This is going to be a long post. Go strap yourselves in. I'm going to make the jump to incredibly long-winded speed.

So up until about eight months ago, I hated apples. I'd only ever eaten Granny Smith apples and I hated the mushy texture. In fact, I didn't even know other types of apples existed. I'm slow. My girlfriend educated me on the different types and had me try a Fuji apple. I fell in love. Some time in late October I ordered close to 45 flavors to try and make my perfect apple-flavored juice. Unfortunately, I didn't order Hangsen Apple Mix or FA Liquid Amber so neither makes it into the rotation of recipes. Let me preface this by saying the following mixes are all steeped for 7-14 days and tested thusly: 1^st I test shake and vape on a Freakshow Mini with dual coil, 7 wrap, 22g kanthal around 60w-70w; 2^nd I test two days steep on same setup; 3^rd I test 7 days steep on a Velocity clone, dual coil, 5 wrap 24g/36g kanthal claptons around 65w-75w, occasionally 85w+; and if I feel like it needs more time I wait another 7days and test in the Freakshow Mini, Velocity or Aromamizer, dual coil, 7 wrap, twisted 26g kanthal, whichever is on hand. All my mixes are 70vg/30pg and 2mg nic. So let's get down to business. Personally, I don't care if they sent me daughters. We're all equal.

First, I tried all the relevant apple flavors I could find and mix (shout-out to Botboy141's Awesome Apple Pie minus the Liquid Amber of course, returnity's Cinapple Fritter v2.1 and Enyawreklaw's Apple Butter Oatmeal Cookie. Then I checked e-Liquid Recipes for the average mixing quantity for the flavors I planned on using to see what those who came before me had done. The reason for mixing them first, IMO, is because if someone has already perfected what I'm looking for, then there's no reason for me to reinvent the wheel.
 
 

Just as a test, I mixed FA's Fuji Apple at 2.5%, 5%, 7.5%, and 10% 70vg/30pg to see what it would taste like at certain percentages over time.

I started with:
Fuji Apple (FA) 4%
Cinnamon Roll (FW) 1.5%
Cinnamon Danish Swirl (CAP) 1.5%

This was a decent starting point for these three flavors. I realized I don't particularly enjoy FW's Cinnamon Roll. It tastes like raw dough. But it's a good support for other cinnamon pastry flavors if you use it at low percentages. Personally, anything 2% and below is fine, even 2% may be cutting it close to overpoweringly bland. 4% FA Fuji Apple seemed like a perfect call to add a nice, crisp apple flavor.

Next was:
Fuji Apple (FA) 4%
Cinnamon Roll (FW) 2%
Cinnamon Danish Swirl (CAP) 2%
Marshmallow (FA) .5%
Cinnamon Ceylon (FA) at 2 drops per 10ml which is about .25%-.3%

After a week the apple flavor was bright, juicy and delicious and the cinnamon flavor mellowed out to create a nice spiced apple flavor, kind of like an apple cider. It's not perfect, but it was a good starting point. After three weeks, the apple sort of died off and wasn't as present as I wanted. The apple was there, but it was at the end of a long hallway quietly whispering "apple." So in the next mixes I upped it to 4.5% and 5%, and 5% stuck around for much longer. The Cinnamon Ceylon can be subbed for FLV Rich Cinnamon, I just didn't have it on hand at the time. Same can be said for any of these that call for it.

Next:
Apple Pie (CAP) 4%
Apple Pie (FA) 1.5%
Fuji Apple (FA) 3%
Cinnamon Roll (FW) 1%
AP (5%) ~.5%
Cinnamon Ceylon (FA) at 2 drops per 10 ml which is about .25%-.3%

After a week, the pastry/bakery flavor in the CAP Apple Pie tasted flaky, like a good pie crust, the FA Apple Pie added a decent eh, it's apple pie taste which was backed up nicely by the 3% FA Fuji. Overall, it tasted like an apple pie that needed another 5 or 6 minutes in the oven; it tasted a bit flat at lower wattage, kind of raw. The AP helped round out that pie crust from the apple pie.
For a stronger pastry flavor, I added 1.5% FA Cookie, .5% FA Fuji Apple, and .65% TFA Dragonfruit, and dropped CAP Apple Pie to 3%.

