# DIY juice concentrates for the noob



## Scott (17/5/17)

Hi I am starting out with my journey on DIY blending of flavours and recipes. Obviously cost is an issue and while I am receiving invaluable help from @hands I would appreciate input on what members believe the best 25 concentrate's are a beginner should invest in to make the widest variety of recipes.


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## RichJB (17/5/17)

Ooh, my favourite subject. It's impossible to give 25 that will work for everybody. If you can't taste strawberries and generally don't like strawberry juices, it's pointless recommending Ripe - even though that flavour would automatically make almost any "First 25" list. Some other considerations:

1) Avoid compound flavours. Beginners always want flavours that look like "a recipe in a bottle". So things like Strawberries & Cream, Chocolate Fudge Brownie or Cherry Chocolate will appeal. You will, in 99% of cases, do better by buying the single flavours that constitute the compound flavour. So buy a cherry and a chocolate, or a strawberry and a cream.

2) Be careful to get a mix of both base and top notes. If you just buy a bunch of creams and bakery bases with no top notes, you won't be able to make much. Similarly, if you just buy a bunch of fruits, chocolates, etc, you will have juices that have no body or base to sit on.

3) Buy flavours that are versatile and used in many recipes. Licorice, for eg, is a rare ingredient in top recipes. So unless you're an absolute licorice-head who MUST have licorice in your daily rotation, go for something more versatile like a cream or bakery instead.

Right, with that said and knowing the mistakes I made when starting out, these are the 25 I'd buy first if undertaking my DIY journey again:

TFA
Cheesecake Graham Crust
Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
Strawberry Ripe
RY4 Double (skip this if you don't like tobacco vapes)
Bavarian Cream

FA
Meringue
Caramel
Fuji
Marshmallow
Cream Fresh
Pear
Cookie

Cap
Vanilla Custard V1
Sugar Cookie V1 if you can get it, V2 if you can't
Vanilla Whipped Cream
Super Sweet

FW
Yellow Cake (skip this if you have an aversion to depleted uranium or asbestos but it's sooooo delicious)
Hazelnut
Butterscotch Ripple
Blueberry

Inw
Shisha Vanilla

Jungle Flavors
Biscuit
Sweet Strawberry

Flv
Milk & Honey

LA
Cream Cheese Icing

I'm a bakery nut, though, so there are a lot of bakery bases in my choice. If you were more into fruits, say, you could skip some of the bakeries for things like Flv Mango, Inw Pineapple, JF Honey Peach, FA Coconut and so on.

Reactions: Like 1 | Winner 4


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## Scott (17/5/17)

RichJB said:


> Ooh, my favourite subject. It's impossible to give 25 that will work for everybody. If you can't taste strawberries and generally don't like strawberry juices, it's pointless recommending Ripe - even though that flavour would automatically make almost any "First 25" list. Some other considerations:
> 
> 1) Avoid compound flavours. Beginners always want flavours that look like "a recipe in a bottle". So things like Strawberries & Cream, Chocolate Fudge Brownie or Cherry Chocolate will appeal. You will, in 99% of cases, do better by buying the single flavours that constitute the compound flavour. So buy a cherry and a chocolate, or a strawberry and a cream.
> 
> ...


Thanks so much. Greatly appreciated. I read the first paragraph and scratched five flavours off the provissional list which I chose simply by name.


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## RichJB (17/5/17)

Yeah, we've all been there. I just couldn't resist Cap Chocolate Fudge Brownie. I mean, it's got chocolate and fudge and a brownie so it must be useful, amirite? Except it isn't. I use it in real milk now to create a faux choc milkshake drink, that is really the only use I can find for it. Then you get to something like Meringue and you think OK, I could use it as the topping on a lemon meringue pie, but what else is it good for? Then you take a glance at the flavour pages on alltheflavors.com, and you find the following stats:
Cap Choc Fudge Brownie: used in 73 recipes, only 2 of which are public
FA Meringue: used in 6072 recipes, of which hundreds are public

It's a no-brainer which of the two is going to give you more mileage.

Reactions: Agree 2 | Informative 1


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## hands (17/5/17)

Its a real tough question but most people will agree on a few must haves.
The list @RichJB provided looks like a good bakery/desert type start up.
One just needs to start by taking the plunge and getting a few in and mixing up juice.

Here is a few nicely organized recipe threads on the forum. 

https://www.ecigssa.co.za/diy-beverage-recipes.t25792/
https://www.ecigssa.co.za/diy-tobacco-recipes.t25083/
https://www.ecigssa.co.za/diy-dessert-recipes.t26446/
https://www.ecigssa.co.za/diy-menthol-mint-recipes.t26651/
https://www.ecigssa.co.za/diy-bakery-recipes.t26650/
https://www.ecigssa.co.za/diy-fruit-recipes.t25444/
https://www.ecigssa.co.za/diy-breakfast-recipes.t26652/

here is a video that talks about mixing juice done by @KZOR 


The hardest part of making recommendations to you at this point is that you have not vaped very many ejuices and its hard to know what you like and what direction you want to go in.
You will make a few duds that will taste horrible but that is just the way it works and once you get a feel for these concentrates you will be whipping up perfectly vapable juice. Once you have a good collection of concentrates it becomes a lot easier.

Looking forward to see what juices you will come up with.

Reactions: Like 1


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## DurbanThroatHit (17/5/17)

Hi ! Wish you all the best for your new endeavor

I would recommend you try to create flavors free from Diketones and this  is helpful for TPA/TFA flavours. Basically aim for the green only ! 

I recommend checking out https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxsotC6eyf7ahIFI0eH54fA and https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFoe3PEb1_7sAY1ZgehNP3A for helpful videos on DIY !


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## Scott (18/5/17)

hands said:


> Its a real tough question but most people will agree on a few must haves.
> The list @RichJB provided looks like a good bakery/desert type start up.
> One just needs to start by taking the plunge and getting a few in and mixing up juice.
> 
> ...



Thanks my invaluable mentor I can't wait for our order to arrive and I will be breaking your door down to get started on blending. Can't thank you enough for guidance and patience and best of all I only walk 50 metres to soak up the experience you share so enthusiastically.

Reactions: Like 3


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