Thank you to everyone who participated in Flavor of The Week last week, especially /u/HocusKrokus.
As always, the purpose of this thread is to gather the community to explore a flavor and its many uses. And it's also to have FUN!
Post recipes containing this week's Flavor of the Week, as the star or in a supporting role, with or without development notes. Talk about other people's recipes that use it. Compare and contrast different manufacturers' versions of the FOTW. Ask for help using that flavor in general or to achieve something specific, offer advice, brainstorm ideas, consider substitutions, suggest pairings... really anything at all as long as it's on topic. And if this week's flavor doesn't interest you, take this opportunity to suggest one for the week after next that does (or send me a PM to do that).
This week's flavor is: GRAPEFRUIT
Past FOTW posts can be found here.
Prepare yourselves, next week's FOTW will be: COCKTAILS
Dude, like why don't you do custards or strawberries and creams or something that the BB bros can bullshit about? /s
Anyway, INW Grapefruit is an amaze-balls concentrate. It is a sweet grapefruit, not a bitter grapefruit. At the same time, it is bright, citrusy, and intense. Fucking delicious and energizing. Use at 0.25% to add a citrus kick to some berries or stone fruits. Use at 0.5% and up for main flavor pairing or noticeable accent piece. I rarely hit 1% and up with this one, but I am sure that I could if I wanted to and still enjoy myself quite thoroughly. Obvious choices for pairings include all things tropical and citrus. INW Cactus plays very nicely with it as well...they may actually be regular lovers because I caught them doing the deed on a number of occasions. I use INW Grapefruit as much as I can so it is kind of hard to choose examples, but here is something that I am currently fucking with and finalizing--a grapefruit gelato lollipop:
Pucker Sucker
Flavor | % ---|--- FA Custard | 1.25 INW Grapefruit | 0.75 FLV Guanabana | 1 FW Hard Candy | 3 TFA Orange Cream | 0.75 FLV Pink Guava | 0.25 TFA Toasted Marshmallow | 1.75
Cocktails next week. If they can't talk about cocktails, I can't help them. Hopefully we can get through that one without anyone bringing up my affinity for girly frou-frou umbrella beach drink vapes and just focus on big hairy manly man stuff like gin and bourbon.
This looks so good! I'm sure it's a bother to develop with the steep times on the Custard and Orange Cream but when you're done it'll be well worth it. Never would have guessed a "grapefruit gelato lollipop" (you made that up, didn't you?) would get added to the list of things I need in my life.
Out of curiosity, have you ever tried FA Citrus Mix?
It is a bit of a pain to develop, but it has been tasty from v1 so I can't complain too much. The recipe is actually a take on /u/SadPandaVapes pomcitrus lolipop, read through my stash and my desire to make a grapefruit one.
Nah, I haven't tried FA citrus mix, but I hear that it is grapefruit-y.
Cocktails I'm excited about! Still sad that nothing came out of the Alcohol FOTW
Bb bros?
The Beginner Blending podcast guys. They have a great beginner-friendly podcast, and every week they dedicate a short segment to talk about our flavor of the week. Monday night one of them complained that the flavors I've been choosing weren't giving them much to talk about.
Paging /u/ConcreteRiver, come talk to FOTW about Terrorhawk, Fiesta & Fiascos, FLV Pink Guava, FW Ruby Red Grapefruit, INW White Grapefruit, juicy gum, migrant workers, and things of that nature.
Grapefruit, mayne. That's what's up.
So I use three primary grapefruits. I could be using the wrong 3 grapefruits but these have done everything I ever need from a grapefruit.
INW White Grapefruit- It's good, but it's all top notes. It reminds me of the citrus oiil spray you get when peeling actual fruit. It's also strong. I wouldn't use this as a primary grapefruit note but it's a good accent under .5%.
FW Ruby Red Grapefruit- Good, straight-forward, ruby red grapefruit juice. It's sweet, a little tart, and right on target. This is what I'd pick up if I were to pick up just one grapefruit concentrate. I think this one blends the easiest with other fruit flavors and creams.
