Setup: Recoil w/ flavor barrel, Dual 15 wrap 26g 3mm Nifethal 70 coils @.16 ohms. 60w power, 450F temp limit. Full Cotton Wicks.
Testing: FW Jawbreaker, 3 and 6%, 60/40 VG/PG, Steeped 7 days.
Flavor Description: Actually, kind of like a jawbreaker. Thick mouthfeel, some sort of weird middle ground between creamy and chalky, without much flavor in the base. Almost a light bubble gum mouthfeel and taste, but flat and light. Some pretty generic fruitiness to this, more subtle low and kind of weird and harsh up high. Definitely picking up some citrus and I'm getting a bit of plastic-y note that makes me think cherry. Noticeably sweet, but not quite as sweet as I'd guess a flavorwest jawbreaker flavor would be. All the fruit is top-heavy, and has a floral sharpness to it that kind of exacerbates the weirder artificial off-notes here. For all the sharpness and weirdness in the fruit notes, actually seems to be doing the jawbreaker base pretty well. Less weird and harsh under 4%, seems useful primarily for candy bases as a textural additive.
Inhale is on the warm side, with a mouthfeel that's kind of chalky but still smooth... strangely accurate to profile. Sweetness builds quickly, but I'm not getting much actual flavor from it all beyond just generic candy base and some citrus. Mouthfeel is moderately dense and fairly smooth for the bit of dryness I'm getting here. Exhale is a bit more complex. Candy fruitiness in the top notes, still some citrus and a bit of harsher plastic taste. Same chalky but fairly smooth base to this. Definitely tastes like a jawbreaker. Plastic artificial note actually seems to get a bit stronger on the back of the exhale and lingers noticeably after the exhale. Flavor feels a bit flat in the middle, and has some harshness to it.
Off-flavors: Pretty aggressively artificial, and I can't tell if that plastic note is coming from the base or the fruit flavor here. Seems to be less prominent under 4%, but still noticeable.
Throat Hit: The thicker base seems to help a bit, but those fruitier flavors and that plastic note is still a bit harsh.
Uses & Pairings: Well, there's the obvious jawbreaker thing. I'm not digging the off-notes here enough to really just crank it up an effectively solo the flavor, but I think you could use a lower percentage and maybe get some more volume with some tpa vanilla swirl or something similar. If you wanted a heavier fruit note I would stick to something heavy and syrupy and let the jawbreaker dry it out a bit. I think anything too floral is going to further contribute to the sharpness of the top notes here.
Outside of the jawbreaker thing, it's a get bit more abstract. I think this is a decent texturizer for some other kinds of hard candy or taffys. I almost want to mix this with a frosting for more of a birthday cake flavor. I could also see a bit of this in a ridiculous candy-based milkshake recipe.
Notes: Concentration testing, the jawbreaker base comes in quicker than the fruit. I've seen some recipes using this under 1%, but it's not really working for me at .5 and 1%. I'm not getting too much in the way of flavor, and it doesn't seem to have much of that thicker jawbreaker base. 2% is a little clearer, sweetness is starting to come in without much fruitiness. Still feels a little light. at 4% I'm getting a thicker jawbreaker base, and a decent hit of fruityness. Mostly just citrus, but some harsher plastic notes as well. At 6% the jawbreaker base doesn't feel much thicker, but that fruit is definitely more prominent and it's getting a lot more plastic. At 8% it's tasting artificial to the point of bitterness. At 10% this is tasting way too plasticy for me. I've read this steeps out quite a bit smoother, but judging from the difference between the steeped and fresh 6%, It's still going to be a bit much for me. I think you get most of the useful base out of this by 3%, I'd probably stick there and add my own fruit accents.
Second Opinions:
Shoutout to ID10-T for suggesting this for review.