DIY mixes not tasting good...

[xs2man]

Well, last night I couldn't wait any longer. I tried some of my vanilla custard I made. Hmmmmmmm. Don't know if it just didn't steep long enough (2 weeks), or what it is, but I aint a fan. Can't put my finger on it exactly, but it just isn't tasting nice. Could be my coil heads I guess, might change it out on the mini-protank, but that one hasn't had so much use, so I doubt it is that.

In fact, none of my DIY liquids have tasted nice at all. I'm wondering if it's my base? I'm using The Alchemists Cupboard 72mg VG base (It is VERY pink btw), and nothing is tasting right. Not the VC, not the Blueberry Mint (I have just filled an evod with that, although it's only been steeping 9 days), and I'll try my Irn Bru next. I just don't get a good flavour off any of it. Wondering if I should switch to a 54mg PG base and see if that makes much difference? I don't want to have invested in all my DIY gear, and not use any of it.

[andy01424]

found that the VC doesnt taste anything like the pre made,it seems to lack the creamy vanilla part,its like that parts missing had some steep for a month still taste the same,ebvn though its gone mud colour, going to order some vanillin see if that sorts it

[dragon]

I wouldn't worry about it being pink, many nic bases are, and they work fine. What pg/vg mix are you using, and is that what you are used to with premixed?

Coils can have something to do with it, and sometimes tastebuds go weird for a couple of days, so could be that. I find all of my flavours taste weird sometimes, then the day after they go back to being 'lish, so might be worth trying again in a couple of days

[chykensa]

xs2man - if you are able to post details of your recipe, or point us in the direction of the one you used if it's on our forum, we might be able to help a bit more. Also, can you tell us which flavour brands you have used? Sometimes a VC flavour from one supplier is very different to another brand.
Steeping is the cure for a lot of evils however - I have VC fresh, at 2 weeks steeping and at 3 months (I know, I found it at the back of my juice box!), and they all follow the exact same recipe with the same flavourings, and all taste very different.
It's a shame the really old one only has 5ml in the bottom of the bottle

[Jen]

Don't give up hope just yet! A lot of flavourings sold aren't great standalones. Some recipes just aren't brilliant. As dragon says, your taste buds can take holidays every now and again.

If your Irn Bru is CCW - it'll be pants, that flavouring is total rubbish.

I've made countless mixes in my mixing past, I vape maybe 5 of them on a regular basis! It's all part of the fun

[Roscopecotrain]

I ise alchemist vg nicotine. All good with me although i only do fruit flavours.

As andy has said maybe post your recipe and the peeps here can help. Could be you need a higher percentage of flavouring.

Sent from my Galaxy Note 2

[xs2man]

Well, because I'm a bit of a noob with this, I have been making at around 28 mg nic. So I can't really get much past a 60/40 pg/vg mix with the base being VG. So that's pretty much what I've been making up.

My Irn Bru premix is at 50/50, but I think most of my pre-mixed sits 70/30. But none of it tastes good. I made up a Pina Colada mix, and it was pretty rank, although I must admit, it is probably because it tasted heavy on the pineapple. Maybe should have played with the recipe more rather than following the recipe, lol.

I have never managed to get a good mix on my favourite Irn Bru. My blueberry mint is almost vapable if I add an extra few drops into the clearo, but there is little blueberry taste (despite 30% blueberry concentrate, Health-E-Vape). They are my current goto flavours on the pre-mixed (although it is a premixed blueberry, with a few drops of mint per clearo too).

I have a few other flavours steeping too, so will hopefully try them later in the month, but nothing is tasting nice to me. Although I maybe just don't like the taste of the flavours to be fair.

If I could just get one DIY flavour to taste good, I would be happy though.

[dragon]

30% flavouring sounds a bit much to me, I have had flavours which are much nicer with less flavour than more, but every flavour is different. Keep your chin up, experimenting is part of the fun

I've been told that too much flavouring can actually decrease the flavour, but idk if that's actually true.

