So first off I'd like to apologize for my lack of contributions as of lately. Working 55+ hours a week kinda gets to me sometimes. So I've been doing DIY for little over a year now. Right before I took the plunge I was an avid fan of Vape Wild's "Circus Bear" - for those of you not familiar it is a strawberry banana custard that is pretty damn good for online bargain bin juice. So naturally it was the first one in my sights to clone. I have been taking diligent notes so I figured I'd share the journey with you all.

10/5/2015 - First Attempt

• TFA Strawberry Ripe @ 4%
• TFA Banana Cream @ 6%

Not terrible, but not quite there. Strawberry Ripe was my first strawberry. My notes claim the strawberry was lacking body and complexity. I tried a few more variations of the the two flavors listed above. None got me where I wanted to go. So I strayed off the path and went to other recipes.

3/3/16 "Circus #3"

• TFA Bavarian Cream @ 4%
• TFA Cheesecake (Graham Crust) @ 5%
• TFA Strawberry Ripe @ 10%
• CAP Van Custard V1 @ 3%

• IDK wtf I was smoking with that one. Looking back I shudder at that much TFA Cheese/graham.

Then there was

• TFA Banana Cream @ 6%
• TFA Strawberry Ripe @ 7%
• FA Custard @ 5%

I will Still mix this one up occasionally to change my pallet. It's not Circus Bear, but its a decent mix. My notes after this one I wrote about "EHH maybe order FA Meringue and try that instead of FA Custard" Well that was the beginning of my romance with FA Meringue. IMO one of the most versatile and necessary flavors to have.

4/1/2016 - Time to conquer the bear... So i set out to find the best strawberry, and the best banana I could find. (How I had made it this far in without CAP Sweet Strawberry is beyond me.) So after hours of scowering this sub I narrowed my search to the following contenders:

• TFA Strawberry Ripe
• TFA Strawberry
• TFA Organic Strawberry
• CAP Sweet Strawberry
• FA Strawberry (Red Touch)
• HS Strawberry
• INW Shisha Strawberry
• LA Banana Cream
• TFA Banana Cream
• TFA Banana Ripe

So I got to finding the perfect balance of strawberry. For the sake of space and your time I'll give you the readers digest on this part. Narrowed down the strawberry combo to CAP Sweet, TFA Ripe, TFA Strawberry, FA Red Touch, INW Shisha. I did a lot of experimentation with those guys. Weeks of mixing, throwing out, remixing. What I found was:

• TFA Strawberry Ripe

• CAP Sweet Strawberry This became a staple in all my mixes. These two together make a great pair. I found that when using those two there are a few ways to accentuate them.

• 1.) 1:1

• 2.) 2:1 (either direction works. 2 Ripe to 1 Sweet, 2 sweet to 1 Ripe)

• 3.) 2/3 - Take the strawberry I wanted to be the lead and make the secondary 2/3rds less. (5% and 3.3%) I use variation 1 and 3 the most today. I found that equal parts of each is a nice full bodied strawberry with some nice sweetness. The CAP brightens the Ripe nicely, while adding the sweetness that Ripe is lacking. The two that came from MULTIPLE MULTIPLE mixes with Ripe and Sweet are:

• TFA Strawberry Ripe 3.5%

• CAP Sweet Strawberry 3.5%

• FA Meringue 2%

• CAP Van Custard V1 2.25%

and

• TFA Strawberry Ripe 6%
• CAP Sweet Strawberry 4%
• FA Meringue 1.5%
• CAP Van Custard V1 2%

*****The first recipe is probably my fav recipe dripped. I usually run a variation of fused clapton, staggered clapton, clapton parallel with regular kanthal, or good old regular clapton. This recipe shined on my Buddha V2. I still mix this one regularly and its the one most of my friends was closest to circus bear. However I feel It lacks the strawberry I'm looking for when used in a tank or RTA. The second recipe has become my ADV for months. I cant get away from it. I also switch the %s with Ripe and Sweet quite often (6% Ripe, 4% Sweet) I honestly cannot decide which one I like better. Now while Ripe and Sweet are delightful together I have some issues. I'm pretty sure its the CAP Sweet strawberry that rapes my coils. I rewick every 3 to 4 days when using any of the above recipes. It's not terrible, but still. Also I feel after a good long steep the strawberry tends to fade. So I sought out a remedy. INW Strawberry Shisha, FA Red touch, and TFA Strawberry are all very bright strawberries. Some more sweet and candy-like than others. So what I did was take the above 3 methods of mixing CAP Sweet Strawberry with TFA Ripe and added the 3 brighter strawberries to the mix. This process probably cost me about 2 liters of VG mixing 70/30 VG/PG. I burned through so many testers it became kind of ridiculous.

I tried a few variations using TFA Strawberry, FA Strawberry (Touch), and INW Shisha. I feel all of those are the "brigher" strawberries. I went through some trial and error and for the sake of space Ill jump to the winner.

WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER

• TFA Strawberry Ripe 4%
• FA Strawberry (RED TOUCH) 1.5%
• TFA Banana Cream 7%
• CAP Vanilla Custard V1 1.5%
• FA Meringue 1.75%

This is by far the closest of my iterations to the circus bear. Now it has been some time since I've had the authentic one, but regardless this is my favorite. Steep time: It's not terrible shake and vape, but really needs at least 7 days for the custard and meringue to shine through. 2 weeks in and its a nice mellow vape. The strawberry is bright and the frontrunner,then the milky back end of the banana and the custard finish it off. Not too savory, not too fruity. Nice blend of fruit and desert.

Thanks everyone for making this an awesome community. Hope you enjoy, love to hear some feedback.