The Flavor Apprentice Gingerbread Extra Ginger
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 Gingerbread Extra Ginger, 3% and 6%, 60/40 VG/PG base, Steeped 25 days.
Flavor Description: Gingerbread spice without any of the actual bakery.
Leads with aggressive, spicy ginger. Very true bakery ginger type flavor. Nothing really sweet or candied here. I'd normally speculate wildly about the other spices in here, but since it's TPA they have a list of the compounds used available and they list Clove Stem and Cassia (aka Liar's Cinnamon) Oils. So the secondary spices are definitely clove and cinnamon. The clove is pretty aggressive adds some numbing type mouthfeel. I don't pick up much distinct cinnamon, but it's a bit hard to pick up much nuance through all that ginger and clove. Cinnamon more just reinforces the clove and ginger.
I don't pick up anything that actual feels like a gingerbread base, and again cheating with the component list, the only other ingredients are vanillin and benzyl alcohol. The vanilla, and any fruit nuance are pretty much steamrolled by that heavy clove and ginger.
I'm not a scientist or anything, but the clove stem oil and cassia oil are a little freaky to see listed out. I'm not getting any really distinct separation in the bottle though and the normal tpa gingerbread also has ginger, nutmeg, and cassia oil. So it's probably not a big deal? I haven't seen this (or TPA Gingerbread) flagged anywhere for not being water-soluble.
Off-flavors: No actual bakery here.
Throat Hit: Pretty intense, but it's ginger. More of a spicy, heat type hit than a normal sting.
Percentage testing: At 3%, this is pretty intense. Spicy ginger, and heavy almost anesthetic feeling clove. Not much cinnamon nuance. No bakery in sight.
At 6% this is even more intense. Ginger is unpleasantly spicy, and the clove is strong enough it pretty much mutes itself out after the 3rd drag. Some more distinct cinnamon warm. Also no bakery notes in here.
Just based on these tests, I'd be using this at lower percentages as a spice accent. .5% should probably be enough for most applications but I'd top out at 1%. Not as intense as something like FLV Clove, but working with a dilution would probably give you more control here.
Uses & Pairings: This would definitely work to spice up your gingerbread. Use with a less intense gingerbread like CAP or TPA Gingerbread Cookie for additional spice kick. In the same vein, should work with a lot of holiday type spiced cakes or even a fruitcake.
Good option for a pumpkin pie spice flavor that focuses a bit more on ginger than just a clove bomb.
The clove here makes this a poor choice for just a ginger accent. So I'd avoid using this anywhere where the clove or cinnamon is going to cause an issue.
And hey, throw it in a tobacco. Those dry spice notes should go pair well with non-aromatic tobaccos for some additional spicy depth.
Second Opinions: None that I can find.