Alcohol based flavorings or PG(or)VG based flavorings?

[kiaya611]

I have vaped for almost 2 years now and wanted to start making my own e-liquid. I have found some company's e-liquid quite good, but it seems that i always want a bit of a change, plus it will save me a lot of money and being on a fixed income, that is something I am always interested in.

I have been looking around at various flavoring companies and have found that some use an alcohol base. I have never used any alcohol in my e-liquid. Fist, I would like to know if using alcohol based flavorings has any inherent problems associated with it and was then wondering if there are any mixing precautions, etc. necessary when using an alcohol based flavoring when making e-liquid.

This is a total "newbe" question, but I need to know if I should stay away from alcohol based flavorings or if they are as easy to work with as say a PG based flavoring.

What I am looking for are very strong flavorings so that I don't have to use a high percentage of flavoring to achieve my goal flavor. Everything I have made so far is rather bland because I have been using things like triple-strength pre-made e-liquids as flavorings and although it works to a degree, I am sure that isn't the way to go. I have only made one batch that is still not perfected yet and I tend to like minty and menthol flavorings as well as cinnamon types of flavorings. I was going to try blueberry because my brother-in-law vapes blueberry and I thought I could make him some as well. My sister and nephew also vape and I am interested in making e-liquid for everyone because ironically we are all (with the exception of my brother-in-law disabled and have limited funds.

Anyway, I wold appreciate your help in figuring out the best way to go about this as I have the VP and PG and Nic and the calculator and a nicotine test kit, to be on the safe side. Like I mentioned, I did make some e-liquid and it is fine, but just very bland. That is where I believe if I use actual flavorings vs pre-made e-liquid, I will be able to get much better results.

Thank you in advance for you help.

Steven

 

[Caridwen]

Steven, I'll move this to DIY- you might get a few more responses.

I do use some alcohol based super concentrated flavorings, and have not had an issue with them.

Maybe you can tell us what flavorings you are using.

 

[daviedog]

I've used alchohol, vodka, in some recipes. Terrible tongue bite.
In alcohol based flavorings, nothing!
Remember that muted flavor can be the cause of your atty & wicking..

 

[sketchness]

Capellas Cinnamon danish is a pretty great Cinnamon flavor.

Alcohol flavors typically need to steep a while before the chemical taste goes away. Some pg flavors are mix and vape, not all but it is possible.

So i don't think one is better than the other but I am new at this and some more seasoned folks may have a different opinion

 

[Boletus]

The only problem with flavorings is that there are so many of them. In this DIY forum, you will see very long dedicated threads for several popular brands, and each brand has many flavors. How to pick where to start is the difficult question. Some of the popular brands you can read many reviews and recipes for include, in no particular order, The Flavorer's Apprentice (TFA), Inawera (INW), Flavour Art (FA), Hangsen (HS), Capella, LorAnn's, and FlavorWest (FW), and those are just the one's off the top of my head; there are others.

Perhaps others can help you find good minty and menthol, cinnamon, and blueberry choices. You can also start reading this thread for some overview on flavorings:
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/diy-e-liquid/74109-guide-diy-flavoring.html
And perhaps check out the threads for a few of the brands I mentioned above.
I can offer what I hope will be useful tips and links:
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/blogs/boletus/6859-general-tips-new-e-juice-diy-ers.html

 

[jughandle]

My first experience with alcohol-based flavors was with Nude Nicotine's Chai Tornado.

It was my first ever batch of DIY, and I was ready to take a dive into Chaitown. 70/30 VG/PG and 10% flavor, mixed it up!

Holy ....balls, batman. Seriously I thought I was going to die after inhaling that first hit. From that one 120 mL bottle, I was able to cut it down around 4-5 times (quadruple the amount of liquid) and it is STILL strong.

I've since used 2.5% for all of Nude's flavors, and they are honestly not bad at all. Just keep in mind that you're going to be using much lower concentrations than PG or VG based flavors (for the most part) and you should be ok.

Also, with alcohol-based flavors, I usually let it age with the cap off the bottle for about a day to let some of the ethanol evaporate. Not really crucial, but I've had good results doing it.