Capella Cinnamon Sugar SL
ConcreteRiver
Setup: Recoil w/ flavor barrel, Dual 15 wrap 26g 3mm Nifethal 70 coils @.17 ohms. 60w power, 450F temp limit. Full Cotton Wicks.
Testing: CAP SilverLine Cinnamon Sugar, 2 and 5%, others noted, 60/40 VG/PG, Steeped 8 days.
Flavor Description: More of a cinnamon and sugar additive for existing bakeries than a full flavor.
There's a light pastry note in here, but it seems to be taking a back seat to the cinnamon and sugar. It's almost like a blonde untoasted poptart-esque note. A little powdery without too much texture.
This feels like more cinnamon than sugar. The cinnamon here seems pretty similar to the cinnamon in Capella CDS. It's a bit drier and spicier here, but that's probably just the lack of pastry around it. I get something metallic out of it, but that's a minority report. Not picking up too much discrete sugar flavor, but it's definitely doing some sweetening. There's some dry powdery texture more like a confectioners sugar instead of a heavy granulated sugar but it's relatively subtle.
I do get some tartness or a light sour note out of this. It may just be that capella cinnamon acting weird for me, but it's somewhere in there. Not really a lemonish tartness, more like a slightly watery generic tartness or sour. It's not overwhelming, but it seems to hit over the entire exhale.
This works a whole lot like FLV Pastry Zest. I like the cinnamon note a bit more in the Pastry Zest, but capella bakery cinnamon tends to have a mouthfull-of-pennies type sour metallic thing going on for me. I also feel like the texture is a bit better on the back end with pastry zest. The tartness in the SilverLine version is a bit less intense though, so this might be a bit more useful overall. This is less concentrated than the pastry zest for sure, but pastry zest is one of the $7.49 flavors, so the actual value here could be relatively comparable based on how heavy you want that cinnamon.
Off-flavors: Definitely more of an additive. Some tartness here beyond just straight cinnamon and sugar. Capella's bakery cinnamon is metallic for me, but I seem to be in the minority there... but if you pick it up off other capella flavors it's in here as well.
Throat Hit: Light, nothing major solo or mixed.
Percentage testing: Solo testing this, at 2% I'm getting some lighter, dry cinnamon. There's a bit of dry, sugary texture but it isn't too intense. Light metallic tang that feels just a hair watery.
At 5% solo, there's quite a bit more cinnamon but I wouldn't call it incredibly spicy. Still not really overwhelming. Texture seems pretty solidly dry and powdery. That metallic note is still there but it feels a little more tart without that watery thing at 2%.
Using this as an addtive at 3% with 3% FA Apple Pie, the cinnamon and sugar thing is translated fairly well. Seems to bolster the pastry note just a bit, and I get some fairly mild cinnamon. Not noticing a huge boost in texture. Extra tartness is noticeable, but it seems to be working okay with the lighter apple in the FA Apple Pie.
Using this at 6% with 2% INW Biscuit, seems to be doing a bit of a snickerdoodle thing. Texture is still a bit powdery overall instead of granulated, but it feels like it's relatively effective at giving a cinnamon and sugar dusting. The tartness shows up a bit for me, but it's not completely overwhelming and seems a little more manageable than FLV Pastry Zest.
Just based on these tests, I'd be using this as a cinnamon-sugar pastry dusting. This is a bit weaker than you'd expect from a cinnamon. Usable at 3% as a lighter accent, but seems a little better at doing what it needs to do closer to 5-6%. Cinnamon is pretty subjective, but this comparatively mellow compared to some of the of the options.
Uses & Pairings: Probably a bit more versatile than FLV Pastry Zest, or just adding a cinnamon bakery like CDS or FW Cinnamon Roll to a pastry mix. I'd probably stick with FLV Pastry Zest for fruit-forward profiles where the tartness isn't going to be an issue because the texture is a bit better and I prefer the cinnamon there, but this should work fairly well for bakeries without fruit.
I'm thinking an additive for snickerdoodles, ginger snaps, and maybe coffee cakes. I'm sure the list is longer there.
Second Opinions: Still fairly new.
Shoutout to ceedee99uk for linking reviews from PeegoreVapes in another thread.
Here's the product page from Capella. Their description: "SilverLine’s Cinnamon Sugar. What can we say? "It's a downright all day mix." The amazing smooth aroma of your favorite hot pastry, just out of the oven, freshly sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar."