After seeing /u/therealDR-GONZO post last week about RF Cherry Pie, I decided to give RF a try.
Ordered 10 flavors from Gremlin DIY and the cherry pie flavor from Real Flavors direct.
I've finger tested everything and about halfway through my single flavor testing. Almost everything is amazing so far. Bread pudding, cookies and cream, cinnamon roll, and cherry pie stand out as front runners. The flavors seem a little weak. However, according to /u/abdada, these require a longer than normal steep time, so we'll see how they taste in a couple weeks.
An additional bonus, Real Flavors included a care package with the Cherry Pie flavoring. A yorker cap, pipette, and some goodies. Made me really happy they thought of including the things I would need to get to dispensing ASAP without any hassle.
You can find them at Gremlin DIY, ECX under the brand name Northwest VG, and their website www.realflavors.com.
Some notes on my personal favorite flavors so far:
RF Cherry Pie
Phenomenal flavor. Finally, a cherry flavor that tastes like cherry without a single hint of floralness. This tastes like cherry right out of the can. Sweet and candied. Full bodied, dark, juicy, and succulent. There is also a crust flavor that is equally awesome. A nice balance of graham and flaky pastry. Just a touch of cinnamon and other spices. Hardly detectable but still present. Strong base flavor. Would be very hard to use otherwise. Very worthy of being a single flavor vape, but you can adjust with meringue to sweeten, or increase the pastry flavor with some INW biscuit or FA cookie. Just like with most RF flavors, I'm finding it to be super weak. Use between 6-10%.
RF Cookies & Cream
Another amazing flavor. Tastes exactly like crushed up oreos. It leans heavier towards the cookie. Chocolaty and crispy with a snap. Very dry. The cream flavor is very pleasant, but lacks the creamy mouth feel. Would greatly benefit from some CAP Vanilla Custard or FA Fresh Cream. Meringue would be a solid choice as well. Another great base. I'm not sure if I'm buying flavors, or premixed concentrates these are so good. Use between 8-12%.
#Please consider trying these guys out. They are PHENOMENAL.
That is all.
Walt is good people. He has another huge batch of new flavors coming out in a month. He said he wants hundreds of flavors this year and has the chops to do it.
RF is weaker than FA and TFA but a long steep time and a hint of heat can bring a lot of notes forward.
I am doing a percentage chart right now for each flavor, with and without heat, along with steep time.
Some flavors actually come forward after 8 weeks sans heat. Some are totally annihilated with heat. It's a real process to get the best out of them but the community will figure it all out eventually.
One downside is the prices in bulk are expensive still, so it isn't well suited for selling premixed. Fine for DIY tho.
So. You're the top comment with -2 and you champion these flavors. Can you give us some notes?
I have almost every flavor and have worked with some of them flavors for well over a year under the prior brand. I'm working through all the flavor notes every week and will post them all as my results are finished.
Since some of the concentrates need steep times of 6-8 weeks, and they're expensive concentrates to begin with, it's a slow going process.
Like any vendor, every flavor has potential but not always as a blending flavor and not always as an singular flavor.
The bread pudding is stellar as a singular flavor at 6%-12% but longer steeps change the profile a lot. It doesn't work very well as a blended flavor because the syrup is too strong and the bread notes are weak under 9%.
The cookies and cream is amazing as. a single flavor but extremely dry. It needs moistness and so far I haven't found a good subflavor to enhance it.
The cinnamon flavors are all excellent baked cinnamon, not red hot candy cinnamon. Because the VG is so thick, all the concentrates need a hefty shake to mix up the volatiles. Cinnamon especially likes to fall out of solution after a few days in the cabinet.
I'm currently vaping the pink "starburst" flavor at 8% and it's fantastic but needs sweetener. Flavor is great but it's lacking mouthfeel.
Blueberries and cream is great but after 4 weeks the blueberry is weak and the cream is too forward at 7%. Going to try to reduce it to 5% and try again (I have batches of 2-10% steeping now at week 3).
All the flavors are accurate but natural flavor volatiles are much tougher to deal with. They're just lazy and need a lot of time. I'm avoiding using the homogenizer to get accurate flavor notes just from steeping.
ABDada delivers. Thank you. Would you compare these to medicine flower in any way as far as steep time/realistic representation of flavor/window of best volatile availability?
Edit I typed would when I probably should have typed could, as in please sir could you give us more.
Have you tried using using Joy when mixing with the Bread Pudding? I was having a hard time blending with it as well until a introduced Joy into the mix. I'm liking what I have going a little better than Bread Pudding by itself, although its only been steeping a week and a half, so I'll have to wait and if that holds true.
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RF Bread Pudding 12%
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RF Cinnamon Custard 0.75%
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FLV Vanilla Custard 0.2%
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FA Joy 0.25%
I added the Joy last. Prior to adding it the Vanilla Custard, even at such a low percent, trampled all over the bread pudding turning it into a soupy mess. Adding Joy brought bready notes right back.
> The bread pudding is stellar as a singular flavor at 6%-12% but longer steeps change the profile a lot. It doesn't work very well as a blended flavor because the syrup is too strong and the bread notes are weak under 9%.
OK AB, I am vaping the bread pudding at 10%. Tastes like vaping straight VG - little to no flavor. DId a quick heat-age per your recommendation, and after 2 days still nuthin'. Any recommendations?
Holy fuck, and he brought the hate train with him. This post just went from 11 upvotes to 0 within a span of 2 minutes.
And everyone in this thread is getting downvoted to hell.
Hey there... I was wondering if you ever got that chart done and if it is posted somewhere? I'm needing to put one together myself (Well, the Gremlins are going to do it, but still...) but it would be a huge head start if we had your chart to start with then tweak for our own taste. Also, don't forget to get me some printer information. :)
Oh man I really don't need another vendor to throw money at. Really liking the test result boxes on their website, though. Lots of valuable information right there.
Perhaps some examples with percentages posted? This contains good information about a lesser known manufacturer, but as it stands is a shoutout, and I'm on record stating that I don't allow them.
I'm working on it bro. Just wanted to draw some attention to them.
Also, I was really excited they included a twist cap for my bottle of flavoring.
They have any published gc/ms testing?
They provide a brief overview of the pertinent information for every single flavor they make.
For example:
https://www.realflavors.com/collections/bakery/products/cake-batter
No acetoin results...FeelsBadMan,
they look legit though, might check them out.
What weight are people using for these Flavors? It's gotta be a good bit heavier than PG based Flavors.
I ordered a bunch of their stuff from gremlindiy and I've been nothing but impressed with every single one! Easily the best single flavoring mixes I've ever had. Still waiting on an order from RF for the newer flavors... Hopefully it shows up soon, tracking doesn't seem to be working according to them.