Flavorah Persimmon
ConcreteRiver
Setup: Recoil w/ flavor barrel, Dual 15 wrap 26g 3mm Nifethal 70 coils @.17 ohms. 60w power, 450F temp limit. Full Cotton Wicks.
Testing: FLV Persimmon @ %1 and 1 drop per 10ml (about .25%), 60/40 VG/PG, Steeped 17 days.
Flavor Description: An interesting, tart, juicy, and sweet relatively authentic soft persimmon flavor with a solid throat hit. Throat hit is on par with something like FA Passion Fruit, with the same kind of acidic edge. Flavor itself is like a cross between a tart peach and sweet plum with an earthy, spicy peel note.
Inhale is tart and sharp, and on the lighter side of density. Bit of a sharp, acidic sensation on the tongue. Solid, natural tasting stone fruit sweetness. Exhale has peach up front. Closer to a sharp, slightly floral peach like FA White Peach but with an added bit of realistic juiciness. Deeper, more "red" plum sweetness underneath that. Slightly spicy, tart, top notes with a pleasant earthy edge. Sweetness tastes really natural to raw fruit. A bit light on density for the actual flavor, but the sweetness tastes pretty solid. Harsh, acidic throat hit.
Off-flavors: Fairly close to a soft persimmon. I don't have a ton of experience with soft persimmons, and no experience with the harder candied or pickled varieties, so as always YMMV. It's been a minute since I've had a raw persimmon, but it's actually really close with some of that acidity pushing towards the astringent edge to persimmons. Anything "off" here is fairly realistic.
Throat Hit: Oh boy. This might be a problem. I get a pretty solid throat hit on this and something that feels a lot like heart burn afterwards. I think people have a bit of varying sensitivity to throat hit, and I will say this doesn't taste any more acidic than TFA Pineapple or harsher than TFA Juicy Peach. So it may not be a dealbreaker for you.
Uses & Pairings: It almost has to be the primary note in a recipe. The fruit here is complex, sweet, and juicy enough that I'm not sure I want too many other fruit notes in there to muddy things up. Might pair well with a juicier, softer fruit like a melon flavor. Seems like a really good fit for something like FA Watermelon/Red Summer or FLV Watermelon. Seems a bit tart for adding in citruses, but maybe something softer like a tangerine may push that brightness further forward, without piling onto the throat hit.
Acidity level is similar to FA Passion Fruit, so I'm guessing that mixing creams will work about the same way. I'd personally stick with lighter creams, with the added bonus of FLV Cream or FA Fresh Cream muting some of the acidity. Seems to juicy for heavier bakeries and creams.
Notes: Concentration testing, this is pretty prominent at .25%. Bright, juicy, slightly floral peach base with a deeper plum body and a complex, slightly spicy and earthy top note. All of that acidic bright throat hit is still there though. Going up in percentage, that peach seems to get more solid and pushes a bit more toward canned peaches. .5% brings together that peach and plum a bit, reading as a sweeter peach but still retaining a bit of an earthy edge. 1% loses some nuance, but picks up in sweetness. Earthy notes and the acidity are making this taste a bit astringent. By 2%, the actual fruit here seems dull and muted, but the acidity is overbearing.
Second Opinions: