Old Goat
Administrator
Learn how to test one flavour concentrate properly, record useful tasting notes and stop building recipes from guesses, half-memories and whatever the concentrate happens to smell like in the bottle.
The Vape Workshop already contains a bloody enormous collection of single-flavour tests from SessionDrummer and other experienced mixers. This guide explains how an ordinary mixer produces useful notes of their own.
A concentrate arrives with a magnificent name like Golden Butterscotch Custard Biscuit Supreme. You sniff the bottle, declare it delicious and immediately throw it into a six-flavour recipe. Two weeks later, the recipe tastes like damp cardboard wearing vanilla perfume. Now you have six suspects and no witnesses.
Am I religious about testing every concentrate before using it? No. I don't always test a flavour before putting it into a recipe either. That is why single-flavour testing matters—not because the Old Goat is perfect, but because guessing makes troubleshooting a bastard.
Single-flavour testing—usually shortened to SFT—means mixing one concentrate into a plain base and testing it under controlled conditions. It teaches you what that concentrate contributes before other ingredients disguise the evidence. It is not glamorous, but it can save failed juice and evenings spent shouting at an innocent bottle of VG.
What an SFT can tell you
Look for the main flavour, secondary notes, approximate strength, sweetness, dryness or juiciness, mouthfeel, throat sensation, off-notes and changes while steeping. Think about possible uses and pairings.
It cannot tell you everything. A concentrate may behave differently alongside acids, sweeteners, creams, cooling agents or other flavours. The SFT is the introduction. The finished recipe remains the final examination. Following a trusted recipe with the exact concentrates is also a reasonable starting point; you do not need to finish an exhaustive SFT programme before mixing anything.
Why your testing setup matters
Taste, aroma, temperature and chemical sensations combine to create flavour. The NIDCD explains this relationship. Research also shows that power and PG/VG composition and device power can alter aerosol and nicotine delivery. Those studies do not prove which atomiser tastes best. They show why changing operating conditions changes the experiment.
For DTL recipe development, my reference platform stays fixed: HellBeast RDA, dual Alien coils (each with three 26 AWG cores and a 36 AWG wrap, 3 mm internal diameter, five wraps), One Cloud cotton, 60 W and fully open airflow.
That is my method, not a holy instruction carved into a pair of 18650s. Use reliable hardware suited to your intended recipes. Keep it the same while comparing concentrates. My MTL/salt-nic reference is still being refined; the Blaze MTL RTA is doing a great job so far.
See Why Does the Same E-Liquid Taste Different in a Pod, Tank or RDA? for the testing-platform problem.
What you need
• A concentrate from a reputable DIY supplier, plain PG and VG
• Clean 10–30 ml bottles, labels and a permanent marker
• A mixing calculator and a scale accurate enough for the quantities
• A clean reference atomiser or fresh pod/coil, and fresh cotton where applicable
• Notes, a familiar control liquid and patience, unfortunately
Nicotine-free samples can remove one variable and reduce nicotine handling. If developing a nicotine recipe, verify the finished formulation later at its intended strength and in its target hardware.
How to single-flavour test properly
1. Decide what you are testing
“Let's see whether this is nice” is too vague. Is this strawberry realistic or a sweet? Does the vanilla bring cream, spice or just sweetness? Is the biscuit dry, buttery or grainy? Does the mango have a green edge? Does pushing the percentage make it floral? A clear question produces better notes.
2. Find a sensible starting percentage
There is no universal SFT percentage. One concentrate needs several percent; another overpowers everything at a fraction of that. Consult the manufacturer, supplier, trusted flavour-test archives and experienced mixers using the exact concentrate. SessionDrummer's notes and the Vaping Community calculator are useful starting points.
Do not assume every custard or mango behaves like another brand's version. If uncertain, begin low. Adding more in the next tester is easy. Removing concentrate requires dilution, not wishful thinking.
3. Use a percentage ladder when necessary
Mix several small testers at low, medium and upper-end levels within the concentrate's reported range. Do not blindly apply 2%, 5% and 10% to everything.
Very potent concentrates may need larger samples or an accurately prepared dilution so your scale can measure them reliably. Random drop counts are not precision: drops vary with the tip, viscosity and how enthusiastically your hoof squeezes.
