Flavorah Red Velvet
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 Red Velvet, .25, 1, and 3%, others noted, 60/40 VG/PG, Steeped 8 days.
Flavor Description: A lighter red velvet cake base. No frosting in here.
The cake base here tastes pretty solid. Fluffier mouthfeel. I'm missing some of the heavier, grainier texture that you get from something like cancer cake, but the texture that is here works pretty well. I'm not picking up anything too rich or buttery, but it reminds me of a school birthday cupcake, at least in terms of texture and overall level of richness. It's definitely a cake, but it isn't particularly rich or whatever passes for decadent in vape form.
The cocoa note actually feels pretty dead on to a red velvet cake, where it's definitely an ingredient but it isn't really a chocolate cake. Lighter, fairly realistic baking cocoa kind of note here. Not nearly as chocolately as FLV Chocolate Deutsch, but what's here is a fit for the profile and works well without any kind of weirder off-notes or that heavy coconut in the Deutsch. I haven't noticed any weirdness or coil gore from the chocolate parts of this.
Sweetness level is good. Not too cloying or heavy, but it definitely feels like a lighter cake type of sweetness.
Off-flavors: Not really. Pretty much tastes like a red-velvet cake. Could stand a bit more texture, but definitely on profile.
Throat Hit: Maybe a bit at lower percentages before it fills in a bit. Nothing major either way.
Percentage testing: At .25% I actually get a pretty solid red velvet taste out of this. Cocoa notes are maybe a little light, and I'm getting almost no texture to it. Also seems a bit undersweet this low. I do pick up some harshness and dryness here, with the cake grain to really fill it out.
At 1%, the actual cake flavor hasn't changed all that much, but the cocoa is a lot more defined and I am getting some more cake texture out of this. Still pretty soft and subtle. That weird bit of harsh dryness has sort of worked itself out.
At 3%, still not an overwhelming flavor. Cake is maybe a touch richer, cocoa is stronger but not overpowering, and there is just a bit more texture to this. I'd still call it fairly soft though.
Just based on this testing, I think there are two ways to go about this in terms of percentage. I think you could use this as your primary cake flavor at around 3-4%. I think it'll end up on the softer side, but the flavor works well up relatively high. I think you could also use this around 1% to add some of that red velvet style cocoa to a a denser cake base like FW Cancer Cake or whatever yellow cake substitute you've convinced yourself is an okay substitute.
Uses & Pairings: Pretty good start to a red velvet style cake. Just needs some cream cheese frosting and maybe a bit more texture. Maybe look at the vanilla cupcake flavors or yellow cakes if you're already going to be adding some frosting.
It also reminds me a lot of a grocery store style chocolate cake, where that cocoa isn't really dominant and there isn't a whole lot of richness. Almost a chocolate sponge cake base. I may be completely out of bounds, but seems like a pretty realistic option for something like your hostess grade snake cakes. Doesn't have a heavy enough chocolate to really mess with a waxier chocolate coating.