I’m trying to figure out what to do here. If anyone can help me with a good tasting pod recipe, fruit is fine because that’s my preference. I just mixed Apple Melon Candy one shot from FJ. I put it at 25% flavoring 50/50 PG/VG, 50mg/ml salt nic and only made 10ml as a test. It’s very lackluster, I taste the apple but not the watermelon or candy. I’m coming from dispos, (geek bars to be exact). I know they jack up flavoring and sweetener in them, I would like to replicate a dispo until I get used to using my device again. Just very discouraged by the flavor and worried I won’t be able to have something with high flavoring and as good as a dispo. If I can get close to that flavoring, it would be awesome. I bought some Raspberry jam by Nomz and Raspberry syrup SSA, should I maybe combine those two and try that? I have some other flavoring as well but not many because I wasn’t sure what direction to go. If someone could help me, I’d greatly appreciate it. I’m new to this so any info. For me helps!
@Monero I can’t directly help with Pod recipes, as I barely Pod, BUT, a quick check for the top rated Pod recipes on the ELR recipe side could help.
I’ll check it out. Thank you! Do you know if one shots are a one size fits all thing or are they mainly used for different devices like RDA/ whatever those thingys are called lol.
You’re welcome @Monero. Sadly I don’t really do One-Shots, BUT, I would say most are probably geared towards RTA/RDA’s BUT, easily fixable. Pods and/or MTL typically don’t do well with complex flavors, and need stronger flavors to work better. If you bought some one shots, and they recommend 10% as an example, you could easily mix it stronger at 17-20% and it MIGHT work out better in Pods, or MTL setups.
I was in these shoes not too long ago, with the same one-shot even.
Fact is, you’re not going to get dispo flavor, but that’s ok. If you’re after good flavor your tastes will evolve. I took a pull from a dispo a couple of weeks ago and just about gagged on all the sweetener and coolant. I have no idea how I use to rip these on the regular.
As for the one shots - I started with a bunch of the FJ One Shots, trying to mix for pods, and was very disappointed. Some of them are ok in higher wattage setups. None are great. Apple Melon Candy was lackluster at best. If you try to push these high enough to work in pods you really just end up with something soapy, medicinal, and muted.
Also, work your nic level down. I’m not sure what formulations are being used in commercial 50mg/ml juice but when I tried that with the Delosi salt nic it’s just harsh and stomps all over any flavor. Try pulling it down to 20mg/ml, max.
The raspberries you have are excellent, and you should be able to pull off something with those. Play around with it. Make up a few testers. Try a mix with 1% of each. 2% of each. 4% of each. Intentionally go from too low to too high. There’s a sweet spot somewhere. Same with sweetener. For straight fruits CAP Super Sweet works pretty well. Try different levels from 0.5-2+%.
For pods you’re going to need a bit more flavor percentage, but the trick is to layer similar flavors and use some enhancers to boost things.
This is a recipe that I mix a lot of. I don’t do pods much anymore, but my wife does. She asks for this one often.
There are 3 different dark berry flavors that all sum to “Blueberry” but use different chemical pathways to get there. The lemon boosts the top end. The cream helps smooth things but isn’t essential. Same with the WS-23. I really don’t care for coolant these days but just a touch will help things pop. CAP SS works fine for sweetener in this, 1-2%.
Another one I make for pods is one that I adapted from @SessionDrummer 's
Watermelon Explosion
Percentages are on the higher side, but not crazy. There’s a powerhouse “artificial” watermelon, a powerhouse natural watermelon, and a solid strawberry to help fill out the “red”. The Fuji gives everything a fruity wet boost. And the MM thickens.
Layer, boost, and enhance.
And give yourself time to let your tastes adjust. Hell, now and then I’ll vape just straight unflavored PG/VG/Nic. Coming off that even the lowest flavor percentages are full of nuance.
Welcome to the flavor journey.
Wow 25% ya might wanna back that off a little. Look to the recommended % and at the reviews on FJ. The recommended % for that is 12.5% try mixing your 50mg 50/50 blend at that percentage.
