Novice DIYer concerned by recent thread

E-liquids Beginners
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I just read a thread by /u/MTL_sLOVEnia that’s got me panicking. Basically, someone has mixed 20+ of the top recipes on ELR and feels they’re not as good as commercial juices. The replies freaked me out, saying that many of the top-rated recipes were from around 2015-6 and are outdated/meant for older vape gear/been surpassed/etc.

This was news to me, and I’ve been reading DIY subs for several years before taking the plunge, and plunge I did. I went slightly overboard during recent holiday sales events and bought every concentrate for the top-rated recipes I like. Now I’m worried that I’ve made a bunch of useless purchases.

Adding to that, someone mentioned in the same thread how it took them a year to create a vapeable recipe. Is that typical? There’s only one e-juice vendor I can order from since I’m pretty much on the opposite end of the spectrum from a “supertaster.” I can’t taste any juice unless it’s 70PG and has multiple flavor shots. Should I hurry up and place a MEGA-large order now while I still can?

(One thing that gives me hope is that someone said that the older recipes were “over-flavored,” which sounds like a good thing for me, maybe?)

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Depending where you live and what the legislation dictates or whether if will be changing, you should order whatever you can now anyway - if you still can.

If you’re in Australia like me, we have until October to stock-up on 100mg/mL nicotine base before our dickhead politicians mess that up, and though I’ve heard nothing about them messing around with flavourings or vape devices - who knows right?

I’ve been stocking up on nic base, flavours, devices and tanks with weekly orders for that reason.

What was your question, I’ve ah, forgotten…

Oh right yeah I’ll answer with two summarized points:

  • Which country you’re in will dictate whether you start hoarding flavours, commercial juices, nicotine base and hardware or whether you don’t need to bother at all.
  • You … yeah…
  • If you can cook well and know which flavours go well with others in a literal meal made from real food, then you can mix excellent juices if you start ordering the flavourings: just order some shit you like to start with, get good quality and as long as you know what you like and what tastes good you’ll be fine just start doing it and don’t let dozens of people all headfuck you with a barrage of information and things you must do - it’s just food grade flavourings mixed into liquid to vape: you don’t need a degree to do it well and some of us - myself I’m mainly thinking of because it’s always all about me anyway - learn by doing and if that’s how you learn, then start doing.
  • Opinions are like arseholes remember - just do what you feel like, and fuck everyone else.

There.

Like, poetry :slight_smile:

Oh and also…

  • Don’t feel like you HAVE to stay below any given percentage for the total percentage of flavourings you use in a recipe: 24% total flavourings isn’t uncommon in the mixes I’ve made that taste fucking awesome and I’m quite sure a lot of people who get the pissies with their mixes not turning out, are unaware that the commercial liquids they’re trying to emulate are as packed as possible with flavourings - huge corporations like Vapetasia order their flavourings in such epic amounts they get ludicrous bulk order discounts, so the cost of those flavour concentrates are just cents per bottle to them and it stands to reason - logically - they’re not going to use them sparingly in an industry where flavour is everything.

So if you’re trying to copy a commercial using only 10% total flavour, you’re almost guaranteed to fail unless the commercial you’re trying to duplicate is some super-mild flavoured juice.

Most are not lacking in flavour so you need to use as much concentrate as they do and even if you’re not aiming at cloning a specific commercial juice, anything you create is going to taste more commercially created with higher percentages of flavourings.

My lasagne is ready… better shove the garlic bread in…

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As long as you bought good quality flavourings from well reputed, popular brands those flavourings are never going to be a waste of money or useless purchase: the recipes might suck but the concentrates aren’t to blame.

You can stop worrying.

Immediately.

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Welcome to ELR @FL_Vaper. Fear not, my response is what you’re talking about. While SOME of the top recipes are older, many just over-flavored, by todays equipment/standards. Easy fix LOL.

YOU need to mix for yourself and decide, as no one’s tastes are the same. Start mixing, and get on board.

Well, THAT depends. If you are the type of mixer that just blindly starts mixing, without testing flavors, or knowing what flavors you are working with, SURE, that can happen, but it’s NOT typical. You need to start tinkering around, see what you like, what you don’t, what flavor brands you prefer, or not, etc. Test some flavors as single flavors, to see what they are, how they taste, and if you like them, AND, decide what PROFILES you actually prefer. Love fruits, hate bakeries, you’ll have to see what works for you.

Hehe, again, I think that we me. No ONE person calls the shots on what’s what. It’s true that OLDER vaping equipment, just wasn’t that good (some was), and didn’t replicate flavor(s) very well, or at least, not as good as they are and do now. SO, because of that, (and people not knowing any better), things were kicked UP a notch or two. Newer hardware (and vapers) are more sophisticated, and produce more better flavor now, so if you find a recipe that works for you, but is too strong, it’s an EASY fix.

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Here they come :smirk:

I want to create that Apple Pie mix tonight, but there’s not enough time to really get into it or focus on it fully :angry:

Last day the week tomorrow though then three days off, or forever off if I don’t stop glaring at Miss Supervisor.

