Decadent Vapours Guava
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 @.32 ohms. 60w power, 450F temp limit. Full Cotton Wicks.
Testing: Decadent Vapours Guava, 5% and 10%, 60/40 VG/PG base, Steeped 16 days.
Flavor Description: Guava candy with a metallic twinge.
Seems like more a guava candy flavor. Feels heavy and syrupy, without much in way of fleshy or juicy realistic notes. Base of the flavor has some that bright "red" type candy guava hawaiian punch sweetness. I am getting some offsetting tartness. It doesn't really add to realism, but it adds some contrast to that guava candy flavor.
While this flavor starts out pretty normal, it gets odd on the finish. The off notes are kind of all over the place. There's a bit of floral bitter edge to this, much more noticeable up high. Guava is kind of notorious for being musky, and I'm definitely picking up just a bit of that. It isn't musky like TPA Guava or even VT Guava, but it's there and kind of gives some low range punch to those bitter floral top notes. This also tastes strangely metallic to me. I'm thinking it's tied into the tartness somehow, but it has a fairly pronounced metallic tang right on the back end.
Heavier, syrupy hard candy type texture to this. Definitely sweet, but the tartness keeps it from going too cloying.
The closest guava flavor to this I've tried is probably FE Guava. It has that same kind of heavy candy vibe. This is a bit tarter and more complex, but the FE version doesn't have as much baggage in terms of off-flavors.
Off-Flavors: Gets floral and musky, especially at higher percentages. Odd metallic finish.
Throat Hit: Light, pretty smooth overall.
Percentage testing: At 5%, this is a recognizable candy guava. Maybe a bit soft and lacking some vibrancy. Sweet with a light sour tartness. Minimal floral bite at the end, with a small bit of that metallic tang.
At 10%, this is heavier, syrupy, and reads more as a solid candy guava. I am noticing more of the off flavors though. Moderate higher floral note, with a slight baseline musk. Tastes fairly metallic to me.
Decadent Vapours uses an across the board 20% recommendation for it's flavors. Even though this is probably one of the weaker flavors I've tested from them, that's probably still overkill. Just based on these tests, I'd probably be using this around 6-8% as an accent flavor. I think taking it higher would help with some vibrancy but the off-notes become a problem.
Uses & Pairings: I think most of using this is going to be about accentuating the candy front end of this while trying to clean up the backend. The most obvious route would be to pull a Manson, and add a really, bright vibrant lime. Since INW is not to be trusted with their reformulations, FLV Lime is probably the biggest, brightest lime on the block right now. Should also work well with a sweeter lime like FW Key Lime.
Sort of in the same vein, a heavy orange or pineapple flavor would do a lot of the same work on this.
Booze flavors would also clean up the backend, so maybe break out the rum.
A more textured candy flavor like Cap 27 Fish, 27 Bears, Jelly Candy, or PUR Jelly Candy would also probably take care of cleaning up the finish and work well with that candy guava.
Second Opinions: I'm not seeing anything really out there about this one. I'm also not seeing it listed up on their website, so it may be wholesale only or a newer flavor.