Capella Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
ConcreteRiver
Setup: Recoil w/ flavor barrel, Dual 15 wrap 26g 3mm Nifethal 70 coils @.19 ohms. 60w power, 450F temp limit. Full Cotton Wicks.
Testing: CAP Vanilla Bean Ice Cream@ %3, 60/40 VG/PG, Steeped 20 days.
Flavor Description: Kid's birthday party quality vanilla ice cream. Not blindingly sweet, but missing some of the heft you get from TFA VBIC. Faint chemical vanilla edge throughout. Seems workable but not amazing.
Inhale is mostly vanilla. Starts out okay but gets a bit of a sharp chemical edge to it that builds. Moderately dense, without overwhelming sweetness. Exhale is a lot denser, with a softer vanilla base and some deeper creamyness underneath. Sweeter than a straight cream and with quite a bit more body. Some buttery notes but very little in the way of an eggier frozen custard type of mix. Vanilla top notes, not particulary floral or authentic tasting. No real boozy, earthy vanilla bean, more of a homogenous artificial vanilla. Lingering slightly astringent aftertaste from that vanilla note along with a hint of a pleasant malt.
Off-flavors: The vanilla here has a faint chemical edge to it. Something like the vanilla note you get from cheaper off-brand ice creams. Not a huge deal, but noticeable if you're looking for it.
Throat Hit: Light, both from a smidge of dryness and the chemical edge on that vanilla.
Uses & Pairings: Does TFA Vanilla Bean Ice Cream taste peppery to you? If this answer is yes, then say hello to the CAP Version. It's definitely the closest thing to a direct substitute without that black pepper note. I've sort of been turning into a black pepper taster with TFA VBIC, and I get none of that with the CAP version. Works well enough as a 1:1 sub, but I find that this is a bit less creamy and dense than the TFA Version. Personally, I think the best sub is 1:1 with TFA VBIC to CAP VBIC, and then adding in some additional TFA Vanilla Swirl at something like a 3:1 VBIC to Swirl ratio. It'll still be a little less rich and heavy with a softer vanilla note, but it should at least a similar volume in recipes. If you want some of that richness back, CAP Vanilla Custard v1 (diketones, natch) can help, but it tends to increase your steep time quite a bit.
Even if you don't get black pepper from the TFA Version, I've found that CAP is substantially more accommodating for shorter steeps.
In terms of using this in a mix, go nuts. VBIC is definitely a staple flavor at this point and has been combined with damn near everything. I don't like the way it plays with floral fruits and it's too sweet for a lot of tobaccos, but other than that it's hard to find somewhere truly objectionable to put this.
Notes:
S&V Concentration testing, this seems weak at 1%. 2% tastes thin and kind of off, more like an ice milk than ice cream. 3% brings in a bit of the richness you'd expect, although that chemical edge to the vanilla seems to be scaling up pretty evenly. 4% is getting richer, but seems to be pushing away from a moister cream, and towards picking up a little dryness. 5% is personally about as high as I'd go, as that chemical edge to the vanilla is getting a little overwhelming. I'd recommend starting with this at 2% to get an ice cream edge to a creamier base. It gives you most of the flavor you want, while relying on other, more nuetral, creams for the body of your ice cream. If you're using this as your sole ice cream component, I'd start at 4% and stick to lusher fruits to not exacerbate some of of the drier mouthfeel here.
Second Opinions:
This is already well documented, I just wanted to get a flavor review up for it.
Here's the ELR Page. It's all over the place FWIW, I feel like TFA VBIC is heavier and more aggressive, but at least a couple users on here are saying the CAP is stronger.