First batch - and not so good :(

[damob9k]

Hello All,

This is my first attempt at making my own juice, I bought about 12 bottles of concentrates from FlavourArt as they seemed to have a selection of flavours that peaked my interest, although I have started to go off the tobacco & cigar flavours in favour of the more fruity ones !

I have been a good boy and let them steep for a month, giving them regular shakes.

I have two issues ... the first being that they seem really week, I have used the recommended percentages of around 3-5%, admittedly I have not tried them all yet, but I'm not getting much flavour at all.
So my first question is: if I add some more flavouring in, how long should I leave it to steep ?

The second issue is bigger than the first ... of the 4 that I have tried, the vape is really harsh, not sure how to explain it but it's a bit like when i first started and bought 24mg strength, and sort of makes my tongue all tingly (like if you eat way too many sweets with bucket loads of E numbers in !)
It's also fairly runny and doesn't produce any where as much vapour as the shop bought stuff I like. (70pg/30vg)

I'm using the eJuice Me Up program, and setting the desired mix to 70/30 and nic to 6mg
Here is a screen shot of one of the basic mixes (bilbury)


Can anyone see if i'm doing it all wrong !
I've seen these flavour enhancers like Vape Wizard from FlavourArt, do I need to be using these things by default ?

Please please please can someone help me out here as I'm obviously a bit clueless as far as flavouring is concerned !
Many thanks
DamoB

 

[Ment]

The reason it's runny and harsh is the 70pg. It should be 70vg, the other way round is terribly 2013.

As for the flavour, 3% - 5% is a downright lie. This may give you a hint of flavour, but as I reckon some premium juices are at 30-40, it puts it in perspective.

They are very nice concentrates though.

 

[Pittard9]

I use around 12% when I use flavour art so try upping the concentrate a bit.

 

[scrumpox]

Flavourart tobaccos are very strong, but I usually mix them around 5-10% not the 1-3% suggested.
Other flavours vary enormously. For straight fruits you should just add more flavour, shake and try it again. Complex recipes require a week or more.

The obvious mistake is specifying 70PG instead of 70VG ... then believing the calculator without sense checking it for a moment or two. The very low value for VG (4.5mls is less than a third of 15mls, right?) should've rung alarm bells in your head and made you double check.

Don't use Vape Wizard as a default ... add one or two drops per 10mls if the flavour is very harsh ... but you should be getting the optimum % right before considering additives like that.

One more small thing - most concentrates are 100% PG, so what you've assumed isn't wrong. Flavourart's are typically 50/40/10, so I would enter 50VG/50PG for their concentrates ... though it's no biggie if you're only using 3% If you're already got enough to think about, leave flavours at 100PG as the default.

 

[damob9k]

Oh right ! ... i based the 70pg 30 vg on the fact that that's what's on the bottles of the Vape-IT UK juices that I have been buying from my local shop.
It says "PG 70/30" on their bottles so that's why I assumed this was a good ratio as it tastes nice to me and not harsh at all ? that's why no alarm bells rang.

Ok thanks all, i'll up the percentage of flavour and get the taste right then re-make some more with a lower PG quantity.

BTW are there any noticeable differences between different suppliers of PG/VG ?

Cheer

 

[nicotinelad]

i agree that the flavour % is very weak, but i mix all my juices at 70pg 30vg and i don't get any harshness , and i also think the pg brings the flavour out more than vg.
each to their own .

 

[damob9k]

OK ... I have upped the concentrate to 5-7 % varying from flavour to flavour, and wow that has made a big difference I would like the custard to be a bit more pronounced, may add some more vanilla.
But I've made a custard/apple/caramel juice and it's flipping amazing vaping it like a crazy man !

Got some work to do on the cigar flavours, done 4 different ones and 3 are quite mellow and fairly nice at 7% apart from the Black Fire one that tastes like ashtray ! but might mix well with something else.

I think what I am going to do next is to mix up the base flavours in a 50/50 PG/VG and a fairly strong flavour percentage, and once they have steeped for a month I will be able to play around with the PG/VG easier.
I'm starting to think that the harshness ( which actually seems to have reduced a little) maybe down to inaccurate dosage of the nic, as when I did all of these base mixes I only had a 5ml syringe, and as I was using fairly small bottle sizes it was difficult to get the dosage 100% accurate. I have since then got some 1ml syringes which has made doing tiny amounts a lot easier !

Hayho it's all a learning experience

Cheers all for the hints

 

[Unclebilbo]

im gonna go the other way here as bilberry is one of flavourarts strongest flavours, you should be aiming at 1.5% imo.
try taking 2.5ml of your bilberry liquid and mix it with 2.5ml of unflavoured base. this should bring your flavour down to
the right level. percentages are a minefield and will come with experience, google them first or ask questions here.
I also get the harshness your talking about 95% of the time with diy the only time I don't is with creamy mixes custard
and the like, I use tpa smooth and ethyl maltol at around 1% each which helps a lot.

 

[damob9k]

im gonna go the other way here as bilberry is one of flavourarts strongest flavours, you should be aiming at 1.5% imo.
try taking 2.5ml of your bilberry liquid and mix it with 2.5ml of unflavoured base. this should bring your flavour down to
the right level. percentages are a minefield and will come with experience, google them first or ask questions here.
I also get the harshness your talking about 95% of the time with diy the only time I don't is with creamy mixes custard
and the like, I use tpa smooth and ethyl maltol at around 1% each which helps a lot.

Yep you're bang on !! it is a bit on the strong side I think I will dilute it as you said.
Apple Fuji at 6% is lush then mixed with their custard is even better !
Cheers