Flavor Express Oak Milk
ID10-T
Setup: Recoil RDA. Dual kanthal clapton coils @ 0.339 ohm. 55w power, Cotton Bacon wicks.
Testing: Flavor Express Oak Milk @ 1% to 3% 70/30 VG/PG, Steeped 6 days.
Flavor Description: Thick, rich, sweet condensed milk with a touch of soft caramel and a sort of woody note. My initial impression of this as an odd but delicious "oak barrel-aged sweetened condensed milk" might have been an excellent example of the awesome power of suggestion. Put oak in the name, it tastes like oak. After spending a little more time with this flavor, I'm still going with oak for the top note. It's not unlike the oaky flavor of FA Oakwood. If this were Family Feud, I'm sure the top audience survey result would be oak. But also on there, you'd find the less specific "woody," along with nutty and malty. Whatever connection you make to that arboraceous aspect, the rest is straightforward. Sweetened condensed milk, condensed almost to the point of being chewy, with a lingering soft, sweet caramel finish, not unlike a dulce de leche.
Off-flavors: It's a unique flavor. I'm not sure what belongs and what doesn't, but there's nothing weird or unpleasant up to 3%.
Throat Hit: Negative. The opposite of throat hit. Silky smooth.
Notes: This is a highly concentrated flavor. At 1%, I'm getting a full-flavored, rich condensed milk between a woody note and a soft, lingering caramelized sweetness on the finish. Although it doesn't bring to mind butter at all, there has to be some diketones at work here for this to be such a rich dairy cream flavor without any buytric barfiness. Pushing it up to 2% doesn't do much for the condensed milk or woodiness, but it turns the hint of caramel into a stronger soft caramel flavor. 3% makes the already thick condensed milk so thick that I would even call it chewy, without bringing out anything off.
Uses & Pairings: I find this to be a fairly complex concentrate that's a satisfying single flavor. But what's the fun in that? The first thing that came mind when I tasted this last night is a creamy RY4-type recipe. Today I go poking around and it seems others had the same thought. There's not much information out there about this flavor, but two of the three recipes on ELR that use it are RY4s: Presidential Blend by ecigexpress and one that's someone's remix of the same.
Other options might be milkshakes/ice creams and bakery stuff, with a caveat. That woody/nutty/malty thing is going to get in the way of some stuff. Tried it in cookie profile where a caramelly condensed milk wouldn't be out of place, and the oak in oak milk went cardboard on me. Like eating a delicious cookie, box and all. However, I think it could easily be folded into a nut with the addition of some nutty flavor or pass as a malt when mixed with chocolate.
Call me crazy, but I could also see putting some vanilla and bourbon flavor with this and making something like a bourbon cream sauce for baked fruit or better yet, New Orleans-style bread pudding.
Second Opinions:
High praise for this flavor, but quite a bit of variation regarding what it actually tastes like
ELR notes:
djvapes preferred single flavor is the oddly specific 3.3%.
Amy*** says, "Use as a sweet cream / milk. I tried it stand alone at 3% max vg and it was great all on it's own. It kinda of has a slight spice to it way deep down not like a Horchata but something on those lines of a spiced milk. Tons of sweet creaminess. I read up on it and it appears that Oak Milk is a common thing in Wales. I am going to try this as a traditional milk and also sneak it in where you'd want an additional layer of depth. Very satisfied with this flavor as a stand alone very surprising being I don't regularly vape single flavors."
Mlik says, "3.5%: this is a really nice straightforward cream, not too heavy, not dairy. Malt taste in the front, then a faintly sweet cream that's sort of like a mild soy milk or almond milk. Light mouthfeel, light-medium vapor. So far it works well w/ bakeries (fa cookie esp.), fresh cream, vanilla, chocolate (malted milk?), cinnamon and maple. The longer I vape it, the more I like it. It starts tasting like a lightly sweetened non-dairy whipped cream, maybe made of coconut w/ palm sugar. This stuff is good."
ECX shoppers suggest 6% to bring out the caramel in this flavor. and use words like cool, silky, smooth, milky cream, wonderful, sweet, and very creamy.
Victoria says, "I was worried that vaping a milk flavor would leave that 'spoiled milk' taste like I've experienced before but with Oakwood Milk you get that delicious ice cold milk while eating chocolate satisfaction. Sweet and sexy. Better than dairy milk and not as sweet as malted milk. A beautiful hybrid."
K.M. writes, "I have used this for a couple years now and know this flavor very well. To me, it's a very dense and rich complex cream thats slightly sweet. It's not just a plain milk type flavor but, at the same time, it is very versatile. I almost want to say it's a slightly sweetened, condensed vanilla/almond/rice milk but without a really nutty or strong vanilla note. This is a hard one to describe but if you are a fan of creams, vanilla creams or dessert recipes then you really should give this a try. I rarely go over 3-4% as it is quite rich. I love it and have always been surprised to see it rarely mentioned."
Amy: "I've been using it as a mixer to just give creams an additional sweetness. It's nice and smooth w/ a wonderful creaminess that has just a touch of sweetness. Hard to describe but the cream is more drier kinda in the range of a condensed milk , dense but in a good way. Certainly an upgrade from the typical dairy milk. I have yet to need to go over 3% in a mix as this flavor is nice and strong at lower %s."
Be sure to check out all of the other great reviews at:
Except the one about FA Cookie, that one's just stupid.
Video Review: In this video, the second episode of NOTED, I try this flavor for the first time and talk about it and other related flavors with my co-host /u/CheebaSteeba and temporary co-host /u/Skiddlzninja (filling in for permanent co-host /u/mlNikon who will start this upcoming week). This free weekly hour-long show tied to this subreddit's Flavor of the Week posts is live on Monday nights at 10 p.m. Central and available after the fact, on the DIYorDIE Youtube channel.
Bonus In the above video, close to the end, you get to see the Cheebster nearly vomit, but then go on to obstinately defend the flavor that almost caused his upchuck. That's quality info-tainment right there. After the show, someone said, "It's like watching a battered wife argue with the cops trying to arrest her husband." I don't want to make light of domestic violence, but that's such an apt description.