Inawera White Grapefruit
ConcreteRiver
Setup: Recoil w/ flavor barrel, Dual 15 wrap 26g 3mm Nifethal 70 coils @.19 ohms. 60w power, 400F temp limit. Full Cotton Wicks.
Testing: INW Grapefruit @ %1, 60/40 VG/PG, Steeped 19 days.
Flavor Description: Tart white grapefruit. Heavy on bitter zest, light on actual fruit. Fairly harsh, with a warm and waxy mouthfeel overall. This makes me feel like I must be vaping the oil from a grapefruit peel. I know I'm not, but it really does hammer that point in.
Inhale is warm and moderately dense. No real sweetness or flavor in the base, but some neutral volume and a waxy mouthfeel. Harsh zest builds in your throat. Exhale has a bit of slightly sweet, very tart white grapefruit up front, with a strong zest top note. That zest takes over the vape, and it really feels like you're just vaping grapefruit zest. The back half of the exhale is spooky accurate to a spray of citrus oil you'd get from peeling a grapefruit. Lingering grapefruit zest flavor and a waxy mouthfeel
Off-flavors: Seems a bit warm and waxy for a citrus. The zest note is crazy strong, but accurate.
Throat Hit: Fairly harsh solo. Used as an accent, at a low percentage it isn't a big deal, but it ramps up pretty quickly.
Uses & Pairings: I like this a whole lot more as a component in a grapefruit rather than a full grapefruit. I can't get to a full juicy flavor without tripping over all that tart harshness. I personally like this as a grapefruit zest additive at .25% to maybe .5% at the max. This works well as adding an edge back to sweeter grapefruits like CAP grapefruit, INW Grapefruit, or even FLV Pink Guava.
Tends to stand out in fruit mixes, a whole lot like a zesting fresh grapefruit on top of other fruit. I like it to add a bit to contrast and pop to darker, juicier berries. I enjoy this with FLV Cranberry but I'm a big believer in bitter accents in sweet fruit mixes.
Makes a good cocktail grapefruit with champagne or gin. Doesn't quite mesh with darker, syrupy liquors like whiskey or rum.
I personally wouldn't try mixing it as a primary note with creams or bakeries.
Notes:
Concentration testing, this is the first time I've ever brought this up over .5% and I'm not a fan. I think you get a great zest note as low .25% and you don't add much by upping the percentage. At 1% this is quite a bit warmer and waxier but I'm still not getting anything that tastes like a full grapefruit flavor. 2% is damn near unvapable for me. The sharpness of that zest note is absolutely overwhelming. I'd start with this at .25% and work up.
Second Opinions:
/u/DrDoobie22 doesn't get the throat hit and gets a fuller grapefruit than just the zest.
User "Aurora-Oblivion" on ECF with the INW reviews, heres White Grapefruit:
"Very citric, bright and tart right after mixing, and has amazingly true to fruit flavor. After steeping the tartness does smooth over some, but nothing I'd consider a fade or loss, ect. The flavor is tart and slightly sour, with a little sweetness to it. The overall flavor is an exact flavor match to a regular white/yellow (not pink) grapefruit, tasting like you squeezed it directly out of the fruit and into your tank!
This would be a great mixer for any drink style mix you wanted to tart up, and would also work great to add some zing to any citrus type fruit mix. Add some menthol and/or lime or orange/tangerine with this and you'll have a great palette cleanser or use when you run into stubborn taste buds to awaken them back to life!"
3 five star reviews on BCF. 2 of 3 talk about strength, although one says the bitterness is light. One 5 star on ECX, but it was so nice it got posted twice.