Thanks all who had something to say about floral flavors last week!
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.
This week's flavor is: Strawberries.
Past FOTW posts can be found here
Next week's flavor will be: Soda/Pop/Cola/Coke
The week after that will be: Grains - Wheat/Oats/Rice
The week after that will be: Almond/Amaretto
The week after that will be: Jackfruit/Dragonfruit
The week after that will be: Frostings/Icings
The week after that will be: Waffles/Pancakes... Bacon?
The week after that will be: Stones
The week after that will be: Apples
The week after that will be: Aromatic Tobaccos
The week after that will be: Non-aromatic Tobaccos
The week after that will be: Tobacco Additives
The week after that will be: Marshmallows
The week after that will be: Champagne
The week after that will be: Cake/Pandoro
The week after that will be: Blue Raspberry
The week after that will be: Maple
The week after that will be: Fig
The week after that will be: Hazelnut
The week after that will be: Persimmon
The week after that will be: Pumpkin
The week after that will be: Dairy: Milk/Cream/Whipped Cream/Butter
The week after that will be: Banana
The week after that will be: Apple
The week after that will be: Vegetals
The week after that will be: Gummy Candy
The week after that will be: Lemon
The week after that will be: Caramel
The week after that will be: Lime
The week after that will be: Cereal
The week after that will be: Orange
The week after that will be: Cheesecake
The week after that will be: Cherry
The week after that will be: Cookies/Graham Cracker/Pie Crust
The week after that will be: Coconut
The week after that will be: Custard
The week after that will be: ??? You tell me. Please take this opportunity to suggest one that interests you (or send me a PM to do that).
Strawberry is one of the more versatile flavors, it stands the test of time better than most. Who hasn't tried a simple two flavor strawberry cream, custard or ice cream recipe and been blown away by how something so simple can be so delicious? But it's also a tricky flavor as many perceive it differently and some poor mixers can't taste it at all. With that said, here's my take on the most common ones without attempting actual flavor notes:
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TFA Strawberry Ripe is the perfect strawberry flavor for me, the closest to an actual strawberry. A bit high on the maltol which messes with some pairings, other than that it's one of the most versatile flavors I own. Unfortunately, for those that can't taste strawberries, this is probably the first one to go.
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TFA Strawberry is very candy like for me, artificial. Apparently it's the opposite for some people, like it was swapped with Ripe. I'm not a fan of this flavor on its own, but since it's far more potent than Ripe, I sometimes add a bit of this at a low ratio if I really want an up front strawberry.
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FA Strawberry is very similar to TFA Strawberry Ripe for me. Same true berry flavor but seems to lack the sweetener that is in Ripe, making it a better fit for some pairings. The concentrate is stronger, so you need to use less of it, but the flavor itself isn't stronger. Use too much and it just gets dry on you.
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CAP Sweet Strawberry is very candy like, but not in a bad artificial way, just a very sweet candy strawberry. I'll add a bit of this to FA or TFA Ripe if I want a sweeter, brighter strawberry, but it's not bad on its own.
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INW Shisha Strawberry is like a combined TFA Strawberry and Ripe for me, I don't hear other people say this but that is what I get from it. It's the most well rounded flavor of the bunch, not necessarily the best or most versatile one (I prefer Ripe), but if you don't want to mess around combining the other ones for the right strawberry for the job, Shisha Strawberry will hold its own in any situation. Also your best bet if you're struggling to taste strawberries.
Do you have a favorite layered strawberry recipe?
I would have to dig into my notes for that one as I seem to use strawberry in every other recipe ;) But I've been loving a slightly altered version of /u/matthewkocanda's Nebula lately, a very fresh and flavorful fruit cocktail. I'm currently working on a recipe revolving around TFA Strawberry Ripe and INW Shisha Orange, they pair up incredibly well.
I use TFA strawberry ripe as a sweetener for bright recipes, can't really taste it but...
Shisha strawberry is a juicy gooey strawberry. Hands down the only one I enjoy as a strawberry and can almost taste it.
Have you tried JF Sweet Strawberry? I had a strawberry non-taster say he could actually taste strawberry plain as day for the first time in my Tootsee Roll recipe.
This is true, and oh man what a wondeful world it is. I've been working very hard on narrowing down a V2 of my "Non Tasters Concentrate" that involves many less ingredients. The thing is, it works much better with JF than any other Strawberry.
