Yet another newbie with a muted flavor problem!

E-liquids Beginners
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Hi all,

My problem: I followed several recipes on ELR, however, after steeping, no flavor.

I am new to the vaping world.One day, by accident, I wanted to learn more about vaping, so I happened to fall upon a YouTube video by New Amsterdam Vape. Then I learned that there was something called DIY recipes. I wanted to save money, so the idea interested me. I bought all the equipment and got ready to mix. I mixed by weight. The following are items I used for mixing:
1- PG: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005PZBRUC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
2: VG: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004C7MTLA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
3: Nic: Liquid Barn Nicotine(Strength 48mg), (Base PG)
4: Scale: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EPO9M2Y/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
5- I used the ELR calculator.

Since I bought a package of 25 plastic dropper bottles, I decided to go ahead and make 25 different recipes and find the ones I like. I made 10ml in all the bottles.
All my mixes have been 30% PG, and 70% VG, and 3mg of Nicotine.

Steeping method: Time in dark. All bottles placed in shoe-box during this whole period. I give the box a good shake every other day.

For 2 recipes (Double Apple Hookah), the steeping time was 13 days. for the rest of the recipes, it had been 9 days of steeping.

My friend and I wanted to test them together, so it wasn’t just me. We both thought they all lacked flavor and sweetness. some had a hind of the flavors in the recipe, others didn’t taste like anything. it was more like smoking air lol. we used my friend’s RDA and then tested some of the same flavors with my Baby Beast tank. same result. I stopped testing after the 9th sample. I will get back to them next week to see if it was more time that was needed. I say that despite the fact that the comments on the original recipe on ELR said it was a SnV, and many were saying good stuff about it.

I will post 4 samples. (note: for some, I made changes as needed for the PG/VG ratio and the Nicotine strength. Also, I might change the manufacture as needed) So this is my version of the original recipes.

1- Strawberry Cream by New Amsterdam Vape. (used FW Bavarian cream while original used TFA)
Nicotine - 6.30%
PG - 13.70%
VG - 70%
TFA Strawberry Ripe - 5%
FW Bavarian Cream - 3%
TFA Graham Cracker Clear - 2%

2- Blue Slush, my remix of @Trentmit recipe (http://e-liquid-recipes.com/recipe/746493/Raspberry%20slushie)
Nicotine - 6.30%
PG - 5.50%
VG - 70%
Blueberry Wild (TPA)- 3.50%
Gummy Candy (TPA) - 4%
Koolada 10% (TPA)- 0.20%
Raspberry (Sweet) (TPA)- 8%
Strawberry (Ripe) (TPA) - 2%
Super Sweet (CAP)- 0.50%

3- Blue Slush 2, my remix of a @LordVapor recipe (http://e-liquid-recipes.com/recipe/417341/Blue%20Raspberry%20Slushie)

Nicotine - 6.30%
PG - 8.20%
VG - 70%
Blue Raspberry Slush (OSDIY)- 7%
Marshmallow (FA)- 1.50%
Raspberry (FA)- 1%
Raspberry (Sweet) (TPA)- 4%
Super Sweet (CAP)- 2%

4- Dewberry Cream, my remix of “Legend” by @IshMan (http://e-liquid-recipes.com/recipe/374777/Legend)

Nicotine - 6.30%
PG - 6.70%
VG - 70%
Graham Cracker (Clear) (TPA) - 3%
Honeydew II (TPA) - 6%
Vanilla Bean Ice Cream (TPA) - 8%

All these 4 recipes were steeped for 9 days. my problem is not that they taste bad. it is that they do not have a taste at all. some hint of cream in the Dewberry Cream, and so on in the other flavors.

I was really exited about DIY, but I got very discouraged by my testing experience. What might be the problem here? is it the brand of VG? or PG? I do not think there is anything wrong with my nicotine bottles as Liquid Barn is a good product. I do not think it is the flavors that I’m using because if it was the flavors then they would taste bad. However, as I have stated earlier, MUTE flavor.

Please help!
Thanks,
Zak

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As a stupid animal trick suggestion…
get a small shot glass and fill it halfway up with water, add a drop or two of your flavoring in it (like the strawberry or raspberry) and see if you can taste the flavor from your ingredients, it might be a waste of a couple drops of flavorings but it may also help you see what your taste buds are or are not picking up.

