I used to eat these melting mints https://imgur.com/gallery/hwZR6 as a kid and remember absolutely loving them. I saw them in a store and it got me thinking about how they would be as a vape. After toying with the idea I decided to give it a go, ordered a couple dozen flavorings, and after about a month I think I've settled on a very satisfying and quite close recreation of those nostalgic little candies.
At first I was thinking really hard about every little flavor and trying to get way too complex with the recipe which led to many horrible mixes. I scrapped my initial recipe and approached it from a different angle, ultimately simplifying this recipe to a laughably easy mix:
TFA: Vanilla bean ice cream @ 7%
Flavour Art: Vienna cream @ 3%
LA: Caramel @ 2%
TFA: Creme de menthe @ 2%
Ethyl maltol 1 drop per 10ml.
Mixed at 75/25 vg/pg.
Now let's talk about the flavors.
TFA VBIC is a delicious creamy vanilla, but I really used this mostly for that buttery rich flavor that sort of emulates a sticky mouth feel that melted chocolate leaves behind.
FA Vienna cream: I needed something to round out the harshness of some of the bite VBIC brings to mixes at higher percentages without compromising the buttery smooth flavor or overpowering it with its own notes. I tried a few mixes with TFA dairy milk, and french vanilla from a variety of vendors but they were distracting and slightly hurting the smoothness of the exhale. I decided on vienna cream because of how well it compliments the VBIC and really does a great job at lifting the creamy notes while adding it's own smoothness, which I feel really completes that melted chocolate mouth feel.
LA Caramel: this adds a nice sweetness to the mix and really levels out the minty flavors on the inhale, leaving an incredibly satisfying exhale where the creme de menthe can really shine.
TFA Creme de menthe: this was the make it or break it ingredient in this recipe (duh). I had originally started with a peppermint but it left a generic hard candy taste that was just really unsatisfying. I was eating some of the melting mints I had bought to help me through making the recipe when I noticed the more I ate the more the mint cooled my throat and thought this would be something worth recreating into the mix. At 2% the creme de menthe isn't overpowering but if you chain vape it, you'll start feeling it more and more just as if you were shoveling those delicious bastards down your throat. I wouldn't recommend mixing any higher than this as it starts to overpower the vbic and takes away some smoothness.
The ethyl maltol is extremely subtle but I felt like 3 drops per 30ml really helped round out any lingering bite or harshness the mint brought to the recipe.
I am personally satisfied with this recipe and feel I ultimately achieved exactly what I was going for. If you try this recipe and feel it may need something else, feel free to share your thoughts! This is great as a shake and vape but really shines after about 7 days.
EDIT: The caramel is actually LorAnn NOT TFA. I apologize if you have already mixed any juice.
Curse you. Curse you! Those are my favorite candy I can no longer have. Adds things to the flavor to buy list
On a more serious note, I've not seen VBIC used in places where I would expect "butter" per say, although I suppose butter and cream are quite related. I'm curious as to what your thoughts on having a more "actual butter" flavor in this would be, or if it's spot on to the real thing?
I tried more buttery flavors and it seemed like it was heading towards that popcorn taste "territory", and was really off putting. The vape was okay but the buttery taste was just too in your face and tended to linger throughout the exhale. It just wasn't pleasant honestly, and reminded me more of putting junior mints in a tub of popcorn. Blegh.
I feel like you could sub the EM for an equivalent amount of TFA Butter, and it would really drive home the white chocolate mouth feel.
Holy fuck. Subbed in CAP VBIC since I hate TFA's with a passion and FLV CdM since I didn't have TFA's on hand, and am already halfway through a 30ml in about 8 hours.
What do you think is the difference in CAP VBIC compared to TFA? Not knocking just wondering if it would be worth picking up a bottle. Also glad you're enjoying it!
Sounds interesting! I have been wanting to try out some mint flavorings for a long time. This has motivated me. Thanks!
I'm on a serious mint mission and created a thread not too long ago. INW Mix Mint is amazing stuff, so much that I'm going to pick up their natural mint too. I'm really loving FW's Wintergreen and FA's Spearmint also.
Thanks for the advice. The last time I vaped anything "cool" was 3 years ago when menthol was big. Everything was sharp and too extreme for me back then. Wintergreen sounds tasty. How would you describe INW mix mint? I want softer mints that don't blast my head off.
Yeah, I'm actually looking for something not offensive and refusing to add any menthol or koolada and let it come from it naturally.
I've never had fresh Mint in my life before but it separates itself from the spearmint/peppermint/wintermint crowd. I just threw some in a new tank and tasted a drop, it's strong ass stuff but I mixed mine at 1.5 or 2% and it's not harsh or the menthol too strong. My mind is playing tricks on me because it tastes exactly in between spearmint and peppermint so I'm kind of guessing it potentially has both in it, if it's one it's 100% spearmint though.
Wintergreen from FW shocked me. Everbody raved about FA's Peppermint and Spearmint but a simple 3.5 of that blew me away.
The Mix Mint will be my base and now I'm just trying to build on it. Some very popular flavors that might be up your ally are Cool Mint (cap) or Creme De Menthe from FLV/TPA and maybe Cap is supposed to good also. I also have extreme Ice to play with also. So basically I have a list of 30 different juices to mix, all the singles of course, then mix with doubles and eventually get in the 3 to possibly 4 mix range.
It's a long process but I want to try to get something that's somewhere in the ballpark of White Walker from Seduce Juice.
I should add INW's Eucalypotus Mint that I don't know why my brain keeps putting it off. b-x introduced me to that as I've never even heard of it http://www.bullcityvapor.com/eucalyptus-with-mint-inw/ --- It's a crazy plant with the highest Cineole levels in any plant in the world. It's actually kind of hard to describe but a menthol type of vape but a totally different spectrum of menthol.
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