hey hello.

so i've spent the last few weeks building a quickbooks online integration for a client, and i'm at my breaking point of writing api calls and other developer shit, so i'm taking a quick mental break to write this for y'all.

a couple of years ago, i made a watermelon ice type profile that wasn't terrible, if i remember correctly. it used tpa honeysuckle (that was my crutch at the time), fa watermelon, inw shisha strawberry, flv wild melon, and ws-23. while that recipe was decent (you can see it here), it never really worked as a pure cold watermelon candy type profile i wanted. i basically was using the inherent sweetness from honeysuckle and shisha strawberry to emulate the candy notes, but tried to keep a somewhat realistic watermelon flavor from the mix of fa watermelon and flv wild melon. anyway, i'm back again with this profile to go for that straight up artificial, watermelon bubble gum type profile, let's dive in.

watermelonIcedOut002 - (ATF Recipe)

• CAP Double Watermelon at 4%
• LA Watermelon at 4.5%
• FW Hard Candy at 2%
• FLV Pink Guava at 0.75%
• CAP Super Sweet at 0.5%
• WS-23 at your prefered useage (I'm using it somewhere between 0.5-0.7% for this test.)

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PROFILE PLANNING

this was fairly easy to plan out. i didn't want to add anything that would detract from the watermelon, and unfortunately, anytime we add strawberry to a watermelon party, it ends up taking too much of the spotlight. so for this time around, i decided to really push the limits of the more "candied" watermelon flavors. i knew i needed sweetener to make it feel like a candy-centric profile, and i tend to throw flv pink guava in anything that's fruity because it really adds a nice brightness and bite to the mix. not too much thought needed to go into this mix.

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FLAVOR NOTES

CAP Double Watermelon / LA Watermelon - these two are a match made in heaven. we're also using these both at their limit, in my opinion. cap double watermelon at 4% seems like the sweet spot to get full flavor without any off notes. much higher, i wasn't getting anything "offensive" as an off note, but it just started to dull out and make the mix feel "syrup-y." at 4%, it's just a perfect sweetness that has equal parts "authentic" watermelon flavor and something more reminiscent of a watermelon gummy. adding la watermelon was a no brainer, again, 4-4.5% feels like the ceiling for this one. pushing it much higher tends to impart some weird grassy notes. not suggesting that la watermelon is AT ALL an authentic watermelon flavor, but i'm assuming that the level of candy sweetness it brings starts to go south at high percentages, giving off this rather earthy and unpleasant aftertaste. you remember being a kid and going on a candy binge, and then about 30 minutes later, your mouth would taste like absolute death? yeah, that's what pushing this flavor too high reminds me of. end result of these two pushed to the limit: a super vibrant and refreshing watermelon candy inhale that lingers on the palate throughout the exhale.

FLV Pink Guava / FW Hard Candy - so i don't really know what to say about fw hard candy, because i've seen polarizing opinions of this. some people say it gives them a chemical taste, something akin to hairspray. i have never experienced this unless i push it well past it's obvious limits. this isn't a flavor that you want to use as a base, it's definitely an enhancer and does a great job of softening up harsh edges and the occasional unpleasant floral note. i've used this with alpine strawberry to cut through some of that grass top note, i've also used it with peach flavors to tone down some of the bitterness/harshness i get. here, it's being used to push those watermelons more into the sugar-lips, hard candy realm. it definitely as a distinct smell and taste, you always know when it's there. but for our use, 2% does the trick to amp up the watermelon candy profile to something addicting. without this addition, i still liked the recipe, but i didn't feel like i wanted another pull right after the exhale. of course, flv pink guava is simply here to add more brightness to the top notes. nothing too crazy to explain there. adds a bit more tartness, adds some more complexity to the linear watermelon flavor, and gives us the slightest bit of tropical sweetness.

CAP Super Sweet / WS-23 - i don't really need to explain this. add these to your liking. my only recommendation is not adding either of these over 0.75%. super sweet any higher will likely mute all the top notes we have, and too much ws-23 will simply make this taste like cold air. cool.

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TASTING NOTES

the inhale is straight up icy watermelon candy. not really the watermelon bubble gum type flavor i was lookin for ( you know what i'm talkin about, i think it was the watermelon bubbalicious shit, goddamn that's a nostalgic trip ), not quite a "sour patch watermelon," not quite a watermelon hard candy. it's a delicious blend of the three. the pink guava hits a little bit on the nose before the exhale, giving a really pleasant cut of something different. just a little bit tropical, but not something you're losing any focus on the watermelon from. adds to the addictive quality of this mix, in my opinion. and fuck, the exhale is where this all comes together. it's sticky, its sweet, it's all the glory that fw hard candy brings to the table. i'm convinced this is one of the secret weapons to "premium" or store-bought eliquid. there's a specific flavor that i get anytime i add it, and it always reminds me of the "hype-juices." however, when we don't blast the fuck out of the mix with 10% sweetener, we get all the good stuff from the candy sweetness, without the coil killing, flavor muting downsides. i love this shit. it's a massive improvement on my first watermelon iced out recipe. i guess i could see someone that abhors ws-23 thinking this recipe is shit, but i love the stuff, so for me, it's working beautifully. this bottle has been sitting for a full day, and everything came together just how i wanted. off the shake is still tasty, but it's a bit more separated, if only the slightest bit.

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cool. wow. two recipe drops in the same week? guess i have made my return to the sub. hope you dig this recipe. and hey, be sure to contact the kocanda downvote army, i love seeing y'all drop some comments about your glowing opinions of me :)