Flavor West Blue Raspberry

Setup: Recoil w/ flavor barrel, Dual 15 wrap 26g 3mm Nifethal 70 coils @.18 ohms. 60w power, 450F temp limit. Full Cotton Wicks.

Testing: FW Blue Raspberry, 3 and 6%, 60/40 VG/PG, Steeped 10 days.

Flavor Description: Just a disclaimer up front, I'm not here to rehash the great blue raspberry wars. I came only to try a flavoring. I liken Blue Raspberry to pornography: I know it when I see/taste it.

FW Blue Raspberry does taste "bluer" than the normal FW Raspberry. It's a little sweeter and fuller with a bit of syrupy, thick edge to it. It's also tarter overall, dragging it away from a more realistic raspberry flavor. So it fits the bill in that way, but it's not really a satisfying blue raspberry flavor. It's a little soapy overall, and there is a pretty heavy bitterness on the top end of the flavor. The bitterness feels like it's maybe an attempt to emulate those heavy candy flavors, but it just doesn't really cohere and ends up tasting strange. It's another flavor that is a bit hard to find a use for. It's too candied for a realistic raspberry, and the artificial blue part of this is harsh, bitter and doesn't really endear itself. If you are using this, it feels like it would benefit from sweetener to counteract a little of that bitterness. I'd also keep it at 4% or under, the soapiness tends to increase pretty quickly after that.

Inhale does have some sweet candy raspberry flavor to it which builds on itself. It manages to get up to a bit syrupy, and it has a heavier mouthfeel. There is some tartness in the top notes which seems more accurate to profile, but there's a bitter edge to it all. It doesn't taste overtly plasticy but it has sort of an undefined chemical edge to it. The combination of that heavy, thick sweetness and that bitter chemical top note ends up tasting soapy overall. Exhale is largely the same as the inhale. The flavor seems to work best at the beginning of the exhale, where you get more of that sweet raspberry with a tarter accent. The top notes come in a beat later, and they are all sorts of bitter. Those bitter top notes dominate the back half of the exhale and manage to linger for a while. Sweetness level is actually pretty good, and the texture is relatively thick and syrupy. The blue raspberry flavor underneath the bitter weirdness is actually pretty solid, but that chemical taste is all just a a bit much.

Off-flavors: The blue part of this tastes a bit more chemical and bitter than a tarter candy blue raspberry. It also starts to get soapy around 4%.

Throat Hit: Moderately harsh. Between that bitterness and the normal throat hit it's a bit tough to vape.

Uses & Pairings: This doesn't really scratch that blue raspberry itch for me. It ends up tasting artificial in a bad way, unlike the artificial in a good way taste you're supposed to get from blue raspberry flavors. It pulls off the sweetness okay, and it's pleasantly tart, but it's a bitter mess. My usual fallback is to use something in your coffee, but that probably won't work here. Maybe learn to make candy?

Notes: Concentration testing, I haven't really found a percentage where this works. At 1% and 2% this feels pretty light overall. I get a fair bit of that bitter taste, but the actual blue raspberry is pretty faint. At 4% the blue raspberry feels quite a more filled out. The bitterness is still there, but there is a nice syrupy texture and the tartness seems like it's just prominent enough. At 6%, I'm getting some weird soapy vibe to this, as that chemical edge has picked up some detergent. 8% feels even more bitter, without a comensurate increase in the raspberry underneath. 10% is like a cotton candy soap.

Second Opinions: Here is the ELR Page. Pretty thin, but user "protard" offers this: "@6%: Fresh berry drink mix flavor, slight candy. Refreshing aftertaste, a little sour, hangs on the tip of the tongue. Like it!" "Krazy.mixin" writes: "Blue Raspberry candy flavor, very sweet on its own so DON'T ADD EXTRA SWEETNER it will mute the flavor more than anything else."

Mostly positive reviews on BCF. User "Jay Maher" writes: "Love this flavor. So much so that it's starting to creep into all my new recipes. Pairs really well with lemon and moreso with Capella's hibiscus. Stomps all over TPA's blue raspberry which was too alcoholic/medicine-y for me." User "AJ Fox" isn't a fan though: "This has a chemical taste that seems to over power anything resembling anything else other than drinking a random beaker of mystery stuff in the science lab."

ECX is largely positive, but kind of all over the place. User "Andrea" has found a new soul-mate: "This is by far the best flavor I ever used. I have over 150 flavors and this one is my all time favorite. It tastes clean and bright, no funny tastes. I love it made REALLY sweet with Flavor Wests sweetener. THIS IS GREAT STUFF !!!" User "Max" is similarly enamoured "I'm not normally a fan of blue raspberry flavored anything, but this one is awesome! I've noticed it pairs extremely well with Raspberry Sweet by TFA." Some solid dissent on there though, user "Matthew" suggests: "2%-3%. It tends to taste a little plastic-y, but that fades away with a several days of steeping. It's still a decent flavor, and tastes like the name implies." And "Wood" one-stars with: "I think this is an odd, bitter, and more artificial flavor than I was thinking itd be....not that its too sweet candy-like artificial but its like a cheaper brand artificial."

DIY_eJuice Flavor Reviews

Bonus video first test of FW Grape Soda, Grapeberry Ice, Raspberry, and Blue Raspberry.