I wish I could have the info ready for this thread, but I'm not so sure of that. I'll drop a small hint... In my native tongue. To get the strizzberry iggy, you gotta do an estrogen backside double bluejay with an endaround sizzzodium ion McGillicuddy what what. <-Straight from a scientific journal.
INW Shisha Strawberry is my favorite strawberry. I get weary of the biweekly "if you you only have five flavors what would they be?" question but if the question were, "If you could only have one strawberry, which one would it be?" this one would be a no-brainer for me. It tastes like THIS. I use it at 1 to 3%.
FA Strawberry is my second favorite strawberry. I think it tastes like a real strawberry that's been freeze-dried. If you want a strawberry vape that lack of juiciness makes it kind of useless for many applications as a main strawberry but it's very useful for layering with other strawberries. It's weak for an FA flavor so you can use it up to 5% but I generally use it at 1 to 3% with other strawberries.
JF Sweet Strawberry is my third favorite strawberry. It tastes like the goo inside of one of THESE. I call it the CAP Sweet Strawberry killer because I get a chemically off-note from CAP Sweet Strawberry that only almost completely steeps out (and is sometimes unnoticable in a mix) although otherwise the flavors are quite similar, though CAP Sweet Strawberry is a little more like the hard outside of those delicious candies than the inside goo. JF Strawberry does not need a steep. I generally use it at 0.5 to 1% as a sweet addition to the above mentioned strawberries, but you could go higher and it will hold its own as the main and sometimes even only strawberry, as seen here.
I love combining those three strawberries, as seen here and here.
TFA Strawberry is a candy strawberry that is super versatile as a sweet additive and blender and works well as a supporting actor giving touch of strawberry to mixes where some fruit other than strawberry is the lead, as seen here. It was also one of my first five flavors as a DIYer and will always be special to me, as seen here.
Ah, Strawberry Ripe. I describe as a strawberry that's so ripe, you weren't sure you wanted to eat it, but were so glad you did. I love this stuff. But I'm also getting sick of its bullshit. So many times I've reached for it only to have it mute a mix right to hell and leave a muddy mess, especially after a steep. But sometimes, that muting effect can be harnessed as a feature rather than a bug, and used to create something nice, as seen here. And, people with mixing skills that are superior to mine have done wondrous things with it, as seen here. But not usually without the help of TFA Strawberry, almost like the two are separate parts of a strawberry that aren't complete without each other, as seen here.
And that last one features my favorite strawberry booster, TFA Dragonfruit, which really makes strawberries shine. But depending on the application, FW Hazelnut is another great additive for strawberries. Credit to /u/matthewkocanda for turning me onto that one; he says it makes strawberries go from ripe to so ripe they're bloody, and he's right.
And that pretty much concludes my admittedly relatively limited strawberry experience. However, that experience is about to expand. This week I'm going to SFT SC Strawberry, INW Strawberry (not Shisha), INW Wild Strawberry, TFA Organic Strawberry, FW Strawberry, WF Fresh Strawberries, INW Milk Chocolate Strawberry, and FLV Strawberry Filling and maybe a couple of other FLV Strawberries. I'll probably OD and turn into a strawberry non-taster by the end of it.
Edit: I've also tried FLV Strawberry. Not really a fan of it as a single flavor but I could see where it might be useful, especially if you're making a strawberry jam and combining it with other strawberries.
I've been curious about FLV Alpine Strawberry but I have yet to get my hands on it, plus it's expensive.
I consider wild strawberry a different kind of berry altogether so I didn't include any of those. Though I'll admit I have yet to make anything remotely palatable with it, much like cherry :)
You have some experience with different wild strawberry concentrates? Post those up please! Some people think strawberry is kind of a boring topic, you could make things a lot more interesting in here.
I only have two I believe, INW and MolinBerry, and haven't used them much. They are both very floral, sweet, artificial and do not stand well on their own. Similar to CAP Sweet Strawberry in texture and sweetness. The first impression can be good, especially MB's version, you get a pretty accurate wild strawberry flavor from them. But it quickly turns into perfume, a rather off putting dense floral note, sickly sweet and a berry flavor that is too one sided to enjoy.
I think if you're going to make these work, you need to be patient with the steep, back it up with another strawberry, and use it with creams to balance out the floral notes. I just haven't gotten around to it. I love European wild strawberries, suddenly coming across a patch by the side of the road is the best thing ever, I think I was just too disappointed in the artificial versions to make them work. But maybe it's time to dust them off and give it another go :) Wild strawberry ice cream.. yea, it's time.
