Inawera Shisha Raspberry
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: INW Shisha Raspberry @ .5% and 1.5%, 60/40 VG/PG, Steeped 11 days.
Flavor Description: Sweet, dry, and dense slightly candy raspberry, without too much in the way of tartness or juiciness. Most useful when you want a good "raspberry" flavor without much realism or moisture to blend into drier tobaccos or layered bakeries. Pretty strong overall, but not quite as strong as INW Raspberry Concentrate. Use at .25-.5% as an accent, and 1.5-2% as a primary flavor.
Inhale is very sweet and fairly dense, with a thick candy raspberry taste. Like a fancier raspberry hard candy. A bit syrupy, but not particularly moist. Exhale is more of the same. Dense, sweet raspberry. No floral edge here, but a pretty modest tart brightness in the top notes. Heavily sweet base, like a sweetened raspberry syrup. Sweetness tastes sugary, as opposed to any kind of weird artificial sweetener. Moderately dry mouthfeel, with a lingering sticky sugar lips and just a bit of bitterness.
Off-flavors: Nah, not really. Sweeter, candy raspberries can get a little robutussin-y if overdone, but it doesn't really seem like an issue sub 2%.
Throat Hit: Light to moderate, nothing too crazy but a bit dry and harsh, especially over 1%.
Uses & Pairings: I'm going to run with the Shisha thing, I think the preferred pairing here is with dryer, roastier flavors.
I can see this working really well with tobacco flavors in general, especially nuttier non-aromatic tobaccos. I think the relative dryness and dense nature of the flavor is going to do a good job of sitting in one place in a mix and not causing the rest of the juice to get too juicy or wet.
Also seems like a good raspberry to use in bakeries. It should stay put in the mix, and not moisten or mess any of your more textured bakeries. Adding some Liquid Amber will get a pretty realistic, gelatinous kind of filling. Should have the same kind of affinity for chocolate.
Notes:
Concentration testing, this is fairly linear, so this is going to be pretty boring. .25% is definitely present, but not overwhelming. Light sweetness, and a lighter candy raspberry flavor. .5% has a bit more body to it, definitely reads as candy down this low. I get most of the tartness out of this flavor by .5%. 1% has a heavier, solid body. Tartness complimented by that intense sweetness. 1.5% is pushing it a bit, getting a bit warm and syrupy, while still on the dry side. 2% is my usuable limit. Just toeing the line on robutussin, but a heavy, solid sweetness. Those top notes are getting just a bit bitter and medicinal. 3% is pretty solidly medicinal. Too sweet, too thick, and a bit bitter. I'd recommend mixing with this at .25-.5% as an accent flavor, and 1.5-2% as a primary note, especially if you're using this as a jammier filling with some added Liquid Amber or a candy texturizer.
The big question is how it compares to other available raspberries. From my semi-limited experience, this has the most in common with FA Raspberry. It definitely has the same kind of candy, syrupy vibe but it's missing some of the tarter, floral realism of FA Raspberry. Sort of similar to TFA Raspberry Sweet, but quite a bit stronger and fuller without any of the weird ketchup-y notes you can get from that. Comparing it to the standard INW Raspberry, it's a bit dryer and sweeter. I'm usually a little iffy on INW Raspberry, it sort of tastes like a raspberry sucker that's been in someone else's mouth with that really juicy, wet and warm kind of texture (shoutout to my nephews for this awesome frame of reference.) INW Shisha Raspberry is a little more solid and should do a better job of staying where you want it while still having a strong, clear flavor. Most of the other raspberries I've tried have some pretty glaring flaws, like CAP Raspberry or FW Razzleberry. This is definitely less floral than CAP Raspberry and less candy forward then FW Razzleberry.
Second Opinions:
I've found a lot of mentions of this flavor, but nothing really substantive, so this section is going to be pretty light. Maybe my google-fu is just weak today.