Flavorah Brulee
ConcreteRiver
This a a pre-release flavor, which was provided to me solely for the purposes of review.
Setup: Recoil w/ flavor barrel, Dual 15 wrap 26g 3mm Nifethal 70 coils @.16 ohms. 60w power, 450F temp limit. Full Cotton Wicks.
Testing: FLV Brulee, .25, 1, and 3%, others noted, 60/40 VG/PG, Steeped 8 days.
Flavor Description: A lot of brulee, less creme. Seems to have a fluffier mouthfeel, missing some of the crunch from the brulee and the richness of the custard underneath.
The brulee note here is interesting. It isn't exactly the harder crunchier caramelized sugar I'd expect. It's a little softer and it has a bit of a cereal type body to it, which is really interesting but maybe not a fit for the brulee. That cereal feels just a bit cardboardy. Almost like someone put some FW Rice Krispies (or whatever they've changed the name to now) in here. There are some caramelized sugar notes in here, but it's not as hard and solid as straight FLV Caramel. Caramel is somewhere around medium dark instead of burnt, which would be nice, but the texture kind of detracts from the brulee feeling.
There's also an errant tart note at the beginning of the vape that seems to be lightening the punch of something that should be a heavy, solid flavor.
There is some kind of cream or custard in here, but it doesn't feel all that rich. That same softer cereal texture is kind of screwing with the texture of the custard base. I think get just a hint of an eggy taste, but I'm missing most of the creamy richness I'd expect. There's also a really light vanilla, but it's not up front or really defining of the concentrate.
Mouthfeel overall runs towards fluffy, which doesn't really suit the creme or the brulee. There's a lot volume, but it could stand to be a lot denser.
Sweetness level is pretty solid, sugary but not cloying.
Off-flavors: Nothing here tastes bad, but it's a sort of odd combination. The brulee itself is a bit soft, there's a really light custard note without much egg, and I think I'm getting a bit of cereal type body out of it. I also get a tartness on the caramel note that isn't really a fit for the profile. Can get cardboardy from that cereal note, and the tartness and the caramel together can get a bit soapy at high percentages. Not FA Caramel soapy, but hey, it seems like it's in the background at 3%.
Throat Hit: Light to Moderate. Those caramelized notes are a bit hard on the throat.
Percentage testing: At .25% solo, I'm actually getting a decent amount of caramel out of this. Still suffering from that fluffy mouthfeel thing. No real custard. Too weak down here.
At 1% solo, this is a little denser, but not by much. Fluffy caramelized sugar note. Cereal grain is coming through a bit clearer. Just a bit of custard coming in around the edges, but I want something a lot richer.
At 3% solo, that tartness up front is really showing up and the caramel note is getting a little soapy. That cereal volume is also pushing a little cardboardy. Richness in the custard hasn't really shown up and it's still a lighter accent.
Just for laughs, I tried this with some INW Custard. At .5% Brulee and 1.5% INW Custard, it definitely fills in the custard part of this fairly well. The extra creamyness also helps to suck up a bit of that tartness. Texture doesn't really click for me on the brulee though, still feeling a bit too fluffy and while it does taste like creme brulee, it just doesn't come together all that well.
Hoping that this could work as a caramel enhancer, I also tried this at 1% with 2% INW Pink Lady (which has a kind of caramel apple vibe to it.) It's okay, but that textural component isn't quite meshing and that flat cereal note is sticking out quite a bit.
Uses & Pairings: The taste here is okay, but the texture is going to be an issue. I'd try this as a texturizer for harder caramels, but you'd probably have to come in with quite a bit of something like FLV Cream to sort of emulsify everything together and try to fill in that blank spot from the cereal body.
I do think this would work pretty well to add some caramel and a heavier roasted note to cereals, but that may be a specialized use case.
You may also be able to use this kind of toast a marshmallow without going straight to TPA Toasted Marshmallow. Fluffier texture would be a fit there, and there isn't enough richness to pull the mix away from a marshmallow.