Ah hmm, turns out alpine strawberry is just another name for wild strawberry. And strawberry is technically a fruit, apparently. Gotta love wiki..
Whipped up two simple batches the other day just to try the wild strawberries out again, with 3% TFA Strawberry Ripe as the base and 1% TFA VBIC to give it some body and hopefully negate some of the florals.
1% MB Wild Strawberry was pretty successful, 1:3 was a good ratio with that strawberry, there were some really nice wild strawberry top notes and I noticed little to no florals. Unfortunately, TFA VBIC ruined the mix, I should have tried CAP or FW for such a delicate flavor.
0.5% INW Wild Strawberry however completely killed both the VBIC and the strawberry, I might as well have tested this flavor solo. Very sweet and super floral, way too much flavor for me. A pretty decent albeit artificial wild strawberry flavor does shine through though and the lingering flavor is spot on.
To conclude, I would probably combine the two, bumping MB Wild Strawberry up to 1.5%, reducing INW Wild Strawberry to 0.1-0.2%, use a much less dense cream and let it steep for at least a week. Solo I could see MB Wild Strawberry work as an accent in a fruit mix, especially with strawberry. INW Wild Strawberry would not, and as sir Cokecan described it, this would fit much better in a floral mix.
My exact list of preferred strawberries. I actually do like FLV strawberry, but not as a single flavor. Dead on the money for using it to jam up a mix of strawberries though.
Yay, we're strawberry twinkies! Everybody seems to have their own opinions on strawberries. There are even people who, somehow, hate Shisha Strawberry. It's nice to know at least one person's strawberry preferences agree with mine.
I always felt TFA strawberries tasted exactly like the strawberry candy you linked with JF sweet strawberry. I love that flavor so now I gotta get some of that jf.
I've tried Fa strawberry and tfa strawberry ripe, but found them lacking, but now I'm interested to see how they pair with TFA strawberry.
cracks knuckles
Alright boys, lets go.
I'm not going to go as in depth as my boy /u/ID10-T did, because he did hit on a lot of the notes I would have said anyway. But I am going to touch on some second opinions on a few that he's said, as well as throw out my own experience with some he didn't mention. Get ready, fuckers.
TPA Strawberry Ripe - as ID10-T said already, this concentrate is kinda the go to for strawberries, the problem is that it has become less of an actual flavour to me as I've progressed as a mixer, and I assume a vast majority will agree with me. You CAN still achieve some decent strawberry notes from it, but the problem is you have to push the percentage so high for that, so after a steep, it really does just muddy up any mix it's in. I prefer using TPA Strawberry Ripe for it's inherent sweetening components. This shit is loaded with EM, so use it in place of something like CAP Super Sweet or TPA Sweetener if you wanna add sugary sweetness without the detriments that legitimate sweeteners bring over time. No real "sweet spot" on this one, it works in any percentage up to and including 8% , just depends on what you're using it for. Up to 3% , you really don't get much flavour, just a pleasant boost of sweetness that pairs beautifully with other fruits, candies, and some creams. Higher than 5% is where you get some strawberry notes.
CAP Sweet Strawberry - I used to hate this flavour, as many of you may remember, but as time went on, I grew a strong appreciation for it. The issue is I wasn't using it high enough. This shit is surprisingly versatile, and I recommend using it in recipes anywhere between 4 - 6% to really experience what it has to offer. If you're looking for candied strawberry, this is the king.
JF Sweet Strawberry - I used to have a fucking hard-on for this concentrate. Now I fucking despise it. Initially, it seems like the strawberry to end all strawberries, and it really does taste like that red syrup you get on top of ice cream. Sugary sweet, thick, and fruity. My issue is the off-notes. I get a chemical note from this one, as well as something odd that I can only describe as a gross, back-of-the-throat flavour and harshness. I dunno. I just don't like it anymore. But if you ARE gonna mess with it, the sweet spot is anywhere between 1.25 - 2% , but don't push it higher than that.
FA Strawberry (aka Red Touch) - Oh boy, how I love this flavour. Personally, I think this is one of the more "accurate" strawberry concentrates on the market today. Simply put, this shit IS a strawberry. It's got the sweet red exterior with the bite and crispness of the slightly underripe white fleshy interior. I used to dislike this concentrate up until I tried /u/ID10-T 's Strap-On recipe. Now it's one of my go-to when I need to build a fruit base. Best used between 1.75 - 3% in my opinion, pushing it past 3% starts to get a little bitter and funky.