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First…this is the most detailed request for help from a newbie I’ve seen to date! Usually there are a lot of questions about missing details before anyone can help.
That said, I dont use any of those flavors, so i cant give much advice, but it looks like you covered everything and the recipes should work just fine.

Fresh wicking and coil heads for testing? Probably, but had to ask. Otherwise, hopefully someone more familiar with these flavors can help with proper advice, I just wanted to commend you on including all those details! You will be fine. Dont get too discouraged.
Good luck!

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Also put a drip on your hand and lick it off. Do you get anything?

End of the day, not sure I can really help with your problem as I don’t blend the flavor profiles you have here and don’t know anything about that slush flavor (OSDIY) one.

However, it seems unlikely you wouldn’t get a kick of flavor from the Blueberry Wild 3.5 and Raspberry (Sweet) 8 one. I’d expect it to mostly taste like raspberry as I’d expect that flavor to overtake most of the others in the mix. But again, I’ve not tried anything like what you’re mixing. My use of raspberry and blueberry tends to be in custards and cheesecakes.

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I personally don’t trust Amazon for these types of things, so, I would source the PG/VG from a reputable dealer, I’m sure someone here who is from the US can help you with that.

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When I stopped the ciggie said and started vaping I got next to nothing from flavours.
My years of smoking totally destroyed my sense of taste.
It took a while to regain my sense of taste but it slowly got there!
Patience is the key, along with plenty of mouth wash and brushing the tongue and gums! LOL

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Μaybe not important but with what type of plastic is made of? Recently I notice that when I use soft plastic bottles I have some muted flavors. Maybe it’s just me.

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Assuming your issue is muted tastebuds and not a problem with any of your bases, you can also adjust the flavor % with the calculator. I’ve only been at this DIY mixing for about 6 months or so but only now am I really starting to taste every ingredient (atleast most) in a mix. Alot of store mixes taste overly sweet and syrupy. Maybe you could try upping your flavor% a tad and see if it helps. Hope you get your issue squared and welcome to ELR!

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It took me a few months to unmute my taste buds after smoking for 30+ years. Don’t know if that’s the case with you or not, but try adding a few drops of sweetener and see if that wakes it up a bit. Personally, I keep the sweetener to a minimum, but I did find that it helped “taste” the juice a bit. Also make sure you are drinking plenty of water as vaping will dehydrate you and affect how you taste things.
Try adjusting your wattage, it may be that you’re vaping too low? RDAs work the best when testing juices as the cotton is easily replaced and you have a wider range to test with than you would on a tank.
From what I can see, the recipes shouldn’t be muted. I’ve tried the Legend (a personal favorite) recipe and it’s pretty flavorful. I used Honeydew TPA V.1 though as I’ve read V2 isn’t as good.
Good luck. Hope you find your sweet spot.

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First of all, thank you all for brainstorming with me here. Let’s get all these idea’s out and start ruling out what we can to find the real source of the problem.

@CallMeTut I see your point. But in my opinion, your suggestion is something that would be done if I thought the flavors were off or tasted strange. I have over 20 flavor concentrates from TPA, INW, FW, CAP, OSDIY, and a few other brands. I don’t think it is possible that my taste buds are not picking up on any of these different flavors of different brands.

@Plunderdrum lol. Thanks. the reason this thread is somewhat detailed is because before I started writing about my problem I tried to find other topics in this forum with similar problems. So I read about 4 threads with a similar situation. And I noticed the details that experts were asking for before their input. As for the issue of wicking, we started out with a fresh cotton for the first sample. but never changed it for the other 8 samples. I thought that we should change the cotton once we feel that there was a strong flavor coming out. To me, the point of changing the cotton would be to make sure I’m getting the recipe’s flavor without any flavor residues from the previous juice. However, in my case, there was no flavor to get rid of in the first place. So I kept the same cotton for all 9 samples.

@Cubano_v2 I only get a hint of raspberry and blueberry, but in terms of the strength of flavors, nothing like commercial brands I used to buy.

@Grubby That was my first thought. To be honest, I was hoping for an easy fix. I had hoped that someone here would tell me that the main problem was the brand of VG or PG I had used. let’s keep this idea on a placeholder and see how many people agree and why.

