Wrecka/Reka Sparkling Mango
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 Sparkling Mango, 2 and 4%, 60/40 VG/PG, Steeped 13 days.
Flavor Description: A mango nectar type flavor with built-in cooling and sweetener. More of a one shot, or a one shot that will take some accents, than a more traditional concentrate.
I picked these up from Chef's as "Wrecka" but they are apparently rebottled Malaysian Reka flavors.
The mango flavor here is pretty solid. I get more of a sweetened mango nectar than a fresh mango, but it's pretty realistic for a mango nectar. I do get some pulpy juiciness here, but the base is thinned out by the cooling. There's some warmth here that feels like it's clashing with the cooling rather than really working with it. The mango here definitely feels sweetened, but it doesn't cross into full candied.
Nothing overripe or earthy sticks out here. There's a small hint of a more realistic underripe mango peel pine here, but it works really well as an accent. One of the better mangoes I've tasted, but the thinness in the base from the cooling is a bit of a bummer.
The sparkling, 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 seems to be just a hair less cardboardy than the sparkling orange, but that's probably because the base on this feels a bit fuller. 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 taste quite as "sparkling" as the orange mostly because of the warmth of the underlying mango, but it's same basic effect. The sweetener and cooling coupled with a beverage type flavor kind of emulates a carbonated effect.
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.
The combination of that ws-23's sharpness on the lips and the warmer mango gets to be a bit rough on my lips with extended vaping. Not quite throat hit, but probably worth mentioning.
Percentage testing: At 2% this mango actually feels a bit heavier. I'm getting a mango nectar with light cooling here. The warmth of that mango flavor is actually a bit distracting without enough cooling to clean it up. Picking up a light cardboard edge to the cooling.
At 4% I'm getting a better balance of mango and cooling. It doesn't feel quite as warm, and the cooling is actually taming some of the warmth from the mango. The base of the mango feels just a bit thinner, but the top end has a relatively saturated flavor. Again, that cardboard note is showing up on the very tail end. Sweetness level is definitely present but not cloying.
Just trying this out higher at 8%, this is sickeningly sweet and the cooling tastes fairly stale. I'm actually losing the nuance of the mango behind the sweetener.
[The product page from Chef's recommends mixing between 2-10%. I'd stay on the lower side of that, just based on my tests here. I feel like this is going to be better down around 3-4% where the mango, sweetener, and cooling are in a better balance and the cooling doesn't go too cardboard on me.
Uses & Pairings: This is a fruit flavor with cooling and sweetener added, so you're pretty much locked into fruit and beverage mixes. That kind of cardboard note on the cooling doesn't usually work well with creams.
This is a fairly competent single flavor mix, but it'd probably be better with something deep and juicy like FLV Mango, a juicy yellow peach flavor like JF Honey Peach, or even a juicier pineapple like CAP Golden Pineapple. This isn't as thin as the sparkling orange in the base, but it feels like it could still use just a bit of help.
Other than trying to fix the base, go nuts on fruit and beverage pairings that would normally go well with mango. I feel like this would work better with brighter fruits like strawberry than the sparkling orange.
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."