Flavour Art Storm
ConcreteRiver
Setup: Recoil w/ flavor barrel, Dual 15 wrap 26g 3mm Nifethal 70 coils @.16 ohms. 60w power, 450F temp limit. Full Cotton Wicks.
Testing: FA Storm, 1 and 2.5%, 60/40 VG/PG, Steeped 8 days.
Flavor Description: Flavourart warns "Be blown away with dark spicy Tobacco..." which is the exact beginning line of the description for Monsoon. So... I probably just imagined any kind of tobacco in that because of a typo. That description fits a lot better here. Still newish to tobaccos but this has a drier, slightly acrid tobacco note with just a bit of ash to it. There's a deep fruity sweetness here. It's either some kind of a plum or maybe just an attempt at getting some of the fruity notes off a darker tobacco. It tastes a lot like that raisiny smell from a fresh pack of cigarettes but somehow given more body and turned into an actual fruit flavor. The finish on this is weird, there isn't really a heavy spice note, although I can pick out something like clove. There is almost a celery-ish astringency right at the end with some bitterness. Actually tastes a lot like someone mixed in some parsley with that tobacco blend. I'm a bit at a loss for what to do with this, It's already got a strong tobacco note, the fruit is pretty well balanced, and those greener notes make me want it nowhere near nuttier or bakery flavors. So solo at 3%?
Inhale is surprisingly sweet. Mostly a heavy, cooked plum flavor. Some sharper, dry tobacco in the top notes with maybe a hit of clove. Inhale is actually fairly dense and saturated. Closer to a dry mouthfeel, but there is a some syrupy character to that fruit. Exhale opens with a dry tobacco. Feels like it's in the same family as something like FA Arabian Tobacco or less intense. Closer to what I've got out of turkish concentrates. Fruit shows up after that initial tobacco burst. Still too syrupy and sweet to really read as a plum or raisin note. Feels a bit more fresh and less dehydrated than that. Tail end of the exhale gets odd. There's a clove spice, but there are these weird savory dry herbal notes. There's also some green astringency and bitterness, almost parsley-esque. Relatively clean finish. Overall sweeter and bolder than a lot of flavourart flavors.
Off-flavors: Flavourart talks about this being spicy, but it doesn't really fit my definition of spicy. It's like a dry herbal flavor instead. Weird, slightly bitter astringency on the backend.
Throat Hit: Moderate. You'll know it's a tobacco.
Uses & Pairings: I don't have a lot of ideas. Probably more of a solo flavor than anything else. What is here is pretty well in balance.
If you did want to mix something with this, you're pretty much stuck using this a primary note. I don't feel like the tobacco really needs any accenting, and that herbal note gives me some pause when thinking about nutty or bakery flavors. This could maybe stand just a bit more dark fruit, I'm thinking like FA Apricot or maybe a peach if you want to go sweeter.
Notes: Concentration testing, at 1% this actually feels a bit warmer. There's not a lot of tobacco but that weird herbal note is really clear and there is a solid dark fruit sweetness. At 2% the tobacco is starting to fill in quite a bit. The herbals seem a little less pronounced next to that heavier tobacco. Fruit is maybe just a touch heavier but it's starting to feel syrupy. At 3% the tobacco is richer while the light ash here is sort balancing the syrupy fruit. The herbal weirdness seems more effectively sequestered to the finish. 4% is intense all around. The tobacco is getting kind of acrid and that herbal note is making it all taste a little plasticy. I'd mix with this at 3%.
Second Opinions:
Some talk on ECF about whether this is supposed to be fruity.
Shoutout to /u/ID10-T for suggesting this for review.