Testing new flavors starting small and bumping up questions

E-liquids Beginners
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Hey, howdy, hi!! Been lurking for awhile here. Getting all my goodies together, should have everything in by Wednesday. I already have my bottles clean, ready to store nic; syringes are clear coated, pipettes are in as well as some flavors. Scale will be here Tuesday, and pg,vg, nic, and more flavors on Wednesday.

So, I want to test single flavors in 15ml bottles. I would start small, say, 3% in a 5ml mix. I can find how much conc. & VG to add via the calculator, no problem there.

So, say I test CAP juicy peach (for example) at 3%, and itā€™s too light. So, I want to up the flavor to 5%, then maybe to 7, or 10, or 15. In the same bottle (that has ā€˜leftoverā€™ CAPjp @ 3% & VG).

How do I bump up the flavor percentage in the same bottle?

Do I recalculate at @ 5% and subtract the initial recipe, (but I removed some to taste?)?

I know that if i did 40 drops vg to 1 drop conc. = 2.5%
20 drops vg to 1 drop conc. = 5%
If i remove 3 drops to taste
and replace with 2 drops vg and 1 drop conc = 10%

How do I finesse these percentages in the same bottle without making a bunch of separate testers?

TIA!!

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Honest answer? Working with 5ml wonā€™t leave you too much to test. But itā€™s great to test out single flavors. There is a lot to learn and can be gained from doing that.

That being said if the average recomend percent for single flavor testing letā€™s say is 5%ā€¦and if itā€™s just not thereā€¦based on the strength of the concentrate I may only add 3-6 drops. Just to get a better idea of the flavor alone.

it is not exactā€¦and I agree that drops are not exact. I learned for me trying to figure exact quality (ml per drop) was a waste because not all bottles are created the same. But roughly for how I dispense 4 drops on average is 0.07grams.

Many will say picking a value of a drop and shooting from the hip isnā€™t good and I agree. But from a years experiance Iā€™ve gotten good at it in my tests. Latest was a simple tpa custard. Had 15mls leftā€¦wasnā€™t what I wanted. Figure md I would add 5 drops strawberry FA and 8 drops ripe strawberry tpa. The last 15mls was pretty damn good. All of which told me I needed one more flavorā€¦to pull everything together.

That being said batching at the 5ml level is better. Just make one with 4% one with 6% and one with 8%ā€¦for example. That way you can be exact. Then and if you can manage to only vape 2mls to get and ideaā€¦personally I would heap another flavor to add in later to see what it doesā€¦like strawberry to bannanaā€¦apple to pear and so on.

Happy mixing.

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Thank you for the reply Chris!

Yes I understand drops arenā€™t perfectly accurate and ball-parking has a lot to do with this. My screen name should be OverThinker!

I think what I will do is make 5ml single flavor testers. Vape it to test taste. Then decide if I need to de/increase strength in a new mix, and go from there. I like your idea of experimenting with flavor pairing! I could learn more in my first tests than I expected!

As cheap as this venture could turn out to be, I hate to waste anything!

Looking forward to not buying over-priced juice ever again!!!

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i believe @CosmicTruth created a calculator for adding flave and base lets summon him and see if the calculator would help

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Just popping by to say welcome to the forum; enjoy the community and the learning! :grinning:

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sorry for the delay
Feel free to share this link

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I always mix in either a beaker or at least a 30ml bottle. I never make less than 10 ml even for tasting. Always measure the amount you take out when testing so you know how much you have left in the bottle. Keep notes as to how much in and out so you can be sure of what you have. So .3ml Juicy Peach and 7ml VG/PG to make your 3% mix then sample it (I only use tanks so putting 1ml in is almost pointless) I normally put 3 in using a 5ml syringe. Before itā€™s all over Iā€™ve used at least half the 10ml then itā€™s easy to figure the balance. Just a note. Measuring by drops is IMHO the least accurate, syringe is better and scales are the best

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Even though it would require additional bottles [small bottles are cheap] I would not tweak a small 5ml batch while testing.

My approach has always been to research the flavors, then think how/what I wanted to pair, then make up the recipe.
Same thing for testing new single flavorsā€¦research the flavor and use at the recommended %

Make a 5ml batch, then test at time frames. The batches are so small, if I tested it at 2 weeks and thought it needed more [this or that], I would make another tweaked 5ml batch, not add to the original. Then you will have the unadulterated original to let age further and see how/if it changes. If you tweak the original you may never know the true potential.

I have never made anything less than 20ml, but I use the same process. It just takes extra bottles, and space, but gives the truest results. Yes, it takes time and patience, but I have never dumped out any juice, and it was/is all good to vape. I still have some testers from a couple years ago.

Before we had the fancy tanks and mods of today, we used Vivi Novaā€™s, iClearā€™s, and barrel atomizersā€¦to vape. I still use barrel atomizers to test my mixes, although they are getting harder to find, but they last a long time, and I have a bag of them. Kidney Puncher still has them, and Desert Vapes still did recently.

So I guess itā€™s the opposite of what you asked, but I still believe you need to keep the originalā€¦originalā€¦which is why I make at least 20ml for testing, to have enough to keep testingā€¦a week-3 weeks-6 weeks-2 months-etc. Make a second bottle to tweak like you are wishing to do, and tweak on it.