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^ That right there.

Just like learning to cook waay back when we all found we wanted to: you’ve gotta just do it - the knowledge and experience will grow and accumulate organically the more you do it.

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@FL_Vaper what can, and does happen is when you push flavors too high (or your equipment gets much better at reproducing flavor, like with many modern setups), flavors can go SIDEWAYS !!! They can start to change, morph, and often times, just start to taste NOT good LOL. Again, @FL_Vaper, if you find a recipe that seems to be on target for you, but something tastes off, or NOT good (hehe), try reducing the overall flavor percentage (ELR has a SUPER easy option for this, under the blue wrench, and edit flavor percentage).

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That’s true for some I suppose but also very much depends on someones individual taste.
Another factor is the choice in flavour brands has grown a lot. Quite a few of those are way more concentrated than CAP, TFA and FW.
Those 3 were primarily used in the ‘old days’.
For the rest I think that @SessionDrummer has it all covered so I’ll shut up :zipper_mouth_face:

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That’s part of my concern. I was very literal when I said I am the opposite of a supertaster. I have the worst palate imaginable. If the PG drops too low, I only taste syrup. If there isn’t enough flavoring in a recipe…meh. I’ve tried mixing some One Shots at the recommended % and they tasted like soap (or worse). I was really relying on the recipes that are on ELR and then hopefully boosting them to meet my needs. Whether I do that flavor-by-flavor or the whole recipe, I haven’t a clue. I was hoping someone would be able to answer that.

OMG, I’m in trouble. I can’t cook worth a damn! :scream:

My concentrates are primarily FA, TFA, and CAP with a smattering of INW, FW, and FLV. I’m trying to put together a Google Doc that’ll list all of my flavors that’ll list them alphabetically, but will also have columns for brands and the size of the bottles that I got.

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My palate was quite bad when I first quit smoking, and it did improve over time. Sorting your inventory is a VERY sane approach. I inventory everything from small bottles, big jugs, Pg/Vg/NIC, etc.

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I’ve been vaping for about 7 years, so I figure my palates not going to get any better than it is.

I never considered adding PG/VG/Nic to my Google Doc. I wanted something so I’d know what I had for recipes. I’m always gonna have PG/VG around, and when the Nic runs out, no more vaping thanks to Trump and his vape mail ban. :imp:

I wish I’d started an organized list sooner. It would’ve been useful since during my shopping frenzy I bought several duplicate items from BCV and River Supply. I was going by my ELR shopping cart and could’ve sworn I’d removed items from that cart as I added them to either of the other carts. Guess not! :flushed:

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Not sure how much of that qualifies as “real” vaping, since I started w/ truly horrible cigalikes, to something that was halfway between a cigalike and and a rudimentary atomizer. It took me years before I got to where I’m at, and a long time before I discovered it was the PG ratio that was preventing me from being able to taste e-juice.

But I really don’t want a vape mail ban to stop me from vaping. If it’s going to take me some time before I’m going to be able to make anything vapeable, do you think I should put in a final order of ejuice? Or do you think I’ll be able to get something at least moderately flavorful within the next month+?

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if you want, i will stop by with my angle grinder and clean up your tongue :grin:

Trump had nothing to do with it. this has been in the pipeline for a long time, and the dems then lumped it in with other stuff.

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it will not stop you, but may make things a bit harder, and perhaps more expensive, just depends.

if you are ok with the cost, order more juice.

what you come up with depends on a lot of things. have you ever vaped no flavor ?

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LOL, I just got off the phone with the vendor I order e-juice from because I saw they had both USPS and UPS as shipping options, which I thought was weird. I had thought UPS was no longer shipping vape products to consumers in the US, but apparently, they are. Shipping companies seem to keep extending their deadlines or maybe making exceptions. It’s near impossible to keep track. At least I know I can order e-juice if I fail to mix up something vape-worthy, which is one hell of a relief.

Yes, years ago. I was told I had vape fatigue on an IRC server when I was talking about how I couldn’t taste anything in any brand/flavor e-juice. I had gone through so many bottles from multiple vendors trying to figure out how I either couldn’t taste anything or could barely taste anything. I was told to vape unflavored e-juice to get rid of my vape fatigue. It was after the vape fatigue thing that someone at a local B & M had me try testers in various PG/VG ratios. When she handed me the tester that was 70PG it was like the clouds parted and I could finally taste something. I will never forget her for being so patient!

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Yep, you’re f$@#ed then :frowning:

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@FL_Vaper, if you think you might want to order some, you might want to stock up now, JUST in case.

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lol. i don’t know where your getting your info, but maybe you should not listen to them. the mail bans are immanent = order today, maybe not tomorrow, literally. if you need juice GET IT NOW. and if you need more nic, buy that to. i have at least 15 years worth, idk if i will live another 15 years.

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oh. but if you have a local vape shop you like, you will be able to get stufff there.

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It’s a bipartisan issue - politicians all drink from the same Big Pharma/Big Tobacco trough :nauseated_face:

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