Now, let's move on to the more earthy side of the strawberry realm. The following two concentrates are some real bangers if you're looking to emulate walking through a dense forest riddled with different wild berries. These beasts pair nicely with concentrates such as FA Blackcurrant, FA Bilberry, or your preferred blueberry concentrate. Think of these as the bright note in a dark berry mix.
INW Wild Strawberry - a lot of people have said this reminds them of some sort of strawberry gummy candy, and I honestly cannot understand how they get that from this one. Perhaps they are using it at too low of a percentage, but I absolutely love this concentrate for the floral, grassy notes it brings with it. I've played around with this one a lot over the past few months while chasing my Strawberry/Basil Italian Ice recipe, and while I still haven't nailed the profile, this concentrate is great for that application. Still has some nice, accurate notes of strawberry, but the back end has some nice earthiness that I love. As with many INW concentrates, this shit is potent, keep it around 2 - 2.5% for best application. Works well with other florals, dark berries, and some cookie/graham cracker bases.
FLV Alpine Strawberry - I still have a love/hate relationship with this shit. I want to break it and figure out how it's best used, but I still can't seem to lock it in. However, from my experience with it, it has a lot to offer. The problem is that it just doesn't mix well with much of anything. Be forewarned, this shit is one of the most potent concentrates I've ever messed with. 3 - 4 drops in a 30ml was enough for me, most of the time. I've seen some maniacs talking shit about Alpine, and then I see them using it at 3 - 5% and I think, "no shit, idiot." Super floral, slightly bitter on the back end, but still retaining a nice sweet profile overall. Pair this with TPA Strawberry Ripe or CAP Sweet Strawberry to create a real powerhouse strawberry flavour. The candied strawberries help accentuate the believability of the fruit notes while cutting through some of the overpowering floral and earth notes from FLV Alpine. Again, low and slow with this one, boys, it's a monster. /u/leapinglabrats , hope this gives some insight into this concentrate for ya.
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> cracks knuckles
Thanks for the warning to strap in tight.
Awesome notes, thank you. We might not agree on the relative merits and qualities of the two Sweet Strawberries but I definitely get that "bite and crispness of the slightly underripe white fleshy interior" with Red Touch. And am now excited to try this INW Wild Strawberry.
I feel less crazy now that I sometimes rediscover the merits of flavors I have that I initially rejected or passed over. Good detailed from the hip notes man. I used to almost feel offended when someone would slam a flavor I like but I'm starting to see it is part of the beauty of this whole thing.
Re: INW Wild Strawberry opinions - it's possible your talking about 2 different flavors. As with so many INW flavors, there is more than 1 concentrate line. The descriptions I have from the old INW Shop site:
Wild Strawberry E-aromat - Fruit belongs to Berry Family - fresh and sweet flavour with some strawberry syrup note. Dosage 6-10 drops on 10ml liquid. Perfect on VPG base.
Wild Strawberry TDM - Wild strawberry flavour with a bit of cream, reminds Chupa Chups or the creamy candies Alpenliebe. VPG base is perfect for mixing at dosage 10 drops on 10ml.
No love for RF SC Strawberry. It has been my favorite for a few months. To me it's a mix between tfa ripe and cap sweet. It can overwhelm mixes so I use it in small doses. Anything over 2% is far too much.
I really need to pickup inw shisha since it is raved about by basically everyone.
Everything seems pretty much covered here except FLV. I have them all (thanks to /u/ConcreteRiver and his inability to taste strawberries) here are some abbreviated notes:
FLV Strawberry gross, like strawberry shoes. Some people seem to like it.
FLV Strawberry Filling better than FLV Strawberry, but not by much. Some people seem to like it.
FLV Strawberry Smash good as an accent for other strawberries in small amounts, but who doesn't already have a few concentrates that fill that spot in their arsenal?
FLV Strawberry Cream basically think of your first failed attempt at this profile, and imagine that it was actually worse, that would be FLV Strawberry Cream. You would be better off mixing any of the other strawberries in this thread with some of your favorite creams to achieve this taste.
FLV Alpine Strawberry I love this Flavor, but it doesn't see much use. Super concentrated and a tad floral. This does not fit in places that strawberries usually do. My preferred use is as follows:
FLV Alpine Strawberry 1%
INW Cactus 0.25%
That's all I've got for this thread, I hope that is helpful/interesting.
That is indeed helpful and interesting, thank you. Have you tried any of the other Strawberries & Cream concentrates? I'm having trouble imagining any of them being any good, much less better than building your own S&C.
