The goal of this mission is to understand how flavoring percents work. Sure, many people will scream, “personal taste!”, and that’s fine to a point. But here we are going to go deeper. I see people all the time asking, “I used 20% flavoring! Why can’t I taste my juice?” I guess I will start with a sticky I made for groups for a certain question and we will break it down from there.
“You have to understand your flavors and what they will do with time. Find the high and low of each flavor and use it accordingly. This way one flavor will not overpower another. You will find the perfect harmony. I have recipes with 1.5% total flavoring and full of flavor and recipes upwards of 20%. If you focus on the flavoring themselves and not total percent of flavoring, you will find you use less and have better juice.”
So what does this mean? I’ll elaborate with specific flavorings to give you a good idea of what is going on. I’ll use a few examples and perhaps that will give you an idea that once you are out of what I like to call the “flavor range,” you are past personal taste.
What is personal taste? Personal taste is that you may like kiwi with your coffee vape. Perhaps you like strawberry fromunda cheese. Heck you might even like TFA Guava Cheesecake Pizza. I know some people that like capella bacon. That’s personal taste.
What personal taste is NOT is the flavor range. Each flavoring performs a certain chemical reaction at each percent. You will learn to find the minimum and maximum of each flavoring and use it according to what it does at every percent to achieve the effect you want. But you will stay in the FLAVOR RANGE to accomplish that goal.
Example 1: Flavour Art Vienna Cream:
This is one of my favorite creams and is probably the most versatile in my collection. I use this in between .4% and 2% MAXIMUM in a mix as it seems to be the “flavor range” for this flavor. Anything above that and I’m past personal taste and into the either muting other flavors range or losing the intended effect of the cream… I.e… rather pointless…
Fa Vienna Cream .4%: Really gives a nice texture to the juice. A rich creamy texture, similar to a heavy marshmallow. The catch is, it takes 2 –3 weeks for the texture to set. You barely taste it at first but it steeps very nice.
Fa Vienna Cream 1-1.3% Provides a nice smoothness to the fruits. Heavy marshmallow, rich creamy off the bat but steeps into a nice smooth note to edge off certain harsh fruits. While you can taste the texture and flavor off the bat, it usually ends up velvety with less fluffy texture.
Fa Vienna Cream 1.3-2%, I usually get approximately the same as before and this is usually my mixing limit. Once the flavor is above 2% in a mix, it simply seems to “mute itself” over time. So sure, it’s great for shake and vape but chemistry says its too high and will mute other flavors unless you use the high range of those flavors too and even then who knows. So you are out of the “flavor range” and past personal taste. You are into chemistry.
Example 2: CAP Strawberry Sweet:
I feel that the Capella strawberry sweet is best used around 2-4%. If you’re going to use a raspberry booster anyway, why are you at 8%? For a flavor that is that strong, you are way out of the flavor range. Once again, it is put in so strong so one can taste it off the bat. But when it steeps or ages, it mutes itself. The problem is you are using a “pop” strawberry for a full strawberry. If you use a ripe strawberry or a berry with a meaty texture, and add 2-4% capella strawberry sweet to make the other strawberry pop, you will find it stays, and stays in the flavor range.
Example 3: Inawera Biscuit:
Tastes like a rich buttery American biscuit. Flavor Range: .4%-2% MAX
INW Biscuit: .4%-.8% provides a nice layery texture to many bakery items. Think the layers on a biscuit. Adding a little of that can really accent cakes, cookies, etc.
INW Biscuit: .8-1.8% this is the sweet spot for this flavor. This will provide you a GREAT biscuit with a nice layered biscuit flavor with a hint of butter. Many mixers above 1.4 will taste a chemical back note that is also found in grahamcracker flavoring. While this taste reducess a little after a steep, I can still taste it.
So it’s MAX is 2 and that’s mixed with a heavy cookie to overpower the chemical back note. Otherwise you WILL taste it. Anything above that… is not personal taste… it’s a waste and you are out of the flavor range.
Example 4: Flavour Art Blackberry:
FA Blackberry: .01%-.1% yes that’s point 01- point 1.
This is one of the strongest flavor I’ve ever used. At one drop per 30 mils, (.08%), it imparts a nice rich blackberry that isn’t too sweet. Anything above .1 and you get straight perfume. So your personal taste here is either blackberry… or perfume… either way you would use the flavor according to the flavor range. This is one of the flavors that you might want to thin down due to the strength.
So do yourself a favor. Find the high and low of each flavor from your testing and use that TO YOUR PERSONAL TASTE. Remember, each flavor can impart a different texture and or taste at a different percent, but there always is a maximum that should be used before it either takes over, “why don’t I taste my high strawberry?”, or you begin to have unwanted results and not sure why. If you focus on the flavors themselves and let them steep, and not the end total flavoring percentage, you will find you use less flavoring and have better juice.
