What am I doing wrong?

Hi all,

So I started mixing my own juices. Very simple with a single flavour. I got some flavours, PG and VG from VapeKing and got some nic from Mt Baker and some (100% VG) from Health Cabin.
Almost all of my juices taste like absolute crap! The ones that don't are the doublers that I bought from VK. But any juices I mixed with concentrates taste like they are off. As in, I mix peach 15% (15-20% recommended on VK website) and it tastes like peach, but a peach that is overripe (that sickly smell and taste). Same is with watermelon. It tastes like a melon, and one gone bad at that.

I'm trying this on an igo-w with cotton wick. The juices smell just out of the botle just like they taste, so I don't believe it's the cotton adding flavour to it. I bought organic cotton rounds from the body shop and boiled them twice.
Is it too much flavour? Does anyone have experience with mixing VK concentrates? I know with a lot of other flavours like capella and FA you use a lot less, but I went as per the sellers recommendations.
I really like mixing my own juices just be.comse it's fun, so I'd prefer not to go back to buying premixed or doublers. I think I will try capella and FA next as most people seem to use those.

But yeah, any recommendations about VK juices (got heaps of concentrates)? What am I doing wrong? Thanks everyone and sorry for a long post

Addy

 

Have you let them steep Addy? Some flavours can taste foul if you vape them straight after mixing, some need a few days, some need at least a couple of weeks of steeping. The taste and smell changes over time.

Personally I don't like single flavour juices, you need other concentrate flavours to tone down some of the stronger ones, mellow out the flavour, or give it a kick. Single flavours tend to be very one dimensional. Even two flavours mixed are better.

Seems the recommended strength is very strong, you could dilute it down a bit if your finding it too strong, vg is good for muting flavours a bit.

I've not tried VK concentrates, so can't really help in that department. You could get a few different brand concentrates and try simple recipes of 2-3 flavours. Capella are usually very good.

Don't give up, we all make mistakes at the start

 

Thanks for the encouragement they've been steeping for about 2 weeks now so they should really be getting better by now. I will try adding some VG to lower the concentration of the flavour. Just gotta figure out how much to add now.
I will be ordering Capella flavours from the next pay (I've been a bit reckless with buying stuff for vaping this month). Thanks again!

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Sounds like your percentages are a wee bit high, try a bit lower like 5/10% maybe? Steeping is good, though I find mine taste pretty awesome after sitting on top of a hdd in my computer for a couple days, but, you'll find that some flavours just suck, everyones different! On the brighter side, keep trying different flavours and your bound to wind up with something you love

 

I've had good results using vk concentrates. The first thing I'd suggest is let them steep a while longer. At least a week. If the flavours are still off, try mixing up small sample batches with lower level of concentrates. It maybe that you're percentages are a bit high. I've done 5T and desert ship concentrate mixes from VK so far and both have been great. The flavours you mentioned may need a little more steep time.

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Addy,
You pretty much got to work out things for yourself as everyones taste is different and different concentrates behave differently, not to mention pg/vg ratio's etc.
For example, I initially tried ecto-cooler at 15% (I read a thread about how good ecto-cooler is and initially went by the recommendations) and even after a couple of days it was too strong. I ditched it (shouldn't have) and mixed up some at 8%. Found this to be great for about 4 days and then forgot about it for a couple of weeks. After a couple of weeks I was very disappointed as it tasted like very weak cordial, so it seems that the initial assessment of 15% was about right after all ! I've also mucked around with a couple of tobacco concentrates.

The conclusion I've come to IMHO is that there are two types of mixes, I'm only talking simple recipes of maximum 1 to 2 flavours as that's all I've had any successful experience with to date:
1. A small batch (5 to 10ml) that you intend to mix and vape within 2 to 4 days (a mix definately needs at least 24 hours to settle). The concentrates mix will need to be weaker.
2. A larger batch (15 to 30ml) that you intend to let steep for 2 weeks or longer. The concentrates mix will need to be stronger.

