I am one of those people that isn’t a fan of most custards because of that eggy flavor. I don’t mean that it tastes or smells like an actual egg (hard boiled, scrambled or sunny side up) but I can taste it like in a (food) custard that would’ve been made with too many eggs, or even a mayo or a cake. If you’ve ever had it, you’ll definitely recognize the flavor. It’s also not only in flavors that have custard in their name, TPA Bavarian cream for example has loads of it too.
If for example you’d take that TPA bavarian cream and test it next to FLV vanilla pudding or FA vienna cream, I don’t think it’ll be difficult to see what I mean with it.
The custards we get as concentrates, are a far cry from what actual food custard tastes like IMO. Just take a little custard powder and make yourself a real custard, try it and compare it with what we vape. While the food product is often sweet, has a light but bright vanilla flavor and plenty creamy mouthfeel… vape custards are mostly eggy, heavy, non-sweet with vanilla that is not as “bright and lively”. FLV Vanilla Pudding comes a whole lot closer in flavor to the food equivalent but is lacking in other departments.
I suspect it’s exactly that eggy component in the concentrate that gives it its creaminess and mouthfeel because all the vanilla creams that are lacking that eggy flavor are not the thickest flavors
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So much good stuff in this thread. re-read noted all your great experiences. Thanks @ All!
Yes The “why do you like something” can be very helpful. That gets you into looking up spec sheets. Then at least you can put a name to what you are tasting. And later when you taste it in another flavor you have a better idea of what it might be and then you know the why you are tasting it.
Greek Yogurt - Sour components from 5-<10% Lactic and/or Acetic acid
Sour Wizard (FA) Sour components from Malic Acid
Since you know it doesn’t work with other Dairy You might then decide to try Greek Yogurt with something with Malic Acid just to see if 0.2% changes to a better Yogurt
Here’s another database thats interesting. It shows you all the chems and what taste they can deliver. They are also the people who deem if something is safe for consumption. All politics left aside, its a source.
But you’ll recognize stuff you see in the Flavor Spec Sheet and tons of stuff you never even heard of.
Flavor Library | FEMA
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Your notes can be as simple as you want. - I like this Strawbery, it reminds me of a Strawberry Candy I used to love as a kid. - I don’t like this Strawberry, it tastes like Grass, and not the good kind. - This Strawberry tastes like a real ripe Strawberry. Etc…
Listing what % you tested at and how you felt about it can be just as simple. No change at all between 2% and 3% is a great note to leave for yourself.
Get what you can from others’ notes, disregard what doesn’t help you, and test for yourself.
Your notes might help others, or might not, but you leave yourself some kind of notes if you want to replicate or avoid the previous results. Or, not! Haha! It’s yours to do your own way.
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This is done if you want a hint of what that flavor can offer. Some flavors can also impart one aspect at high % and another at low %. Like if you have a Cinnamon Danish flavor and want a touch of Cinnamon but not the Danish, at .25-.5% it might do that for you.
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Yes different aspects is what you need to note in your SF tasting. Like this flavor below only has 2 aspects “I” detected. It dosn’t mean others won’t define it differently, it depends on their experience, in SF testing.
Because I can say it reminds me of Vanilla & Butter and some people might find that description better because they have experience with butters that leave a oily feel if they happen to go to high with it.
You have to read between the lines on peoples reviews. (Especially if they are general in nature i.e Oh my this is the best flavor ever 2-3% or This whole series of flavoes is a must have!)
Here’s my notes after testing Vanilla Shisha (INW) in 3 recipes and stand alone. But you won’t understand until you SF test flavors and experience the MOUTH FEEL thing and other aspects people are trying to describe “in their own way”
Vanilla Shisha (INW) .1-.9|1%` Not much Vanilla at all just a hint. Use only for a smooth heavy mouth feel Can come across as creamy feel but it can get oily like a Margarine/Vaseline coating at higher %'s Max 1%
Doesn’t mean the flavor is bad. Just means if you’re looking for a strong Vanilla note. You may want to pass on one.
But… if you have a cream recipe and it’s a very thin mouth feeling and you want to make it thicker so it has a more realistic cream feel. 0.5% of this will make it seem creamier and heavy with barely any vanilla.
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Thanks I looked it up, now I don’t need to buy Vanilla Swirl same profile as Vanilla Shisha (INW) without the longer steep needed. Looks like they r using it the same way Id use Vanilla Shisha (INW) (above) just for body and a slight hint of vanilla.
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They’re completely different flavors. You cannot compare the 2 nor use them as proper substitutes for each other. They’re both vanilla and creams, but that’s as far as the comparison goes.
Maybe if you’re using swirl at 0.5%, you could substitute for 0.15% shisha, but if you’re looking for a more pronounced input from the flavor, they won’t be very much alike.
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In real foods, eggy in custard isn’t necessarily a flavor but a texture. Health Cabin Egg Custard is a little hard to describe but it for myself it emulates that food texture better and it doesn’t seem to have any Vanilla in there. Also, it’s weird but it has an eggy component that it very hard to describe. I really like it but you should know that there is nothing about it hat tastes anything like TFA Bavarian Cream. Also, I make real custards during Christmas and you are right, the concentrates we make custards with don’t taste the same as the real food. I will tell you though, the Health Cabin Egg Custard to me is as close as it gets. I’d send you a sample but I’m guessing (since you don’t care for custards) that you probably rather not.
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Yes you got it. Thanks for looking out for me.
