Real Flavors Butter Crisp Candy Bar Type SC
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: RF SC Butter Crisp Candy Bar Type @ 2% and 4%, 60/40 VG/PG, Steeped 16 days.
Flavor Description: Tastes like smelling a butterfinger wrapper. I'm to the point where there is either a problem with my palate, or the way these flavors are built in relation to the way I'm vaping them. I'm not sure how people are getting full flavors out of these concentrates. From what I do taste, there's more of the inside of a butterfinger, Some nutty, medium caramel notes with some grit to it, but kind of watery overall. Some lighter milk chocolate notes toward the end of the exhale. More like one of the butterfinger ice cream bars, then a normal butterfinger candy bar. If you get a fuller flavor out of this, it's pretty close to a one-shot butterfinger flavor, with maybe some additional milk chocolate flavor. I can also see it working in other candy-bar type application but that butterfinger flavor is kind of distinctive. I'd probably use it around 3%, assuming you get a bit more out of this flavor than I do.
Inhale is airy, mostly buterfinger filling. Good nutty note, and it has that darker, crispy flavor down pretty well if not actually the texture. Sweet, but insubstantial. Exhale has that filling note up front. Again, hard to get much further than "butterfinger" flavor. Medium roasted peanuts, darker crispy tasting caramel, but still pretty distinctly butterfinger. I'm getting some good roasted peanut top notes out of this, but there it tastes like it should be crispy, but has an insubstantial airy mouthfeel instead of a solid crisp. Overall effect is creamy, but like cheap ice cream creamy bordering on watery. Tail end of the exhale is really airy but I get a milk chocolate there, with some black pepper off notes. Milk chocolate is definitely taking a back seat. Seems low for an accent, even for a butterfinger where it's more about the filling. Mouthfeel is airy and light, but cranking up the percentage just makes the entire thing taste chemical and off, with even more black pepper. Sweetness level is okay, but it doesn't really stick around. Lingering bitterness.
Off-flavors: I get the dreaded black pepper out of this. Subtle at 2%, pretty prominent at 4%. TFA White Chocolate, VBIC, and now Butter all taste like straight black pepper to me, so YMMV.
Throat Hit: Moderate. Pretty standard throat hit with a good deal of harshness.
Uses & Pairings: I'm not going to be using this for vaping, but the second opinion I found makes me think that may work for some people. If it does work for you, it's pretty much a one shot at 3%. The filling taste here is pretty distinctly "butterfinger," so due to a lack of imagination I'm not coming up with too many other uses. You could theoretically try throwing in some torrone or additional caramel to switch up the type of candy bar, but you're still looking at candy bar vapes.
Notes: Concentration testing, I can't find a percentage where this works for me. 1% is light, mostly like smelling someone eating a butterfinger next to you. Mostly just the crisp part, with some nuttyness and darker caramel. 2% is a bit better, but still thin. I get a pretty clear, if light butterfinger crisp note, with just a hint of milk chocolate towards the end. Light peppery taste to that chocolate. 3% has more crisp body. Doesn't really taste crunchy at all, but you get some of the richness you'd want from the filling. Milk chocolate is still way back in the mix, but I'm getting more pepper. At 4% that filling is getting kind of bitter and sharp, and I'm getting a noticeable helping of black pepper on the chocolate note.
Second Opinions:
Not a ton of info I can find.
Review from "SessionDrummer" on the ELR Forum. Their take was quite a bit more positive than mine:
utter Crisp SC 2.5% (4-29-17) -- Another 2 week steeper and another HIT for Real Flavors. Having JUST finished tested the condensed milk (wow, that's a TOUGH act to follow), this one is also very good. The butterfinger/butter crisp flavors come through quite nicely, with nothing overpowering, but a very buttery, crispy, slight chocolately mix. Nice and rich, without any off notes, or issues. I have never vaped a butter crisp (butterfingers) flavor before, but this one sure tastes good, and accurate. Chocolate is VERY hard to get right, and although it's not the main flavor here, what they came up with is very nice. Very solid 9/10, with maybe only 1 taken off, JUST because it didn't hit me QUITE as hard as the CM did, but a very good flavor."
H/T to /u/ID10-T/ for the suggestion.