I'm on a cocktail vape binge, and my most recent project has been a Cosmo juice. It's gone through a couple of versions, two of which I think are worth sharing.

Dark Cosmo

• 5% TFA Cranberry

• 2% FW Blood Orange

• 2% TFA Key Lime

• 1% FA Lime Tahiti Cold-pressed

• 2% TFA Champagne

This version isn't what I had in mind, but it's good none the less. It's rich, dark and heavy. For a fruit vape, it has a heavier mouth feel than some custards I've tried, so in that regard it was slightly disappointing and it's not a version I'll mix on a regular basis.

Cranberry + Blood Orange: An intense pairing. It's like 100% cranberry juice with Gran Marnier, at this ratio. A very round, full-bodied berry citrus base for the overall flavor. This is the part of the recipe that gave me the slightly disappointing results.

Key Lime + Lime Tahiti: This does exactly what it's supposed to. Some sweetened lime and a bit of zest or rind flavor, although in this version it gets slightly swallowed up by the cranberry and orange.

Champagne: This carries the limes forward a bit and adds the necessary boozy notes. Given how strong the cranberry and orange is, the champagne ends up being slightly overpowering as well, especially after a 24h steep. Another minor disappointment.

Everything here plays together, just a little bit too roughly for what I had intended. I wanted something lighter and less "heavy velvet curtains" in terms of mouth feel. The flavor is right, but there's way too much of it. So I thought about the overall ratios while vaping my way through 30mL of the original mix, and decided I'd have to entirely change my approach.

Light Cosmo

• 9% TFA Cranberry

• 4% TFA Lemon-Lime

• 2% TFA Key Lime

• 2% FA Lime Tahiti Cold-pressed

• 1% FW Blood Orange

• 1% TFA Champagne

A lot closer to what I wanted. Still not perfect, but much lighter and closer to an all-day vape.

Lemon-Lime: I decided to re-think my base flavor and start with this. It definitely lightens up the overall vape and gets rid of some of that "thick curtains" mouth feel. It has some slight fizz to it that an actual cocktail doesn't, but in a vape it seems just right. Also offers a citrusy platform for the limes.

Cranberry + Blood Orange: More berry, less citrus. At this ratio, both are more distinct and individual, while still blending together in the right Cosmopolitan way. Blood orange no longer overpowers the limes, but still supports cranberry and adds a pop of syrupy triple-sec.

Key Lime + Lime Tahiti: Same as before, just a little stronger. I think this might be my favorite flavor couple.

Champagne: A bit less this time. The boozy notes are there, the champagne pushes the lime flavors forward, but it doesn't become overpowering after a 24h steep like it did at 2% champagne.

This version is better, but still not perfect. I still want something lighter, so I'll tinker with the percentages of lemon-lime, cranberry and orange on next week's mix day. Definitely getting close, though!