4. Keep the base consistent
Use the same PG/VG ratio throughout a comparison. For DTL, 70VG/30PG is the usual practical starting point. For many MTL or pod recipes, 50/50 may be appropriate. Follow the target hardware's requirements; neither ratio is universal. Changing percentage and ratio together makes your findings harder to interpret.
5. Mix accurately and label immediately
Use a calculator, measure carefully, cap and mix thoroughly. Label the concentrate name, manufacturer, percentage, PG/VG ratio, nicotine strength (including zero), date and test number.
“Yellow liquid, probably mango” is not a laboratory record. It is evidence that the goats have taken over the workshop.
6. Test at planned intervals
Some fruits reveal themselves quickly. Creams, custards, tobaccos and bakeries often change more with time. A practical schedule is freshly mixed, 24–48 hours, one week, two weeks and longer if still developing. These are checkpoints, not universal steeping laws.
Store capped samples somewhere cool and dark. Leaving them uncapped encourages evaporation and oxidation. “Breathing” is not the automatic cure for every sharp flavour.
7. Reset the hardware
Fresh cotton is ideal for important comparisons. Otherwise make sure the previous flavour is gone. Coffee, tobacco, menthol, anise, cinnamon and some nuts squat in cotton like tenants who stopped paying rent.
If something tastes wrong, try a familiar control juice. If that also tastes burnt, metallic or strange, investigate the hardware before condemning the concentrate.
8. Write structured notes
Record first impression, main and secondary notes, sweetness, body, throat sensation, off-notes, finish, changes since the last test and possible uses or pairings. “Quite nice” teaches future-you bugger all.
Your senses are not laboratory instruments. These are personal observations, not universal chemical measurements. Include your percentage, base, age and hardware so others can interpret them.
9. Try a simple recipe
Give the new concentrate one or two familiar partners. Strawberry with a known cream; biscuit with a familiar vanilla. Keep it simple enough to recognise what the new ingredient does. Do not celebrate an SFT by immediately hiding it under nine strangers.
Common mistakes and troubleshooting
• Sniffing the bottle and calling it a test
• Using one percentage for every concentrate
• Changing hardware, cotton condition, power or airflow between comparisons
• Testing six new flavours together
• Assuming every sharp note needs steeping—or more concentrate
• Treating another mixer's percentage as a commandment
Weak flavour: Check a familiar control before moving to the next sensible percentage. Floral or chemical: Retest lower. Everything burnt: Stop and inspect the wick and power. Wildly inconsistent results: Restore your reference settings. Good alone but lost in a recipe: Simplify and add partners individually. Previous flavour lingering: Clean the cap and mouthpiece, then rewick.
Take breaks rather than chasing a fatigued palate. If familiar foods, drinks and e-liquids all taste distorted, stop reformulating. Persistent or sudden changes in taste or smell deserve professional medical advice.
Safety
• Use concentrates supplied for DIY e-liquid. “Food-grade” does not establish inhalation safety.
• Never add cooking oils, essential oils, tinctures or random kitchen extracts.
• Keep all ingredients away from children and pets; label every bottle.
• Use suitable gloves and eye protection when handling concentrated nicotine and follow supplier safety instructions. Nicotine can be absorbed through skin; see NIOSH nicotine guidance.
• Use sound hardware, check installed rebuildable resistance and connections, and stop for dry hits, unusual heat or unstable resistance. Never dry-fire cotton.
FAQ
Must an SFT contain nicotine? No. Verify later in the intended final formulation.
Do I need an RDA? No. It is convenient to clean and rewick, but a consistent pod, RTA or stock-coil tank can work.
How large should a tester be? Usually 10–30 ml; low percentages may require a larger sample or carefully prepared dilution for accurate measurement.
Can I trust other people's notes? Use them as a map, not a court order. Their palate and conditions differ.
When is an SFT finished? When the profile has stabilised enough to describe its character, strength, problems and likely uses.
Final word
Single-flavour testing is about learning ingredients, not declaring a concentrate rubbish after six puffs. A mixer who knows each bottle can build deliberately. Throwing six strangers together and hoping for custard is flavour daycare with no adult supervision.
Test one concentrate. Keep the hardware fixed. Write proper notes. Then earn the right to complicate it.
Further reading: Value of an RDA · DIY E-Liquid for Beginners · Mixing Ratios with the VC Calculator
Confession time: which concentrate have you thrown into a recipe untested—and what did it do to the bottle?