[Jen]

Too much flavouring can result in a weirdy metallicy soapy taste - not nice.

If you like blueberry - try Capella Blueberry, it's soooo good

In fact, if you're having problems, try making a few standalones or 2-flavour mixes. I started off trying to make complicated recipes and ended up with total crapola.

[testdruif]

Also make sure that you don't end up with more flavoring concentrate than actual base.
You mention a blueberry mint mix with 30% blueberry so how much mint is in there?

"single" flavors mostly contain up to 20% (max) flavoring and are 80% base with nicotine. if yours already has more than 30% flavoring it might be that it's not tasting good because you are in essence burning concentrate rather than PG or VG which is intended to be vaporized.

Here's a small snippet out of the mixology sticky

Impact of flavours on mix
Flavours are the wild card. Each flavour varies in intensity across each supplier. Learning from others experiences or experimenting yourself is the only way to determine the optimal percentage. Most initial flavour experiments generally assume a 20% use of flavours. It is worth noting that both PG and VG have a sweet taste with VG being the sweeter. Too little, or a weak flavour may struggle to overcome the bases.

Although 20% is mentioned above, that may well be far too much for some flavours or palates. The best advice is to start low, possibly around 5% and increase if too weak. The old adage “you can add, but you can’t take away” is a sound one.

As mentioned before, flavours are generally PG based. In a 70/30 ratio liquid at 18mg strength using 20% flavouring, the PG diluent content is likely to be only half of the VG diluent. This seems odd but this is part of the contributing “top up”towards the total 70% PG.

An approach to experimenting is further on.

[Perpetua]

Aug 22, 2013 11:17:49 GMT andy01424 said:

found that the VC doesnt taste anything like the pre made,it seems to lack the creamy vanilla part,its like that parts missing had some steep for a month still taste the same,ebvn though its gone mud colour, going to order some vanillin see if that sorts it

You really need to use TPA's French Vanilla Deluxe to get that creamy taste Andy, if you haven't that will be the reason why.

If you did, then maybe add a bit more for your tastes . . . I'm also using Vanillin in my VC recipes now, 10 drops in 30ml is what I add.

Your VC will need to steep longer than two weeks as well xs2man to get a good result, whose recipe did you use and did you use the flavourings specified exactly?

[xs2man]

Recipes:

Banachocoffe (Not tasted Yet)


Perps VC (Notice change of concentrate for French Vanilla)


Blueberry mint (original recipe, but no flavour after one week, so upped the blueberry):


Blueberry mint, current recipe. Still little flavour, so added 5 drops to evod full, tastes minty, but little blueberry:


Irn Bru - Not tasted yet :


Yeah, I knew I had jumped the gun on the VC, but just couldn't wait to try a home brew, lol. Should have maybe picked a different flavour though. The only reason there is 30% in the blueberry is because I could taste nothing at 20%

[dragon]

I got some capella bubble gum and went through the same process, in the end I gave up, still couldn't taste it, and vaping it gave me an incredibly dry mouth, presumably because of so much flavouring. You win some, you lose some I guess.

Be prepared to have some reject flavours, it is part of the process

[Roscopecotrain]

I have to agree, i have only made fruit flavours so far but even some of them came out nasty, even the same flavour with one company was horrible but the same flavour from another company was gorgeous.

Trial and error, you will get there.

[Super-Shiny]

Yep the creamy part is missing due to Capella French Vanilla Deluxe, their FVD is quite weak, Perfumers FVD is the way to go.

As Dragon says be prepared to have some rejects, i once made 10 mixes and only two of them was nice, it's part of the process of finding what works for you and what does not.

If unsure about anything just make 5ml's only, if it's bad then not much of a loss.

Even if it is a tried and tested recipe still just make 5ml, the recipe might be nice to the person who made it but that does not mean you will like it.

BUT when you do get too make one that gives you that "OMG this is nice" it out weighs all the ones that was "OMG this is bad"