Inawera Jamaican Rum
ConcreteRiver
Setup: Recoil w/ flavor barrel, Dual 15 wrap 26g 3mm Nifethal 70 coils @.18 ohms. 60w power, 450F temp limit. Full Cotton Wicks.
Testing: INW Jamaican Rum @ %1, 60/40 VG/PG, Steeped 8 days.
Flavor Description: Pink bubblegum and apple cider vinegar. Seriously. I have no idea where they were going with this, but it's like a creamy / almost chalky bazooka bubble gum right up front with some underlying apple cider vinegar funk. In no conceivable way does this actually taste like rum. It kind of settles in after a couple ml's, but it still doesn't taste much like rum, more of a vaguely bubblegum, sour, warming taste.
Inhale is warm and bitter. Some chalky pink bubblegum flavor and a moderate density. Acidic tang in there as well, building as the exhale warms up. Exhale has that chalky bubblegum right up front, with some higher clove top notes. Their is an acidity that tastes exactly like apple cider vinegar underneath it all. Some light brown sugar kind of sweetness, but with that sour note the overall concentrate is pretty astringent. Moderatly dense overall, but distinctly warm. This may be the only saving grace of this concentrate, it has a very real warming effect.
Off-flavors: Everything? I'm going to say everything.
Throat Hit: For as much of a mess as this is, at least it's not harsh? Has a distinct warming effect though. Present on inhale and the exhale, and it does that thing where it seems to kind of spread out from your chest like actual booze does. It's certainly interesting.
Uses & Pairings: Eh, not really? I can't see using this for any specific part of the flavor because the rest of it is just so damn weird. Doesn't really taste like rum, too weird to use that bubblegum note, and too fruity to use the sour anywhere. It is warm though, so maybe a tiny percentage to warm up a pretty heavily flavored recipe? I don't know, I'm grasping at straws here. This stuff is rough.
Notes:
S&V concentration testing, at .25% I get mostly chalky bubblegum with some of that warm effect. Still just a hint of that vinegar acidity there. .5% is a lot more sour, with that vinegar starting to take over. 1% is definitely fuller bordering on chalky, but still sour and with a strong bubblegum note. 1.5% really has those clove notes picking up and the warmth becoming a defining characteristic. Just for laughs, 3% tastes more like a clove flavor than anything else. Still sour, but really clove forward.
I had originally ordered this from ECX and it looks like they dropped it. I'm sort of at a loss here. To me, this tastes nothing like rum, and I've really got no use for a vinegar-bubble gum flavor. Maybe I got a bad batch or whatever, but I have no clue why this is a thing. I tend to hoard even bad flavors, but I honestly don't think I'm ever going to use this. If you have more positive experiences, please share. It feels like I'm missing something here.
Second Opinions:
/u/tranceinate/ in this post on INW Alcohol flavors, says: "It's an interesting rum. I've only used it a little bit. It's got a lot going on to it. Every now & then I get an odd bubblegum note." Personally, I think an odd bubblegum note is a huge understatement.
ELR notes aren't much help. Looks like it's mostly used with tobaccos?