Real Flavors Rose 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 Rose @ 2% and 4%, 60/40 VG/PG, Steeped 8 days.
Flavor Description: Rose, by and large. A bit more pleasant (at least personally) than FA Rose. A bit less chalky, a bit fresher green, and a little more of a tart rosehip kind of thing. Still like eating rose petals as opposed to rose water, but maybe fresher, sweeter rose petals? Moderate density, middle-of-the road sweetness, and a bit of harshness. Use pretty interchangeably with FA Rose, probably between 2.5-3.5%
Inhale has sharp, tart rose top notes right up front. Not a ton of body underneath that, with a moderate, building sweetness. Exhale is quite a bit denser with floral rose top notes bordering on perfumey but not as bitter and thin. Lychee tartness underneath that, with some slightly juicy white grape sweetness. Leafy, as opposed to swampy vegetal, green notes in the middle, still with that same light tartness. Towards the tail end of the exhale, especially at 4%, I get a really green banana taste on the end of this, similar to FA Banana. Seems like an odd thing to taste, but now that I've picked it up I can't really get rid of it. Lingering rose floral notes and tartness. Dry on the throat, but not really on the palate.
Off-flavors: Like eating roses, as opposed to smelling them, so that's a bit odd.
Throat Hit: Moderate. This doesn't really taste dry, but it seems really dry on the throat.
Uses & Pairings: As stated previously, this is fairly similar to FA Rose, but seems to be bit just a bit better. I'm personally not a fan of rose flavors, but Kopel suggested FA Rose "pairs pretty well with Lychee, Raspberries, Pear, Hibiscus, Cherry, Grape, and Champagne flavors." So I'd stick with those.
Even though this has a fresher green to it than FA Rose, I'd still stay well away from creams. It's also not really a rosewater, so I'd probably avoid bakeries as well.
This would be probably be closer to rose flavoring for shisha than at least TPA Rose Candy, and FA Rose... so you may get some mileage out of this pairing with tobaccos.
Notes: Concentration testing, this doesn't really seem to come together until about 2.5%. These Real Flavors Super Concentrates don't seem to work as lighter accents, as they seem to actually have a minimum percentage before they actually come together. 1% seems really disjointed, with a ligher perfumey rose note and some tart, bitter tasting body, but not really a cohesive rose flavor. 2% is getting closer to a rose flavor, but it's still a bit dry and the rose notes are really thin and sharp. 3% is less dry, more a straight ahead rose flavor. A bit green, a bit floral, moderate sweetness, and just a bit of rosehip tartness. 4% is maybe a bit too green, although it tastes almost juicier. 5% is just a nightmare, strong perfume and a really green, weird body to it. I don't really thing this is going to work as a light accent as the flavor just doesn't work right that low. I'd say you're going to have use this as a pretty noticeable component of a mix between 2.5-3.5%, with 2.5% being a bit drier and more rose candy-like and 3.5% being a greener, tarter rose flavor.
Second Opinions:
Lol, no.
H/T to /u/ID10-T for the suggestion.