DIY eJuice thread

j26m

Cheers.

Thecageyone

Don't just take my word though! Look up some notes on the flavour maybe if you're unsure. I'm going on my own few brief testers, FA butterscotch is new to me too

j26m

Made a 10ml tester at 10%. We'll see how that goes.

8mm

Blimey 10% is huge for a FlavourArt concentrate!

Some notes on FA Butterscotch:

Stronger, sharper, richer, and sweeter than FA Caramel, like butterscotch ice-cream
topping. For bold caramel flavor in a recipe, Butterscotch stands out more distinctly than
FA Caramel. Where caramel blends in; Butterscotch pops. 2% Butterscotch + 1% FA
Brandy makes a Buttershots butterscotch schnapps flavor, good as-is or in cocktail-type
vapes. When combined with nut flavors or Coconut, some very rich, buttery notes can
develop over time. The higher quality your nic, and the more VG in your mix, the
smoother Butterscotch will taste.

j26m

Oops

Thecageyone

Not at all, HIC's notes might be bang on for flavour, but you're talking a guy who does like 7% total mixes And those notes above are for using it more as a complimentary flavour. Not all FA, I'm finding, are mad strong. And remember, solo, it's being watered down by a lot of VG

Look through the general notes on e-lr. http://e-liquid-recipes.com/flavor/240

I'm tasting my mix here, which has 4.5% FA butterscotch in there, and it's yum

http://e-liquid-recipes.com/recipe/584314/Butter+nonsense

Sometimes, just follow your own instinct

8mm

Sure sure sure.... it's all very subjective 'n all.

I do find that the more concentrate used the more likely I get burnout. Also flavour sensation tends to build in the palette the more consumed. Same holds true with food and drink.

A lot of flavours have a certain point where adding more does nothing, there is no increase in flavour it just maxs out and adding more is just a waste.

Thecageyone

Best thing to do ... is make up some at 5% also, see which you prefer.

If you're making a solo butterscotch, then you clearly like the taste right? 10% solo is nothing, I think any less it'll be too watered down and lost in your mix. But I do like strong flavour. I agree sometimes adding more doesn't help, but I also find that not adding enough means you may as well not include it.

General consensus on Hic's notes are to double, or even triple his % at times. I've asked him on VRU forum about Lime tahity and lemon Sicily, I took his advice and upped the %, it worked out pretty good. So I don't simply dismiss his suggestions, but that is all they are.

8mm

Citrus flavours are a pain in the ass to work with due to fading. FA lemon and lime are lovely but I always seem to be topping them up in a mix.

I find some of HIC's mixes way to sweet but most are pretty decent.

Thecageyone

I made up a strawberry lemonade using his tips as a base, it seems to work pretty good. lemon Sicily is good stuff, I was afraid it might be like the lemon some juice companies use for their cereals. Which often has a disinfectant after taste Lemon Sicily has none of that, it's like the lemon coolly you'd get on deserts. I used a touch of lime tahity to spruce it up a little and use both ripe and sweet strawberry, I think they could be upped a little though

http://e-liquid-recipes.com/recipe/581324/LemonHead

8mm

Still discovering how to work with strawberry as all I have is FA which while nice seems weak. I have a juice that's been sitting a while 6 or 7 weeks maybe and the strawberry is coming through a bit better, seems to benefit from a long steep and a bit of raspberry too.

I really want to play a lot more with less sweet mixes (can you tell LOL).

Seen this posted elsewhere and I'm intrigued!

3% FA Cucumber
1% FA Black Pepper

Thecageyone

TFA Strawberry ripe and Capella sweet strawberry are the only 2 I've tried yet so far. I've heard good things about Inawera Shisha strawberry though. The one you have is also known as red touch right? If so, it's also supposed to be very good? I find the same though, strawberry can easily get eaten up and pushed aside by so many other flavourings. It's a bit of a weed innit?

