Flavour Monks Divine Raspberry
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: FM Divine Raspberry @ %3, 60/40 VG/PG, Steeped 22 days.
Flavor Description: Sugary raspberries with a hint of spearmint at 3%. At 5%, a stronger spearmint flavor with some raspberry top notes. Solid flavor, well-balanced. A little weird for mixing unless the mix of mint and raspberry is exactly what you want. Good solo flavor though.
Inhale is warm, moderately dense raspberry. Not quite floral, not quite jammy, and not quite juicy. Maybe a little sweeter than a tarter raspberry, but not nearly as "candy" as INW Raspberry. Exhale is still pretty middle of the road raspberry, with some lighter floral top notes. Solidly sweet, right up to the edge of being a cloying candy sweetness. Sweetness still feels pretty natural. Mouthfeel, again, is pretty middle of the road. Moderate density, nothing really stands out. Some light spearmint shows up on the back half of the exhale, really subtle and hard to notice unless you're looking for it. More of a mint flavor, than a cooling sensation. Helps to clean up some of the sweetness you're getting on the front end of the exhale. Blends well, and makes this taste quite a bit more "fresh" on the finish. Some of that lingering mint and some sugary mouthfeel.
Off-flavors: Advertised as raspberries with a "mint breeze", so not really. Maybe more mint than I'd expect at higher percentages.
Throat Hit: Light, nothing too major.
Uses & Pairings: Good solo. That mint does quite a bit to make this more interesting. I think you could probably bludgeon this into a bakery, but I'd just roll with the mint here and use it as a component in a fruit mix or a candy. Should pair well with candy texturizers, and probably just about any fruit you want to throw it at it. I wouldn't mind just a bit of koolada to reinforce the mint flavor with a stronger cooling effect. I also love raspberry with rhubarb, so INW Rhubarb... but YMMV depending on your own appreciation of rhubarb.
Notes:
S&V concentration testing, 1% is pretty light and floral. 2% is still a bit light, but the raspberry is shaping up pretty well. 3% has that raspberry fairly well saturated with just a light hit of mint. 4% is getting just a bit floral but that spearmint is getting much fuller and kind of interesting. Some cooling showing up. 5% seems like the sweet spot for the mint, although that raspberry is starting to lose what juiciness it's got. I'd mix with this at 3% if you're primarily after the raspberry with just a hint of mint. I'd actually bump this up to about 5% in your fruit mixes if you plan on bringing some other juicier, fruits in.
I'm a big fan of raspberry, and this is fundamentally decent. Nothing revolutionary, but it's well-balanced and that mint hit is nice but may ultimately limit the concentrates utility for mixing.
Second Opinions:
"Raspberry, without a doubt one of the most delicious fruits on the planet. So, we challenged ourselves and pimped the raspberry to a Royal Raspberry. Enjoy the velvet raspberry taste, touched with a subtle mint breeze. A flavor that certainly belongs in our Divine series."
[Google Translated reviews from the dutch version of the flavormonks site:](
"delicious natural flavor of raspberry with a fresh flavor of ice cream, perfect for hot days."
and excerpt from the dutch novel on there from user "Raf Geurts":
"You taste clearly sweetened and some soft Raspberry, the taste is slightly lighter than a true Raspberry, this is a bit on the fresh touch of mint, the fresh (Mint) complements this well without the raspberry dominates. The Mint makes the raspberry flavor a bit lighter and fresher... A very successful combination that is very balanced and round and somewhat soft, but also leaves a fresh taste experience.
The taste is delicious sizzle after in the mouth, on the lips is the flavor very quickly, but it remains fresh stick longer.
Almost Sugar Lips.
Personally I'm not a big fan of menthol or mint, but in this Divine Raspberry comes to dominate or change the mint it into its own and without Raspberry flavor."