you realize less is more or you find more is necessary of that certain flavor.
It all comes down to continuing to stay off of cigarettes and to vape what ya like but everyone’s beliefs/ goals/ direction is different. If ya need any pointers we’re always here to help.
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Oh, I understand what you’re saying JoJo, and I agree with the steakhouse burger vs. McDonald’s comparison. I didn’t mean that I don’t care about flavor - in fact, I’m vaping a DIY recipe of mine right now that’s got four different flavorings in it, after having adjusted the recipe a couple of times. It’s just that I’m somewhat new to DIY, and I’m blown away by how meticulous some people are about their flavor combinations. But to each their own!! Follow your passion. To me, the flavor is the icing on the cake - the most important thing to me right now about DIY as a switch from cigarettes (and, after that, premium pre-made juices) is that I no longer have to worry about having “too much month at the end of the money”.
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I’m interested in both sides of it. I like the idea of a quick shake’n’vape, simple flavor, just something that tastes good to go. But I do like complex flavors too. I’m only starting here, so won’t be trying anything overly complicated for a while, but I see it a bit like cooking [which I also love] - it’s an expression. I don’t think people put 10 different ingredients in becaue they happen to have them [though, that probably is the case at times] - more, they’re seeking out the perfect combo’ - doesn’t mean you have to do it!
Just go for the simple stuff - mix some strawberry and custard up, vape away - whatever your preference, you’re saving money! and your health 
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