Real Flavors Cookie Dough SC

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 Cookie Dough @ 2% and 4%, 60/40 VG/PG, Steeped 17 days.

Flavor Description: So, right when I'm ready to give up on the RF Super Concentrates line, this is pretty okay. Chocolate chip cookie dough. A good amount of vanilla in here, but pretty accurate if still just a bit dry, light, and with a chemical edge to the back end and some strange harshness. Chocolate is light here, but it's there. Doesn't really taste like discrete chocolate chips, but that's probably an unrealistic expectation. Less chocolate to it than FLV Cookie Dough, but the base is similar, maybe FLV is a bit more rich and buttery. Tastes quite a bit more like chocolate chip cookies than RF SC Chocolate Chip Cookies, probably would work for a full chocolate chip cookie with a bit more texture and butter. For a cookie dough, I'd want more richness and maybe some grit from brown sugar / butterscotch ripple (stealing that from /u/matthewkocanda/ on Beginner Blending before it was BLND) I'd recommend using this around 2-3%.

Inhale is dry and a bit airy. Cookie dough flavor is there, but it's a bit thin. Kind of like the cookie dough chunks in cheap ice cream. Mostly a vanilla flavor, without much richness to back it up. Sweetness isn't overwhelming, and it's pretty fleeting. Doesn't seem to really stick to your palate. Exhale is cookie dough up front. Largely similar to the exhale, but the vanilla isn't as dominant. You get a bit of texture but it's more just uniformly dry than really gritty. Some richer, eggier taste but not much attendant richer mouthfeel. Vanilla is mostly in the top notes here. Chocolate comes out in the back end of the exhale. Sort of a dry milk chocolate note. A bit harsh, but fairly subtle. More like cocoa powder in the dough than discrete chocolate chips. Chemical edge on the back end, and I'm getting a good amount of harsh bitterness. That bitterness lingers quite a bit, and the dryness is a little rough.

Off-flavors: Back end of this tastes a bit bitter and chemical. I think it's probably tied into the chocolate flavor, but it could be the carrier. I also feel like this is missing some richness. It's not as flat as some of the other RF SC flavors, but I really want something more out of this.

Throat Hit: Moderate. I get some harshness toward the back end. More of that heartburn-ish type of harshness than a straight pg throat hit.

Uses & Pairings: Pretty close to a good cookie dough flavor, with some structural issues. I think a crispier grainy note like FA Cookie would comfortably take this into something like a drier, chips ahoy kind of cookie. You may be able to get a bit of crumble to it with some CAP Sugar Cookie, but I'd be worried about it going dry in either case.

For a cookie dough, this does manage to capture the raw vanilla extract note you get there. It doesn't really do a good job of emulating that rich, buttery texture though, and I feel like it could even more grit to it. You could go the CAP Vanilla Custard route for the richness, or maybe TPA Butter or CAP Golden Butter if either of those work for you. I think for additional grit and sweetness, maybe look towards TPA Brown Sugar, or FW Butterscotch Ripple. I'd be worried too much dark sweetness is going to drag the vanilla note into maple, but it shouldn't happen at a lower percentage.

Notes: Concentration testing, 1% is too light. Pretty linear, but some hints of chocolate toward the back end and a really subtle cookie dough body. Really flat, without much texture and richness. 2% is better. Fuller taste, starting to pick up a really light grain. You can taste some richness to the dough, if not really feel it. Chocolate note on the back end is still pretty subtle. Vanilla is picking up a bit. 3% has a good amount of vanilla. Cookie dough body is pretty similar to 2%, but I'm getting more chocolate on the back end of this. Chocolate seems a bit bitter, with a chemical edge on the tail end. 4% is fairly harsh overall. Seems markedly harsher than 3%. Bitter edge on the chocolate is pretty pronounced.

I don't know, I like this one ok, especially in relation to the rest of the line, but FLV Cookie Dough is a thing, and I feel likes it's a fuller concentrate. Maybe a bit chocolate heavy, so maybe this will find some use.

Second Opinions:

Not a lot of info out there.

Best I could find was a quick mention from /u/Vurve about what I'm guessing is the VG version. In a thread about the VG concentrates not being good, he singles out Cookie Dough out of about 4 flavors as one of the ones he liked, with a note that it's harsh. Further clarifies "Best cookie dough I've found. As I mentioned, a tad harsh though."

Here's the product page from Real Flavors. Their take: "What’s the best part of making cookies? The dough itself before baking! Sometimes we love it so much, it’s gone before we can bake any. Now with our scrumptious chocolate chip Cookie Dough flavor, you can have the same great taste without the messy kitchen or dishes to wash."

DIY_eJuice Flavor Reviews

H/T to /u/ID10-T/ for the suggestion.