Flavorah Fig
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: FLV Fig@ %1, 60/40 VG/PG, Steeped 18 days.
Flavor Description: Sweet, dark, and musky. Close to how I'd want a fig concentrate to taste, after trying the brighter, fruitier varieties from CAP and FA. Has some of the same sweetness and body that I get from something like cooked mission figs. A deep sweetness, useful for accentuing dryer, nuttier flavors or adding depth to something jammy as opposed to juicy.
Inhale is a bit spicy and sharp. Moderate density and a lighter deep sweetness. Dense exhale with a dark fruit sweetness. Not quite raisin-y but the dark, dry sweetness is similar, almost like a date. Earthy, musky top notes with a bit of a non-peppery spice to it. So I guess it's more cologne-y than perfume-y. Sweet without being bright or juicy. Lingering musk to the flavor.
Off Flavors: Earthy and musky, but I think that fits pretty well out of what I want from a fig concentrate.
Throat Hit: Nah, not really. A little musky, but not like a sharp floral perfume.
Uses & Pairings: Good fruit flavor to stand up to funkier creamy flavors like yogurts and cheesecakes. The dark sweetness here should actually work well with cheesier concentrates in general. This may be a good foil to FLV Brie Cheese.
I'd use this more as an additive in fruit mixes than as a discrete flavor. Adding a low percentage to something jammy or dark berries is going to help sell some real depth to a mix.
Good fig to use with tobacco pairings. I've only tried FA Fig and CAP Fig but both of those are way too fruity to really work with tobaccos. This has a dark sweetness, without any kind of super bright fruity notes. Should do a good job replicating some of the raisiny notes you get in certain tobaccos. Tastes like the fruitier note from the basic blue american spirits to me.
This has an earthy depth and a bit of funk, should work to punch up darker, fruiter liquor flavors especially brandy. Could even work to round out a red wine sangria flavor.
Notes:
S&V concentration testing, this is fairly strong. Pretty present at .25%. I'm getting some raw vg out of this, but it's still fairly sweet and musky. By .5%, it's a clear flavor, with the dark fruit starting to fill in a bit. At .75%, I'm starting to notice the earthiness quite a bit more. Not a peel note, but just some deep funk to the concentrate. At 1%, the musk part of this is getting a little sharp and you can taste it starting to get perfumey. Still balanced enough, but the seams on the flavor are starting to show quite a bit. 2% is really overpowering. That musky fig is getting fairly perfumey and I'm picking up some wet flowers and an ammonia-like cat piss thing. Don't use this at 2%. I'd start with this low. I'm really thinking that most of the useful range of this is going to be sub 1%. Maybe start at .25% as an additive in fruit mixes, .5% in tobaccos, and .75% if you're trying to pair it up with one of those stronger, weirder creamy flavors.
Second Opinions:
Not a ton, although /u/Cheebasteeba/ seems to be a fan. In a thread on tobacco sweetness, they state:
"Fig makes for a great sort of sweet musty fruity note in tobaccos. I would recommend either FLV Fig or Delosi Fig for a good fig; FA's is a bit too bright, CAP's doesn't quite hit the right notes, and FLV Sweet Fig isn't much different than the regular fig (slightly lighter and slightly sweeter). "
Later, in another tobacco post cheeba and /u/T_Mace go back and forth on FLV Fig as a potential tobacco additive. Cheeba's initial impression: "3% is too high, a little harsh here and strong flavor. Kind of like a dark spicy mustiness. Faint sweetness on the tongue. Decent body." Cheeba then comes back with " I also think a good starting range for these would be 1-1.5% in a tobacco mix, maybe even a little lower." and T_Mace is leaning towards .5-.75%.