The Vape Workshop already contains a bloody enormous collection of single-flavour tests from SessionDrummer and other experienced mixers. This guide explains how an ordinary mixer produces useful notes of their own.
A concentrate arrives with a magnificent name like Golden Butterscotch Custard Biscuit Supreme. You sniff the bottle, declare it delicious and immediately throw it into a six-flavour recipe. Two weeks later, the recipe tastes like damp cardboard wearing vanilla perfume. Now you have six suspects and no witnesses.
Am I religious about testing every concentrate before using it? No. I don't always test a flavour before putting it into a recipe either. That is why single-flavour testing matters—not because the Old Goat is perfect, but because guessing makes troubleshooting a bastard.
Single-flavour testing—usually shortened to SFT—means mixing one concentrate into a plain base and testing it under controlled conditions. It teaches you what that concentrate contributes before other ingredients disguise the evidence. It is not glamorous, but it can save failed juice and evenings spent shouting at an innocent bottle of VG.
What an SFT can tell you
Look for the main flavour, secondary notes, approximate strength, sweetness, dryness or juiciness, mouthfeel, throat sensation, off-notes and changes while steeping. Think about possible uses and pairings.
It cannot tell you everything. A concentrate may behave differently alongside acids, sweeteners, creams, cooling agents or other flavours. The SFT is the introduction. The finished recipe remains the final examination. Following a trusted recipe with the exact concentrates is also a reasonable starting point; you do not need to finish an exhaustive SFT programme before mixing anything.
Why your testing setup matters
Taste, aroma, temperature and chemical sensations combine to create flavour. The NIDCD explains this relationship. Research also shows that power and PG/VG composition and device power can alter aerosol and nicotine delivery. Those studies do not prove which atomiser tastes best. They show why changing operating conditions changes the experiment.
For DTL recipe development, my reference platform stays fixed: HellBeast RDA, dual Alien coils (each with three 26 AWG cores and a 36 AWG wrap, 3 mm internal diameter, five wraps), One Cloud cotton, 60 W and fully open airflow.
That is my method, not a holy instruction carved into a pair of 18650s. Use reliable hardware suited to your intended recipes. Keep it the same while comparing concentrates. My MTL/salt-nic reference is still being refined; the Blaze MTL RTA is doing a great job so far.
See Why Does the Same E-Liquid Taste Different in a Pod, Tank or RDA? for the testing-platform problem.
What you need
• A concentrate from a reputable DIY supplier, plain PG and VG
• Clean 10–30 ml bottles, labels and a permanent marker
• A mixing calculator and a scale accurate enough for the quantities
• A clean reference atomiser or fresh pod/coil, and fresh cotton where applicable
• Notes, a familiar control liquid and patience, unfortunately
Nicotine-free samples can remove one variable and reduce nicotine handling. If developing a nicotine recipe, verify the finished formulation later at its intended strength and in its target hardware.
How to single-flavour test properly
1. Decide what you are testing
“Let's see whether this is nice” is too vague. Is this strawberry realistic or a sweet? Does the vanilla bring cream, spice or just sweetness? Is the biscuit dry, buttery or grainy? Does the mango have a green edge? Does pushing the percentage make it floral? A clear question produces better notes.
2. Find a sensible starting percentage
There is no universal SFT percentage. One concentrate needs several percent; another overpowers everything at a fraction of that. Consult the manufacturer, supplier, trusted flavour-test archives and experienced mixers using the exact concentrate. SessionDrummer's notes and the Vaping Community calculator are useful starting points.
Do not assume every custard or mango behaves like another brand's version. If uncertain, begin low. Adding more in the next tester is easy. Removing concentrate requires dilution, not wishful thinking.
3. Use a percentage ladder when necessary
Mix several small testers at low, medium and upper-end levels within the concentrate's reported range. Do not blindly apply 2%, 5% and 10% to everything.
Very potent concentrates may need larger samples or an accurately prepared dilution so your scale can measure them reliably. Random drop counts are not precision: drops vary with the tip, viscosity and how enthusiastically your hoof squeezes.
4. Keep the base consistent
Use the same PG/VG ratio throughout a comparison. For DTL, 70VG/30PG is the usual practical starting point. For many MTL or pod recipes, 50/50 may be appropriate. Follow the target hardware's requirements; neither ratio is universal. Changing percentage and ratio together makes your findings harder to interpret.
5. Mix accurately and label immediately
Use a calculator, measure carefully, cap and mix thoroughly. Label the concentrate name, manufacturer, percentage, PG/VG ratio, nicotine strength (including zero), date and test number.
“Yellow liquid, probably mango” is not a laboratory record. It is evidence that the goats have taken over the workshop.
6. Test at planned intervals
Some fruits reveal themselves quickly. Creams, custards, tobaccos and bakeries often change more with time. A practical schedule is freshly mixed, 24–48 hours, one week, two weeks and longer if still developing. These are checkpoints, not universal steeping laws.
Store capped samples somewhere cool and dark. Leaving them uncapped encourages evaporation and oxidation. “Breathing” is not the automatic cure for every sharp flavour.
7. Reset the hardware
Fresh cotton is ideal for important comparisons. Otherwise make sure the previous flavour is gone. Coffee, tobacco, menthol, anise, cinnamon and some nuts squat in cotton like tenants who stopped paying rent.
If something tastes wrong, try a familiar control juice. If that also tastes burnt, metallic or strange, investigate the hardware before condemning the concentrate.
8. Write structured notes
Record first impression, main and secondary notes, sweetness, body, throat sensation, off-notes, finish, changes since the last test and possible uses or pairings. “Quite nice” teaches future-you bugger all.
Your senses are not laboratory instruments. These are personal observations, not universal chemical measurements. Include your percentage, base, age and hardware so others can interpret them.
9. Try a simple recipe
Give the new concentrate one or two familiar partners. Strawberry with a known cream; biscuit with a familiar vanilla. Keep it simple enough to recognise what the new ingredient does. Do not celebrate an SFT by immediately hiding it under nine strangers.
Common mistakes and troubleshooting
• Sniffing the bottle and calling it a test
• Using one percentage for every concentrate
• Changing hardware, cotton condition, power or airflow between comparisons
• Testing six new flavours together
• Assuming every sharp note needs steeping—or more concentrate
• Treating another mixer's percentage as a commandment
Weak flavour: Check a familiar control before moving to the next sensible percentage. Floral or chemical: Retest lower. Everything burnt: Stop and inspect the wick and power. Wildly inconsistent results: Restore your reference settings. Good alone but lost in a recipe: Simplify and add partners individually. Previous flavour lingering: Clean the cap and mouthpiece, then rewick.
Take breaks rather than chasing a fatigued palate. If familiar foods, drinks and e-liquids all taste distorted, stop reformulating. Persistent or sudden changes in taste or smell deserve professional medical advice.
Safety
• Use concentrates supplied for DIY e-liquid. “Food-grade” does not establish inhalation safety.
• Never add cooking oils, essential oils, tinctures or random kitchen extracts.
• Keep all ingredients away from children and pets; label every bottle.
• Use suitable gloves and eye protection when handling concentrated nicotine and follow supplier safety instructions. Nicotine can be absorbed through skin; see NIOSH nicotine guidance.
• Use sound hardware, check installed rebuildable resistance and connections, and stop for dry hits, unusual heat or unstable resistance. Never dry-fire cotton.
FAQ
Must an SFT contain nicotine? No. Verify later in the intended final formulation.
Do I need an RDA? No. It is convenient to clean and rewick, but a consistent pod, RTA or stock-coil tank can work.
How large should a tester be? Usually 10–30 ml; low percentages may require a larger sample or carefully prepared dilution for accurate measurement.
Can I trust other people's notes? Use them as a map, not a court order. Their palate and conditions differ.
When is an SFT finished? When the profile has stabilised enough to describe its character, strength, problems and likely uses.
Final word
Single-flavour testing is about learning ingredients, not declaring a concentrate rubbish after six puffs. A mixer who knows each bottle can build deliberately. Throwing six strangers together and hoping for custard is flavour daycare with no adult supervision.
Test one concentrate. Keep the hardware fixed. Write proper notes. Then earn the right to complicate it.
Further reading: Value of an RDA · DIY E-Liquid for Beginners · Mixing Ratios with the VC Calculator
Confession time: which concentrate have you thrown into a recipe untested—and what did it do to the bottle?