I use FA Strawberry and TFA Strawberry Ripe together to aim at a real "organic" strawberry. I get a faint strawberry on the inhale and the over-ripe strawberry that I am looking for on the exhale. I'm here mainly to read how others do their strawberry as I don't have much experience to contribute.
Put a muthafkn face on a white tee, Thats what a sucka get being P.I.E.
- 3% TFA strawberry
- 3% TFA cheesecake graham crust
- 0.5% FA Vienna cream or cream fresh
- 0.05% AP5 (acetyl pyrazine 5% - dilute it first)
- 1% Graham cracker clear
shake n vape it.
I stopped making up recipe names a while ago. (thats the name of the recipe as of today)
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4% FA Strawberry
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2% TFA Key Lime
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1% FA Vienna Cream (optional)
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0.2-1% INW or FA coconut (optional)
strawberry/lime tastes like trident burst gum. shake n vape it.
lets call this one ~~Jungle Joose or Stiwi lol how bout krawberry? no no no its~~
Skrawburry
- 4% FA Strawberry
- 2% FA Kiwi
shake n vape it.
ive read that strawberry and kiwi are similar flavor profiles. ^^^^https://www.naturalproductsinsider.com/Articles/2010/11/The-Time-Is-Ripe-Making-Sense-of-Fruit-Flavors.aspx
all of those are for 50/50 - 70/30 for RDAs.
Notes:
FA Strawberry: prolly my fav for fruity strawberry flavor (that i own). 3-5%
TFA Strawberry: mmm more jam like than FA. 3-5%
TFA Strawberry Ripe: More top notes less noticeable than TFA strawberry . Just a bright fruityness. 4-8%
INW Wild Strawberry: skrong af. less than 2% maybe 1%
JF Strawberry: strawberry candy 1-3%
vaping a mech & dog3 with dual coils 8wraps each of 22ga kanthal - i.d. 3.5mm
You can prolly sub FA strawberry with JF or TFA strawberry or vice versa, they all have their own qualities but are all great flavors. If using a tank and/or more than 50-50 VG you may want to bump the percentages up a bit. it wont be the same but you can do it, i aint gonna stop ya
My all time flavorite stb combo is fa red touch and inw stb shisha...until i discovered Dave's holy trinity with jf strawberry sweet added. The best ratio I have found is 50% shisha, 30% red touch, and 20% jf stb sweet. It has replaced the tried and true ripe/cap sweet stb for me in most of my strawberry mixes.
Glad to be of service! I don't think that trinity will fit all your stb needs but it sure is taste-tastic. Also holds up well to a steep and isn't apt to mute your other flavors.
I may post notes later but you've guys have covered a lot of the strawberries I have pretty well. I will take this time to leave one of my favorite strawberry recipes out there.
My last order from Inawera went wrong and they sent me strawberry instead of raspberry. Not shisha strawberry, the regular strawberry. As there is not much to find about it here, I mixed up some of it to give my impressions for this week's flavor of the week. Please take it with a grain of salt, I am only 6 months into mixing.
Setup: Pharaoh RDA with an SS316 Fused Clapton (2*24 + 32 gauge) on 110 watts. Cotton Bacon wicks.
4% INW Strawberry, PG/VG 20/80 with 3mg Nic, steeped for 2 days.
It is a sweet realistic strawberry. Not a syrup like Shisha Strawberry and not a candy like CAP Sweet Strawberry. It is not really dry and has no throat hit.
At 4% it seems to miss some flavor components, for me it is a bit incomplete. Brigther topnotes are a bit absent and it does not have a whole lot of body.
But it is enjoyable and I already vaped 20ml of it, solo. And will mix more (at 5 or 6% though). It is not as strong as other Inawera flavors.
I did not try but I assume it will get lost when paired with creams, custards and the like. It will go very well with other strawberries, maybe citrus, Kiwi...the usual suspects.
Hope it helps.
Strawberry...I can definitely taste it so I feel among the lucky hahahah. Honestly, I am still tracking them all down and every time I feel like I have a grip on what's what someone drops a review on a new one. I sometimes feel like I go in circles revisiting some of the old standbys while I get over the novelty of the latest and greatest. My general impressions are similar to a lot of you veterans:
TPA Strawberry: I must have a strange palette because this is one of my favorites. It is vivid, bold and candy like. It carves and holds its own lane and gets along well with others. It might still be my favorite for making candies like strawberry sour belts.
