The Flavor Apprentice Cotton Candy (Circus)
ConcreteRiver
Setup: Recoil w/ flavor barrel, Dual 12 wrap 24g 3.5mm SS316 @.33 ohms. 60w power, 450F temp limit. Full Cotton Wicks.
Testing: TPA Cotton Candy (Circus), 3% and 6%, 60/40 VG/PG base, Steeped 21 days.
Flavor Description: Blue flavored Ethyl Maltol.
So, like all of the other cotton candy flavors I've tried this is mostly ethyl maltol. A lot of ethyl maltol. Same kind of dry, spun sugar, almost unpleasant fullness and scratchy harshness. TPA's spec sheet lists EM out at under 5%, but I'm guessing it's pretty close to the full 5%. Just as a basis of comparison, TPA's normal cotton candy is 10% EM. Even at half the strength of the normal cotton candy, this is still intensely sweet.
Beyond the cotton candy base, I get mostly vanilla with some kind of indistinct berry. Bright, commercial vanilla. Same kind of vanillin effect as a marshmallow flavor. Dry, without any kind of vanilla cream component. The berry here mostly just tastes blue. Hard to pick out much nuance. Lacking some depth to call it a full blue raspberry, but feels like some of that tart artificial blue modifier. Bitter and almost earthy on top that cotton candy base. I also get a pretty distinct plastic type taste to this, at least steeped for 3 weeks.
I've tried at least a couple of other blue cotton candy flavors. FW Blueberry Cotton Candy actually vapes quite a bit better than the TPA version. Instead of feeling like straight flavored ethyl maltol, FW is a bit smoother with a less bitter and artificial blue flavor. CAP Blue Raspberry Cotton Candy is about as dry as this, but I get a more saturated, truer blue raspberry flavor.
Off-flavors: Fruit-ish flavor here is bitter and plastic. I also get something vaguely earthy in with those fruitier notes.
Throat Hit: Dry, scratchy, and harsh. Pretty normal for this much ethyl maltol and standard for cotton candy flavors.
Percentage testing: At 3%, still aggressively sweet. Solid cotton candy mouthfeel. I get more vanilla than blue flavor here. Light plastic notes with a strange earthiness.
At 6%, this is personally way too sweet, dry, and harsh. Bluer, but those earthy plastic notes are very strong.
Just based on these tests, I would keep this in an accent role. I'd probably top out around 2% as basically a sweetener for a profile this would work with. I realize that some people end up cranking these cotton candy flavors way up, but personally, it's just a deeply unpleasant vape. More like vaping fiberglass insulation than cotton candy.
Uses & Pairings: I'd just use this as a sweetener, at about double percentage you'd use for straight EM or TPA Cotton Candy. Use primarily in candy or sweeter profiles that could work with the fruitier note here. Not much to recommend it over CAP Blue Raspberry Cotton Candy in those applications though.
Second Opinions: Here's the ELR Page. User "aSquared" writes: "Really plastic, chemical taste when first mixed, use sparingly - this unwanted flavour does start to diminish after about a week steeping, works well with strawberry flavours and candy fruit flavourings. Wouldn't use this primarily, TPA Cotton Candy is preferred." User "Jamison" writes: "2% max to sweeten up and add a blueish add to a mix - would be good to an already blue raz mix, kinda dull flavor. will go burnt at high %." User "Loud N Cloudy" (who also notes they were using a nautilus mini, so context maybe?) writes: "Great as a 10% SAF (Stand-Alone-Flavor)... Personally, I find it's a pretty decent cotton candy flavor. Quite sweet, but not overwhelming. I get a bit of burnt sugar taste off it now and then, but maybe that's just my PV acting funny from time to time."
ECX reviews are always fun. "Sandy" proclaims this to be "The Real Cotton Candy" and writes: "Adds a ton of sweet depth to a mix-- a very unique flavor. Use at very small percentages in a mix. Like others have stated there seems to be a subtle, yet dark note to this, not really licorice, but thats the closest word to describe the flavor. Very complex." "lp" is more concerncerned about off notes: "Taste like black licorice at 5% pretty strong. Not sure how some are using by itself at 10% ill give it a try but not impressed so far." "Hannah' compares this to straight ethyl maltol: "I ordered this impulsively just to see if there was a taste difference between this and the regular cotton candy. It does seem to have a slightly more authentic cotton candy taste. SInce I use cotton candy mainly as a sweetener in fruit and candy mixes so I could see this replacing the normal cotton candy."