I made this because I wanted to do something a little different, I guess. I know flavor profiles like this exist, but I almost never vape them, because I fight with orange flavors all the time. I can't ever seem to get them to either not overpower everything or be so mild I can't taste it. But after several attempts, I think I'm happy with this. (Notes follow recipe.)
Cambodia
8% Strawberry Ripe (TFA)
4% Vanilla Custard (CAP)
2% Dragonfruit (TFA)
2% Meringue (FA)
1.5% Custard (FA)
1% Orange Cream (TFA)
0.5% Sweet Tangerine (CAP)
Total Flavor: 19%, Mixed at Max VG. Temp recommendation is around 400, but feel free to play around if you're into temp control. I usually vape around 40-50 watts, so your mileage may vary if you like your vape at super high wattages. I'd be curious to see how it's different.
I've been using it in an aromamizer rdta with dual twisted 28g SS 316L wire. As for steep time, it's going to bring out the custard more, which is either good or bad depending on how much you like custard. It gets richer as time passes, and the custard gets significantly smoother, although I will say, I enjoy this as a shake-and-vape too. I've always found that if something doesn't taste appealing to me right off the bat, it's never going to.
Notes: Strawberry ripe. I kind of have a love-hate relationship with it, because I have to use a lot of it to get a strawberry flavor from it. It's one of those flavors I have a hard time tasting. At low percentages, it makes things sweet, which is awesome, but frustrating when I want to include a strawberry flavor profile as it takes up such a huge chunk of my flavor percentage. It is definitely my favorite strawberry though, and I think it blends well with other fruits, although I also think it easily loses some of its punch. In this recipe, the sweetness helps take away from the slight bite of citrus.
Vanilla Custard. I find so many recipes use way too much of this. I was hesitant to take it to 4%, because I think it's an insanely strong flavor, and it overpowers everything. But we all know it's delicious, and it tastes great with fruit, and I find 4% to be a good balance here. It adds heaviness and slight egginess to the fruits, and adds some mouthfeel. Plus, vanilla goodness.
Dragonfruit. I've learned from paying attention to more experienced mixers that this makes a great sort of...blender? I'm not quite sure how to describe it. Here, it adds a little additional fruit tang, but helps to sort of make the other fruits come together instead of tasting each of them as separate entities. Plus I kind of feel like it acts like a bridge between the heaviness of the custard and the lightness of the fruits, but maybe I'm crazy. My earlier versions didn't have this, and I definitely think it's much better with it than without.
Meringue. More sugary goodness, really. At this percentage it adds a little egginess but not too much, and a light, airy sort of sweetness that I love. I really am not a fan of sweetener, and as most of you know, meringue goes well with just about everything.
Custard. This helps with the fullness of the juice and adds to the custard body, but also adds a little note of citrus, which I think works great with the orange in this mix.
Orange cream. This flavor was not what I was hoping it would be when I first ordered it back in the day, but it makes a great additive. Unlike most of TFA's offerings, I find you don't need very much of this one to get a creamy orange hint. It's softened by the cream, but it's definitely there, and in this recipe totally changes the way the other fruits taste with it.
Sweet tangerine. More orange, basically. I find FA's offerings to be a little harsh, and while I enjoy them in small percentages, it didn't work in this mix. I tried Mandarin for an earlier version, and it didn't do the trick. Sweet Tangerine is still prominent, but it blends better with the custard and doesn't stand out as much as a totally separate flavor, which was what I wanted here.
Anyway, I know there are plenty of strawberry custards out there, but I wanted to create a little twist on the traditional, and thought I'd post my notes. I don't post recipes very often, mostly because most of you have already done it much better than I could (thus my flair), but I really liked this one and wanted to share my development process. It's certainly not perfect, and I'm sure I'll tweak it more.
Just so happens I have all of these. Shall report back
As a shake and vape I love it. Looking forward to the custard development. Gonna have to make more bc this test batch is gonna disappear. At first look this made me think of the guy that made "Jazzy Boba." He works with Vaporfi now and he made them 5 or 6 "premium" flavors. One is a strawberry tangerine custard. This is a great recipe. Thnx again for this!
I am so glad that you liked it! I know flavor is a bit subjective so I never know if what I think is good is going to be utter trash to other people, so I'm pleased you enjoyed it. I've heard of Jazzy Boba actually, but the only commercial juice I've bought in recent memory is Bigglesworth's stuff (and god knows I'll never be able to replicate those) so I haven't tried it. I'm not always in the mood for custards, but this one I think is light enough where it doesn't QUITE feel like a custard. Thanks so much for the feedback!
