Flavorah Sour Apple
ConcreteRiver
Setup: Recoil w/ flavor barrel, Dual 15 wrap 26g 3mm Nifethal 70 coils @.15 ohms. 60w power, 450F temp limit. Full Cotton Wicks.
Testing: FLV Sour Apple @ 1% and 1 drop per 10ml, 60/40 VG/PG, Steeped 7 days.
Flavor Description: This one is a bit intense. Really aggressive sour, sharp inhale with a candy apple / green jolly rancher exhale. Sour, sharp, and bright enough to work as a sour additive, especially in candies. If I had to bet, I'm thinking this is going to be pretty solidly harsh for some people, so use sparingly and work up.
Inhale is sharp. The sour really hits right off the bat. Definitely feels a bit acidic and intense. Some sweetness and candy green apple in there, but the sourness is pretty overwhelming. Inhale is a bit airy, without a lot of density. Exhale is a bit more mellow, but still on the sour side. Harsher, slightly grassy, sour top notes. Moderately sweet green hard candy base. Actually pretty spot-on to a jolly rancher. I get a bit of a yogurt funk in the volume here, but it seems pretty subtle at 1%. Lingering tingling mouthfeel and some sugar lips.
Off-flavors: A couple stray grassy top notes early in the exhale. Nothing too weird for an apple flavor. The base volume also tastes just a little bit tangy.
Throat Hit: This one is a bit rough, and I'm not particularly throat-hit sensitive but it's getting to me a bit. The inhale is sharp and has a bit of an acidic mouthfeel. Specifically a bit unpleasant on the lips. I get some moderate throat hit, but it seems like the kind of thing that will hit some people harder than most.
Uses & Pairings: This definitely reads as sour. So it's pretty useful there. For a fuller sour apple flavor, mix with your fuller apple of choice like FA/JF Fuji or INW Two Apples. I'd personally avoid doubling down on green apples, just because this has all the brightness you are going to need.
At low percentages, this is more sour than apple, so it could be useful as an alternative to citric or malic acid. A green apple candy base note is pretty easy to mix around, although I'd go for juicy or jammy fruits. Based on how much the apple seems to be fading in the steeped sample as compared to the S&V, this seems to be muting out the base flavor here as it ages but it doesn't seem as pronounced as malic acid specifically. I think sour mixes tend to have a limited shelf life, so maybe try to get through your juice within a couple of weeks.
Notes: Concentration testing, .25% is mostly sour. But it's still pretty sour. A little bit of green apple sweetness, but mostly just the sour note. .5% is still really sour forward. A little definition and sweetness on the green apple, but subtle enough to miss if you aren't looking for it. 1% has a clearer candy apple flavor, but it's still sour focused. Good sweeter candy apple flavor there, but it's taking a clear backseat to the sourness here. 1.5% has a deeper apple sweetness. I'd still say it's sour focused, but you can definitely tell there is a jolly rancher in there. At 2%, the sweetness of the candy is getting a bit harsh and dry, along with that super bright sour note. I'd recommend mixing with this low as a sour additive. Starting as low as .25% and working up. If you're going with apples, I'd bump that up to 1.5% and layer in your fuller, juicier apples.
How does this compare to FLV Granny Smith and FLV Green Apple? I'll have reviews up in the next couple days.
Second Opinions:
Not much that i can find.
Suggestions for reviews? Check out this post and help me spend some money.