@Chewy and @Lostmarbles I did not smoke before. I think my sense of taste is fine. I bought Dewberry Cream by Kilo and loved it. just a bit too creamy and sweet for me. I tried some of the Naked 100 flavors and I can totally taste them. Additionally, I tried the 10ml samples with a friend who is an experienced vaper and we both shared the same feedback.

@Laberythm Oh man, I did not even think about that. I got my bottles from Amazon ( https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B016B34H2G/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 ) I don’t know what types of plastics are out there, but that’s the one I was using.

@Brandolf thanks buddy. As of now, I am thinking about increasing the flavor %. But there are 2 issues with this suggestion. First, from reading other threads with similar problems, I learned that sometimes more flavor causes a mute flavor recipe. Second, is that on the comments of the original recipe, not one comment was about a mute flavor. Some may say the didn’t like the recipe, but none said it was mute.

So, as of now, the issues I see making sense in my situation would be:
1- changing the cotton with every sample? could the first sample have muted the other samples?
2- get different PG and VG. like Liquid Barn bases?
3- Plastic bottles maybe an issue?

What else is there? anymore issues I have overlooked? or does anyone agree with issues previously mentioned here?

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This bottles looks good. So bottles is not the problem.

Sometimes it hapen when the first sample have a lot of ethyl maltol but in your case I don’t think that it is to consider.

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The first sample i used was a 13 day steeped Douple Apple Hookah recipe.

Bahraini Apple Gold (WG) (INAWERA)- 3%
Cream Fresh (FA)- 0.50%
Marshmallow (FA)- 1%
Tobacco Drop Shisha (Inawera) 0.50%

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Sorry, just assumed you had smoked.

Why not make up a 30ml stone of the recipe.
Then mix 15% of that and of not strong enough up your % in 2% increments and so on until you reach your preferred taste?

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I would try increasing the percentages in a 15ml batch. If I loose the sixty cents and it is draino, I have gotten sixty cents of education on the flavors.

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If Bahraini Apple Gold is anythink like Inawera Shisha Golden Apple then is not a problem the % of this flavor or a ethyl maltol problem. I have 2 more questions just in case… from where did you find this flavors (I mean somebody gave them to you or did you buy them) and when you open the bottle can you smell them? Stupid question i know but in case… (Sorry for my english)

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@Chewy and @SmilingOgre sounds like a plan. I might do that.
@Laberythm when I open the flavor bottles I can smell them good. I bought them a few weeks ago from cigexpress and Bull city flavor.

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Compared to others on these forums I’m a newbie. But honestly the best advise for anyone just starting out.

Try single flavor recipes first with flavors of things you like @ recommended % for that flavor.

Then once you know what a flavor taste like and what % you like it at. You can judge if you might like a particular recipe or need to change a particular recipe.

Also vg and pg not sure I’d trust amazon. For That mater I’m not sure I’d trust amazon for anything I was going to vape… prefer a reputable company

I buy my vg and pg from liquid barn.
I’ve tried vg and pg from nic river . Came in their starter kit. Juices just didn’t taste the same. So I’ll stick with liquid barn.

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Like grubby said I wouldn’t teuse amazon for flavoring I go to bullcityflavors.com their prices are good and they have every floor you could think of in every major flavor brand try them and you should have no problem with flavor as long as your mixing the right amount of flavor

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You sound like me when i started vaping 9months ago.
Only diff i was a smoker for 25yrz.
Ppl told me same AS they tell you, But nothing worked. I was about to give up But finally found something that tasted something. That was all i needed, vaped This liquid for 6months before i finally started to pick up on Strawberry and other flavours.
For the first 6months i vaped vampire vape heisenberg and t-juice red astair.
This helped me to learn and reset my palets.
Now i taste all my juices an i often Go down in amount of flavourings in mixes. Sometimes i loose the taste if there is to much Flavour in a juice.
Example both red astair and Heisenberg is req 20% But i Allways mix 10%.
Recipes on elr can be found with 20%+ Flavour in it, i often then Go down on the amount of each Flavour to Get to my liking.
When that is sead i Also got to say. The recipes you refere to in first post is shit.

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Yeah man, I assumed you smoked before too. Most of us did. One weird question. How HARD are you shaking your mixes and do you have any space left in the bottles? Longshot I know, but we’ve covered so many possibilities. I have a hard time believing bad PG and VG are to blame. Off, weird taste perhaps but not carrying flavor at all? Huh. I giess anything is possible.

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