Flavorah Nectarine
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 @.14 ohms. 60w power, 450F temp limit. Full Cotton Wicks.
Testing: FLV Nectarine, .25, 1, and 3%, others noted, 60/40 VG/PG, Steeped 4 days.
Flavor Description: A top-heavy brighter stone fruit flavor, somewhere between a white peach and an actual nectarine. Harsh, and with a generous helping of off-notes, though.
The actual nectarine flavor is pretty solid. It's definitely a bit tarter than a straight peach flavor, with an almost citrus kind of brightness to it. Feels like there's a bit of peel in here, which isn't really the usual for a peach-ish flavor and it works pretty well. Light earthiness and some spice on that peel. The brightness in here is nice, and works to really delineate this from a peach.
This doesn't really have the mouthfeel of a nectarine. Texture is pretty substantially dry. I basically get bright and tart, then dry. Doesn't seem to have a whole lot of juicy or fleshy body to it.
I'm getting a pretty aggressive throat hit out of this. I'm not incredibly sensitive to throat hit, but this definitely has a solid punch to it.
The off-notes here are a bummer, because this pretty interesting. They taste like the plastic-y side of the traditional cherry off-note spectrum. They are also fairly aggressive in here. Doesn't really have the body to go full medicinal.
Off-flavors: Plastic, almost benzene, wollop of off-flavors through the entire vape. Also an aggressive dryness that pulls it off profile.
Throat Hit: I'd call it pretty solidly harsh. It's aggressive.
Percentage testing: At .25% solo, there is some brighter nectarine flavor in here. Not a whole lot of body here, but just that bright nectarine top note. Off flavors are still there, but they are relatively subdued compared to higher percentages, I'd still call them fairly prominent. Not too much harshness here, but the flavor is thin.
At 1% solo, this actually has a pretty solid, bright nectarine top note. That brightness is really starting to pop and get interesting. Those off notes are getting pretty aggressive though. Seems a bit dry overall, and that throat hit is intense.
At 3% solo, this feels like more off flavors than than the good stuff. Plastic is getting a bit acrid. Harshness is harsh, man. I don't know, this isn't coming together for me.
Based on this testing, I'd keep this lower as an accent. Maybe .5-1%.
Uses & Pairings: This one didn't really click with me. From failing to make cherry flavors not garbage, I've never really found a good way around those kind of plastic off-notes. The harshness and dryness could be dealt with in a lot of ways from a maltol heavy fruit like TPA Ripe Strawberry, maybe some of the triethyl citrate from TPA Dragonfruit, or just straight EM. You could also look at creams, marshmallows, or something with a heavy hit of triacetin. But those plastic flavors, man. I haven't figured out a good way to get rid of them, and they seem to show up pretty aggressively even at lower percentages.
If you don't mind those plastic flavors, this would be a good bright accent for peaches, plums, or other stone fruit. Would actually work well with bright fruit like strawberries, oranges, pineapple or kiwi as well.
Maybe this is just a case of something not working for me, but it's a shame because this smells great, both in the bottle and the room note is fantastic.