FLV Pink Guava- This is my favorite. It's not really a guava, but the flavor profile is pretty close. It's a weird pet theory of mine, but I'm pretty sure that Guava, Grapefruit, and Hops have some real similarities in the way the flavor is built. This has notes of all three for me. It tastes like Citra Hops to me, and is delicious.
My favorite application of these three concentrates is my juice (super modest, right?), Terrorhawk. It's a juicy ruby red grapefruit. It was an exercise in re-engineering a full grapefruit vape. With grapefruit, I feel like no one concentrate nails the fullness of a good, ruby red grapefruit. This uses Pink Guava for the slightly bitter, funky soul of a grapefruit. It uses FW Ruby Red Grapefruit as the sweet volume, or the body of the grapefruit. And it brings in INW White Grapefruit (along with FA Jasmine) for the pith and the peel. /u/ID10-T tried it via /r/mixersclub, and it made him trip absolute balls. The rest of the juice is just cactus, vanilla swirl, and shisha vanilla, the Terrorhawk is juicy and refreshing. It's guaranteed to give you a religious experience.
Grapefruit also makes an awesome accent flavor. If you've got flat a sort of flat, sweet juice throw in a little bit of INW Grapefruit or INW White Grapefruit. It will give you some nice top notes and the subtle bitterness will make the entire thing seem a bit more balanced and nuanced.
My favorite accent use of grapefruit, and grapefruit-esque bitterness to balance and enhance a juice is (again, I'm super modest) Fiestas & Fiascos. This just uses FLV Pink Guava as the solo "grapefruit" because it's already got all the sweetness and body it needs. The FLV Pink Guava plays off the FLV Yakima Hopps, and gives the juice a nice round bitter note. This gives the juice it's balance and it's hook. Grapefruit and other bitter notes (for me at least) tend to sort of wake up your tastebuds and stimulate some saliva production. A good clear bitter note from grapefruit can make your overall juice seem significantly juicier.
So whether a main profile, or as an accent note, grapefruit vapes are for super cool people.
Holy smokes, I'm new to mixing and reading you describe Pink Guava's flavor profile akin to citra hops has my mouth watering. It is one of my favorite hops to use in home brews, as well as being a key component in my favorite APA, Zombie Dust.
I will definitely be picking some up next round of orders.
Cheers!
Not the original creator, but I quite like this recipe I found while searching for a use of my CAP Grapefruit. http://e-liquid-recipes.com/recipe/171464/Fresca
- CAP Grapefruit 6%
- TPA Jackfruit 2%
- TPA Lemon Lime 1%
- FA Mandarin 1%
Here's more love to INW Grapefruit, it's easily the best citrus flavor I've tried, period. It's smooth, sweet, ever so slightly bitter, and authentic.
The following recipe has a touch of liquorice to me, and I'm not sure if it's from the INW Grapefruit. There was some stuff I mixed up a year ago and got fizzy grapefruit soda without any grapefruit flavorings, and now I used grapefruit and got a hint of liquorice - which is not a bad thing, quite the opposite.
Ingredient|% :---|---: Caramel (FA)|1 Creamy Yogurt (CAP)|3 Grapefruit (INAWERA)|0.5 Marshmallow (FA)|2 Raspberry (Sweet) (TPA)|2
All in all, this seems like one of those secret ingredient-kinda flavors. It's so good but apparently grapefruit can be a pretty mysterious thing. I'd like to know if anyone has had the same experiences with anything grapefruit related "flavor morphing".
Although it is already obvious from /u/RuntDastardly, /u/Philosaphucker and /u/ConcreteRiver's comments, it needs to be said that INW White Grapefruit and INW Grapefruit are not interchangeable, at least not without some serious work.
I almost paged you to this thread because of that recipe. I'm glad you found it on your own!