Hope this makes some sense.

This is a barrel atomizer on a Vision Aurora mini squonk. They are 510 threaded, so they will screw right on the mod to test your juice. They only cost a couple dollars each, and last for weeks/months.

DSCN5429.JPG1152Ɨ864 269 KB

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@FL_girl i believe this calculator will help you figure out what to add to your existing juice

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i thought i was the last person to not be dripping lol , @ozo i was using the smok plus kits for testing because of the small tank until recently i now use a dripper nothing fancy Velocity V2 , i still believe tanks like the cleito and crown are better for flavor than the velocity v2 but the ease of testing , @GPC2012 i am also a tank user still it kind of sucks for us because the best innovations lately seem to be rda or rta which i did get a theorim recently and its not bad but the clieto and crown still top my list

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I use several Velocity v2"sā€¦every day, on my squonkers.

Best thing about barrel atomizers is no cotton to change, and flavor changes are instant.

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it was my second rda my first was a derringer by tobeco tiny little single coil rda but did its job i still have it

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derringer vs velocity v2 lol ooops actualky the derri ger is a dual coil as well

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@fidalgo_vapes, @anon60225325, @CosmicTruth, @GPC2012, @ozo -

Thank you all for your warm welcome, tips and suggestions!!! Iā€™m liking the vibe around here! :+1: :+1:

CT I downloaded your calculators. Thank you! That will be a) fun to play with cause Iā€™m a nerd like that, and b) very helpful!

ozo I like your idea of testing over time. I hadnā€™t thought about doing it that way, because I mostly vape fruits, which from what I read fade fairly quick. But I will be making some tobaccos and those surely will need steep time, and will change along the way! It would be good to know at what point in time certain fruits fade.

Iā€™m a squonker too!! Iā€™ve never seen those barrel atomizers with the squonk, interesting. So, the coil is inaccessible? I rebuild nautilus and crown coils as well as rda, and rtas. I think Iā€™ve decided to use my Velocity v2 to taste test on, just dripping on it.

What is your favorite squonker mod(s)? Iā€™ve been eyeing REOā€™s but donā€™t have the funds yet. My second dripbox 60 is dying on me. I wanted the Therion squonker, but was concerned about a single battery running the dna 75. If only I could solder, I could make some cool ones myself.

I will probably try a couple different methods of taste testing and see what will work best for me. Thanks again everyone for your help!!

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how do you like that derringer? I have a low pro, but itā€™s kinda a pain to build on, just finicky.

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I HATE IT to build on , i purchased it just to test juices and singke flaves its not a bad little rda

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it has descent deck to build on but the spit back is horrible you have to be very careful for the same price you could buy a Velocity V2 or a ton of others this one i bought at a BnM shop before i knew better lol i only use a single coil on it i may try a dual coil but i need a new mod ( i like to have a mod for each tank i think this one ill keep on my kbox mini )

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If you get horrible spit back it could be that you use to little cotton. Have you tried to make the cotton real snug in the coils?

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i just started doing the scottish roll on my V2 and love the outcome ill try it on this one as well but before i rolled cotton that way i was having a hard time wicking so ill try that ty im very new to rda rta but i see the advantage to them

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Hope it will work out good for you. Good luck.

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im starting to get a better feel for it , i think ill buy the lynx next seems easy to mess with plus a great review helped

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@FL_girl

I use the same method with fruitsā€¦itā€™s amazing how some leaveā€¦and return.

The Velocity v2 is one of my favorites, I use several every day, own at least twenty, many un-opened for the vapocalypse. You have never seen the potential of the Velocity v2 until you squonk with itā€¦amazing. I have one on two different 60W Dripboxā€™s, they are my lawnmower/go to store modsā€¦I have one on two different DB160ā€™s that I use in TC mode, serious cool smooth vapes, and a blind man can build them, eh?

Some one had the Kanger Dripbox 160W on sale for $35 (?) Halloween sale [look on ā€œGood Dealsā€ threadā€¦ I like the SkyNet, the Kenzie, and a few other EU models, but I have had great luck so far with the DB160W, although out of 5 of them, one began leaking around the tube/bottle, but after months of heavy use. The Vision Auroraā€™s are old school, and were a gift for my birthday from a member/friend on ELRā€¦ @Rob62 ā€¦which brings me toā€¦I would talk to @Rob62 before I got excited about the Therion Squonker. Public or PMā€¦he donā€™t bite [he is old, and he doesnā€™t do anything for himself, he has ā€˜peopleā€™ for that, because he is rich and lives in a mansion] Some one here just recently bought an REO Grand, but I havenā€™t seen any reviewā€¦I would trust a DB160W before the REO. Even after my one DB160W had the small [but usable] leak, itā€™s still a great mod for other tanks, TC or VW.

For the record, I have never had a problem with any of the three DripBox60W, been in daily use since they came out. I would love to hear your story on them, since youā€™ve had two.

Now for the serious shitā€¦since you are a ā€˜squonketteā€™ā€¦I want to invite you over to @Rob62 thread on squonkingā€¦and again, encourage you to talk to him about the Therion.

Also, a link for the barrel atomizersā€¦and Tish is a sweetheart, even give her a call. You will be rewarded if you do.