How does everyone taste new flavors? I seen a video where the guy put drops into a small cup and tasted. Does this work?
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I usually make a 10ml taster, with nic. I’d just make it as I make my usual recipes, just with only that flavor. 10ml is enough to try as a shake and vape and to let it steep for a while. I look at the median single flavor % on ELR to have an idea of the strength needed.
If you have leftovers, they’re also reasonably good to just mix with each other if you want to find out if 2 flavors work well with each other.
I won’t use it all in one go, sometimes I get back to it to remind me of what the flavor’s like exactly.
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Same as @Jake31
I make a 15ml bottle. Then for me it just goes into my normal rotation of steeping sort’of. I may pull it out a ton week one vs 2/3/4 week mark. For a basic flavor 1 week is long enough for a single flavor test (or mine version with a bit of fresh cream FA and marshmallow).
Beyond that if at 1 week the test just seems off I’ll put it back on the shelf for another week and retest. If I doesn’t work there then I go back to the drawing board. As for the remain liquid I typically just add to it. Adding in my favorite fruit or other flavor I think will be good.
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Oh, forgot… if it’s a flavor that’ll work with coffee, like vanilla, caramel, chocolate, rum, brandy, etc, I’ll put 5 or 6 drops in a mug of coffee. It gives you a good idea about the flavor as well.
I’ve seen people do the same in a glass of water. I haven’t tried that one yet, but I’m sure it works if you want a really quick idea of what a flavor is like.
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here is a link that i just read a few minutes ago. basically you can give it a go like wine tasting.
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I often test with a teaspoon of water and a drop or two of flavor. Imo it works great to find the flavor’s profile, but not much else.
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Yep I just did this while I was mixing today. A splash of water in a cup with 1 drop per 1% in the recipe idea. Gives a pretty good guestimate of how the flavors will play together.
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I’ve tested flavors with unsweetened whipping cream. Just add a drop or two into a 1/2 cup of cream and whip it up. It’s not exactly spot on for percentages but can get you close to a starting point and give you an overall feel for the taste of the concentrate.
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One ounce soufflé cups from Smart and Final.
4ml VG per cup by weight
1 eyedropper PG = 1ml
5 drops flavor = 3% as I use the same dripper tips and bottles for all
Wait 30 days testing each week.
I use cheap plastic cocktail straws cut in half as my tasters. Stir and lick the straw and discard.
Smoosh the juice against the roof of your mouth and inhale in your mouth and out your nose and reverse.
Just my 2 cents on how I set my baseline on each flavor.
Works for finished juices too I find the juice needs to be a bit over sweet to the taste for it to not be dry and edgy in a vape.
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I usually taste by putting one drop in a shot glass of water and then another test with 2 drops in a shot of water. It tells me not only the flavor profile, but the strength of the flavor. The key to consistent tasting IMHO is using the same amounts of water and flavoring all the time. I’m also mixing single flavor tester mixes but that takes longer since steeping is involved.
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3 ml. with no nic. Steep 4 weeks min. and use ELR recommended single mix percentage.
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Personally, the whole “water test” was a huge failure for me (tried it when first starting out). The same can be said for the Cool Whip testing…
The reason being, there’s just so much alcohol in some flavors (as a carrier) that it was almost impossible to get any kind of actual fair comparison of the actual flavor itself (since, over time, the alcohol dissipates from a mix).
My recommendation would be to mix a test set (varying percentages across several different bottles) and then let them steep.
I won’t go into steeping, but if you use the search function here, you’ll find out more. I personally prefer a mix of ultrasonic and shelf time (for all but MF flavors, those are shelf time only). Others say no heat, others are shake and vape (usually fruits), but even those are better after 3-4 days IMO.
Best of luck though! All you have to do is figure out what’s right for you (with your circumstance)!
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I always do my flavour tests with no nicotine. I just see it as something that can denote from the actual flavour, as going from zero to 3mg there’s a definite difference. Not so much in the flavour but the nicotine is a distraction due to the change in throat hit etc…
I also rarely SnV, just because if it’s bad I tend to give up too soon. So 3 days is a minimum, even for single flavours. I do however taste test them immediately, I find I can get a semi accurate idea of what’s to come by tasting a drop.
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