Setup: Recoil w/ flavor barrel, Dual 15 wrap 26g 3mm Nifethal 70 coils @.17 ohms. 60w power, 450F temp limit. Full Cotton Wicks.
Testing: FA Pomegranate, 60/40 VG/PG, Steeped 6 days.
Flavor Description: Darkly sweet with a bit of tartness, almost a pomegranate syrup. No higher floral notes or real sharp brightness but manages to capture some of the astringency of actual pomegranate.
Inhale is deep, sryupy sweetness. Definitely a pomegranate taste. I get some bitter floral top notes there too, but nothing unpleasant. Exhale has a dark, syrupy pomegranate right down the middle. I get just a hint of an almost cheesy coconut kind of sweetness. It's really subtle though, and it could be something in this is just bringing that note out of the VG. I don't get anything too floral in the top notes, although they pick up a bit of pomegranate astringency on the back half of the exhale. That astringency is light and totally in the profile, but it has a camphor effect. Dense mouthfeel, with a bit of wax to it.
Off-flavors: The tart astringency here has a camphor effect. It's not major but it's a bit distracting. I also get a really subtle kind of cheesiness to the fruit sweetness here. It's definitely mild, but it's following me as I tried a couple setups, so it's definitely there.
Throat Hit: I don't get a lot of throat hit here, seems fairly smooth to me.
Uses & Pairings: Dark berries for sure. Something like FA Bilberry is going to bring back in some of the earthy astringency I'd want from a more realistic pomegranate. Also a good excuse to use some FA Blackcurrant to play off the tartness here.
Versatile mixer, while adding just a hint of mystery to a fruit mix. Hard to place, but rarely unpleasant. I like it with mint and apple, but really it'll go with damn near anything.
Bakeries or creams might be a bit tricky. I'm not sure that camphor note is going to play all that nicely, but I've certainly been wrong about that kind of thing before.
Notes:
S&V concentration testing, .25-.75% is light but fairly bright, tart, and just a bit floral. Most of the secret sauce from the pomegranate, without a lot of body. 1% starts to get sweet and syrupy, but still fairly balanced. 1.5% picks up some that camphor, but the sweetness is still increasing it's pretty nice overall. 2% is getting pretty strong, with the off-notes starting to show up. 2.5% is getting a bit medicinal, and 3% is reading almost cough-dropish. I'd mix with this at .75% as an accent note and 1.5% as a primary note in a fruit mix.
All in all, really good stuff.
Second Opinions:
"Like fresh pomegranate, this is both sweet and tart, with a hint of the bitterness of the actual fruit. This is a very authentic flavor that will stand out in most recipes. It blends well with all the dark fruit and berry flavors. Orange makes a good sweetener. Lime and Coconut contrast well."
What would it take to turn this into grenadine, or is that a dead end/something that would be easier with a different pom?
Honestly, at 2% this isn't too far off from a nicer grenadine that you can tell actually involved a pomegranate at some point. Maybe this and like .25% INW Raspberry just to temper some of tartness here and really hammer in that sweetness.
Although I haven't had a chance to try any other pomegranate than capellas old discontinued version.
And you haven't tried CAP Grenadine yet?
I haven't mixed it yet, but that's because I was put off by the smell. It has that artificial cherry/almond smell, not necessarily bad but not grenadine. I'd put my money on FlavorMonks, but I didn't grab it because Chefs doesn't stock it and ordering straight from them is way too expensive.
Edit: That being said my only experience with FA Pomegranate is when I mixed HIC's Kaktus Fruit Cream years ago (with FA Raspberry instead of Cherry), and I did get some grenadine vibes from that. It uses 1% Pomegranate. http://e-liquid-recipes.com/recipe/84386/HIC%2527s+Kaktus+Fruit+Cream