Inawera Natural Mint
ConcreteRiver
Setup: Recoil w/ flavor barrel, Dual 15 wrap 26g 3mm Nifethal 70 coils @.16 ohms. 60w power, 450F temp limit. Full Cotton Wicks.
Testing: INW Natural Mint @ .5%, 60/40 VG/PG, Steeped 12 days
Flavor Description: Definitely a Mint. I get a bit of bright peppermint up front with a deeper spearmint towards the back as the concentrate sweetens up a bit. Mostly a mint extract kind of flavor, but just a hint of actual mint leaf and a mint gum type of body in there. Moderate body, not quite as light as something like INW Mix Mint. Also seems to be less heavily mentholated than Mix Mint and nowhere near Eucalyptus & Mint. Honestly, this kind of shifts around a bit for me, sometimes I get a pretty clear peppermint, but I'm kind of convinced I get a good amount of spearmint here as well. Maybe that's issue and I'm making myself taste spearmint here. Whatever the actual variety of mint is, it's well done, and relatively subtle.
Inhale is mostly mentholated coolness with some building wrigley's spearmint kind of sweetness. Not dense, but heavier than a straight menthol. Exhale opens up with a burst of peppermint, and sort of builds to a sweeter, heavier spearmint. That sweetness thins out a bit and then you get just a hint of leafier mint on the tail-end of the exhale. Sweetness level is moderate, and pretty well balanced. The mentholation is a lot heavier on the inhale than the exhale. Clean finish overall.
Off-flavors: Nothing weird.
Throat Hit: Nah, pretty smooth. Even that mentholation is pretty well in control.
Uses & Pairings: Personally, I like this mint for mixing with citrus or darker fruits. I think it makes a good pairing with berries especially, working well with deeper flavors like raspberry, blueberry, and black currant. I also really dig this with citrus, especially FW Blood Orange or FA Mandarin. Also works well with lime flavors, my favorite being INW Lime.
I also like this as a beverage mint, both because it skews at least a bit towards spearmint and that it has a hint of mint leaf here. In that vein, pairs fairly well with cucumber, black tea, and whiskey concentrates.
It's a better mint for trying to work into heavier flavors as it isn't super sharp and has just a bit of body on it's own. Not sure if a mint custard or bakery should be a thing, but there is where I'd start for that.
I'd also start with this mint for tobacco mixes. Doesn't quite have the body you'd want for an herbal mint, but it seems to be the best option of the (admittedly) few I've tried. Sort of in the same vein, it's a good mixer with darker chocolates, kind of giving you an Andes Mint type of vibe right out of the gate.
Notes:
Talking about concentration this is still fairly strong, but less overbearing than INW Mix Mint. You're probably looking at .25% for a mint accent in a fruit mix. I'd also start from there and work up for heavier applications. S&V Concentration testing, this is pretty linear up to 1.5%. Menthol starts to get a bit overbearing for me at .75% but still pleasant.
Personal preference is obviously going to be the deciding factor here, but this is hands down my favorite mint. It's smooth, pretty easy to work with, and mixes fairly well while still having a punch and body to it.
Second Opinions:
Here's your ELR Page. Nothing all that useful, but some mention of this being straight peppermint.
And heres the BCF page. Again, some talk of this being straight peppermint.
Here's the same FOTW from the Mixed Mint review. No real discernible info on if this supposed to be a spearmint or peppermint, but some talk about INW Natural Mint's relatively subtlety.
/u/yoopergeek/ posted their take on natural mint in the previous mixed mint review: "I recently picked up Inawera's Natural Mint and it seems to have a lighter coldness and more straight peppermint flavor." I can't say I really disagree, as I do definitely get peppermint here. I may have just been using this as a stand-in for spearmint for too long and brainwashed myself.