Flavorah Lembas Bread
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 Lembas Bread, .25, 1, and 3%, others noted, 60/40 VG/PG, Steeped 9 days.
Flavor Description: Not 100% sure what this is supposed to be, but it tastes like a fruit muffin base to me.
Soft bakery texture, with a distinct muffin-ness to it. Almost a less sweet, slightly more savory cupcake/yellow cake flavor without any kind of frosting note. Texture here is fluffy, with a softer grain to it. Tastes like it's just a hair underflavored for how fluffy that base is, and I can pick up just a bit of a cardboard solo. Lighter cook on this, but you do get at least a bit of carmelization. I'm not picking out anything particularly rich, and it seems like it could use just a bit more butter. Definitely does taste a bit yellow though, so that's probably a good sign.
The fruitiness here is interesting. It's sort of comparable to FLV Blueberry muffin, where you can feel where the bakery should be without a distinct flavor, just reversed. I can feel a bit of brighter, tarter, fruitiness in here but it doesn't really have a distinct taste. It shows up at the front of the flavor for me. I've been obsessing a bit about blueberry muffin while doing this review, and so it's starting to taste like the beginning of a blueberry note, but it's really non-specific and definitely on the lighter side. I seem to pick up more fruit on the room note than I actually do in the vape, which is interesting.
Sweetness is pretty on point for a muffin, not completely savory but not cupcake sweet. That fruity note is more tart than sweet.
Off-flavors: Does not taste nearly elven enough. Feels like a bit of balancing act in terms of off flavors, at lower percentages it doesn't quite feel filled in and has a bit of cardboard to it. At higher percentages you lose a lot of that but you also start to pick up a really light anise twinge. Nowhere near as aggressive as CAP Yellow Cake, but it's the same kind of flavor. Doesn't seem to pick up that muddy thing though. I'm just assuming this is a muffin, if it isn't then who knows?
Percentage testing: At .25% I definitely get some of the taste, but very little of the texture beyond just fluffy. The underflavoring on top of that fluffy base with texture is a bit off-putting.
At 1%, this has filled in substantially but still feels like it could go higher. Texture is pretty much there, but it feels like it needs a bit more flavor to it to avoid going cardboardy. Fruityness is more noticeable here, but it's still just an accent.
At 3%, I get a heavier texture to it, and it's starting to dry out a bit. Less cardboard, but a bit of anise sneaking in on the back end. Good "cooked" caramelized type of flavor to the bakery overall.
Just because it's the obvious next step, I mixed 2% Lembas Bread with 3% FLV Blueberry muffin, and yeah, that's a blueberry muffin. It seems a bit dry, and the blueberry could stand to be cranked up a bit, but it's a pretty solid blueberry muffin. Who says dreams don't come true?
Based on these tests, I'd probably be using this around 2% with maybe just a bit of textural help. Should be high enough to get a distinct muffin taste without going weird.
Uses & Pairings: Feels like it could use just a bit of a boost in the texture department to stand up in mixes. I'd probably try a bit of either CAP or TPA Vanilla cupcake. Your muffin is likely going to be pretty sweet anyway, and at a low enough percentage it shouldn't drag in much frosting texture. I think this could also benefit from a bit of TPA butter for some extra richness.
You know that thing where FLV Blueberry Muffin is a really good cooked blueberry but it doesn't really have a muffin note? Flavorah apparently found it in their warehouse and have to decided to sell it back to us. Should work well with most syrupy fruits to make a muffin, especially if you bring in that textural help. Fruit note is going to be versatile, so go nuts. Outside of berries, I could see cinnamon and apples, bananas and nuts, or whatever strikes your muffin fancy.
Interesting base for lighter, fluffier bakeries that aren't inherently all that sweet.
Might work okay to fill out a more savory bread without adding any kind of yeast notes.