Decadent Vapours Blue Limey
ConcreteRiver
Disclaimer: I didn't pay for this, shoutout to Decadent Vapours for sending this to me.
Setup: Recoil w/ flavor barrel, Dual 12 wrap 24g 3.5mm SS316 @.31 ohms. 60w power, 450F temp limit. Full Cotton Wicks.
Testing: Decadent Vapours Blue Limey, 5% and 10%, 60/40 VG/PG base, Steeped 20 days.
Flavor Description: A mix of musky blueberry and some sharper lime.
Concentrate sort of leads with the blueberry, using the lime more as an accent. I'd say the blueberry is more candied than realistic. Not as artificial as something like HS Blueberry, but feels more like a much more filled in version of TPA's Blueberry Candy mixed with some Blueberry Wild. Heavy, syrupy blueberry base with some lighter hints of a fresher, slightly tart more realistic blueberry flavor.
Fairly prominent musk coming off that blueberry. It's not really the musk of something like FA Bilberry with that more natural but ammonia-ish dark berry note. Feels more like straight cologne type musk. I've had another DV blueberry mix and picked up the same thing, so I'm guessing it's from the blueberry. You kind of acclimate to it relatively quickly and it stops being as distracting, but everytime I pick this back up I have to work through it again.
That accent lime here has a moderately heavy acidic bite to the top end. It helps to kind of clean up the sweeter blueberry and add some interest, but I could see it coming off as a bit aggressive. There's also a heavier, almost waxy citrus base that shows up after the first couple of initial rips as those brighter, zesty volatiles vaporize away.
Relatively full, thick texture. The tarter parts of the lime thin this out a bit, but still feels pretty saturated. Also on the sweet side. Doesn't taste like an overwhelming sucralose kind of sweet, but on the sweeter side of a fruit mix.
Off-Flavors: There's definitely some musk here. Moderate Old Spice type vibe.
Throat Hit: Light to moderate. Not especially harsh for something with lime, but it does have a bit of bite on top of that smoother blueberry.
Percentage testing: At 5%, this feels more like a blueberry with a light lime accent. Fairly thick, heavy and sweet. Light musk to this.
At 10%, the lime here seems a bit more prominent. Quite a bit more zesty, and with some actual tartness coming in. I'm also noticing some of that warm, waxy citrus vibe. Blueberry actually doesn't seem all the much heavier than at 5%, and the general musk level is pretty similar.
As always, DV suggests 20%. I'd stop pretty far short of that. Just based on these tests, I'd use this at around 5% as primary flavor in a simple mix. Solo, this gets a bit sharp for me near 10%... I'd probably stop around 8%.
Uses & Pairings: DV stuff is mostly set up for simple mixes, and this doesn't seem much different. I'm not sure there is a way to really mix around the musk here though, you could try throwing another heavy, syrupy fruit at this like INW Shisha Strawberry hoping to lose some of the off-notes in a busier mix.
Something boozy might help hide some of that musk.
You could also play off the tartness of the lime with something bright like pineapple. If you were going to add more citrus, I'd stick to something mellow and sweet.
Too sharp and musky for a cream pairing, or probably any kind of bakery.
Or maybe just rock it solo.
Second Opinions: DV also sells this as a finished juice, mostly likely around that suggested 20%.
If you aren't watching random British people do youtube reviews of juices Circa 2015...