Setup: Recoil w/ flavor barrel, Dual 15 wrap 26g 3mm Nifethal 70 coils @.18 ohms. 60w power, 450F temp limit. Full Cotton Wicks.
Testing: FA Apricot @ %2, 60/40 VG/PG, Steeped 10 days.
Flavor Description: Solo, it's not a very aggressive flavor. It's actually a bit hard to place, i get a stone-fruit juicy base, some mild spicy peel notes, and a light kind of floral peach candy top note. Ridiculously versatile mixer though, that fruit flavor slots in just about anywhere you put it, making everything fuller, juicier, and adding just a tiny bit of natural sweetness.
Inhale is moderately dense, but lighter in flavor. Juicy, naturally sweet, base stone fruit flavor in there but it's pretty subtle. Some lighter floral peach as well. Exhale has a really soft, relatively light kind of yellow peach flavor up front, with some higher peach candy top notes. Juicy mouthfeel. Lightly spicy peel top notes on the back half of the exhale. Not super floral, but it's definitely there. Really clean finish, with nothing lingering too long.
Off-flavors: Fairly peachy, not unpleasant but not quite on point for a fresh apricot.
Throat Hit: Light. It's absolutely nothing compared to a peach flavor though.
Uses & Pairings: The most literal use of this would be to provide some of the juicy body that more realistic peach flavors tend to lack. You can take advantage of top-heavy those peach flavors to get a good strong peach flavor, while using this for a less harsh body. Good base for any of the stone fruits including plums and cherries.
Beyond that, this is stupid versatile. A lowish-percentage of this flavor is almost never going to feel out of place. Be just a bit judicious in fruit paring watching for the floral top notes and spicy peel here if you're super sensitive to those kind of things.
This'll mix well with bakeries and creams too, although that juicyness can soften up denser bready flavors.
Notes:
S&V Concentration testing, This feels pretty weak at .25 and .5%. Some sweetness, and a bit of juicyness but no real flavor besides some floral peach top notes. 1% still feels light, but the apricot flavor seems to be filling out a bit. Decent, but stil a bit flat. 1.5% is starting to get some body and some juiciness. 2% has more of a peachy character, with that juiciness really showing up. 2.5% has those spicy peel notes getting a bit more prominent. And by 3% I feel like the peel is taking over and the entire thing is a bit floral. I'd recommend using this as backup for other fruit flavors, starting at 1.5% and working up.
Second Opinions:
HIC Notes, because why not I guess.
"This is just like a fresh, juicy, perfectly-ripe apricot - excellent, realistic flavor with just the right level of natural sweetness. Apricot blends great with other fruits. Coconut accents it well. Makes excellent apricot brandy (mix with FA Brandy) and apricot rum (mix with FA Jamaican Rum), which can be used for cocktail-type vapes.Super in bakery recipes. To 'bake' the apricot flavor, add a tiny bit of Brandy or Jamaican Rum along with it, and perhaps a touch of Brown Sugar Extra (from The Flavor Apprentice)."
Lots of FA Apricot love in here.
How well do you think this would back up cherries? I might try throwing this in a spumoni attempt...
I'd say pretty well. Which cherry concentrate were you thinking of?
Well right now I only have FA cherry and TFA black cherry but I would love a suggestion on that since neither of those have fit the bill so far
Excellent review! Love this flavor! I am thinking mix it with ry4 and other cream flavorings to create a apricot tobacco profile.