TFA Grape Candy: Will I ever taste it?

[bweave09]

I have been trying to make a really good grape flavor. I just started DIYing on Friday so maybe it isn't time to get frustrated yet but I cannot get the grape where I want it. I have gone all the way to 20% flavor and I still don't get great flavor. 19% Grape Candy and 1% TFA Sweetener is the closest I've been to what I'm looking for. I've been keeping it at 80% VG, as I really enjoy a thick vape. I am wasting a lot of flavoring on weak juices.

All tasting has been done on an authentic Dark Horse sitting on an unregulated box mod, running in both series and parallel.

So, do I drop the VG and sacrifice vapor? Should I order a different flavor? I know the Dark Horse isn't the best rda for flavor. Could that be it?


On a side note, I mixed up a banana flavor that I really like.
12% CAP Banana
8% TFA Dulce De Leche


Cheers!

 

[GT86]

I have never tried the TFA grape but don't give up on it, let it sit a coupe days or even a week and try it again. I have some flavors that I thought were weak but after a few days found out I actually mixed them too strong.
Don't get frustrated, you just started this 2 days ago and sometimes it takes a lot of trials and time to find what you're looking for.
Mix small batches <5ml so that you aren't wasting a bunch of flavor and nic until you get find what you want.

 

[bweave09]

Thank you!
I'm making 10ml at a time now. I'll start backing it down

 

[readeuler]

Try a few 100 drop tests. The finally amount is literally 100 drops; 1 drop = 1%.

So if you were testing the recipe you listed above, it would be
19 drops Grape Candy
1 drop Sweetener
80 drops between VG and nic ( 3 drops nic if you're using 100mg/ml nicotine base, and want 3mg/ml liquid, and 77 drops VG, for example)

It tends to use a very small amount of flavoring, as you can see, but yields around 3ml, plenty to get a feel for how it'll vape. With 20% flavoring in a fruit/candy mix, it should taste fine right away, no steeping necessary.

I've heard, and tested and believe, that strawberry at 5% or raspberry (both TFA) at 2% go very well to eliminate the floral note that often accompanies the grape candy, if you have either of those handy. I personally liked raspberry (sweet) more than raspberry, but the (sweet) version is much less potent.

You'll get it! My first successful liquid was a mixture of Grape Candy, Raspberry, and Champagne. What other flavors do you have available? It's almost always the case that adding a secondary or two can go a long way; not just adding to the primary flavor, but also enhancing it and bringing it forward.

 

[Str8vision]

For vaping, grape, cherry and vanilla flavorings are difficult to emulate. I didn't like any of TFA's grape or cherry flavorings but love their juicy peach. If TFA's Grape Candy doesn't work for you, try Inawera's Grape, best one I found.

 

[bweave09]

Try a few 100 drop tests. The finally amount is literally 100 drops; 1 drop = 1%.

So if you were testing the recipe you listed above, it would be
19 drops Grape Candy
1 drop Sweetener
80 drops between VG and nic ( 3 drops nic if you're using 100mg/ml nicotine base, and want 3mg/ml liquid, and 77 drops VG, for example)

It tends to use a very small amount of flavoring, as you can see, but yields around 3ml, plenty to get a feel for how it'll vape. With 20% flavoring in a fruit/candy mix, it should taste fine right away, no steeping necessary.

I've heard, and tested and believe, that strawberry at 5% or raspberry (both TFA) at 2% go very well to eliminate the floral note that often accompanies the grape candy, if you have either of those handy. I personally liked raspberry (sweet) more than raspberry, but the (sweet) version is much less potent.

You'll get it! My first successful liquid was a mixture of Grape Candy, Raspberry, and Champagne. What other flavors do you have available? It's almost always the case that adding a secondary or two can go a long way; not just adding to the primary flavor, but also enhancing it and bringing it forward.

Thank you for those ideas! I will try some sweet raspberry in the grape candy tomorrow. Don't want to break out the nicotine after I've been drinking tonight. As far as other flavors go, I have (don't have the box with me now so I can't recall the brands for all flavors):

TFA Grape Candy
CAP Banana
TFA Raspberry Sweet
Blackberry
Green Apple
Pomegranate
CAP Sweet Tea
Juicy Peach
Cinnamon Danish Swirl V2
TFA French Vanilla
TFA Cheesecake
Apple Pie V2
Dulce De Leche
Sweetener
Sour


Thank you everybody for the help!

 

[CampbellMC]

Too much flavoring can have adverse effects. I don't know how close it is but I recently picked up TFA Grape Juice, test batch with just 10% Grape Juice had a decent grape flavor, kind of like those cheap grape suckers I used to have a child (Not as much "Grape Juice" as I was hoping). Mixed up a second batch with 10% Grape, 4% Strawberry, made it smoother tasting. Finally decided to go straight for a candy flavor so I did: 10% Grape Juice, 4% Strawberry, 4% Sweet Cream, 4% E.M, 3% Sour and Tart, came out pretty decent. The base "Grape Juice" flavor wasn't exactly what I was looking for, but made due and I have a decent Sour Grape Candy vape now, only problem is how bad the grape taste stays in my coil.

 

[readeuler]

That's a tough list of flavors you've got there, friend. I'm a TFA fan, and there's one technique that works exceedingly well with TFA: don't skimp on the creams and vanillas.

My first DIY order looked something like what you have, and a "fruit cocktail" type mix was all I could muster, without the creams and vanillas. I think of French vanilla as being a little too 'dark' for much besides bakery mixes, and I feel similarly about the Dulce De Leche.

I'd probably try

Grape Candy 14%
Raspberry (sweet) 4%
Sweetener 2%

As a start. I know those other fruits can have have a place here too, but I had a similar successful mix. Blackberry was in there somewhere, but it may have been a separate blackberry/raspberry mix.

 

[bweave09]

I thought I wanted a lot of fruit flavors when I made the order. I find myself wanting creamy now. I will definitely true the grape candy and raspberry.
I threw a few flavors together last night and it turned out really well.

5.5% Apple Pie V2
5% Cinnamon Danish Swirl
5.5% Dulce De Leche
3% French Vanilla.
Tastes like an apple turnover. Just made 50ml!

Also, my Sigelei 150w and Joyetech Delta II came in the mail today. Loving them both so far!

 

[crxess]

Dark Horse really isn't the best for flavor testing.

I have the Horse and a couple Magma RDA's. The horse will obviously out cloud the magma, but for the Magma is 3x-4x more defined.
I run the Magma at .6 dual coiled and the DH at .3 Dual