Flavorah Pastry Zest
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: Flavorah Pastry Zest, .25, 1, and 3%, others noted, 60/40 VG/PG, Steeped 8 days.
Flavor Description: I'm thinking this is another additive. Seems to have a tart note, not entirely unlike FLV Pucker, but without any of that tobacco / coumarin baggage and something more like lemon juice than tannins. There's also some kind of sugary note to this with maybe a hint of cinnamon. I don't taste much if any pastry/bakery base here. As you start to increase the percentage the sugar note moves from just sweetness, to a powdered sugar, and then to a grittier granulated sugar.
Saying lemon anywhere near the word bakery gets people instantly worked about something like the mystery lemon that ends up in most flavourart bakeries, but the tartness here isn't a lemon zest flavor. It's just a tartness like lemon juice without any of the flavor or real acidity. Mixed, it translates over pretty directly on top other bakeries. It doesn't seem to be doing too much to blend into the actual bakeries. It's prominent enough that it's a bit distracting with a straight bakery flavor just because you get that tart then the bakery. It doesn't cross over to acidic for me, and it doesn't seem to have an effect on the underlying flavor like malic and citric acid does, at least after a week steep.
The sugar here adds some really interesting texture. It's at the back of the flavor, and seems to be sweetening up the bakeries I've mixed this without really affecting the underlying texture plus adding some of it's own. At lower percentages, it's more like a powdered sugar. Really fine graininess with a bit of added warmth and a solid hit of sweetness. As you start increasing percentage, the sugar seems to be getting coarser and getting more of a "rolled in granulated sugar" type of vibe. It feels like there is some kind of cinnamon in there, but it's definitely on the light side. More of just the warmth and not a bolder, savory cinnamon. The sugar part of this also seems to sit on top of a mix a bit, but that's probably a good thing in this case, adding another layer of sweetness and texture.
Off-flavors: That tartness doesn't seem to really blend in with other bakeries. It's adding a bit of tartness just right on top of my mixed samples.
Throat Hit: Seems to bump up throat hit in mixes just a bit. Nothing too intense.
Percentage testing: At .25% Solo, i don't get much out of this. Maybe some light tartness, and a pretty non-specific sweetness.
At 1% solo, this is a bit more present. Clear tartness on the inhale and the beginning of the exhale. Back half of the exhale is mostly powdered sugar, with a bit of a dry, fluffy texture.
At 3% solo, this actually doesn't taste a whole lot more tart than 1%, although it does seem to be picking up a bit of an actual lemon flavor. The sugar note seems to be scaling up, getting a grittier texture, and getting a bit sweeter. I'm also picking up some kind of light bakery cinnamon, but it doesn't seem anywhere close to the robustness of FLV Rich Cinnamon. There's not really a bakery taste, but more of a bakery volume underneath. Actually tastes a lot like those weird cinnamon twist things from taco bell.
At .25% with 4% FW Yellow Cake, this isn't really working. The tartness doesn't really brighten up the cake so much as sit on top of it. I knew this was probably a stretch when mixing it, but this isn't really made for fluffier softer bakeries. The additional powdered sugar helps to firm up the frosting a bit, which is nice though.
At 1% with 2% FA Zeppola, it's a bit better. I'm still finding the tartness a bit overwhelming and not really blending all that well, but that powdered sugar note is definitely reinforcing that powdered sugar I already get from zeppola over 1%.
At 2% with 3% FA Apple Pie, this makes a lot more sense. FA Apple Pie doesn't have a lot of fruit to it, but what is there is definitely perked up by that tartness. It's also sweetening up that crust note without really affecting the flaky texture.
So as an accent, I think the limiting factor here is going to be that tartness. 2% seems a bit too tart for me, I'd probably stay around 1-1.5%.
Uses & Pairings: I think this is going to require a mix with both fruit and a flaky pastry to really be successful. That tart note stands apart from the bakery base. Because it's all frontloaded on the vape, it shouldn't effect the texture of pastry all that much. The tartness will help to pick up some of the fruit in the mix though.
I'm thinking pies, tarts, cobblers, and other fruit forward bakeries. You could probably use this with fruit filled bakeries, but I'd watch the layering in those recipes. Generally something fruit filled leads with the pastry, this isn't really going to cooperate with that. You'll want fruit up front, than pastry on the back end.
The tartness here is neutral enough that I don't think there are too many fruits it won't work with.
And hey, if you have a citrus bakery like a key lime or lemon meringue pie, go nuts. Those generally don't have cinnamon, but the lighter cinnamon here shouldn't be too overwhelming and is more of a warmth than an aggressive cinnamon note.