Disclaimer: I didn't pay for these, they were sent to me by Liquid Barn. Shout out to Liquid Barn
Setup: Recoil w/ flavor barrel, Dual 15 wrap 26g 3mm Nifethal 70 coils @.14 ohms. 60w power, 450F temp limit. Full Cotton Wicks.
Testing: Liquid Barn Snickerdoodle, 5 and 10% @ 1g/ml, 60/40 VG/PG base, Steeped 34 days.
Flavor Description: Solid cinnamon and sugar cookie with a richer base, missing some texture.
The cinnamon here seems pretty dead on for a snickerdoodle. Solid bakery cinnamon without being too intensely dry or having any weird off notes. Cinnamon level seems like a fit for the profile, fairly prominent in the mix but not overwhelming. No real body to the cinnamon, tastes just a little thin and can pick up a bit of cinnamon red-hot kind astringency at higher percentages. The cinnamon is pretty much dominating the top notes here, so it actually comes across a bit like a snickerdoodle would with the cinnamon on top.
The cookie base here is rich. I'm not a diketone scientist, but 5,000 ppm of both Acetoin and Acetyl Propionyl seems pretty intense. There is a heavier, dense base to the cookie. There's not a ton of "butter" taste to it, but it's definitely a thicker, buttery mouthfeel. There's a bit of blond sugar cookie taste here, but not much texture to carry it. I'm not picking up anything crispy or dark here, and a really soft almost fluffy grain. Less texture than CAP Sugar Cookie, and nowhere near the crispier, darker FA Cookie.
Overall effect almost comes off more like a cinnamon sugar cookie dough just because of that lack of texture and heavier, rich mouthfeel. Fairly sweet, but nothing obnoxious and a fit for the profile.
**Off-flavors:**At higher percentages cinnamon gets a bit aggressive and candyish. Very light cookie taste and not much cookie texture.
Throat Hit: There's a decent amount of cinnamon here, so that picks up a moderate bite. Beyond that cinnamon, flavor is smooth without any real harshness.
Percentage testing: At 5% I'm getting a fairly mild cinnamon and some richer mouthfeel but not too much in the way of cookie notes. Feels a bit unsaturated as a solo flavor.
At 10% the cinnamon is actually a bit overbearing for me and I'm getting a touch of red hots. Heavy body, but very little cookie texture, and a lighter actual sugar cookie flavor.
Liquid Barn suggests mixing at 10%, that seems a bit intense on the cinnamon and that heavier mouthfeel. I'd probably be closer to 7% with some additional cookie backup primarily for texture. Not a super intense flavor but the cinnamon and richness should translate well as an accent around 4%.
Uses & Pairings: This feels like it's basically 4% of CAP Sugar Cookie from being a really nicely fleshed out snickerdoodle. You could go the FA Cookie route if you want a crispier cinnamon-based cookie. Or live dangerously, use both. I'm not your mom.
Outside of just filling out a snickerdoodle, this should be usable as pretty standard bakery cinnamon with some extra DAAP for good measure. There's a lot of options there like FW Cinnamon Roll, CAP Cinnamon Roll, LB Bakers Touch, and FLV Rich Cinnamon so it's a bit harder to recommend, but it'll do the job. Use in standard stuff like danishes, coffee cakes, cinnamon rolls, and spiced cake type applications.
Second Opinions:
Here's the ELR Page. User "JoJo" writes: "8% (SnV - I think I’m gonna like this. A buttery, slightly spicy cookie flavor. Maybe a bit of caramel. 1 week - same. I can see this and bakers touch going together really well. 2 weeks - same. Buttery, cinnamon cookie. 3 weeks - same. Really tasty. 4 weeks - really nice. Slightly buttery/creamy, cinnamon cookie.)" Only two notes on there, the other is substantially postive from user "Crago44" writes: "Think I got a bad batch but I taste nothing but pond water or dirty equipment. Absolutely unVapeable." That definitely hasn't been my experience.
[User "Amy2" has quick reviews up on the ELR Forum. Her take: "It says cinnamon sugar cookie but I get a heavy cream and cinnamon swirl going on here. It has Acetoin & AP in it."][(http://forum.e-liquid-recipes.com/t/liquid-barn-tasting-notes/66705)
I've noticed most cinnamon bakery flavors taste like plastic to me. This flavor is no exception. One of the few LB flavors I bought on a whim a few years ago now.
When I mixed it up It tasted exactly like plastic wrapping with cinnamon on it.
I mean... that's sort of impressive. Reynolds Cling-Wrap or store brand?
I got off easy, the only one I hate with an undying passion is CDS. Tastes metallic and sour. So you get cinnamon and plastic, I get a mouthful of pennies. It's to the point now where we've hit peak "something vague and bakery with extra cinnamon."
CDS is the worst. That literally tastes like vaping plastic with some cardboard cinnamon sprinkled on top. I would take pennies over that any day.