As always, the purpose of this thread is to gather the community to explore a category of 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, this is also where you can comment to win the Apple & Melon Flavor Pack ($70 value!) from Flavorah, just because I happen to think that's a super great flavor pack.
#This week's flavor is... FLAVORS OF THE YEAR!!!
How did that get to be the FOTW?
Usually they're requested! Most often right here in the comment section of this post in front of god and everybody!
>If you're not interested in the upcoming FOTWs, please take this opportunity and comment to request one that interests you (or send me a PM to do that).
#But this week we're doing something a little different.
It's time for a bit of New Year navel-gazing or whatever, looking back over the flavors we tried for all the FOTWs this year and reminiscing about which were the "best" and "worst" among them. Thing of this post as a writing prompt.
What was the best flavor you tried this year, and why was it so good? What was the worst or most disappointing, and what was wrong with it? Or take it another direction, what is the "most 2020 flavor" and why? Or if you're one to look forward rather than backward, what flavor do you predict is going to get a lot of mileage in recipes, be it yours or others, in 2021? What flavor would you like to see get a little more love, or what flavor would you prefer to yeet from existence/launch into the sun because it's overused or just plain bad? Do you have an unpopular opinion about a particular flavor or two and want to get those off your chest as we head into the new year?
This is the place where we're practically begging you to share all of that and more. Tell us all about it!
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Past FOTW posts can be found here
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The NOTED podcasts, which are basically video FOTWs, are listed on this sheet, maintained by /u/apexified
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You can find these and more in a comprehensive collection of Flavor Facts created by /u/OdieDoodah
In case you missed it, last week's flavor was Woodruff
#Next week's flavor will be: Tobacco Time: Desert Tobaccos
After that?
|FROM|FLAVOR|TO| |:---:|:---:|:---:| |Jan 12|Cantaloupe|Jan 18| |Jan 19|Toast|Jan 25| |Jan 26|Meringue|Feb 01| |Feb 02|Sherbet/Sorbet|Feb 08| |Feb 09|Pear|Feb 15| |Feb 16|Red Raspberry|Feb 22| |Feb 23|Vanilla Ice Cream|Mar 01| |Mar 02|Tobacco Time: Turkish|Mar 08| |Mar 09|Rhubarb|Mar 15| |Mar 16|FOTQ4|Mar 22| |Mar 23|Mango|Mar 29| |Mar 30|Coconut|Apr 05| |Apr 06|Cream Soda|Apr 12| |Apr 13|Bread|Apr 19| |Apr 20|Wood|Apr 26| |Apr 27|Cardamom and Chai|May 03| |May 04|Vienna Cream|May 10| |May 11|Sweet Cream|May 17| |May 18|Vanilla Cream|May 24| |May 25|Whipped Cream|May 31| |Jun 01|FOTQ5|Jun 07| |Jun 08|Tobacco Time: Burley|Jun 14| |Jun 15|Sugar|Jun 21| |Jun 22|Blood Orange|Jun 28| |Jun 29|Honey|Jul 05| |Jul 06|Frosting/Icing|Jul 12| |Jul 13|Date|Jul 19| |Jul 20|Fig|Jul 26| |Jul 27|Plum|Aug 02| |Aug 03|Grapefruit|Aug 09| |Aug 10|Butter|Aug 16| |Aug 17|Apricot|Aug 23| |Aug 24| ??? You Decide ??? |Aug 30|
Most "2020" Flavor? SSA Cottage Cheese lol
Flavor of the week Custard Apples II showed me I didn’t know what one was. I took a chance this year and got FLV Guanabana and it’s oddly amazing especially since I never had it IRL.
Second came from u/foment_life review of FA Soho which is described as a “tobacco with training wheels” type flavor. FA Soho was the bridge I needed to get into straight tobacco flavors.
My most used flavor is Inw Yes we cheesecake in recipes. I've been on a huge cheesecake binge for the last 6 months.
Recipe that blew my mind this year was Viva La Cola. Just amazing how these 4 ingredients came together to make such a great cola. It might even be worth making a one shot out of it to use in recipes. I still need to check out the SSA cola though so so knows.
I need to order FLV Root Beer to finally try that recipe
Since this is the year of corona virus, and one of the symptoms is the lack of flavor, my vote for FOTY is pure pg base.
I didn't think much of that symptom until my friend who is a nurse caught it and described what that's like to me. Sounds absolutely miserable, like enough to make someone suicidal if it persisted for too long.
When you get a cold and have a congested nose everything tastes like sh👏🏻t. I can't even imagine how bad would it be to completely loose smell and taste.
What’s worse, there are many reports of sense of taste and smell being “miswired” when taste and smell return for some that are affected. Imagine your once-favorite flavors now tasting like ashtrays and spoiled milk. That’s life for some “lucky” covid survivors.
Most used flavor: FW butterscotch Ripple. custards, cream, pie, it works in all of my favorites. run it high for that spice or tone it down with some FLV caramel to smooth it out.
Flavor of the year: Chemnovatic Lemon Cream Wafer. Hands down my FOTY, this is my ADV, add some marshmallow, make the DInner Lady remix, whatever, this shit is good.
2nd place is OOO vanilla marshmallow. thank you noted, this is the marshmallow I have been searching for.
Most 2020 flavor: Cap Vanilla Custard. Recipes with CAP VC are just like 2020, one horrible disappointment after another. I am just praying 2021 doesn't end up like CAP VC V2.
I'd say one of the most anticipated was WF egg yolk but hardly anyone uses it. MB Classic Cornflakes was the biggest disappointment for me - mushy cat pee with roses. I will never use it. WF crumble topping is replacing a lot of my biscuits now, that with WF cookie butter is a great combo.
