Liquid Barn Honeydew
ConcreteRiver
Disclaimer: I didn't pay for these, they were sent to me by Liquid Barn. Shout out to Liquid Barn
Setup: Recoil w/ flavor barrel, Dual 15 wrap 26g 3mm Nifethal 70 coils @.18 ohms. 60w power, 450F temp limit. Full Cotton Wicks.
Testing: Liquid Barn Honeydew, 3 and 6% @ 1g/ml, 60/40 VG/PG base, Steeped 23 days.
Flavor Description: A softer creamy honeydew flavor. I should probably mention that I definitely seem to be in the minority on the cream component here, so I'm probably broken?
The honeydew here is actually pretty nice. I feel like it's a lighter flavor overall, but what is here is fairly accurate. Reminds me of a pre-sliced honeydew that's sat out a bit. There's no real rind to it, and it's more just soft than juicy. I'm not picking up any soapy or off about it. The softness makes it feel more like an accent than big, bright primary flavor.
I also get a fairly heavy creaminess out of this. It could theoretically be a richer cantaloupe flavor, but it feels a lot like an actual cream flavor. It's smooth with a decent body, and some light buttery notes. Seems pretty prominent in the mix and it kind of envelops that honeydew. The overall effect is strangely pleasant.
This is fairly sweet overall and that creaminess does a lot for the texture. This seems to have a good deal of ethyl alcohol to it, but at 3+ weeks out doesn't seem like too much of an issue.
Off-flavors: Either I'm tasting something wrong here, or this has way more creaminess than I'd expect for a straight honeydew flavor.
Throat Hit: While most of that ethyl alcohol has steeped out to something more subtle, at 23 days I'm still getting a bit of bite out of it. Overall a light to moderate throat hit, but it doesn't really match with how creamy this base is.
Percentage testing: At 3% I'm not getting too bold of a honeydew out of this. I may just be used to more aggressive honeydews but this feels pretty tame this low. Some light honey dew, and the creamier base is just a little chalky.
This seems to work a bit better at 6%. That honeydew seems fuller and sweeter, and that creamy base has filled in quite a bit.
Liquid Barn recommends mixing at 6% and I can't really argue. Seems pretty solid. I'd use this a primary flavor or base for some other fruits and creams.
Uses & Pairings: This actually feels quite a bit more versatile than some of the other liquid barn flavors. It should work well as a base for melons, especially playing up that creamy base with some additional cantaloupe. FLV Cantaloupe seems like a good fit. I think you could also add in some realistic, softer watermelon like FA or FLV for some additional depth here.
Should play with brighter fruit flavors like strawberry or kiwi. I think you could probably get a fruit salad type of vape if you stick with crisper tasting fruits like green apple or grapes.
Alternatively, with the longer steep time, why not through in some FA Vienna Cream and really play up those creamy notes.
Second Opinions:
Here's the ELR Page. User "jojo" writes: "8% (SnV - decent, sweet melon flavor but a bit of a plastic taste. 1 week - plastic has gone away now. This is a very nice melon. 2 weeks - same. Not super sweet but not super fresh either. A very decent melon. 3 weeks - this is a solid 3 star honeydew. Not super fantastic, but not awful. I enjoy it but I don’t love it. 4 weeks - not super sweet, slightly odd, not horrible.)" User "dave" writes " Mixed at 5% (70VG 30PG) Really like this honeydew. It almost taste like there's another fruit mixed in with it. Taste like a very juicy and mildly sweet honeydew. Would go well with my melon mixes."