I love cucumber, not sure how I feel about it in a vape though, I'm also intrigued

8mm

Yeah I've heard good things about the Inawera ones too. I think FA go for the as natural as possible route where something like strawberry needs a certain maybe artificial kick so that it doesn't get lost in a mix with other strong flavours.

I've been tasting FA's Nonna's cake and it's very nice. How do they get your mouth to feel like it's full of sponge cake? it feels like texture as much as flavour, very sweet too but it suits what it's trying to be.

Thecageyone

Been trying the nonna's cake too It is rather good. I can see me using it a lot

On the strawberry, I've read up a fair bit on it now, and it seems you really do need to find a combination to get your desired result. Like 50/50 ripe and sweet is recommended a lot, so I've been trying that, and it seems to be working. I've tried other things like using the likes of dragonfruit and even lemon sicily to help 'pop' those strawberries Still a W.I.P, but that's part of the fun. I do want to try the Inawera one though. Maybe a bastard mix of the 3 will do it? make strawberry finally stand up ta feck! lol

j26m

I'm on a 6% mix of FA Strawberry at the moment, and it tastes great to me.

Thecageyone

j26m wrote: »

I'm on a 6% mix of FA Strawberry at the moment, and it tastes great to me.

That's what it's all about end of the day.

Thecageyone

Mixers have been very quiet lately!

I just wanted to post that after my complaint to DarkStar, about the duff cap on the 250ml nic, they sent me out a package containing 60ml Cap VC1. Sweet. Ok ... it cost me €3.50 to collect .... but that's not a bad deal

chipfox

I've been too busy with work lately to mix anything new. Just made up 250ml of my take on the Mother's Unicorn Milk on ELR. Still getting through the last 250ml of my Mother's Milk clone but needing something new, it's been weeks on the same stuff and probably 100ml left.

Gotta say though I seriously love having massive mixed bottles of delicious DIY stuff. This 250ml I just made of arguably my favourite juice of all time cost me about 9 euro. Probably less... Can't really beat that.

Never have any issues with steeping any more. Takes so long to get through it you've no option but to steep

Still tweaking my very own Fox's Milk. Don't want to post it until I'm happy but basically it's a raspberry custard base, biscuits, irish cream/ bav cream and a few other little bits

Just realised that TFA sweetener is actually Sucralose and not EM. Been wanting sucralose forever but not EM, bought it off PNM probably 4 months back and haven't used it once... No idea how that slipped past me

Thecageyone

I use marshmallow as my main sweetener now, can't be bothered with the em/sucralose ones. I prefer a natural sugar taste if at all. It's not like we're digesting the stuff, don't even get why people use fake sugar flavourings

You really do like those Milk mother thingies huh?

8mm

Thecageyone wrote: »

I use marshmallow as my main sweetener now, can't be bothered with the em/sucralose ones. I prefer a natural sugar taste if at all. It's not like we're digesting the stuff, don't even get why people use fake sugar flavourings

Maltol is the main sweetening flavour in Marshmallow!

At least in TFA's but probably FA's and others too.

Thecageyone

I prefer FA's, TFA's doesn't seem to actually have much marshmallow flavour to it. I'm not anti-any type of flavouring, sheesh, half my recipes have hazard warnings I'm talking actual flavour-wise. I don't like fake sugar types.

8mm

This is a very handy link for TFA's flavour chemical composition, useful to get an idea of what goes into these flavours:

http://shop.perfumersapprentice.com/specsheetlist.aspx

Yeah it's all fakery at the end of the day. But I really geek out on this stuff and I am a bit wary of some chems and how they can change in combination.

FA are the masters of fake.

BTW I think I know FA's Nonna's cake mouth texture trick - Anise! I was playing with the anise flavour at small amounts and I was getting that mouth texture thing that feels like sponge cake. Probably a low level tingle from anise being a spice.

chipfox

Is nobody else in love with basically anything that has "Milk" in the name? I don't know what it is about custard / cream vapes

That's cool about anise. It's not just about flavour. I use cinnamon danish swirl in low % as anti-Koolada.

