Flavorah Smooth Vanilla
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 Smooth Vanilla, .25, 1, and 3%, others noted, 60/40 VG/PG, Steeped 10 days.
Flavor Description: An extremely potent, bright vanilla additive.
Whereas FLV Vanilla Bean is a dark and spicy vanilla, this is very bright. It has a light, fresh, fruitiness to it and a bit of a floral edge. It reminds me of the vanilla from a marshmallow concentrate, or something like FA Vanilla Classic. Just turned way up. The fruitiness here can take on cherry or bitter almond notes at higher percentages, but it's definitely an accent to that big bright vanilla.
For a brighter vanilla, it actually has a good bit of nuance. It isn't a soft-serve kind of monolithic vanilla flavor. Those floral accents and the fruitiness definitely pull this away from a straight vanillin.
I feel like there's some light body in here, I wouldn't call it a cream though. Fresh03 was talking about spongecake when discussing this flavor, and that seems as apt a description as anything. I don't really think you're going to get to the point where the body is a factor. This is strong.
Off-flavors: Doesn't seem like a solo concentrate. That vanilla way outpaces the body. Gets too floral and picks up some cherry off-notes at higher percentages, but I think it's just crazy strong and I haven't noticed them in a workable range.
Throat Hit: As an additive, doesn't seem to add any real throat hit.
Percentage testing: At .25% this is pretty intense. Very bright vanilla. Some lighter base in here, but it's pretty subtle underneath that bright, fruity vanilla.
Testing this solo at 1% was probably a bad idea. It's crossed over from an intense vanilla to something that tastes fairly harsh and chemical. 1% is clearly too strong. Base has come through a bit more, but that vanilla is just crazy strong.
Don't test this at 3%. I didn't know vanilla could be this strong, but here we are. I felt like this, but with vanilla instead of sweet.
This may be the first vanilla I've ever tried that I would legitimately suggest making a dilution of. It's intense. .25% is probably a bit too strong. I'd recommend starting around .1% and working up.
Using this at .15% with 1.5% INW Custard, it's just hammering that bright vanilla in. Doesn't seem to have much effect on the base there. A little fruity, just a bit floral. Mostly just bright vanilla. I'm not sure it meshes really well with the eggy notes, but it's working as an additive fairly well and just pushing a ton of bright vanilla.
Uses & Pairings: Bright commercial vanilla booster. I'd use this in low percentages on top of marshmallows, ice creams, frostings, bakeries, and cream bases. Doesn't have the spice or darkness of a vanilla bean, so I think you're more on the side of big, bright vanilla flavors.