Sounds like something in Grapefruit interacting with something in one of the other flavors. If someone were dedicated to finding out which one they could probably make testers of Grapefruit 0.5% with Caramel 1%, Creamy Yogurt 3%, Marshmallow 2%, and Raspberry 2% individually and isolate the mysterious interaction. If we're taking bets on which one of those would have a liquorice note, I'd put my money on Marshmallow, but I wouldn't be doing it with a lot of confidence.
I'd like to be that dedicated. While waiting for that to miraculously happen or for someone else to find out, my equally unconfident bet is on Grapefruit+Raspberry.
My unconfident bet is now a very confident bet. I'd put real money on Marshmallow. I tried using FA Citrus Mix (not INW Grapefruit, but still a predominantly grapefruit flavor with a little other citrus backdrop) as a substitute for FA Lime Cold Pressed in my delicious Tamamango recipe. The result was no longer delicious AT ALL, and there was a hint of liquorice to it that I could just barely taste over all the mango. FA Marshmallow is the only commonality.
| Ruby Red Squirt | % | |------------------------ |---- | | FW Ruby Red Grapefruit | 5% | | FW Tangerine | 3% | | TPA Jackfruit | 3% |
I love FW Ruby Red. The shit is so bomb in all sorts of things at 0.5% or less, but I found 5% is good for a main note. The FW Tangerine adds a sweet and juicy note to help support the astringency of the grapefruit. TPA Jackfruit adds a nice musky/savory/citra note on the exhale similar to a grapefruit rind/zest and helps round out the sweetness of FW Tangerine.
Oh you've got my mouth watering. Squirt is my favorite soda. Thanks!
Is the jackfruit a pretty prominent note? I'm not a fan. I'm wondering if the musky note you're looking for could be replaced more of a fresh zest note.
I really love jackfruit and it is pretty strong as a base note, to me, on the exhale. You could probably sub some lime tahiti (I think, there are too many limes), lemon sicily, or lemon/lime plus some champagne/effervescence. I think that'd be a good starting off point.
I've noticed in recipes that have jackfruit some testers report a "sweaty" or BO-esque undertone. I personally love this sweatiness but it is really off putting to some.
How natural-tasting is that tangerine?
More like a tangerine candy or tangerine concentrate (like the frozen juice barrels you get). It's very sweet and very potent. I started out around 1% and slowly moved up with it to give a sweeter grapefruit more like a 50/50 soda or Squirt soda than actual pink grapefruit. I found it hard to vape much of without the sweetness of the tangerine.
Maybe <=1% TPA Champagne would be good to add to add some "sparkle" to the mix, but it tastes like pure butt and a half to my palette (even at super low percents, any idea why?).
Really looking forward to this one. I love Grapefruit flavoured things, especially juices but have thus far shied away from using them in a vape so hoping to be inspired by this and look forward to a really juicy Grapefruit Juice vape coming to the fore.
Thanks /u/ID10-T
For this, I would use INW Grapefruit (1-2%), INW Cactus (0.5-1%), and a touch of FLV Pink Guava (0.2-0.4%) along with whatever else to round it out. However, if you want more of that 'Ruby Red' flavor, I would talk to /u/ConcreteRiver.
I'm going to go full douche and link my juice again, Terrorhawk. It's super juicy ruby red grapefruit. The base of that is pretty damn similar to what /u/Philosaphucker suggested. It just uses INW White Grapefruit as the top note, FW Ruby Red Grapefruit as the volume, and way more Pink Guava because I'm a monster. That Cactus is a must though.
Pink Guava is a great flavor but definitely reminds me more of grapefruit. There is a sweetness to it that tames that sour punch. It's very potent too. So, start at .5% and work up. In the summer, I was vaping this with just a little EM and koolada. Very refreshing vape.
I was an early-adopter of FLV Pink Guava, which turned out to be a sensational filler of the juicy grapefruit void in my life, but I couldn't resist grabbing INW Grapefruit and White Grapefruit in July to work on a gin/grapefruit/rosemary cocktail that I'd gotten obsessed with. All three of these are excellent, and useful, grapefruit flavors.