8mm

chipfox wrote: »

Is nobody else in love with basically anything that has "Milk" in the name? I don't know what it is about custard / cream vapes

That's cool about anise. It's not just about flavour. I use cinnamon danish swirl in low % as anti-Koolada.

I don't mind them but like all flavours if I do too much of any one thing I get turned off by it so got to keep on moving through the flavour stash.

I sometimes use a cream in small amounts to give a sense of fullness/volume/weight to a mix but at a level where you wouldn't think it had cream in it.

Judging by what's been sold and mixed it seems like creamy stuff is vaper crack.

Thecageyone

chipfox wrote: »

Is nobody else in love with basically anything that has "Milk" in the name? I don't know what it is about custard / cream vapes

That's cool about anise. It's not just about flavour. I use cinnamon danish swirl in low % as anti-Koolada.

The milk/strawberry juices are just safe I guess. I mix up some myself, they're the kind you can rely on while you're experimenting with everything else. nowt wrong with them, but I do get a bit bored with them, I like to change flavours a lot. I'll have say, a butterscotch in the morn, some pineapple or peachy juice later, then maybe I'll fancy a doughnut/choc/cakey type, and later again maybe I want some apple pie. If I vaped strawberry milk types all the time I'd get bored fast i think.

Doge

Do you guys ever sell your own concoctions on here?

Thecageyone

nah, I've only 'sold' some to friends, had them cover the cost of the concentrates, bottles and vg/nic. I just used anything they pay me to buy new flavourings pretty much. I also get to use any leftovers of course.

8mm

Pretty much the same as Cagey here for me.

If you have the inclination and the patience to play and tweak you should just have a go yourself. It can be quite rewarding to make your own juice.

j26m

I'm starting to plan an orde after messing about with my starter pack from pick'n'mix , and just want to clarify a couple of bits first.

I still have to finalise what flavours I want - are there any "store cupboard" flavours that every mixer should have.

Does nicotine in a PG base last longer than a VG base?

Is Darkstar okay as a supplier?

Thecageyone

Darkstar are great, you need to use a UK address service like Parcel Motel or An post's AddressPal, which ever is handier for you. Be warned, AddressPal can be very slow though. DS nic and concentrates are priced very nicely, they only do 30ml+ though.

Must haves for me:
Cheesecake Graham crust [TFA],
Strawberry Ripe [TFA] and Sweet strawberry [Cap] - mix them both at 50/50 and you get a solid, well rounded strawberry flavouring.
Marshmallow - either TFA or FA[this is my #1 sweetener, I don't like sucralose]
Vanilla custard V1 [Capella]
Bavarian cream [TFA] or Vienna cream [FA] - or even better, both
Vanilla bean ice cream - [TFA]
Cookie [biscotto] - [FA]
Nonna's cake - [FA]

All the above can be got from Pick'n'mix, might not be the cheapest, but one of the fastest to get stuff out to you.

Then it depends on what you like beyond simple strawberry cream/cake types. There's so many fruits and creams and additives.

I personally love Greek yogurt for example, but some detest it, as it's a little sour. I find using it with almost any fruit and a little sweetener gives a pretty safe, tasty mix. I also like TFA's banana cream, where others don't. I have Inawera banana on the way, amongst other new ones to me, so will see if that changes. Trial and error is key to discovering what you like the most. but the initial list above there are all pretty safe and very flexible. Nonna's cake and vienna cream, for example, together give a fluffy spongey vanilla custard texture to a mix, Cheesecake graham crust can serve as main backing to any cheesecake mix, there's also Capella New York cheese cake, but it doesn't have the graham cracker backing, but mix both of those together, add a touch of FA cookie, for a fluffier cheesecake with that biscuit base.