My grandmother's back yard had a tire swing and a sand box where I would spend time as a child. Against the side of the house there was a honeysuckle bush/vine/plant, and around the corner of the yard was a grape vine. Concord if I remember correctly. I was trying to make a flavor that would recreate the sensation of grandma's yard.
I started simple:
- TFA Grape Juice 7%
- TFA Honeysuckle 6%
It's good. It's close, but it's missing something. There's a warmth or body or something earthy missing, the flavor just feels hollow.
When my dripper dried up and I got half of a dry hit, it gave a hot cotton old furnace taste. That's kind of what I'm looking for, but in a less nasty way.
Anyone can suggest an ingredient to round out this strange flavor?
OOOOO I love doing these. Alright, let's start out with your base.
Grandma's house, you're probably there in the summer, right? Honeysuckle is in bloom, giving the warm breeze a thick, sweet aroma. Bam- TFA Honeysuckle. 3% to fill out the floral base.
Honeysuckle is a bit bland, so let's get a bit creative. Grandma's yard had honeysuckle and a grapevine, so I'm guessing she lived near a chunk of forest, getting the full "natural" vibe going on. You know what you'll find in that forest? "Crab apples?" you ask? Crab Apples. Bam- FA Fuji and GW Green Apple. 1% fuji, .5% green apple.
That's a fabulous fruity, aromatic base we have there. Now to throw some more nostalgia into the mix. The grape vine is an easy choice, FA Concord Grape or FA White Grape will be better than any TFA grape flavor. Use .3-.5% to add a nice little hint of grape to this trip down memory lane.
You know what I always liked about grandma's yard? The wild blackberries that grew at the edge of the woods. There is no good blackberry flavor, so forget I said anything about that.
Lemonade. It wouldn't be summer at Grandma's house if we didn't get some fresh-squeezed lemonade. FLV Lemonade or FW Lemonade. .5% on either should work. But we need something to really drive home just how refreshing the lemonade was when playing on that tire swing. You could use TFA Koolada to make it feel cold, but I don't find that refreshing at all. You know what's refreshing? Eucalyptus and mint. Put 1 drop of INW Eucalyptus Mint for every 10 mL.
Now, this is a decent recipe we've thought up here, but it's missing something. Something important. We're missing grass-stains and skinned knees. We need that scent of grass. FA Cucumber, .25% and you get that green note that can't be anything but grass.
Put all that shit together and take a step into a time machine.
Mix this at like a 60/40 VG/PG level to keep the sweetness of the VG from affecting the flavor. The higher PG will also help bring out the floral notes that we're trying to recreate here.
- FA Liquid Amber?
- FA Zen Garden + Liquid Amber + FA Oakwood?
- Acetylpyrazine?
> It's good. It's close, but it's missing something. There's a warmth or body or something earthy missing, the flavor just feels hollow.
A tobacco maybe? A couple of the TFA tobacco concentrates have a predominant grassy, hay-like flavour. Maybe that could work?
I'll try some with a tobacco. I originally steered clear of it only because grandma didn't smoke.
Just had a look through my notes, TFA Cowboy Blend is probably what you want.
At 3 drops of concentrate in 10mL, I've noted - Mild strength, hay-like, bready, not very tobacco-y. Lightly herbal, grassy.
Just you mentioned being in the backyard, which I thought some of that grass/hay/herbal could sort of recreate.
Based on what you described OP I think a tobacco would work too to kind of fill that gap. I don't have much experience with tobaccos but I might suggest FA Soho. What do you have as far as tobaccos go? I really like this idea btw and hope you hit that note you're looking for!
Add TFA Butterscotch for some Mustiness and a drop or two of Lavender to replicate the Grandma element of the vape.
Not sure about the tyre element, maybe just go the dry hit route again and try to melt the insulator?
Optional: TFA Banana Ripe (high percentage) to add a silage/sewage note, but will depend on said Grandma as to whether is necessary.
No sewage note please, haha! Butterscotch sounds promising. I have some TFA Hazelnut on-hand, maybe it's just diketones I'm missing.
Don't be expecting the werthers Original style butterscotch, though that would once again be good dependant on said Grandma's pocket filler of choice, FA Butterscotch (plus a bit of Caramel) would fit that better.
INW Coconut may give the dryness that you seek, but yeah, the delicious diketones in the hazelnut might be good too :)
Do you have any access to TFA Cherry Blossom? In low % it will give an earthy feel with a touch of herbal sweet which might round those out nicely, If I sense the vision you are shooting for correctly.