Great write up.
Adding orange cream to the order list. Thank you for posting this! Assuming CAP Vanilla Custard V1?
Thanks! And yeah the orange cream makes a good light citrusy additive in things, I've found. It's sort of lacking on its own as an orange creamsicle, but it's good to have in your arsenal. And yes, VCv1. I suppose I should think about suggesting a diketone free alternative, but...it's not for me. I would think you could probably use v2 at this percentage without it being horrible, but it just wouldn't be as good.
I know what you mean about VCv1 and v2. I like v2 up to about 3% maybe 3.5% even without a ton of steeping. I use V1 when I want to go hard on the custard and usually use both together, v1 as a bolster for the v2. One of your notes that caught my eye was how strong v1 is to you. Same here. I wouldn't like it at 10% or 12% like some people do. 4% is plenty for me.
Thanks again for the nudge to order orange cream. It's been on my radar for about a year and always got bumped in favor of something else. I rarely use the 3 or 4 other orange flavors I have but I shouldn't let something silly like that keep me from getting more flavors.
Going to make this right now. Looks good.
Very. very smooth. I am going to kick Sweet Tangerine up to 1.5% on my next batch for a little bit more of a citrus punch.
I'm glad! Also, let me know how it is with the extra tangerine! I just ran out of it or I'd try it myself. 😊
So after vaping this all day, I really like it. As I kind of alluded to, it needs something a little extra. All the fruits are just kind of muddled together behind the custard. I would like to see the orange or strawberry brought to the front to really make it pop.
Maybe some strawberry organic at 1.5% or the sweet tangerine bumped up.
Very good though.
Upvote for Dragon Fruit, freaking love playing with that flavor. Strawberry, DF, and Mango also play really well together, especially with a splash of Cold Pressed Tahiti lime.
As an aside, I find that ~~3 parts Strawberry(Ripe) to ~~2 parts Strawberry(TFA) works really well without having to use a huge percentage of your flavor base.
For my tastebuds Strawberry is very strong, like I can't take more than 2%, at like 1.5% with like 2-3% Strawberry(Ripe) I get an upfront Strawberry(Ripe) flavor with the punch of the standard Strawberry.
You might try it out, my ratio might not work for you, but I bet you could find one that would let your drop your Strawberry(Ripe) percentage down to like 3-5%.
Dragonfruit is awesome! And this is a great idea that I'll try in my next iteration. I did this once for a strawberry cream fraiche type juice I made once before and really enjoyed it. I posted it on here at one point but I can't find it. Anyway, thank you!!
As mentioned elsewhere...if you want a bit extra of the strawberry flavor, add (or sub in some) Strawberry (not ripe/candy/sweet)...just Strawberry from TFA. I like the combo a lot.
If you want to get crazier and make a strawberry base, I'd mix a slight touch of CAP Sweet Strawberry (8%)
FLV Strawberry (10%) (maybe less)
INW Strawberry (4%),
TFA Strawberry (25%)
TFA Strawberry Ripe (50%).
FA Fuji Apple (3%); it'll add a bit of bite to the berry flavors
Maybe a drop of INW Cactus and FLV Dragonfruit for every 30 or so mls.
Then use that in the same % or a touch less as the Strawberry Ripe in your recipe.
Just throwing it out there.
I need to pick up some INW Strawberry and attempt this. I have FLV Strawberry, but I'm a little hesitant to try it in a mix because it tastes like medicine to me when I tried a sample. Which sucks, because everyone says it tastes like jam. At any rate, thank you very much for this! It's super helpful.
I would say you may have used too much. I use it like at 1% or so in other stuff
I don't like FLV Strawberry either. If you wanted to get a little more strawberry in the mix I'd vote for TFA Strawberry @ ~2% or CAP Sweet Strawberry @ 1-2%. I really like the CAP Sweet / TFA Ripe combo. The CAP sweet is all top, forward and punchy which IMO is what is missing from the TFA Ripe. Conversely, the CAP Sweet needs the fat bottom end from the Ripe. Then again, I haven't played with my INW Strawberries much yet. I've also heard VZ SC (aka Bakers) is the bestest Strawberries. Haven't ordered it yet though.
I am definitely mixing this up, will also mix another batch with 1% inw exotic fruits added