Setup: Recoil w/ flavor barrel, Dual 15 wrap 26g 3mm Nifethal 70 coils @.17 ohms. 60w power, 450F temp limit. Full Cotton Wicks.
Testing: FLV Banana @ 3%, 60/40 VG/PG, Steeped 10 days.
Flavor Description: Artifical banana, more instant pudding than candy banana. Not too sharp, hints of vanilla in there too. Pretty solid flavor.
Inhale is fairly strong fake banana. Not sweet enough that it reads as straight candy. Ripe banana on the beginning of the exhale. Lightly sweet, and moderately dense. Non-dairy, almost coconut creaminess comes through after that with some warm floral vanilla. Really light lingering fake banana on the exhale. Lingering bit of plastic bitterness with that banana candy flavor.
Off-flavors: A little bit bitter and plasticy on the back end. Fairly mild, but probably takes it out of single flavor territory.
Throat Hit: Light. Bit harsh deep on the throat exhale for whatever reason. Inhale has some overwhelming fake banana, but it doesn't really cross into throat hit for me.
Uses: Puddings. Creamy banana in fruit mixes. Milkshakes. I'm sure there are more creative uses for banana.
Pairings: The custard of your choice. FLV Vanilla Custard for a banana pudding, CAP Vanilla Custard for something eggier and heavy. Creamy coconut like FA Coconut would help up the creaminess here. It should work with FLV Cream or FA Fresh Cream in that milkshake application. Guanabana/Soursop/Cherimoya would be great here, accentuating the creamy banana notes in those concentrates. Bright fruit like strawberries or pineapple. CAP Graham, TFA Graham Cracker Clear, or TFA Cheesecake Graham Crust would be great for the malty notes. Seems like a good banana for mixing with chocolates.
Notes:
I've only got two other bananas for comparison. It's less harsh candy then LA Banana Cream, and creamier than TFA Banana Ripe. As /u/botboy141/ stated, actual banana flavor here is similar but the overall vape is creamier and smoother.
I'm thinking percentage used is going to vary with your sensitivity to banana flavors. Recognizable but faint at .5%. I like this quite a bit at 1.5-2%. You get most of the creamy banana without pushing too far in that candy banana. Higher than 3% and you're going to go straight banana candy, if that's your thing. That candy banana gets plastic pretty fast, so I'd avoid this as a primary note. You're going to get deep into off-flavors before you saturate the flavor enough to get a super strong candy banana taste.
Overall, seems like a good banana for creamy mixes under 2%.
Shoutout to /u/apexified for sending this my way for review.
Second Opinions:
Deleted user's quick take on flavor, finds a lot more realism here.
Bought this because I made a version of the below recipe that was really good (subbing FLV Banana with TPA Banana Cream) and decided it was good enough that I needed to try it with all the right ingredients.
http://e-liquid-recipes.com/recipe/278388/Nanner%20Puddin%27%20%28BRC%20v5%29
Appreciate the review, as always. I got nothing on FLV Banana having not tried it yet, but
> Creamy coconut like FA Coconut
Which FA Coconut are you vaping, bud? That's easily the least creamy of the coconuts I've tried. I get like dry coconut flakes from it, whereas all of the other coconuts seem to have at least some coconut milk/cream/butter/lotion aspect to them. Did you mean TFA Coconut?
I get like a smooth, moderate mouthfeel coconut meat, but I don't get a lot of candy, husk ,or suntan lotion. Creamy is probably the wrong word there. Uhh... how about "realistic" coconuts?
Realistic is definitely a word I would get behind for FA Coconut. I think the most realistic I've tried, unless you want call the woody off note in INW's hyper-realistic, like you accidentally got some husk in your coconut milk when you cracked it open. And flakes is going a bit too far for FA's, more like something between flakes and as you've described it, flesh, but still drier than the others in a nice, realistic way.