Kevin5, think of the alternative which is taste testing in tanks. You can buy throw away tanks which give no vapor and in turn not as good flavor. OR, you can use a decent tank such as a Aspire and throw away the coils every time you taste a new favor. Well I think you know the cost of either of these methods will start adding up at some point. As a shop owner and a new juice creator I quickly turned to the drippers for testing new juices. Much more cost effective just changing cotton and a little cleanup not to mention no chance of tasting tainted flavors when new cotton is used with each new test. I do recommend to you to blend for tasting at 0mg nicotine since the nicotine portion of you blend is one of the more expensive items. This way if the juice turns out badly, make a mistake, or whatever, you saved your nicotine. Once you have a winner, then add your nicotine. 12mg nicotine in a dripper is quite high anyway.
So… Guess I agree with others here. Mass testing can ONLY BE DONE with a dripper.
Kevin5, ringling has good point on Omg nic on test batches. Gets kinda spendy after awhile.
Dripper only way to go for testing flavors, cheaper, easier, IMO.
Myself, I have a bottle of just PG/VG and Nic made up. If I’m short on time and want to take a quick test to see how a flavor is I’ll burn 6 or 8 drops thru, it seems to clean out old flavor and than test new one.
Then if it tastes pretty close I’ll rewick and get a true taste or put it back in the box.
For a man who likes ease, as we all do, it’s time to make up a batch of VG and PG (No Nic) just waiting for flavors. After all, might be able to buy another favor per month with the savings if you do a lot of experimenting.
I also wanted to mention a thought. As I mentioned above I blend for my shop. Basically that means I have not near the time as others have to experiment, then test. Many of you blend up your mixes and steep your brews (sometimes weeks) which is the absolute true test of your blend. Well, I’m not really able to steep my mixes to see how it tastes. If it tastes great after 24hrs I usually will assume it’s only gonna get better. WELL…now and then I wish I had tasted a blend after a good long steep. Now and then something will overpower rather then get better. Has anyone heard of Arnold Palmer juice. This is not a flavor I created but liked the sound of it and decided it would be a good flavor for my shop. Basically it is Green Tea and Lemonade, ect. I tweaked my blend and headed over to another vape shop (friend’s) and we all sat down and tried it. It was to die for (5 out of 5 stars). 5 stars, great, I’ll blend up 100ml for the shop I thought and did so. Once bottled and in a taster tank it was on the shelf. PROBLEM IS after a couple weeks the tea became extremely strong and my 5 star blend tasted like I chipped bark off a rotting tree to vape. Funny thing though, I had tried Arnold Palmer flavor in my friend’s shop and it was quite bad. He tried mine and says “Wow yours is so much better than mine”. But was it, turns out actually NO. I just wanted to mention this because there’s exceptions to every rule as they say. If at all possible do the best testing you can including steep time, untainted flavors (clean cotton), and as I like to do test with a group of vapers when possible. Your taste buds will thank you…
I was totally thinking about batching my PG/VG nic. I pretty set on close to 40/60/10ish mg. ringling thanks for all the insight. I am building on maybe less than a two dozen flavors and learning some organization skills. Figuring out a few good mixes to save a few bucks and seems like a safe hobby.
I snagged a magma clone on the cheap today, so gonna see how it goes.
Magma is an awesome choice however I feel it is my duty to give the Plume Veil v1.5 a mention. I. LOVE. MY. PLUME. VEIL
As Ringling said you should really test after its had time to sit but to address the dripper topic, the PV gives you a whole bunch of airflow options and you can have single, dual or quad coil builds.
Personally I have an Aspire Atlantis tank (rebuilt with cotton) where I have my ADV and then run 2 or 3 drippers with mixes I’m playing with or am steeping so I can see how the flavour changes over a week or so.
