Setup: Recoil w/ flavor barrel, Dual 15 wrap 26g 3mm Nifethal 70 coils @.18 ohms. 60w power, 450F temp limit. Full Cotton Wicks.
Testing: CAP Hibiscus @ 4%, 60/40 VG/PG, Steeped 10 days.
Flavor Description: Flat but not muted. Light inhale with building sweetness. Exhale with quite a bit more sweetness. Light bitterness and some light floral notes on the exhale. These aren't real dominant perfumey floral top notes, not aggressive or unpleasant. They come out a bit more at higher heat. Actual hibiscus flavor shows up in the exhale. Hard to describe beyond "hibiscus." Almost a tropical essence. Flavor association here, but almost a humid, sweet, tropical atmosphere. Kind of like overripe fuji apple flesh. Seems to have a lot in common with apple note from INW Cherimoya or FLV Soursop. Lingering sticky sweet mouthfeel, again more pronounced with higher wattages. Almost like the way the syrup in a slurpee sticks to your mouth long after you take a sip.
Off-flavors: My basis of comparison is limited, but nothing unpleasant.
Throat Hit: 3/10. Some light throat hit that builds over time.
Uses: Base/Emulstifier for tropical fruits. Counterpoint for sharper tea flavors. Body for floral mixes.
Pairings: Pineapple, Orange, Guava, Dark Berries. The only fruits I'd stay away from are sharper floral fruits like Peach and Green Apple. Teas, especially green. Thin florals like Jasmine. Sweeter, bright citrus. Harsh citrus would exacerbate the floral notes and be a bit unpleasant. Cherry Blossom is a popular pairing. It also looks like people use the sweetness as a feature with CAP Blue Raspberry Cotton Candy.
Notes: This is an interesting concentrate. The flavor itself reminds me of something like passionfruit. It's sort of a vague tropical note that really supports almost any fruit you add it to.
It also reminds me of FA Oba Oba, not in the way it tastes but the way it works. I'd be hard pressed to figure out a way to make this a top note in any juice you mix it with. It sort of sits under your other flavors and bridges some of the gaps. Like Oba Oba, it won't ever be a star, but it makes everything around it better.
Actually, come to think of it, I think it would be a close analogue to something like TFA Honeysuckle, with less pronounced floral top notes.
Percentage is tricky with this. 4% seems like a solid main note, but adding brighter and sharper flavors will stomp all over it and take the flavor in some unpleasant directions. The sweetness can quickly become overwhelming when paired with another strong sweet flavor at a high percentage. I'd stick to 1% to 2% as an accent and emulsifier.
Second Opinions:
There's a variety of the plant named "Turk's Cap Hibiscus" so my google-fu is basically wrekt.
u/HocusKrokus/ gets a much stronger floral note from this than I do but still enjoys it.
5 Stars all the way on ECX. Another couple mentions of Cotton Candy. That might be a thing.
I'm retiring my legacy lives in good hands
Love these reviews. Don't happen to have FLV hibiscus do you? I'd die for a review of that
The only hibiscus juice I've tried is Beard Vape Co #64 which is hibiscus cotton candy flavour. Thoroughly enjoyed the juice a desperate to get my hands on a hibiscus concentrate as I cook with it all the time. The best way I can describe the flavour of hibiscus is like a floral, tropical strawberry! Very sweet with a little tart. It's great as a jam and goes well in biscuits so I imagine it would work well as a strawberry replacement if you like strawberry but feel a bit more tropical.
From your "Not strictly related link"
> I'm only a day into the steeping and it looks like black currant juice. I hope this works out :)
That smiley was haunting me so I had to check. That post was 2 years ago and /u/goldfish_of_chaos was alive and commenting 7 months ago. Whew! Such a relief.
CAP Hibiscus is my all day vape. My recipe is really simple, but almost everyone that has tried it liked it (vapers and non-vapers alike).
Hibiscus Menthol:
5-8% CAP Hibiscus
4-5% Vampire Vape Menthol Ice (I guess any menthol ice would work)
1-2 drops Ethyl Maltol per 10ml (optional)
If you are unfamiliar with hibiscus taste, I suggest starting with a lower percentage. I drink a lot of tea made out of dried hibiscus blossoms, so I tend to up the percentages because I really, really like the hibiscus taste.