TPA Strawberry Ripe: I like it and it has fresh picked quality that makes it special. I use it in layered mixes and would never rely on it due to its' lack of durability in a mix.
FA Strawberry: I find this one really nice and well rounded. It do get the freeze dried flavor but not to a point to make it unusable. It stacks well, it holds well...its good.
Cap Sweet Strawberry: I'm apparently on a short list of folks that don't care for this one. I find it overly cloying and with a strange 'chemical' film over it that I don't get with other strawberries.
Shisha Strawberry INW: I vaped way too much of this for too long and I'm now in recovery. It is quite good. I get a slightly dark jammy syrup note in it that I enjoy but I think limits its' versatility a bit'. It is a very distinct flavor that you won't mistake for another.
Strawberry Concentrate INW: I found this one to be quite similar to their raspberry...very concentrated and somewhat dark. Not a bad flavor at all but subjectively I just enjoyed shisha a lot more.
FW Strawberry: This one surprised me as I never hear much about it. Its definitely candied and similar in some ways to TFA Strawberry but a little brighter with a good fruity body. I think it could work as a good generic strawberry. Nothing mind blowing but could really shine in the right spot.
Pairings: Thus far my favorite pairing is FA Kiwi...there really must be some aroma linking going on because it is just scary how strawberry bonds with this flavor. Watermelon...stonefruits...make nice collisions. My favorite strawberry recipe is super simple:
Strawberry Sour Belts
Strawberry FW 2.5%
Strawberry TPA 2.5%
Raspberry FA 1.5%
Kiwi FA 5% (yes)
It is a strawberry sour belts that I could possibly vape forever. I am still chasing down a few JF's sweet (on the way) and I definitely want to try RF's Strawberry....it never ends...which is a good thing.
> I find it overly cloying and with a strange 'chemical' film over
Kinda like candy with some of the wrapper still stuck to it?
You don't hear much about FW Strawberry but /u/chrisdvr1 says it's his favorite strawberry so I'm looking forward to trying it.
I've got over 1gal of FW Strawberry... (Don't ask lol)
If you leave it sit for more than a month, it forms a white jelly-like shmegma on the bottom of the bottle, just like Yellow Cake. One of my QT bottles has almost an inch of white muck on the bottom. You're welcome to it, it's never been opened... Since 2014.
You had me at "white jelly-like shmegma"...that's probably all the corn syrup reacting with the acetoin..I prefer to call it a gellatinous ooze..thats where the flavor lives. You came in like a dog that pissed on my freshly painted fire hydrant and I can appreciate that.
Yes guilty on all counts. I am close to swearing off Capellas fruits with a few exceptions that I haven't tried. I have their cucumber (botanically a fruit) coming to compare with FA's and I believe there Golden Pineapple and a handful of tropicals seem to get some love. Its fun to lump right? hahaha And yes, that is exactly what prompted me to pick up that FW Strawberry. I don't know if it will get the traction their blueberry has but I'm kind of diggin' on it so far. Its probably all the corn syrup hahahaha.
You find a way to implant a "next thing to do" or "order" in my brain every few days. Part of todays' mixing will be that Strawberry/Meringue pairing you were talking about somewhere. You have any general ratios in mind here...I was going to just throw together 3-4% TPA Strawberry with 1% FA Meringue to see what I pick up on. Bloody sounds good...
J
TFA Strawberry Ripe- authentic tasting and slightly earthy. I usually mix this at a 1:2 ratio with Cap Sweet Strawberry to counteract the earthiness and add sweetness.
CAP Sweet Strawberry- second favorite with the first being TFA Ripe... I use this in conjunction with ripe for my perfect strawberry. On it's own it lacks that slight earthiness that a real strawberry has. It is okay on its own but a little artificial
INW Shisha Strawberry- luckily I am not one of those that has issues tasting strawberry so I don't see the specialness in this flavor that others do. To me it just tastes like FA strawberry which isn't bad but very underwhelming for me considering the hype.
FA Strawberry- candy strawberry. no earthiness. not a bad flavor but not one I would use if I wanted it to taste like the actual fruit. This one also pairs nicely with TFA Ripe
RF SC Strawberry- very nice on its own but I haven't tried mixing it with other brands yet. (I've heard that RF flavors don't mix well with other brands?) this flavor almost tastes like what happens when I mix the TFA Ripe and Sweet Strawberry together. It has a slight earthiness but is also sweet. Very nice flavor but I need to work with it more.
