Personal taste, or genuine quality difference?

Hello! First, I want to start off by saying first post! I've perused this forum for quite a while, but I've never really hopped on and posted (never been TOO much of a forums guy) but I decided to hop and and join in on a community that's as into vaping and DIY as I am.

With that being said, I've been into DIY for ~2.5 years, and I've exclusively used TFA because, for lack of a better explanation, I'm a creature of habit. I had considered opening a local flavor/equipment B&M locally in Florence, KY, only to find that once I finished my business registration, there were 6 other B&M stores thriving within a 5 mile radius, so I backed out. However, I managed to get a TFA Wholesale account before discontinuing my sole proprietor "business". Not bothering to shop around, I just figured "Hey I'm sure the prices can't be any lower anywhere else, I'll just stick with this."

During the time of my DIY learning, I noticed that my flavors just paled in comparison to pre-made bottles. I struggled, then eventually shrugged and cut my losses and decided to just continue vaping mediocre to awful liquids I made.

I had read everywhere that TFA made some of the best fruits, which I almost exclusively vape so I never bothered to venture off. However, on a whim I decided to hop on BCV (shout out to BCV, they're awesome) and just bite the bullet and order 1 13oz bottle of every in-stock capella flavor (just got a new job, had some play money for once). So far I've only received 15 flavors, as I did it in stages. But, the very first mix I made blew anything I'd made previously out of the water seven fold. Asking my friends, they agreed and said they never wanted to tell me just how bland to flat-out bad my old mixes were. I thought it was a fluke, so I mixed up a second, a third, a forth combination of just whatever I thought would be tasty based on suggested starting percentages etc - each just as good as the last.

So my question, after my novel - for those of you that have frequented many different vendors for their concentrates, has anyone had the same experience with TFA? I can only think that either the juices actually WERE delicious but I vaped them for so long that I burned my taste buds out on them, that I got all bad batches (I have 54 different 4oz bottles of which I can only stand the Koolada anymore, and maybe the Energy Drink, all bought directly from the vendor), that TFA flavors somewhat pale in comparison to other vendors (in this case Capella), ooooor the simplest thing, tastes are subjective.

If you feel the tastes are subjective, what are some of the TFA flavors you prefer, specifically over Capella's? I've taste tested each of the new Capella's I've gotten thus far with their equivalent TFA flavors in 3ml batches at 70/30 no nicotine, precisely measured with my super duper fancy $12 gram scale (ha).

I don't want to sound like I am bashing TFA, because I certainly am not, I just want to know if I've destructed my taste buds, or if anyone else has the same findings as I?

Moving thread to DIY General Discussion.

Everyone has their preferences with flavor brands. TFA and CAP both have some very good flavors, I think. My main stash is FlavourArt, but I have some from several different companies.

And, yes, BCV is a great vendor! He's also an active member of VU.

Thanks for the input, and sorry I misunderstood the forum title, this certainly is more of a general discussion. While mixing, I threw in some graham cracker to one of my recipes and it definitely boosted it, so I suppose maybe there's some good additives. I'm just incredibly relieved that I AM able to make a good juice or five. I spent this whole time thinking I was doing something terribly wrong. I will probably be pitching most of my fruits from TFA once I make a proper order of 4oz Capella bottles.


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Had to chuckle at your post as it strikes close to home. I started DIY when I started vaping. After ordering 24 4oz bottles of TFA flavors and trying to come up with a mix that was good. I found that nothing I mixed was great. I did come up with a couple that I didn't mind and it was cheap to make so I vaped it. Then I ordered a whole pile of mount baker vapor flavors. Came up with a few mixes that were pretty good but I tired of them pretty quickly. Went to my first local vape meet in the city (I live in the country) and bought several juices that I really enjoyed. The best was 555monkeys Custards Last Stand. I was hooked on it. Bought it when I was in the city but that wasn't dependable. Searching the online forums I found some Custard clone recipes and was hearing how Capellas custard was really good. ..... Odered some and finally made something better than what I could buy. After spending alot of time reading in the DIY forum here I ordered some Flavor Art flavors. I have never looked back. I now have so many flavors and recipes that I want to try I am sure I will never get to all of them. The amount of mixing talent available here is incredible. But the single biggest thing that I learned is that less can be more. When I was mixing with TFA they were generally 15 to 25 % flavor. Now I am normally at 4% to 8 % . I have mixed up some TFA juices recently that were far better than what I did in the past but I find that most flavors I prefer in FA CAP FW. I mostly use TPA flavors as one or two ingredients of 5 or 6 in recipes. Slowly I am using them and enjoying them

I've also purchased many sampler bottles from FA from BCV as well and am anxiously awaiting their arrival, can't wait to try them. I feel as though I will end up doing the same thing, using TFA as small additives here and there. But I was the same way, I made semi tolerable juices, but only in a dripper not a tank. I did also switch to Vapers Tek nicotine and that has made a big difference in the smoothness of my new liquids. RTS has great stuff in its own right, but I can't go back to their nicotine after letting my last batch go rancid and vaping it before noticing, bad memories


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When you get those FA bottles, do some reading or asking. The % to use is dramatically lower in some cases. Very concentrated flavorings, so less is definately more in this case. You will love the fruit flavors. I never liked fruity vapes til I started mixing with them.

I do have, and USE, several TFA and CAPS. I have a few faves from INW, too. Other brands, just a flavor or 2. They all have ones they do very well.

The high concentration is one of the reasons I didn't hesitate to get only a small ml sampler of their top rated flavors on BCV. I thought I used a lot more concentrate than I do. In /.5 years I've only run out of maybe 3 or 4 4oz bottles. I know some say they don't spoil, I feel like flavor may degrade over time so buying smaller quantities of the small percent additions and flavor boosters is probably what I will do going forward.

Come to think of it, that may be my problem with my TFA bottles, most of them are over a year and a half to 2 years old. Hmmm..


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