Flavour Art Bitter Wizard
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: FA Bitter Wizard @ 2% solo, others noted, 60/40 VG/PG, Steeped 13 days, others noted.
Flavor Description: So Flavour Arts website copy reads: "Balance your juice ! With the Bitter Wizard we are glad to announce another new development, designed to reduce or eliminate the sweet basic taste given by PG or VG." So, I tried doing just that. My basic test mix is set for 60% VG / 40% PG so there isn't a bunch of sweetness but it's definitely there on the VG. Almost a light, kind of a light coconut sweetness hiding in with the more astringent PG. Trying that same mix with 2% Bitter Wizard, it doesn't really seem to eliminate the sweetness so much as add some bitter flavor while at the same time drying the vape out a bit. Overall effect is fairly tannic, like you'd get out of grape skins. Bitter note has a pine rosin type of character, very true bitter.
Trying this out at 1% with straight vg, it's fairly subtle. Not really affecting the volume, but maybe toning the sweetness down a bit while drying out the exhale. 2% brings doesn't really ramp up the bitterness, but it does dry out the vape substantially. I think I know where this is going, but just for laughs... 3% you start to get that bitter note, while the vape itself feels bone dry. 4% makes you question everything and leads inexorably to an existential crisis. Fun stuff!
Off-flavors: If over-used it gets super bitter and dries the actual vape out until it gets all cardboardy.
Throat Hit: Nah. Doesn't seem to add any throat hit.
Uses & Pairings: I can see two primary uses for this: tailoring fruit notes and tobaccos.
Useful if you've got a fruit flavor you absolutely love but the texture is reading too juicy and wet. Will let you sort of dry the entire mix out without too much effect on the underlying base flavor.
2% FA Fig, 1% Bitter Wizard, S&V: Went from super juicy to tasting an awful lot like grape skins. Bitterness seems a lot more pronounced with PG in the mix because I'm getting a clear bitter flavor here.
2% HS Grape, .25% Bitter Wizard, S&V: took some underlying grape chewable asprin notes and pushed it all the way in that direction. Gnarly.
3% CAP Fig, 1 drop Bitter Wizard per 10ml, S&V: This is actually doable. Cuts down on some the syrupy character of original concentrate while letting some light green notes pop a bit.
Perferred application to de-juicify your fruits should like 1 drop per 10ml or .1% (if you can measure it) and work up. You'll notice when it gets weird.
Trying this, I immediately thought of champagne concentrates. This always read as oversweet and too fruity for me.
3% FW Pink Champagne, 1 drop Bitter Wizard per 10ml, S&V: Again, pretty solid results. Dries out some of the pinker grape notes and really lets the mineral tang shine through. Doesn't seem to affect the carbonation of the underlying concentrate.
2% FA Brandy, 1 drop Bitter Wizard per 10ml, S&V: So if it works for a too-grapey champagne, what about a too-fruity liquor? Doesn't really play super well. Cuts down on the juicy fruit note but seems to hollow out what little fermentation there is.
Again, use at super low percentages to dry out a cocktail, keeping in mind that it'll mess with any actual fermentation notes.
This works quite a bit better with tobaccos. Does largely what you'd expect, cuts down inherent sweetness and dries out the exhale quite a bit.
3% FLV Red Burley, .5% FA Bitter Wizard, S&V: Turns FLV Red Burley into smoky roasted nuts. Maybe not the best application, and a little overboard on percentage.
3% FLV Native Tobacco, .25% FA Bitter Wizard, S&V: Kind of buffs up FLV Native Tobacco and gives you a drier, more acrid, cigarette mouthfeel.
2% FA Black Fire, .5% FA Bitter Wizard, S&V: Turns FA Black Fire into more of an actual structure fire. I think Flavour Art's suggested percentage of 1% is way overkill in general.
Seems like the best results for tobacco are at about .25%, where you're enhancing character without completely drying your mouth out.
Just for laughs, again, I added this at about .25% to FA Cookie at 2%. Don't do this. It's weird, even for someone who vaped Bitter Wizard at 4%. Does not play well with any kind of richer notes and drastically drys out the texture. Like pulverizing a burnt cookie and inhaling the crumbs.
Notes:
So, TL:DR version of the usage:
Tiny amount (1 or 2 drops per 30ml) to take some juicyness out of a fruit.
Tiny amount (1 or 2 drops per 30ml) to give your cocktails a dryer edge.
.25% to make your tobaccos sharper and roastier.
Keep this the hell away from creams, custards, and bakeries.
Seems pretty inessential unless you want to hardcore mess with tobaccos. Also reported to noticeably mute flavors within a week, so use at your own peril.
Second Opinions:
ELR Notes are pretty useless, except for this by user "docta" posted:
"Used in Gatorade and some colas to give a bitter note. At 0.5%, masks the flavor of vg and pg, thus only leaving the taste of your flavor mix. 1% or higher, gives the pleasant bitter ring of colas, whiskeys, or dark chocolate."
Knee-jerk reaction, I'm going to disagree, mainly because that doesn't account for the really significant changes to mouthfeel I'm getting.
They also quote a review from BCF in the same note saying that:
" This is a must have for candy recipes that need that bitter on the tongue effect. Example: pixy stix, sweet tarts, runts, lemon heads, etc... 1 to 2 drops per 10ml seem to do the trick. must have. I use this in over half of my recipes now. It makes the flavors POP This magic liquid solves my problem of always sweet VG ruining a great flavor, especially tobacco flavors. This takes the unwanted "sweet taste" off the top of my tongue. About 8 drops in a 60 ml bottle does the trick. Sweet taste has its place, but when you don't want it, use Bitter Wizard."
This'll definitely make a candy mix chalky and dry, so if that's what you're going for, have fun.
Reports of flavor muting on the sub.
Quick overview of additives on ECF. Bitter Wizard descriptions is as follows:
"This makes things bitter. Mostly useful for tobacco blends, but sometimes a bit of bitter will make things much more flavorful. Again 1 drop per 10ml to 1 drop per 2ml is a useful range. I usually start at the tiny 1 drop per 10ml and work up if it is needed."