I've found that tobacco's need about a week to steep and I usually mix at 5%, you can start off at 2.5% if you want to give them a go 24 hours later but from experience sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

I've tried a few of the methods for quicker steeping and mixing, but in my opinion they don't work. Any sort of heat will kill the VG and seriously mute your flavours. Once again, in my opinion, don't use the microwave method that are on some other forums and once again, in my opinion, the hot water bath method doesn't work either, yes it's good for combining the ingredients but I reckon (like I said) it kills the vg and mutes the flavours, especially over time (I used to be all for the hot water bath method, but 3 to 4 weeks on I can see the end results). I've found that the best way of mixing is in a flat bottomed glass using a milk frother at room temperature only.

There are probably other methods of mixing that I have'nt come across yet, but in the end, like you have mentioned ...... it's all about having some fun.
Hope some of this has helped.
Cheers
Sodd

 

There is another little trick you can try, if you find the flavours harsh, or overly acidic etc, or one flavour is dominating all the others. You can add a small amount of "Smooth" or "Vape Wizard", these are invaluable concentrates for someone just starting out in DIY mixing. A few drops of either in a dodgy mix, can make it vapable. Both of these are available locally.

 

Have a taste of your base without any flavour added to it, and see if you might have some issue with something in the base?
Reduce the power to your mod/battery if you can?
Make a doubler level flavourless nic liquid and mix it 50/50 with the flavour you've mixed and try that to see if it's too much flavour.
Too much flavour can be ghastly. If you've ever tasted vanilla essence, you'll understand what I mean
Yet it smells divine!
In the end, it's all about experimenting to find your own sweet spot, like others have said.
Keep in mind it can also be your brain playing tricks on you to get you back on the ciggies.. it really does happen. MrG went for weeks with everything tasting like arse, yet to me it all tasted great. You just have to persevere and not give up. You'll get there

 

I agree with mrsgruffy, im going through that at the moment. No matter how much I clean the atties or change out fresh wicks brush my teeth/tongue, use a flavour eraser etc, everything is tasting like arse at the moment.....especially tobacco flavours. Ive even got some solar flare from MB and when I was first vaping it it was friggen awesome. Once I started DIY and mixing flavour after flavour I think my taste buds have gone into shock. Im trying to get a similar taste to a Dunhill vape i was buying premixed but cant even get close with these taste buds of mine. Today I was vaping a 555/3&5 i mixed 70/30 and it really tasted like off dried leaves steeped in a blah liquid....even after a week of steeping :frown-new:

Ahhhh well, I'll get there eventually....I hope!!

 

I agree with the milk frother thing. I've tried ultra sonic and warm bath and microwave and none of them work. Just mix and steep. If you leave the cap off you can loose a lot of flav to evaporation so steep cap on in a cool dark place and don't touch for two weeks.

 

Thanks everyone. I've mixed the bast by itself and I love it. Unflavoured is as close as you get to cigarettes in my opinion.
I steep all of my juices in a cupboard and they've been steeping for 2 weeks now. With the blended tobacco, I think I had the hole on the igo in the wrong place. I can only vape when the hole is right in the middle of the coil. I tried my ADV with my girlfriend, moving the hole away and I started coughing badly while she enjoyed the TH.
I will be making mixes with 5 and 10% and see how I go. Thanks again to everyone for suggestions!!!

Addy

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I find french vanilla is better without steeping, it gets sickly sweet after a week or so (might try a weaker mix and let that steep) and yet mocha flavour from the same company is barely vapable day one... meanwhile musk candy doesn't change at all.

 

A lot of us have been there. I always avoided menthol be.comse I hated it in a cigarette, but now having tried it, 7 months after starting to vape, I have to recommend it as something that everyone should at least try, and in particular if you are having taste bud issues. No matter what menthol always tastes like menthol, and one day on it gives your tasted buds a completely new outlook.

 

I found that the peach concentrate doesn't even smell like peach, so I shouldn't have expected the mix to taste or smell any better. It will be a lot of trial and error of finding which concentrates taste good.
There are many recipes here and on ECF so I'll be getting some TFA flavours and mix them. I just have to make sure to try different ratios from now on

Addy

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