Flavour Art Blood Orange (Red)
ConcreteRiver
Setup: Recoil w/ flavor barrel, Dual 15 wrap 26g 3mm Nifethal 70 coils @.18 ohms. 60w power, 450F temp limit. Full Cotton Wicks.
Testing: FA Blood Orange (Red) @ .5% and 1.5%, 60/40 VG/PG, Steeped 10 days.
Flavor Description: Relatively bright and sweet citrus, no real chalkiness or waxyness. Closer to a realistic tangerine flavor, then a blood orange. I'd venture to say that this is what most people want when they say an "orange" flavor. Maybe a bit misleadingly named, because I don't get much of the depth I associate with blood oranges. I'm not a huge fan of FA Mandarin, this seems to be a closer to what I'd want from a tangerine vape. I'd recommend using this at .5-1% for an accent flavor, and 2.0-2.5% as a primary flavor.
Also worth nothing that this concentrate has some crazy separation. You should be shaking all of your concentrates before use, but this looks like the grease from a pepperoni pizza floating on top of a base. No problem in the finished mixes or anything, but I figured I'd put that out there.
Inhale has some pretty subdued orange zest notes. Relatively airy with a building canned mandarin type of sweetness. Exhale is sweet and syrupy mandarin. Not a lot of tart top notes, but that same kind of hint of zest. Moderately dense overall, but no real warm and waxy body you get with some other citrus flavors. No chalkiness like you get from CAP Sweet Tangerine. Lingering zest and a pretty heavy sugary stickiness.
Off-flavors: Not really a blood orange, but nothing out of place for an orange bordering on tangerine flavor.
Throat Hit: Moderate. Quite a bit smoother than FA Mandarin, but on par with FW Blood Orange.
Uses & Pairings: Good option for an "orange" that isn't overtly candy, but not too acidic and realistic. An orange for all seasons, if you will.
For that full orange experience, this seems to be exactly what FA Royal Orange is missing in terms of a strong base flavor. The body and acidity from Royal Orange, with the orange flavor from FA Blood Orange, is going to be pretty close to an ideal orange vape.
Good for fruit mixes with brighter fruits like Strawberry and Pineapple.
Good orange for mixing with creams, really suited for a creamsicle type of vape as demonstrated by Wayne in his "Blood'sicle" demo recipe from the flavorbook.
Notes:
Concentration testing, this is pretty linear. .25% is lighter, and heavy on the zest. Not a lot of sweetness, more like the orange from a flavored seltzer water. .5% actually brings in noticeably more sweetness than .25%. Still lighter overall, but balance is pretty solid. 1% is still really well balanced. Sweetness and those zest notes is pretty cohesive. 1.5% is pushing sweeter, and getting a bit syrupy. 2% is still pretty bright, but that sweetness is starting to take over a bit. Not necessarily good for the realism here, but really nice overall. 2.5% is about my limit. It's definitely pushing into tangerines in "light syrup." 3% is getting a bit weird and heavy, with the subtler parts of the citrus getting lost in all that sweetness. I'd recommend using this as a light accent down at .5%, 1.0-1.5% as a primary flavor where you have something else going on in the vape, and up to 2.5% when your really want that sweet citrus to be the star of the show.
Comparing this FW Blood Orange, I think the FA is going to be a little easier to mix with. FA is a bit brighter and sweeter, closer to a tangerine than the darker, earthier FW. FW Blood Orange is closer to an actual blood orange, with more depth. Harshness level seems to be pretty much on par.
Second Opinions:
Wayne from DIYorDIE has a review up in his flavorbook. Here's the instagram blurb: "FA Blood Orange is a great orange flavoring that isn't quite accurate but packs a charming flavor.".
Here's the link for the full review if you're a subscriber.
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