The Flavor Apprentice Apricot
ConcreteRiver
Setup: Recoil w/ flavor barrel, Dual 15 wrap 26g 3mm Nifethal 70 coils @.18 ohms. 60w power, 450F temp limit. Full Cotton Wicks.
Testing: TPA Apricot, 3 and 6%, 60/40 VG/PG base, Steeped 19 days.
Flavor Description: Relatively "fresh" apricot flavor that skirts around a yellow peach.
Pretty generic stone fruit taste overall. It has some of the darker notes from an apricot but a body that feels a lot like a yellow peach flavor. Those darker notes hit on the beginning of the exhale and kind of stick around in the top notes. That yellow peach body is sweet and just a bit tart, fairly realistic to something like an actual fruit. Lighter kind of peach rings vibe that would probably come out with more sweetener.
There is some light vanilla in here that sticks out a bit, but it doesn't have the same sort of full dried apricot fruit spice thing going on that FA apricot has. Light, drier peel note with just a bit of a spiciness, less peel than something like FA Fuji. Not quite as bright as something like a straight peach flavor, but definitely on the "fresh" end of the apricot spectrum. There's a bit of a rhubarb-like green tartness to this, especially at higher percentages. Pushes towards soapy as you crank up the %'s and that green goes just a bit floral.
Medium dense mouthfeel overall with a bit of stickiness to it, maybe just a hint of wax. Less jammy than FA Apricot, but definitely stickier and less juicy than most yellow peach flavor. Sweetness level is relatively high for a fruit but stops short of going full candy.
Off-flavors: Quite a bit of peach in here. Gets green, slightly vegetal notes at higher percentages than can come off a bit soapy.
Throat Hit: Light to moderate. That peel note can get a bit harsh, but doesn't seem to have that real intense linalool sting you get with peach flavors.
Percentage testing: At 3% I'm getting more slightly dark yellow peach than really heavy apricot. Light green note. Medium body overall. Nothing really floral.
At 6% this is quite a bit more green and I'm getting a light floral edge. Vape seems a bit sticky and dry without being really deep and jammy. Prettily heavy sweet and sort of an artificial peach flavor. Feels a bit overflavored here.
Just based on these tests, I'd probably be using this as a more non-descript accent at around 2%. Should give you most of the sweetness, some additional body, and some fruity notes that blend pretty well. If you want to push this to the front of a mix I'd go for around 4%, with the caveat that you'll get something a little green.
Uses & Pairings: Probably not the apricot you'd reach for bakeries or robust tobacco mixes. That bit of green is going to make it difficult to pair well with creams.
Should pair relatively well with brighter fruits like strawberries, blueberries, or citrus.
Should pair really well with thinner peaches like FA White Peach to flesh out the base and give mixes a bit more depth. Could also provide some support to tarter cherry, plum, or even grape mixes.
You could run with the green thing if you dig weird, and bring in some rhubarb, cactus, or a tarter more tannic pear.
Second Opinions: Here's the ELR Page. User "baseballmom" writes: "Strong, delicious...been on apricot kick lately. Goes great with mango, peach...working on apricot and vanilla cream. 4% or less. Love the smell, love the taste. Actually have had caps version, yeah I prefer tfa' s apricot."
User "TheFlavorSeeker" still hasn't found what their looking for: "unfortunately contains whatever component that TPA uses that causes "spiciness" - it has Vanillin and it's probably that for me. i can also sense the alcohol (chest tightness) - SF test at 5% 5 day steep - spiciness disappeared after adding a drop of sweetener (sucralose) to the 5ml test sample, so there's hope there, but it's still a lot of "peach"profile: taste is not my expected Apricot (the yellow type) - i was hoping for a lot more natural, sweeter (ripe) and fruity apricot - this tastes more like Peach mixed with vanilla :( will try other vendor brands and use this at a very low % (2%) maybe to support peach mixes and work around that bite of spiciness"
Mostly positive reviews on BCF. "Les Hollday" seems to dig it: "Great flavor (I love apricots) When you take the cap off and take a whiff, it's like a bowl of cut up apricots in front of you. So clean and fresh. I would recommend this flavor to anyone." User "joanj" questions the ripeness of their apricots: "The flavor is apricot but more of a tart green bite to it than the traditional mellow sweetness that I expected and was looking for. I can sweeten or add a cream of some sort to get it there but just don't feel I should have to."