Real Flavors Carrot 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 Carrot @ 2% and 4%, 60/40 VG/PG, Steeped 20 days.
Flavor Description: Big unpeeled carrots. On my initial tests I was getting a sweeter flavor, but sitting down with it I'd definitely say it leans more earthy than sweet. The sweetness that is here is pretty good. Nice baked carrot sweetness. Pretty intensely earthy, harsh note on top of that though. Carrot doesn't really start taste fresh until about 3%, but by 4% it tastes a bit too earthy. Almost like a bigger, older unpeeled carrot. I don't really think this is holy-grail missing bakery carrot for a carrot cake flavor, but I can see some interesting use of this playing against brighter fruit flavors.
Inhale is airy and earthy. Greener, astringent earthiness with a bit of a pepper bite. Again, like the skin on a big, older carrot. Some of that orange carrot sweetness in the base, but pretty far back behind the earthy carrot skin note. Exhale is again a bit airy. Same kind of earthiness, with a bit more of that peppery bite in the top notes. Carrot sweetness in the back end of the exhale. Pretty realistic, but pretty subtle compared to that big earthy note. Mouthfeel is a bit unsatisfying. Way too airy, and I'm getting a good deal of harshness out of this. Overall sweetness level actually seems a bit too low. I like the carrot that I'm tasting here, I just want a thicker, sweeter base.
Also worth noting, this has a whole lot sediment to it. I didn't notice any issues with burning or coil gore until about 5ml into my 4% test, but the concentrate definitely separates into a clear top half and cloudy bottom half when it sits. Shaken, it seems to stay in suspension fairly well, but it's opaque like apple cider.
Off-flavors: The earthy note is really prominent to the point of being off-puttingly dirty tasting. It's also not an off-flavor per se, but this is pretty thin and insubstantial in terms of mouthfeel. Thinness goes away a bit with some extra heat, but there's a tradeoff with more harshness and some straight dirt on that earthy note.
Throat Hit: Moderate to Harsh. The earthiness is a bit rough and the thin mouthfeel isn't helping.
Uses & Pairings: Not the carrot cake silver bullet. I could see maybe sticking this into bakeries at a low percentage, but I don't think it really captures the intense sweetness of the carrot in carrot cake.
I do think this could see some use in more abstract ways. A lot of fruit juice blends use some carrot for health-cred and earthy contrast. I'd consider mixing with this citrus (especially orange) or something like blueberries and pomegranate. I don't feel like this really has the body to pull off a primary note in a mix, so I'd use it lower as an accent around 1.5-2%. Use would be similar to something like Rhubarb up against red berries.
Notes: Concentration testing, I'm getting mostly a light earthy note. Not too much harshness, but not a whole lot of flavor either. 2% doesn't really taste like a fresh carrot, but I'm getting a bit more of the carrot sweetness. Earthy taste is still pretty dominant and I'm getting some clear harshness. 3% is about as high as I'd go with this. Skin forward carrot, but it's a fairly full flavor. Still pretty harsh. 4% is getting too dirty and spicy, even for a carrot.
Second Opinions:
Not really.
H/T to /u/ID10-T/ for the suggestion.
I did my initial test of this (along with RF SC Tomato, and RF SC Sriracha) as part of an almost unbearably awkward youtube video located here. Getting into this a bit more, I'm getting less sweetness and more harshness. If you really want to see me vape and stare off into the middle distance while being puzzled, I'm not going to stop you. This was my first attempt at a video review, so it's a bit rough (between the low volume level, rambling run time, and the resigned cursing) but I resisted the urge to redo it as you can only taste RF Sriracha for the first time once.