Flavorah Fire Cinnamon
ConcreteRiver
Setup: Recoil w/ flavor barrel, Dual 15 wrap 26g 3mm Nifethal 70 coils @.13 ohms. 60w power, 450F temp limit. Full Cotton Wicks.
Testing: FLV Fire Cinnamon @ 1% and 1 drop per 10 ml (about .25%), 60/40 VG/PG, Steeped 6 days.
Flavor Description: Just the spicy part of the cinnamon. Light, neutral body without the heavy, powdery bakery cinnamon note of FLV Rich Cinnamon. Closer to the cinnamon note from a stick of Big Red gum, but no weird sourness or anything else off putting. A bit of dryness in the top notes, but nothing that comes across as chalky. Useful mostly where you want a spicy kick from cinnamon, but don't want to deal with a candy base or a more powdery bakery cinnamon. Linear flavor, fairly present at 1%, but still tolerable up at 2-2.5%.
Not a ton going on here, which is probably a good thing. Inhale has spicy cinnamon top notes. Tastes like a very "red" version of cinnamon, for lack of a better term. Light, but still present neutral body. Just heavy enough it doesn't come across as thin or astringent. No real sweetness here, but it isn't distractingly bitter either. Exhale can get slightly dry and is definitely warm. Mostly just top notes of cinnamon spice. I don't get heavy or bakery-esque to the cinnamon. Still has a very neutral body. Seems pretty well designed to just sit in the top notes of a mix without messing with your base at all. Clean finish overall. Maybe just a hint of lingering cinnamon spice.
Flavor blindness on stronger spices is an issue for me, and as the cinnamon kind of fades out a bit, I get a really neutral but still spicy body. Doesn't turn thin and sour like some other spice flavors.
Off-flavors: Nah, just the spicy part of cinnamon. Nothing that doesn't belong.
Throat Hit: Definitely a spicy flavor, with some solid heat to it. No real chemical or harsh throat hit, but you can definitely feel it. I think that's kind of the point though.
Uses & Pairings: It's a good commercial / candy cinnamon where you don't want the dryer, richer FLV Rich Cinnamon and no overwhelming candy quality.
I'd look at this for a mulled cinnamon flavor in warmer beverages, where you don't necessarily want the body of bakery cinnamon and more just a hint of spice. I think Flavorah is slightly off on the fireball whisky thing, just because that stuff is disgustingly sweet as is. I do think it's a good option for cocktail vapes though, for adding a cinnamon note that will work well with a lighter cocktail body.
I think it would also be useful in building your own cinnamon candy recipes, letting you have control of the spice level separately from the sweetness.
Also a good option when you just want to dump that cinnamon flavor on top of a fruit mix without dragging it full onto into a full on pie filling.
Notes: Surprisingly enough, not crazy strong and pretty much linear. No flavored body here, so it really is just how much cinnamon spice you want. Noticeable but light at .25% and .5%. Nothing too spicy, but a general warmth without a lot of clear cinnamon spice flavor. At 1%, I get a clearer red candy cinnamon flavor, but out the red hots sweet body. Spice and warmth level is ramping up a bit, but it's not overwhelming at all. 1.5% is like 1%, just more. A little dryer, a little spicier. Still pretty pleasant. 2% is pretty spicy. I get some dryness, but nothing crazy. Still a neutral body overall. 2.5% is spicier still, pushing my usable limit for the flavor. 3% is getting a bit dryer for me, and it's unpleasantly spicy. I think if you're absolutely bent on crazy levels of cinnamon spice, this concentrate is a good choice. It dries out a bit as you crank up the percentage, but there is no real weird off notes or chemical tastes. Personally, I'd top out around 2.5%, but 1% is probably my sweet spot.
FWIW, I'll be covering FLV Red Cinnamon tomorrow, to see where that fits in the grand scheme of the the Flavorah cinnamon flavors.
Second Opinions:
Not really.