You’re very welcome, glad to help. So you picked up the Magma for your testing. These guys are pretty persuasive I’d say. Yesterday I checked one of my hardware vendors and sure enough they had two versions of the Magma. When I order next time I’m going to get one too. I think the single coil and less air might be a solution for me. I have trouble not hacking my brains out because of all the years of smoking I did. My Atty just has too much air flow and I built it with a dual coil as well. Earlier I said I like to test in groups. It’s tough to taste test when you are hacking away so you can see one of my reasons for that comment. Don’t think that’s the only reason to taste test in groups, it’s also fun and you quickly get numerous opinions of your blend.
I use a wickless coil build for taste testing. It’s not the easiest coil to build but with a little practice you can make them fairly quick. Super easy to clean and change flavors. Look it up on youtube. Wickless coil build.
Yep me too the huge lung inhales make me cough just with air. I got the HCIGAR magma clone. Found out smaller diameter coil works a little better for flavor. I can tighten up the air flow pretty good too. I totally feel like a $20 well spent. Actually I’ve not put it down yet.Single coil build ni200 right at .14 ohms smooth as silk with both of the small air holes selected. Can do about 10 drops safely with out flooding the air holes. And with the temp protect I can vape the cotton pretty dry without burning.
I too have problems with the bad boy drippers, too many years of smokin the analogs. Just today got my magna single coil wired. Built it at 1.3 ohms so I can use it with my istick. Now testing is a matter of changing cotton and juice. No more carrying around a whole extra unit for testing and separate for personal vaping. Just switch from Magna and Nautilus and use the same battery. I’m lovin it…
Hi Aux; Was talking to a buddy in the know just today about the mesh wick. He seems to think that you tend to get a metallic taste when using that type wick. You’ll have to let us know…
Good thread. I’ve been looking for a simple and fast way to test recipes. I have a RDA and removed one of the coils. Been dripping right on the coil without cotton, then burning it off between tastes. I just wonder with 24mg juices if im getting an accurate flavor profile. I could also add cotton between tastes, but again I am looking for something quick. Suggestions?
I see that some of you don’t mix in the nicotine until after the flavor is right. Doesn’t this alter the flavor a bit since there is PG being added with the nicotine?
When testing I only use 0mg blends. I’m out to taste the flavor and I feel the nic would just get it the way. Especially such a high volume of nic. Truthfully, if it’s a test, you should not be wasting your nic. Especially being there is a chance we may not be able to buy it before too long…
i’m all for using 0mg blends to test and not waste the nic, but without adding the pg from the nic won’t that alter the ratio as well as the flavor %? Or are you suggesting that I do a blend specifically with zero nic and let the calculator ratio out the appropriate PG/VG mix?
On a side topic, and I know this is not the forum for this discussion, but I have not been following the political legislation regarding liquid nicotine sales… is it a real likely that it will happen?
If you are using ELR calculator (Which you should be) just change the DESIRED STRENGTH to 0. All other values will be calculated for you. Then follow the recipe…
I don’t think any of us know how the story of nicotine will play out. It is a Tobacco product, this much we know. I have from the beginning thought we may still be able to buy it as a consumer, however, If things continue to go as they are progressing now, we may not be able to buy equipment to use the nicotine in making it useless to buy. I highly recommend you do get involved and say your piece before it is too late. Tell your friends as well, Hell, tell everyone whether you know them or not…
I used to try dripping to taste test my mix and personally I never liked it. The flavor wasn’t good for me, plus the hassle of changing wicks or washing the wick whatever. So I bought 6 Kanger Pro tanks if and when I want to taste and although the flavor isn’t the same on a tank it was pretty damn accurate on the flavor profile of what I was mixing.
They are also pretty damn cheap, I cant remember how much they were exactly but they were under $5 and super quick and easy to wash. I never had to switch coils, I would add 1-2mls of juice and hit it a couple times to “clear” out the previous juice. I have had them for months and I’m still on the original coils.
Before I was filling my tanks, tasting, then emptying my tanks, then Disassembling my tanks, then washing my tanks, drying, assemble, repeat…it was too much
Everyone is different and there is no right or wrong way it’s just what works for you! but all I know is it helped me since I don’t like dripping.