A bit it’s a Pain in the A…
That’s why I try to avoid Super Concentrates. For 1 Drop “can” ruin everything
So the question I had to solve was how to bring Super Concentrates into a normal mixing range.
So I dilute them 4:1 (4PG 1 SC) So now every drop is 0.2% of a drop of undiluted and 5 drops is 1 of a full strength drop.
This is a good example because “for me” I will not ever use more than 1% Vanilla Shisa. But now since its diluted I can extend the range of drops/%'s and still stay below 1% undiluted max I found to exsist. It’s very nice here because it just so happens to match the range of Vanilla Swirl.
I searched in Vanilla Shisa for Vanilla Swirl and visa-versa and yea a few ppl swapping them. How effectiveing they are doing it, don’t know. But this looks like an effective way of a direct replacement “for me only” being on a budget.
| Flavor |
Base |
% being tested |
Diluted PG 4:1 VShisha |
Non Diluted VShisha |
| 1D |
4D |
20% |
|
|
| 1D |
5D |
16.60% |
|
|
| 1D |
6D |
14.20% |
|
|
| 1D |
7D |
12.50% |
|
|
| 1D |
9D |
10% |
|
|
| 1D |
11D |
8.30% |
|
|
| 1D |
13D |
7.10% |
|
|
| 1D |
15D |
6.25% |
|
|
| 1D |
19D |
5% |
1% MAX |
|
| 1D |
24D |
4% |
0.80% |
|
| 1D |
32D |
3% |
0.60% |
|
| 1D |
49D |
2% |
0.40% |
|
| 1D |
99D |
1% |
0.20% |
1% MAX |
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The diluted version of Vanilla Shisha (INW) matches all of these. % wise now at SF 5%. And it’s some nice vanilla and a nice creamy feeling. But upper limit for me is 1% or it’s oil Vaseline coating feeling. Got lucky added 3 more flavors without buying anything.
French Vanilla - The Flavor/Perfumer’s Apprentice
Single flavor recommendations
Average quantity: 5.4% (Median: 5.0%)
French Vanilla v1 - Capella Flavors
Single flavor recommendations:
Average quantity: 5.8% (Median: 5.0%)
Vanilla Swirl - The Flavor/Perfumer’s Apprentice
Single flavor recommendations
Average quantity: 5.5% (Median: 5.0%)
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I think we’ll have to agree to disagree. I clearly smell and taste egg. Maybe it’s something like strawberries that some people taste and others not…
In food, sure, you won’t taste the egg if used in appropriate ratio to the other ingredients, and I love custards. I’d be a big fat pig if my brain wouldn’t tell me to lay off it for health reasons 
So I would absolutely love to have a vape that tastes very similar. I’ve got so many different custard flavors in my stash. I may have a few different variations for other flavors, but custards really stand out. I have a few more on the way just to find the one that compares to the real thing. I’ll definitely give that one from Health Cabin a try but I’ve lost hope to be honest. I’m focusing more on other flavors atm to find something comparable, like vanilla pudding or creme anglaise. For me it’s more about the flavor than the mouthfeel.
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I’m in the same boat, I get a heavy eggy-mc’eggyness from most custards.
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Why don’t you use a scale instead of drops?
1 concentrate drop vs 4 base drops is not the same as 20% flavor unless all drops are exactly the same size. The thicker your liquid, the bigger your drops, even measured from the same syringe or bottle.
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Just for a quick SF test. Close enough for me.
Or if I want to see how 2 flavors blend.
I don’t have enough good recipes now to get into stone making.
So I only buy 10-15ml flavors. Cause I only vape 2ml per day. Not making 10-20ml per day so I try to spare every last drop, I like making tons of recipes. at 1-2ml for those I do use scale.
cheap cheap cheap 
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Yes but its very close if I stick to the rules.
Maybe someone can share a better way.
I see some ppl on YT who start with 10ml add 1% flv, vape some of it… and add another 1% then vape some again… and add another 1%… vape again. But since they are vaping some of the liquid in between they are exponentially throwing the %'s more off wack then how Ive been SF testing.
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If you vape what you make, the quantities aren’t going to make it more or less expensive.
And if you mess something up and you don’t want to throw it out, just add a lot of menthol and it’ll all be OK
I think most of us here buy 10-15ml flavors… they last a long time. Only flavors that you use in abundance (e.g. strawberries, cheesecake, custard, …) make sense to buy in bigger quantities or if you mix for others.
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Yes, and sweetner also. If I add Nic Some times I do exaclty that! Mint and Koolada
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true, but i guess it’s like you and your drops… it’s to get the basic idea of the strenghts to see what works.
But in the end it’s all DIY and you just have to do it the way that works best for you. There’s no wrong or right 
I can see though that working this way will be difficult using highly concentrated flavors and more often than not those flavors are really good too so I think you’re missing out a bit.
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I agree…
2 rules only, Seems to be working.
#1 UC, SC and strong spices get diluted 4:1 noted and used normally. 0.2% 0.4% 0.6% 0.8% 1%
Flavorha their bottles with the weird drip top are un-usable anyways as-is. So they get put into a needle dropper bottle which drops less than other bottles 0.010g on my scale. So they are not too strong enough to dilute. Use then normal just more cautious w em.
What am I missing out on is MOTIVATION right now. 
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Have you tried french vanilla deluxe TPA? For me it’s thick enough to taste like vanilla custard without the egg. It’s buttery and milky.
I use it at most 5% for custard.
It’s much stronger and richer than other french vanilla tPA. I use it at about half of french vanilla or the creme when i mix a recipe with them in it.
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cheap cheap cheap 