Decadent Vapours Rhubarb Cuddle
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: Decadent Vapours Rhubarb Cuddle @ %3, 60/40 VG/PG, Steeped 25 days.
Flavor Description: More rhubarb than cuddle. Sweet cooked rhubarb way up front with some flatter almost ice-cream base kind of creaminess. Decadent Vapours calls this "A warming embrace of tangy rhubarb paired with a generous dollop of sweet and creamy Crème Anglaise custard." They definitely stick the landing on the cooked rhubarb. Admittedly, it's been a minute since I made a creme anglaise, but the warmth here is taking away from some of the richer notes and volume I'd expect giving the custard component a flat affect.
Inhale is warm and slightly tart rhubarb with some floral french vanilla kind of top notes. Exhale has baked rhubarb right up front. Some of those higher rhubarb green notes, but pretty subtle, especially compared to a brighter rhubarb like INW. The custard shows up on the backend, but there's a hint of weirdness while those greener top notes clash with the custard as its coming in. Custard tastes more like a creamier ice cream base. I'm not getting a ton of eggy richness but that could be the rhubarb or the overall warmth of the vape. Lingering flat vanilla cream and green top notes on the tail end of the exhale. Sweetness level overall is actually pretty restrained, which is nice.
Off-flavors: It's not an off-flavor per se, but I really do feel like the warmth here is just interfering with the way the vape works. It makes it fairly difficult to get a nice deep draw on the inhale, and it substantially flattens out that custard back end. It's actually a really solid flavor, I just don't see too much of a way to smooth this back out so you can enjoy everything going on. Would possible work better as a MTL type flavor.
Throat Hit: Warm, super warm as a DTL Vape.
Uses & Pairings: Rhubarb fruit cobbler or crisp a la mode? The rhubarb here would pair well with strawberry or raspberry and the custard, with some backup, could definitely stand in for a scoop of ice cream. You'd need a crispier topping, almost like a granola flavor. The warmth here could carry a cobbler or crisp. Or a pie, for that matter.
Alternatively, you could just add in some Vanilla Custard v1 and steep it for a month for a fuller take on a rhubarb custard.
Notes:
S&V concentration testing, the vanilla definitely starts picking up as you increase the concentration. At 4%, the vanilla and custard notes are little more prominent. At 5%, the rhubarb is still there, but the vanilla is getting a bit unblanced. Moving above that, at 6-8% it starts tasting like a green version of TFA Dragonfruit and vanilla frosting. A steep should help a bit, but it seems too aggressive to be all that pleasant. I'd mix with this between at 3-4% if you're adding a creamy component and maybe 5-6% if you're going to be adding in more fruit but want to rely on this concentrate for your creamy notes.
Second Opinions:
Really good youtube tasting here (starts at about 7:00 in. Dead on to my experience with this stuff. They are reviewing the finished liquid, but If i had to guess based on the suggested percentage for the flavoring it's probably 20% flavor with a 50vg/50pg mix.