I never nailed that recipe to my satisfaction, and because I have the attention span of a spider monkey on speed, I never got around to mixing up my fifth iteration, which I'll post below (with reservations) if anyone wants to try it.
FLV Pink Guava = a juicy, ripe, idealized pink grapefruit that has it's own yummy wetness akin to INW Cactus (though it plays very well with Cactus at low % too!). It has something "extra" to it, but that adds to, rather than detracts from, it's grapefruitiness. Strong as hell. Excellent stand-alone, but also works beautifully with any number of other fruits, especially other citrus & juicy tropical fruits like mango and pineapple.
INW Grapefruit = a really true, unadorned and unmistakeable grapefruit flavor. Not as "juicy" or quite as sweet as FLV Pink Guava, but perfection in terms of authenticity. Also very strong. My first mix used it at 2% and it was literally all I could taste, despite 2 of the other ingredients mixed in at twice that.
INW White Grapefruit = A drier version of INW Grapefruit with much more peel. If INW Grapefruit is the pulp & juice, this is the zest. 0.25% or less adds a nice "twist" essence to a cocktail.
And now for the recipe, which is still untested, but I hope to get back to it at some point. It's definitely missing... something. In the meantime, if anyone's feeling adventurous, it's a decent start:
Sea Dew
INW Cactus 0.25%
FA Gin 3.75%
INW Grapefruit 1%
INW Rosemary Shisha 1.25%
INW White Grapefruit 0.15%
Thanks for the recipe & notes! Is it missing something to give it that thickness that real fruit juice has to it?
The thing I felt was "missing something" was my Sea Dew recipe, which, while tasty and interesting, leaves me feeling unsatisfied in some weird, undefinable way.
I vaped through about 60ml of failed attempts, and while it was punchy and mouth-wateringly grapefruity, it's lacking a certain... oh, I don't know, gravitas(?) that I need to keep me going back to a cocktail/fruity vape.
Your pinpointing "thickness" might be the thing, although the original cocktail I was basing it on could not have been more light and refreshing. You've got me intrigued. Do you haz ideas? I'd love to hear if you do.
Pamplemousse Framboise
Flavor| % ---|--- FA Fresh Cream| 1 FA Custard | 1 Ethyl Maltol 10% | 0.75 CAP Grapefruit | 2.75 FA Grapefruit | 1 FA MTS Vape Wizard |0.75 Hangsen Raspberry |0.5 FW Ruby Red Grapefruit|1 Inawera White Grapefruit|0.5
So this is my 5th iteration of this recipe, and it's been my ADV for almost 2 years now. Basically I bought all the grapefruit flavors I could find and tried mixing them at various percentages, and this has been my favorite thus far. It has the lovely brightness of grapefruit with a mellow aftertaste from the custard.
Wow, now that's a grapefruit recipe! Thank you for sharing it! How noticeable is that raspberry at just 0.5%?
Obligatory shout outs to FW Ruby Red Grapefruit and INW Grapefruit. I'm still dying to try out FLV Pink Guava, but I loathe the pricing on Flavorah stuff.
My recipe, Perry's Morning Squeeze incorporates both FW and INW flavorings, as well as some mango and watermelon notes.
Another awesome-looking grapefruit recipe! Does the Cactus Lime have some of the same juicy-making properties as Cactus? I haven't had an opportunity to try that one out yet.
I've been quite disappointed with most of their "duets" to be honest. I was expecting something magical, instead it is quite seemingly just their cactus and lime mixed together. The same effect can be achieved with the flavors independently of each other.
I guess it can be useful when you want the best of both worlds though. It definitely imparts that "wetness" or "juiciness" that we refer to so much when we talk about cactus.
Sounds like you'd be better off using them independently for the sake of fine-tuning your recipes to have just the right amount of cactus and lime. But about how much cactus and how much lime do you think one would need to use to make Perry's Morning Squeeze if they don't have the duet? 0.13% of each? Or does it lean more toward one flavor over the other?