Neeext:
Fuji Apple (FA) 5%
Cinnamon Roll (FW) 1.5%
Cinnamon Danish Swirl (CAP) 2%
Toasted Marshmallow (TFA) .75%
Vanilla Bean Ice Cream (TFA) 2.5%
Vanilla Swirl (TFA) 1%
Cinnamon Ceylon (FA) at 2 drops per 10 ml which is about .25%-.3%

I was looking for apple pie with a side of ice cream. This wasn't it. It turned out tasting like apple pie flavored coffee creamer. Now, don't let that turn you off. I seriously enjoyed it. Of all the previous flavors, this was the one I went back to most often. It was like throwing apple pie and ice cream in a blender. It had a delicious creamy texture, with sweet apple pie crust in the background. The TFA Toasted Marshmallow was perfect for this mix, because it gave it that little bump in toastiness or something. I figured I could make it better so I added .6% FA Joy, dropped the CAP CDS to 1.5% and added .75% FA Meringue. In the end, after two weeks, I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome. FA Joy separated the TFA VBIC and the apple flavors, and the TFA Vanilla Swirl was a nice addition to get the overall vanilla flavor I wanted out of the ice cream without relying on VBIC to do all the work. Add some TFA Dragonfruit for a little tartness, I found .5%-.75% keeps the flavor in the background without coming out too strong.
 

I felt like I found a couple simple and tasty cider-and apple pie-like flavors, and I could move on to getting the apple fritter I was craving. I went to a bakery and picked up some apple fritters to give me an idea of what I was shooting for. returnity pretty much nailed it on his Cinapple Fritter v2.1 so I had a good base, but I wanted to incorporate some doughnut flavors to hopefully give it a nice glaze. I realized adding TFA's Dragonfruit to apple flavors helped it build that tartness I was missing before.
 

First up (v1):
Fuji Apple (FA) 5.5%
Cinnamon Danish Swirl (CAP) 5%
Meringue (FA) 1%
Frosted Doughnut (TFA) 1%
Biscuit (INW) .75%
Joy (FA) .65%
Dragonfruit (TFA) .5%

Admittedly, this was OK at best. CAP CDS was too high, but TFA Frosted Doughnut and FA Meringue played together nicely, hitting that glaze I wanted. I felt like the TFA Frosted Doughnut could go up .5%, so I tried it out and didn't see much of a difference. It wasn't an apple fritter, but it did have a good glazed pastry flavor with a tart apple finish. I was pleased with this as a start. I dropped CAP CDS to 3% and added a few drops of FA Cinnamon Ceylon to taste. It was closer, but I wanted to rework the entire mix. Joy could go either way; I don't feel like it did too much here but I don't want to take it away and be left with raw, glazed dough. This seemed like the perfect time to add some AP (5%) and it did well. Meh.

Apple Fritter v2:
Fuji Apple (FA) 5%
Cinnamon Roll (FW) 1.5%
Frosted Doughnut (TFA) 1%
Dragonfruit (TFA) .65%
Biscuit (INW) .8%
Toasted Marshmallow (TFA) .7%
Joy (FA) .5%
Almond (FA) .6%
Cinnamon Ceylon (FA) at 2 drops per 10 ml which is about .25%-.3%

The difference between this and v1 was pretty noteworthy considering how little actually changed. CAP CDS started falling into the same mold as FW Cinnamon Roll for me and I wasn't really enjoying it at high percentages. But the FA Almond was on point. I took a page from Enyawreklaw and added it on a whim, cause I mean, he did it and he's like perfect or whatever. So what if I'm a fanboy? You wanna fight about it? FA Almond added just a small bit of nuttiness that was missing in the "bakery" aspect for the base of the apple fritter, and the TFA Toasted Marshmallow did as it should and left it just slightly toasted on back end. I added 2% TFA Bavarian Cream and it was just too delicate and rich; it became unbalanced so I dropped it completely. But add it in if you want a creamy sweetness.

Another Fritter AKA v3:
Fuji Apple (FA) 5%
Glazed Doughnut (CAP) 2%
Frosted Doughnut (TFA) 1.5%
Meringue (FA) 1%
Joy (FA) .8%
Brown Sugar Extra (TFA) .75%
Dragonfruit (TFA) .65%
Almond (FA) .5%
Cinnamon Ceylon (FA) .45%

So this was getting closer to where I wanted it even though it was getting closer to just being a flat out doughnut. CAP Glazed Doughnut is a really tricky flavor. Anything above 2% for me tastes like Play-Doh. So 2% was where it was staying. Fortunately, the TFA Frosted Doughnut and FA Meringue covered the salty taste I usually get from Glazed Doughnut and hit that spot for me again in terms of a good glaze. This edition had TFA Brown Sugar Extra for a little more sweetness without getting creamy. It did add some of that brown sugar flavor. I'd only used it once before at 2% and it was just awful. .75% was right where it needed to be for this mix. Like before, the FA Almond was great for the nuttiness I wanted and again, the TFA Dragonfruit backed up the apple flavor. I upped the cinnamon to .45% because I felt like I wasn't getting that little kick I wanted. Too high on it, however, and you're getting into Red Hots territory, and I think .45% was just the right amount for the mix without getting into candy.
 
 
Let's do an Apple Survival contents check: seven apple-based flavors to make your own; several versions tested over the course of three months; a couple pages of worthless notes to skim through; one issue of prophylactics; three lipsticks; three pair of nylon stockings... Shoot, a fella' could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff.
 

TL;DR Apple.