Can you make DIY flavors that taste as good as pre-mixed e-liquids?

[HighlanderNorth]

I just posted a great menthol tobacco flavor 'blend' I made last night, but the flavor in it came primarily from 2 pre-mixed e-liquids and a menthol flavoring. But what I wonder is, if you buy ALL DIY, non pre-mixed flavor concentrates from online vendors, can you make an e-liquid that is as good as the pre-mixed store bought e-liquids?

Also, where do the online stores get the flavors to make their pre-mixed e-liquids that they sell to us for 50 cents to $1.25 per ml? Are they using the same flavors that we would buy online, or do they usually mix and make their own flavors?

 

[18SixFifty]

I have been vaping three years and I haven't bought a store bought liquid in well over a year. Yes you an make a DIY that is better than a store bought.

I buy mine at vapor renu.

 

[Hoosier]

Yes, I can. Been mixing for about 2 years and when I make something as good as premixed, I know I don't have the recipe right yet.

I find my stuff much better than any premixed I've tried with very few exceptions.

I still try other stuff at meets, but still haven't found a desire for any premixed.

 

[rondasherrill]

Online vendors are using the same ingredients that are available to all of us, and yes, you can make juice that is just as good. I have 2 or 3 already that I think are just as good or better than vendor juice, and I've only been doing DIY for a little over a month. I made quite a few bad one's, till I started taking the info in Hoosiers blogs seriously... He knows his stuff!

 

[Jim Bob]

As others have already stated, you Can make as good (or much better) than you can buy for $.00 on the $ once you get recipe "perfected" (sounds easier than it may be ) . The sense of accomplishment and not being "dependent" on some vendor that may or may not be in busieness next week is a driving force for many of us.

Start small, keep very detailed and good notes, EVERY single batch (even 4ml) keep notes one day you WILL make an awesome joose you didn't write down and you'll never get it right again otherwise, just trust on this point LOL.

Many make their test runs with no nicotine (PG &VG are cheap enough as are flavorings the nicotine not so much ) easier to dump no nic than with for most (after all most of us need the nicotine and "junk with nic" is better than no nicotine LOL).

Pay close attention to safe nicotine levels and safe handling, other than that don't let DIY intimidate you, it's great hobby that makes better joose than you can often buy, for less $ (much less in many cases) and the aforementioned sense of accomplishment means more than those who haven't felt it realize

 

[Rule62]

I've made my share of nasty ones, for sure. But I have several regular vapes that I make over and over that are better than anything I've tried pre made. I've been DIYing for over a year, and haven't wanted to buy a pre made since.

 

[pizza2me]

Better. No doubt. Because you can tweak it in so many ways.

Go for it! Jump in and you'll see how fun and satisfying it is! And save a lot of $$ too!

 

[wizard10000]

Absolutely.

I'm working on an English toffee now that causes a Pavlovian response in me every time I vape it. Trying to decide whether to add just a smidge of chocolate to it - which my head tells me might improve it a little but my gut tells me that I'd better leave it the hell alone

I work in VG but it's a ridiculously simple recipe - I use Lorann flavors because I live really close to the factory but it's just 10% English toffee and 2% cotton candy - it was good yesterday but after letting it sit overnight I'd rate it at 8/10. As I mentioned my taste buds are telling me it's done but my head keeps wanting to tweak it Just A Little Bit More.

So far my taste buds are winning

 

[recidivus]

I am piping in, and while I can't do it myself yet, those premixed liquids start with someone taking pg/vg and adding flavours until they find one that's good (or bad...I'm lookin' at you Mr. Ripe Banana!). So yea, you absolutely can DIY and get as good/better than premix.

 

[Caridwen]

I wish.

It's gotta be me. I tell myself they aren't doing anything differently. I vape simple and I mean simple one flavor e-liquid. Mine is just never as good as bought. I've tried different flavorings, different nicotine. Just doesn't taste as good. Makes me a little crazy. I'm not giving up, but it's sort of disappointing. One or two are OK, but my goal is to make all of my own liquid.

 

[Kremppie]

I would like to try mixing on my own. I am a little bit of chicken to get started. I wouldn't even mess with nicotine. I am using 6 now anyway. I think it might be fun.

 

[Ralikar]

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...ee-sacred-truths-diy-revealed-spirit-diy.html

 

[Cookster]

I wish.

It's gotta be me. I tell myself they aren't doing anything differently. I vape simple and I mean simple one flavor e-liquid. Mine is just never as good as bought. I've tried different flavorings, different nicotine. Just doesn't taste as good. Makes me a little crazy. I'm not giving up, but it's sort of disappointing. One or two are OK, but my goal is to make all of my own liquid.

That's because you usually need a little tweak to round out a 1 flavor juice. Try adding a little marshmallow, cotton candy, or vanilla at 1 drop per ml...

 

[Engraced]

I do a bit of both. I buy pre-mixed stuff from various vendors (Alice in Vapeland, Bombay Vaping, Vapeaclicious are my primaries), but I also mix my own to get things I can't find elsewhere. I tend to mix what I'm 'craving'...which is especially nice with baked goods type juices since I've been very adamant about cutting back on my grains and sugars. I won't eat a Belgian Waffle, but when I'm craving one, I just vape a bit of BW juice!