Yeah I guess my logic wasn’t all there, huh? I thought maybe I should double it. Again, I’m new. Like I just started CRAWLING new. But I really appreciate your advice and will try doing so! I thought that was maybe for RDA (something I know nothing about) so I tried to make it more. I’m guessing bad idea.
THANK YOU SO MUCH! I really appreciate this, I’m at work and trying to read it all. But nonetheless, this is very helpful. What do you recommend for me to try these flavors by themselves? I know I need to come down on the nicotine that’s what I’m working towards. Seriously, this is very helpful and I appreciate you.
Like @McDuckie said, try it at 12.5%. If you still have some of that 10ml tester left dilute it in half with 50/50. That’ll cut your nic in half as well. That’ll be the easiest way to see the difference.
For the other flavors, mix em up solo and see what you think of them individually before you pair them. Use the single flavor median for each flavor (on the recipe side) as a starting point. For a pod you might end up bumping that up 1.3x or 1.5x.
Try it as is. Then add a drop of super sweet and try it. Then another drop, etc. Experiment until you find something you like. Just always start low and work up.
Read, read, read. Dig around. There’s years and years of really good conversations here with tons of great knowledge. Ultimately, taste is subjective and as much good info as you can get it’ll still take trial and error until you find what you like.
Hey no problem every mixer out here has been there as the new guy. It’s good that you ask for advice. It’s been an issue that’s been thrown around for awhile that pods need to be vaped at high %. I vape primarily with pods and I tend to get good flavor between 9-13%. It does depend on the setup that you are using. I use Voopoo pods and coils and usually find that fruits vape better with a looser coil say .15-.30 ohm with a little more voltage, though if you are vaping salts you probably use something in the .60 -1.0 ohm range at a lower wattage. I’d try mixing that recipe at 12.5% with a coil around .60 -.80 ohm for your salt nic mixes.
Thanks again! I also had another thought, what about switching devices? I have the means to buy another device. I was using the OXVA XLIM PRO 2 DNA with 1.2 ohm pods. I was looking at other devices to see if maybe I could get better flavor out of those but I know salt nic is best used for certain devices.
What device do you use as your main pod setup? Can it take salt nic? Do you know of any that do?
I’ve heard that the OXVA units are pretty good devices. I noticed that they also have .6 & .8 coils you may want to try the .8 coil with your salt nic. I find that using a sub-ohm coil such as an .8 rather than a 1.2ohm allows more airflow and can help your juices to taste better.
As for my personal choice I use mainly a Voopoo PNP pod tank with .6ohm coils at 25W though I do not use Salt Nic very often. In fact the only nic salt juice I have is Humble Lemon Cake salts in a 25mg and I vape that in a Voopoo Vinci 3 pod with a .8 coil at 15W.
That’s one of the better pod systems out there. There are lower ohm coils for that system that may give you better flavor (but that’s subjective).
Just an FYI…any vapor device can use salt or freebase. Lower wattage/higher ohm is better for freebase, while higher wattage/ lower ohm devices are better for salt nics. The reason being is that freebase is harsher at higher ohms , (but has a better throat hit) while nic salts will have less of a throat hit at lower ohms/higher wattage but it has much smoother of a throat hit.
As said, everything is subjective. I mix at 40PG/60VG for all my of juices now, whether they be for a pod or an RTA/RTA.
I concur. The 0.8 or 0.6 Xlim DNA pods are great. My wife uses this.
The OXVA Nexlim is my preference if I have to pod. The 0.6 in dual coil/boost is just about RDL, and the best flavor I’ve gotten out of a pod. That combo gets wattage into the 30s. The Nexlim Go is very $ friendly and silly easy to use.
Careful how much nic you use if you try any of the dual coil pods.
I got that Nexlim Go about a week ago and it’s definitely the best pod system out there for the money right now. I’m using the 0.6 pod in it and yeah, gonna have to bump the nic down to use the dual coil boost option.