Hello everyone! Remember me? A while back I said I was attempting to clone Hawk Sauce from MBV. I made eight tests, all failed. Some were close, but no cigar. I do apologize for my disappearance, it has been a crazy year! New job, school, and as of October 2nd, I am now a married man. Excuses aside, a few of you have attempted to get in contact with me regarding my Hawk Sauce trials. I think it is time to re-open this case.
Ladies and gentlemen of /r/DIY_eJuice , once again it has come time to dive into the mystery that is Hawk Sauce. Yesterday, my father gave me a couple bottles of Hawk Sauce because he had quit vaping (and analogs to boot!). I dripped a few drops into my RDA and was taken back. It had been about a year since I had ordered any (because of my DIY ventures). I decided today I would take another shot at it. What I made is definitely NOT a clone. I would consider it ballpark, but something is missing. Here's what I have so far:
- 70/30 VG/PG
- 3mg nicotine strength
Flavors:
- Harvest Berry (Capella) - 5%
- Tart & Sour (TFA) - 1%
- Ethyl Maltol (100%PG from crystals) - 1%
- Koolada (TFA) - 0.5%
- Menthol (TFA) - 0.5%
- Smooth (Signature, by EcigXpress) - 1%
- Licorice (LorAnn) - 0.5%
UPDATE: After steeping, the above recipe tastes decent, but it is getting farther and farther away from HS. It was ballpark-ish fresh, now it might as well be down the street and around the corner.
I made a 30ml bottle and heated it to attempt to homogenize the juice a little bit. As of right now I mostly taste the Capella's Harvest Berry as it is strong. I am hoping with time to cure it will mellow out. Also, the licorice needs to mellow, it should being it is a LorAnn flavoring and most of theirs do after a few days in my experience. However, I think I overlooked something important. My next batch will cut the Harvest Berry by 2% and add that 2% back in with Sweet Tarts (TFA). Other than that, the overall feel of the vape is pretty similar. Not as cool as Hawk Sauce, but it definitely reminds me of it.
If anyone has any input, I would love to hear it.
- tl:dr Above recipe is not Hawk Sauce, but definitely a start.
EDIT: Also I think I will drop the smooth from the next batch. The recipe doesn't need it as it stands and I think it rounds out the koolada/menthol too much.
Unless I'm mistaken, I think MBV only uses Flavorwest in their juice. So if you wanted an identical clone that's what you would want to use.
The last time I bought this up, an MBV rep here on reddit disabused me of that notion, and claimed he or she had no idea where the assumption started, just that it had been repeated often enough that everyone assumed it was true and passed it on themselves.
I have no idea how true that is, but it would be a bit silly for anyone to limit themselves to a single flavor company arbitrarily. Especially guys like MBV with a pretty large selection.
To be fair, I've only had a few 10mls from MBV. I'm not the guy to confirm our deny anything.
It started because when MBV became a thing on reddit, their flavour line matched FlavorWest's lineup of flavourings, almost without fail. I don't doubt that they do a bit of mixing as well, but by and large, they seem to offer the simplest solution (hey, that's kinda punny) available.
This is not a bad thing, nor a criticism! Their popularity is testament to their line being a set of products that customers want (and in great quantities). Still, when trying to clone, it's best not to over think it, or to use anything exotic.
Also, when they added their DIY line of flavourings, that also matched up with FlavorWest offerings (probably still does). They just rebrand and rebottle it. I'm really not sure how ethical that is, but I decided long ago it's pretty much irrelevant for me, being up in Canada.
Way to complicated for hawksauce. Its sweet tarts.
Exactly what I was thinking. Sweet tarts and menthol.
I'm probably way off of what's actually in it, but I mixed Pomegranate, Raspberry, and some koolada (all capella flavors) and was surprised how much it reminds me of hawk sauce. It ended up having the same slightly-medicinal flavor that made me not like hawk sauce.
I've only had one 50ml bottle of Hawk Sauce, but I tasted violet candy in it. Not that I've had the TFA violet candy flavoring, but I have had Choward's Violet Candy mints. I should pick some up and see for myself, since I love those candies, and Hawk Sauce grew on me the more I vaped it.
This would be my direct modification to yours. I just rewicked and am dripping driping some 80 20 zero shots hawk sauce as I write this too, so my notes could be as accurate as possible.
- Harvest Berry (Capella) - 3%
- Tart & Sour (TFA) - 1%
- Ethyl Maltol (100%PG from crystals) - 1%
- Koolada (TFA) (accidently deleted your percentage here)
Sweet tart is a great idea, well I havent had sweet tarts in a long ass time, but if they are anything like smarties then yes yes yes. To me HS is smarties and cold... the fruits are hard to pin point. Raspberry.. blackberry.. tiny hint of watermelon maybe. Anyways, sweet tarts, koolada and EM seem like a really good start...Mayyyyybe citric acid, but I have barely worked with citric acid so far and I doubt it.
I get zero licorace, id drop that totally. Also dont add anise, highly doubt that is there either.. I also vape a metric fuckload of menthol, and I don't detect any in HS, I think it is all koolada, but menthol is a fine addition for sure.
We know MBV uses FW. Also they have said zero menthol in HS, and that there is an alcohol flavoring in it too. It very well could be one of the fruits I have never seen in real life like black currant or boysenberry as well.
I will be mixing this in the next few days as well. Thank you for the input! I've had someone else say sweet tarts may be the way to go as well so I think I may drop the Harvest Berry altogether. After a day the current mix tastes more like the harvest berry than anything else.
i heard that hawksauce has no menthol, but maybe absinthe flavor
http://www.reddit.com/r/electronic_cigarette/comments/17zhdl/mbv_community_update_hawk_sauce_this_flavor_has/
[–]mtbakervaporMt Baker Vapor?[S] 1 point 1 year ago There is an alcohol flavoring in there :)
in regards to MBV stating there is no menthol in Hawk Sauce...
MBV 'Thawed Sauce" description:
"Have you ever tried Hawk Sauce and loved everything about it, except the menthol? Then this e-juice is for you! Thawed Sauce is a complex blend of deliciously sweet and delightfully tart berries. Mixed with inspirations drawn from the Pacific Northwest, Thawed Sauce e-juice is a delightfully refreshing and deliciously fruity vape"
http://www.mtbakervapor.com/nicotine-juice/thawed-sauce-e-juice-baker-vapor/