Newbie question about flavorings, To cut or not to cut

I am in the process of making my first purchase of flavorings and I’m a little confused. I believe I have read that some flavorings need to be mixed with pg or vg before they are used ( added ) in the calculator at mixing. I was looking at buying directly from the manufacture on some flavors.
Hopefully someone can explain this process. Maybe I’m over thinking this DIY process, better safe than sorry

You really need to read attached:
https://www.reddit.com/r/DIY_eJuice/wiki/diy_beginners_guide

Reddit? really? come on man

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Most flavors do not need anything done with them and can be used directly out of the bottle - by the dripper if one is included or via pipette or syringe.

The only time you need to worry about pre-mixing a flavor is if it’s extremely concentrated like Flavorah Lime or Rich Cinnamon - where 1 drop could be too much, or in the case of certain powder / granular type things such as Ethyl Maltol, Koolada, etc.


Read the original post for the following threads. You will gain a much better understanding of things new mixers have questions about.

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Short answer: No.

Long answer:
Over all, no, You do not need to ‘cut’ your concentrates.
Very few need to be watered down, and virtually none of the major brand flavors (tfa,cap,fw) will need it. There are some very strong concentrates you optionally* could dilute to make it easier to work with, like Medicine Flower or some Flavorah flavors as an example… But again, if it is not coming in a solid to dissolve, you probably wont have any issues using it as is.

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I’ve seen this one. I guess My question is more about concentration of flavor and if some need to be broken down before adding to recipes. Like if I bought lo raans of the shelf at the store what to watch for

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Loranns can be used as is, just double check that it is in fact water-soluble, dont want anything oil based going in.

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Also check for colouring there are two versions of most of the LA the clear ones and as @mikelej14 said water soluble are the ones you want.

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I guess where this is coming from is that when I look at Capella’s site compared to a e-liquid vendors site for the same ingredient is a much different price higher then from an e-juice company and I was wondering if that was already cut down

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No resellers/distrubutors to my knowledge do not water down flavors, and capella flavors wont need diluting. Pricing varies from place to place. Nicotine River has always been on point with great service, not to mention active here on ELR, which makes handling any oddball issue a snap. They simply buy from manufacturer in bulk and repackage it to various size bottles of their own, much like wizardlabs and some others do. As for price-point, i do not know the answer as to why it varies so much between the different suppliers exactly…

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I’ve been reading for weeks my brain is on overload. I’ve read this over and over and all links I was just thinking I have seen where sometimes they need to be cut. actually I think it was Wayne Walker talking about this but advised newbies avoid for now. Just nature of the beast (DIY) and my luck that I’ll get those in my search for the best deal. Lol

It comes down to the brand, not the flavor title.
For example, the difference in usage between dragonfruit from TFA and Inawera(much stronger than tfa), you can refer to the flavor list search here on ELR and read up on usage % and user notes to learn more about each flavor.

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I meant no disrespect bud. I just thought it was funny to turn to refer a mixing question from a mixing site to another, like guy working at ch.10 news and flicks on ch.3 news to catch the weather

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I’ve been doing that. ( flavor notes) I sure wouldn’t be considering DIY without this group. :slight_smile: I already have an order in waiting with Nicotine River 1 litter 100mg also pg & vg just waiting and surfing for flavors. Will have to look further into them for flavors. guess when one calls it concentrate and others call it flavor it set of my radar. thanks for the info

none taken… I’m just getting info everywhere and kinda on over load. just making sure before finalizing my last order(flavors) . Dang I stepped off in the rabbit hole with both feet and looking for a roots to grab onto. Literally :smile:

Don’t listen to anyone who tells you to avoid something so simple as a flavor dilution!

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wasn’t going to avoid it just don’t understand it. He didn’t really elaborate on the subject and that caused the confusion. basically I was wondering if I order directly from a manufacture who is not an e liquid flavor provider if I need to dilute before I begin the mixing process

Hmmmmm. Let me try to give this a go in a list…

There shouldn’t be any difference ordering a flavor direct from Capella vs bcf for example. There are some that are concerned about flavor dilution/being off from companies who fail to properly shake up their 50 gallon drum of flavoring prior to breaking it down to 30ml bottles to sell to us. (Personally I haven’t run into an issue but some have and they order direct for that reason).

As for diluting prior to mixing there are some flavors that are extremely hard to work with where people will dilute with pg/vg to make it easier. The is a popular cinnamon people do this with(cannot remember which) and then there is blackberry fa. Blackberry fa, for a 30ml bottle of finished liquid, a single drop is often toooo much - and would benefit from making a dilution or blackberry fa flavoring to pg. then when mixing the mixer may only use 1% which really only equals 0.001% of flavoring.

This extreme flavoring issue is rare but they are out there. Also based on flavor sensitivity, like me with mint or cinnamons, it is beneficial to make a dilution. I sadly taste mint and cinnamons from a mile away and every mix with them is hard for me to vape since that flavor always pushes through.

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If you’re talking about the fact that flavors all say “Dilute before using” or something to that effect, they just mean don’t vape straight flavoring.

As Chrispdx said above, there are some rare flavors (I’m lookin at you Flavorah Lime and Rich Cinnamon) that are super potent and only need a drop or so in 15mls. In that case, it might be useful, especially for a new mixer, to dilute the flavor to make it more forgiving.

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yea I was thinking that when it was saying flavor and concentrate there was a difference but now I’m thinking more along the lines of ss concentrated . or real low % needing some dilution. thanks for all the help.

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