INW Wild Strawberry: didn't like this one at all. had a weird chemical note. maybe overly earthy? One of the worst strawberries I've tried.
I've also tried Medicine Flowers and Flavorah's Strawberry but haven't worked enough with either to really garner a opinion on either.
Strawberry Wafer
0.5% FA Whipped cream
0.75% INW Shisha Strawberry
8% OoO Vanilla Wafer
0.5% FA Vienna Cream
*Tastes like those cheap strawberry wafers that used to be $1
I know exactly the wafers you're talkin about. Sounds like you found a good OoO - that one goes on the list.
This looks good...8% RinVape (?)s ...it must be quite weak. That is a flavor I have been looking to hit...the thin wafer...biscuit is way to rich to hit it so you might be on to something. Were you being kind to us TPA Strawberry lovers by not offering your flavor notes.....hahahhaha....chapstick heaven ....
Vanilla Wafer is weak. If you check their recommended %s from OoO, the percentage goes even higher. I forget the range. I don't remember TFA Strawberry. If I tried it, it was many years ago.
I'm not one of those people that have a hard time tasting strawberries but I cannot taste FA Strawberry at all; much like their watermelon. Really odd but plenty of other options to choose from.
INW Shisha Strawberry is my go to strawberry though. Bright and doesn't fade very fast at all with a steep. FLV Strawberry is my second favorite simply because of how different it is. Doesn't pair very well with a lot of profiles but I really enjoy using it when I can in milkshake bases and bakeries. It gets a lot of hate but I think I enjoy it because it's so off the reservation relation to every other strawberry out there.
One thing I have noticed though is that with strawberry I get olfactory fatigue the fastest, more so than any other flavor. Most mixes it's at least half a day before I can't taste it anymore but strawberries are the worst.
Your strawberry slurp lasted a whole half tank (2ml) before that ride was over with. Really good profile though. Nice and simple for the summer heat. Pretty disappointing but what can you do, right?
On a related side note, your BDV Titan clone is my all time favorite mix right now. That stuff I like crack for some reason. If it wasn't for olfactory fatigue I would vaped that everyday.
Hey Chewy! I'm glad you're enjoying Titanic so much. I wonder whether there are others like you who can't taste FA? TFA strawberries seem to be least tasted as best I can tell, some people say they can taste FA but not TFA. Maybe you're the opposite of them? Have you tried those?
I haven't seen really anyone in the sub complain about not tasting FA Strawberry but there might be some. I'm thinking it might be because my bottle is 10ish months old but I remember first getting it and it was rather quite weak to start with. I haven't felt like investing any money into trying a replacement to experiment as it was pretty weak to me to begin with.
I use TFA Strawberry and Strawberry (Ripe) here and there but I don't have any issues tasting them. They fade really fast for me but initially they are full flavored strawberries. For me personally I find TFA Strawberry to be quite strong. A lot of people use it too high for my tastes. 4% is about my max with it.
I took a year off using TFA Strawberry (Ripe) as I was so sick of using it. Came back to it just recently and enjoy it very seldomly anymore. I've been enjoying it in Strawberry Jam Toast by /u/HashSlingingSlashur The EM content always mutes mixes too much for me. So I usually sub out strawberries when I'm in the mood if the mix will warrant it.
Good old strawberry. Surprisingly, even though strawberries make up at least half of my recipes, I haven't tried any other strawberries other than TFA's strawberry and strawberry ripe. These 2 flavours have just worked so well for me that putting other strawberries on my ever growing shopping cart has been a low priority. Personally I prefer TFA Strawberry over strawberry ripe. Ripe is a little too tart for me on its own. So I like to mix both at equal proportions anywhere between 2%-5% each depending on how much strawberry I want in my mix to make a well rounded strawberry. Otherwise I'll use TFA Strawberry without ripe at around 4%-6%.
Everyone and their mother has a strawberries and cream, here's mine:
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6% TFA Strawberry
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2% FA Fresh Cream/Cream Fresh
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1% FA Vienna Cream
I was going for a strawbee milk with this recipe. FA Vienna Cream and FA Fresh Cream together is my favourite for making a straight milk. TFA Strawberry to give it a more sweeter syrupy flavour rather than a fresh strawberry.
