warning - I took my benzos to sleep like two hours ago and I'm still up so this post was created. I'm sorry. It has excessive bolding, wild speculation, no recipe because I'm ashamed of all my attempts, and other such trademarks of shitposts. Again, I'm sorry. But I'm craving a clone and my months of attempts are driving me completely insane.

#Shurb summarized

So by my quick search, JTJM's juice Shurb was last discussed here 5 months ago. As some of you may know, this is far too long for me to go without discussing Shurb.

Shurb is... weird. And weirdly addictive. When I taste it, I swear somebody made a really mediocre rainbow sherbet, let it melt, poured in a whole bunch more sugar because why not right, maybe watered it down a little, and asked me to take a sip. It's muted and missing things that you need for a rainbow sherbet and it just feels like you're dirty for liking it. But god damn, I can't stop drinking it like it's a bottle of generic brand hand sanitizer and I'm an alcoholic in a detox facility feeling the shakes coming on.

So yeah anyways, anybody interested in the cloning of the juice knows of /u/botboy141's excellent Shurb-like recipe right here and /u/vaperous's impressively obsessive attempt over here. Both are genuinely good attempts and good juices on their own but they just aren't Shurb.

So let's break some stuff down:

#Breaking it down

• Shurb tastes like nothing in particular, just a mix of things. It has a creamy feeling, it is very sweet, and it has a vague fruity taste in there. Definitely Raspberry and definitely some hodge-podge of various citrus flavors.

• Vaperous's attempt gets a gummy-like taste as it steeps that Shurb doesn't have (seems to be from the FA Raspberry). In Botboy's the fruits totally take over, especially the INW Raspberry. AGAIN, both are great recipes on their own and I love them but they aren't quite what we want for Shurb. But they provide a great base.

• The real deal stays relatively clear and never develops a strong fruit taste.

• TFA Vanilla Swirl, TFA Whipped Cream, and FA Marshmallow make for a very good base for the creamy feeling but don't quite feel like enough.

• There is a lime taste on the exhale but as Botboy says in his post - lime being in there is very unlikely. I think we're most likely tasting some lemon/tiny bit of lime mix like INW Lemon Mix. Strangely, TFA Key Lime smells like it 100% belongs but doesn't seem to bring the right taste to the table.

• EM is absolutely necessary. Everybody agrees that there is a ridiculous amount of EM in Shurb.

• TFA Orange Mandarin seems like it could be in the juice but even at higher percentages it doesn't seem like it's really adding a lot. CAP Tangerine is more noticeable but maybe too noticeable.

• INW Raspberry is definitely too sharp and too "realistic" to be in the original. Our raspberry needs to be mellow, not sharp, pungent, or too realistic. This rules out nearly every raspberry I can think of (TFA, INW, and even FA's despite the majority opinion being that it is FA's. But IMO it adds heavily to the gummy taste which we don't want). From smell alone, CAP Raspberry seems the closest but once I taste it I feel like it's totally wrong. It has a weird, "this is a raspberry that has been sitting out too long" taste IMO that fits better in to a bakery juice.

• Some have noted that Shurb has a slight floral or maybe bubblegum-like note to it that often makes them go "hey I know that flavor! It's.. uh... uhhhh.. ummmmmmm..." I've had the same experience. I've tried FA Liquid Amber as many have suggested but it seems to contribute to the pungent fruit flavor that we're trying so hard to avoid.

• Some have mentioned that sucralose could be there. I lean towards agreement since every attempt I've tried without any has just been too.. dry. Sucralose tends to add a weird property to a juice, making it feel as if you're getting a little of it on your tongue when you're vaping it. I do get that wetness with Shurb.

• According to /u/vaperous, JTJM has posted once that one of the flavors he uses in the juice is inconsistent in appearance. Sometimes when he gets a batch it is completely clear and sometimes it is very cloudy. As vaperous also points out, the clouding is common with citrus flavors. I've personally noticed it with a couple, namely FA Mandarin and FA Tahiti Lime.

• When we talk about the lemon things get pretty tough. There is definitely a bit of a lemon flavor here but almost every lemon out there is just plain wrong. CAP's is very candy-like and just smells too sour while most are too sharp and heavy and just completely the opposite of what we get from Shurb. It seems increasingly likely that there are not lemon or lime flavors in there, but rather a flavor that contains notes of each.

#Outro (oh god please help)

So those are my messy thoughts on the juice. My final question that this post is here for - has anybody continued to try and clone this shit? Because I am genuinely going insane trying to get something even close. Every attempt has just sat in this same weird place where the fruits are too much and the cream isn't enough and the sweetness isn't the right type of sweetness. If anybody has any tips, attempts, comments, theories, etc - please share.

Love y'all.

EDIT:

#Things to try

Just a quick list of things to try based off the responses so I don't forget.

• TFA Cola Syrup (lemon/lime notes, may be the weird taste people recognize but can't place).

• FW Starfruit

• Jackfruit

• Tiny bit of koolada?

• Colorless LA Raspberry (haven't tried this one due to the color, colorless version would be worth checking out)

• Other sweeteners (CAP Super Sweet for example)