Wrecka/Reka Japanese Aloe Vera
ConcreteRiver
Setup: Recoil w/ flavor barrel, Dual 15 wrap 26g 3mm Nifethal 70 coils @.14 ohms. 60w power, 450F temp limit. Full Cotton Wicks.
Testing: Wrecka Japanese Aloe Vera, 2 and 4%, 60/40 VG/PG, Steeped 15 days.
Flavor Description: Aloe vera drink, with some built in sweetener and cooling.
I picked these up from Chef's as "Wrecka" but they are apparently rebottled Malaysian Reka flavors.
The actual flavor here is fairly accurate to japanese aloe vera drinks. It isn't actually too intensely green or vegetal, it more tastes like white grapes with an especially astringent skin like Muscat grapes. Apparently the more raw, less processed types of aloe get pretty intense, but this is pretty mellow and strangely familiar overall. There's a nice balance of a brighter tartness and sweetness behind it. That green note is more vibrant than vegetal.
The flavor here is a bit thin and dry. That cooling is wiping out most of the base of this flavor. This feels like it needs something juicier to fill the flavor back in.
The cooling, and sweetener here seem pretty identical to Wrecka Sparkling Orange. I make some half-educated guesses and go into more depth on those aspects in that review.
Just as a summary here, the cooling here feels like a slightly more cardboard version of WS-23 then I'm used to. It's still not an overwhelming cooling, and not too aggressively icy. Feels like under .5% of 30% WS-23 with this concentrate at 4%.
The sweetener feels a little different from straight sucralose. It's noticeably sweet but not cloying, at least for the percentages I'd be using so the cooling didn't go full cardboard.
This doesn't have the "sparkling" prefix, but it does have that same kind of mouthfeel as the sparkling wrecka concentrates I tried. The cooling and sweetener does manage to give this something like an effervescence.
Off-flavors: Besides that cardboard edge to the cooling, not really. I'm not noticing any weirdness from the sweetener, and nothing tastes overwhelmingly odd at 4% and under.
Throat Hit: A bit, but that's mostly the cooling. Nothing that feels like a chemical throat hit though.
Percentage testing: At 2% the actual aloe flavor feels pretty thin. I mostly taste a light white grape and then a little bit of cooling and a whole lot of sweetener. Overall texture is thin. I'm still picking up a tiny bit of cardboard to the cooling, but it's pretty subtle.
4% is a little juicier and that aloe flavor has filled in quite a bit. Still feels thin in the base, but the top of the flavor is fairly full. The sweetener seems like it has a bit more flavor to actually latch onto and seems to work a bit better at this percentage. The cooling and that thinner base is getting sort of flat and it's getting that cardboard note.
Trying this higher at 8%, I'm getting too much sweetener and it's popping out that greener tinge to the flavor. Doesn't feel much fuller than 4%.
Just based on these tests, I'd probably use this as primary flavor with something juicier to fill it out at around 4%. The product page on Chef's suggests 1-4%.
Uses & Pairings: This is a little bit green and already has sweetener and cooling, so you're probably just looking at fruit mixes and beverage vapes.
I think you could fill this out a bit with a white grape flavor. I'd probably use FLV Moscato because it has that same kind of green note in there. Should pair well with lychee, melon, kiwi, strawberry, or any kind of citrus. Good base to try work in some greener florals like hibiscus or jasmine as well.
Second Opinions:
Nothing about this flavor specifically, but there was a recent thread discussing these flavors.
Great discussion, the takeaways include:
ceedee99uk: These are rebottled Reka concentrates.
Jorakae: They separate in mixes above 50% VG. (FWIW, I mixed these at 60% VG and didn't notice any separation issues, but 60% VG is really close to 50% and I mixed 10ml batches.)
ShittyStrawman: "I'm not getting a "carbonated" sensation, but the are nice fruit flavours regardless, probably reminiscent of "soda" flavours."