Here's a malted strawberry milkshake. I'd imagine it would taste amazing with some steep time, or it'll get muted to hell with all the strawberry, but I've never had a bottle around long enough to find out. It's a sweeter dessert vape so I used more of TFA Strawberry to keep it sweeter and more dessert like, strawberry ripe just to boost the strawberry. My all time favourite ADV:
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6% TFA Strawberry
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3% TFA Strawberry Ripe
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1.5% TFA Cheesecake w/ GC
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3% TFA VBIC
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2% FA Fresh Cream/Cream Fresh
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1% FA Vienna Cream
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2% FA Meringue
Finally, I see a lot of strawberries and creams, strawberry bananas, strawberry kiwis... basically a bunch of fruit mixes and beverages. One thing I rarely ever see though is using strawberries in bakeries. Other than cheesecake, I've had a tough time trying to make a bakery using strawberry. I took some inspiration from /u/Enyawreklaw 's Bronuts recipe and tried making a strawberry jelly filled donut. This one was a bit of a shot in the dark and just threw in what I thought would taste good. What I got was not quite what I expected. It tasted a lot darker than I thought it was going to. You know how in those boxes of chocolate there's one with a strawberry cream filling? That's how this recipe tasted, at least to me. Anyway here it is:
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6% CAP Chocolate Glazed Doughnut
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3% TFA Strawberry
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5% CAP Sugar Cookie
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1% TFA Marshmallow
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0.7% FA Joy
That malted strawberry milkshake looks tasty!
As a strawberry non-taster...
INW Shisha Strawberry 1st and most favorite, I can always taste this as strawberry.
FA Strawberry 2nd most favorite and usually combined with INW Shisha Strawberry. I can almost always taste this as strawberry.
JF Sweet Strawberry 3rd most favorite, I can sometimes taste this one, some times not. But I also get some weird chemical notes from it.
Special Mention FLV Alpine Strawberry Really good, something I want to do neat things with but somehow seem to fail miserably with.
All the rest of the Strawberries I tend to use for modifiers or as pink sweeteners that other people can taste as strawberry. ;)
Wait... it this THE Fear? And with the same top 3 strawberries as me?
The Real Fear, since Fear was taken and none of my other Reddit accounts have anything to do with Fear or vaping.
I still hate the format of Reddit, but since you said this was a cool place I figured I would stalk you.
I'm here for you!
It is an honor to be stalked by you <3
[makes fangirl sqeeeeeeeeee sound]
Guys guys guys, I know it has nothing to do with strawberries but this is the creator of #ABUELA
So SULTRY.
Or, if you prefer, since strawberry was involved in it and this is the strawberry FOTW thread, Honey Sucker. So juicy!
Hopefully this is the right thread to ask. Has anyone else had strawberry ripe start tasting like your cotton is burnt? I've tried mixing my favorite strawberry recipe in a lower percentage and still taste a burnt flavor. Just curious if it's some strange flavor fatigue or if the 4oz bottle I got is bad. Also to contribute to the discussion, I tried the RF SC strawberry on hashes suggestion, it's almost a strawberry candy taste to me. Strangely enough I also get the same kind of general Candy flavor from inw shisha strawberry. They seem to taste really sweet and artificial to me but do help round out some other strawberries.
As far as cap sweet strawberry, I got nothing but green, earthy unripe strawberry freshly mixed. After like a month and a half though it was pretty good. Most of the green taste had faded away.
This is one of the right threads to ask. You can also try the New Mixers' Questions Thread. How much stb ripe are you using?
I've used it in the past at 8% without getting this weird almost burnt taste. Scaled it way back to 5% and am still getting the same funky flavor.
Current recipe is
Strawberry Shake
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(tpa)cheesecake graham crust (3%)
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(tpa) strawberry ripe (6%)
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(cap) vanilla bean ice cream (2%)
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(inw) shisha strawberry (1.5%)
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(cap) vanilla custard V1 (1.5%)
I can't remember if this issue started with my new bottle of strawberry ripe or not.
I started mixing 3 weeks ago, and here's my first shot at strawberries and cream. 3 day steep and it's quite nice:
3% tpa strawberry ripe
3% tpa strawberry
2% FA Vienna cream
1% FA fresh cream
1% FA custard
0.5% Ethyl maltol
Any tips on how to refine this would be appreciated. Thanks!
PS purilum sweet strawberry is a good candy strawberry
How long did you let it steep?
3 days and counting. I tested it after 4 hours, 24 hours, 48 hours and 72 hours. It finally started actually tasting like strawberries and cream at 72 hours, so I am hopeful. It's max vg, so I need to somehow work up the willpower to let it sit for 2 weeks before I whip up a large batch.