 

[36tinybells]

I wish.

It's gotta be me. I tell myself they aren't doing anything differently. I vape simple and I mean simple one flavor e-liquid. Mine is just never as good as bought. I've tried different flavorings, different nicotine. Just doesn't taste as good. Makes me a little crazy. I'm not giving up, but it's sort of disappointing. One or two are OK, but my goal is to make all of my own liquid.

That's because you usually need a little tweak to round out a 1 flavor juice. Try adding a little marshmallow, cotton candy, or vanilla at 1 drop per ml...

Cookster is spot on- depending on the flavor, sometimes a bit of bavarian creme or chocolate. Think of it like salt- flavor enhancer.

 

[bnrkwest]

There are some awesome DIY recipes and yes some of my DIY juices are fabulous, I still buy some favs premixed like Dueling Banjos as I have not been able to get that one right bnrk

 

[mwa102464]

The biggest issue that I see is a lot of people don't want to spend the upfront cost to get started in DIY. However it really isn't that much when you compare it to buying 10-15 bottles of a pre-made juice from a quality vendor, you catch up to your savings rather quickly. Having numerous flavorings on hand is also another thing that is a must have and each flavoring manufacture seems to have there better flavorings, as well as there not so great so having numerous flavorings from all the different manufactures also helps and getting familur with who has the best of the best to mix XYZ.

I jumped in after about 2months of vaping and I'm really glad I did, not only did I end up saving a bloody fortune over the last 3 yrs or so but have come up with some great mixes and recipes. It's definitely some trial and error to make a lot of different really good mixes but well worth it,, it's also pretty amazing how opposite flavorings seem to work for the good, example like sugar and salt or sugar & Cinn can come together to make interesting mixes, just an example. ( I don't use Cinn though ) I've been working on some Ice Creams & Bakery combinations lately and loving what I've been coming up with The best way to get good at something is JUST DO IT, and over and over again as well as learning a lot of different techniques,Tricks, and testing different flavorings, after a while its like being a bartender and knowing how to mix a good drink by adding just that little shot or two of that top note or undertone that the other Bartender didn't do but you did that makes all the difference in the world

Remember to let your mixes steep also, most of the time when you purchase juice it takes a minimum of 3-6 days to get to you, then you let it sit for a week, so its got almost 2 weeks steep time by the time you use it. A fresh mix isnt going to taste the same as one that's sat for 2 weeks. So a lot of people do a DIY and test it right away and say this isnt good and add something to early,, let it steep for a bit before you tweak your DIY mix then tweak it, then let it sit some more, I could go on & on

Good tip = pick Hoosier's brain for a trick or two :

Oh and Hoosier, I finally found my ultimate tobacco mixes and how to get them to go BAM

 

[Jim Bob]

Oh and Hoosier, I finally found my ultimate tobacco mixes and how to get them to go BAM

Please DO TELL!

 

[Rlafontaine1971]

Please DO TELL!

Yes, Yes, Yes, Please DO TELL!!!!

 

[HighlanderNorth]

Well, I actually got started on what you could call 1/2 DIY e-liquids 2 nights ago, then again last night I made it even better!

I say its 1/2 DIY because I used PG and VG diluent, nicotine, 2 flavor concentrates just like DIY, but I also mixed in a few pre-mixed e-liquids too. So its partially DIY I guess.......

I posted the first recipe yesterday I believe. But last night I went to use up the rest of the tobacco e-liquid I'd bought from Totally Wicked that was too high in nic concentration for my tastes(36mg/ml), after I counted out the drops, I realized I was 1ml short of how much I used in the recipe the night before, so I decided to supplement by increasing the amount of a DIY flavor(NuPort), and then I also added some Halo Freedom juice, like the night before, but I also increased the PG/VG by a little to lower the nic and flavor a bit, then decided to add about 1ml of Honey flue cured DIY flavor from Vapor Zone, and a little Torque 56(Halo).

I wrote down the exact amounts, and as I decided to try adding new ingredients, I first tried it in a 1.1ml Ego-T tank after rinsing the atty to taste it first, then if it tasted good I officially added it to the main bottle.

After done with the new recipe, I took a few drops of it and put it into the Ego tank, then added the same amount of drops from the previous night's recipe into the tank, shook it up, and vaped it, and it was even better than what I'd made the night before! So I dumped the first recipe into last night's recipe. It now has a little honey flue cured taste, but not too much, and a little bit more menthol, almost up to Newport menthol amount, but still a little light. But by adding these additional non-nic flavors, and a little extra PG/VG with less of the TW tobacco(36mg), I had lowered the nicotine quite a bit, so I added 15 drops of 72mg/ml nicotine to the 25ml of juice I now had in total.(Thats actually why I also added a little Torque 56 because the other ingredients had also lightened the tobacco flavor, and Torque 56 is the only pure tobacco flavor I have left) That isnt a huge nic increase, but I want it a bit light on nic.

I have been vaping it now all day instead of my previous all day juice, PeachBerry from Delaware Vapors(which is fantastic).

I am really impressed with how it came out and I have it written down, so it can be done again and I have 24ml of it left now. It could be improved a little, but its really good now so I dont want to end up ruining it!