>If you're not interested in the upcoming FOTWs, please take this opportunity and comment to request one that interests you (or send me a PM to do that).
u/IDC10-T I like the selection so please don‘t take my suggestion as not being interested, but I would like to see apricot as one of the future episodes.
Added Apricot for you!
There are at least 7 or apricot flavors I haven't tried yet, including VSO Apricot, so I'm looking forward to this. Here's a quickish rundown of my thoughts from the last time Apricot was the FOTW, to maybe tide you over until August a little, which is how far that schedule goes out now:
VT Apricot - This is a bizarre dumpster fire of a flavor that’s not even vapable. First of all, it’s topped off with a ton of one the banes of my existence, the plastic nightmare cherry off cough medicine note. A ton of it, more than most cherry flavors. Beyond that terribly offensive plastic cherry that has no business in an apricot, there’s EVEN MORE WEIRDNESS. There is a bit of thinner, juicier take on a sweet apricot inside there, but there’s also this very strange malty cereal-type flavor to it. I could deal with the cereal thing for use in an apricot bakery recipe, but to have it contrasted with plastic nightmare cherry makes an unusable garbage flavor.
SSA Apricot - It tastes like a real dried Apricot! Which is awesome! With a touch of plastic... which is ... not at all awesome. It’s a shame. This is not the worst Apricot flavor I’ve ever tried (That title goes to VT Apricot), but there’s CAP, FLV, and FA that are so much better than this.
INW Apricots - An authentic underripe apricot, maybe? Highly concentrated flavor, maybe 1% is too much? Or it needs to steep longer than a few days? Bold flavor that tastes like an apricot, but not nearly as soft and sweet as it should be, and some peachy floral and a green bitter vegetal chemically edge like a peach so underripe that it’s still hard.
FWIW “INW Apricot” was apparently reformulated two years ago and if that’s what I have, I’m sure I have the new version. But my bottle says “INW Apricots” with an S so I dunno. This INW stuff can really get confusing. Some people report no green vegetal underripe peach type flavor in INW Apricots, IDK.
TFA Apricot - Weird peach-apricot candy thing. I can sort of find the apricot in there in the middle, but the top notes have more of a lightly floral yellow peach thing going one and the base is sweet, syrupy, slightly creamy candy with a hint of vanilla. It’s almost a single flavor stone fruit cream saver, if it had just a little more cream, but a weird one, because what apricot is there in the middle is less candied than the peachy top notes or sweet base and even tastes a little green or underripe. Despite all that oddness, I definitely can’t say that I don’t enjoy vaping it, even standalone. It’s weird, but it’s one of those full-bodied, well-rounded flavors that vapes more like a satisfying recipe than a boring single flavor.
FE Apricot - I love this flavor, but I don’t get apricot from it at all. It tastes like a peach jolly rancher or a flat peach soda. None of the subtlety of an apricot, not even a cooked or dried one. Higher almost floral slightly tart yellow peach top notes, heavy syrupy sweet mostly flat but bold candy peach base. Kind of juicy in a mouthwatering candy way, with a bit of tartness from the top notes.
CAP Apricot - It’s like boiling dried apricots and drinking the water after adding some sugar to it. A light and soft apricot flavor that tastes like it might have come from nature. It’s a little simpler and slightly softer and sweeter sweeter than a real apricot, which is already a soft and not terribly bold or complex flavor, but it doesn’t have that bright fake oversaturated candy-type flavor. It doesn’t taste fully cooked down into something like a jam, because that would be a more intense flavor, but it’s a bit jammy, with a sticky sweetness, almost too sticky sweet for the amount of apricot that actually comes though. Down below 4% it’s bit a bit thin, but by 6% the sticky sweet fills in more. No throat hit.
FLV Apricot- Clearly an apricot, but kind of an odd one. The top notes are a little floral in the same way that peaches can be a little floral, not out of control flowers, but a little floral. Mostly, that makes it taste more like a peach. There’s also some of that linalool peach harshness that’s too much for some but non-existent for others up there. Down low, it’s a cooked apricot, spot on, just like the inside of one of my granny’s apricot fried pies. It has that same sort of caramelized fructose flavor of baked fruit. I really want to see if I can use that cooked apricot to create some other cooked fruits, like peach obviously, maybe mango, maybe even cherry. But that would require tamping down that brighter top note somehow and I don't have a magic bullet for that.
FA Apricot - Different from many other FA flavors, in a good way. It tastes much more natural than candied and/or overly sweet, so that’s about that I’d expect, but it also isn’t especially thin, dry, or top heavy, like a lot of FA runs. Top notes are mild, subtle yellow peachy-type of flavor. Pushing it higher doesn’t really make it less weak, it’s just a gentle type of fresh fruit flavor. Not a dried or cooked type of flavor at all. I don’t get any sort of harshness from this, overall it’s just smooth and gentle flavor. It’s exhale starts and finishes weaker: it’s more of a middle-range flavor, with a nice full fleshy body like you’d expect from a fresh apricot. Hence why I like to use it to help fill out various other stone fruits - peaches, plums, nectarines, cherries - and it even works for some tropical fruits like mango and papaya. It’s not very aggressive or prone to standing out too much in mix with other fruits in my experience. Works especially well with flavors that have their own aggressive top notes and you want to make it a fuller bodied fruit without pushing those flavors higher and getting more harshness or having them run floral on you, like peaches, or for filling out a cherry without letting it get to mediciny if you want a fresh natural cherry flavor.
I am strung out on Kentucky Tobacco and Native Tobacco, both from Flavorah. I find myself inching further and further away from sweet fruits, deserts, bakeries, creams, etc., and moving more towards tobaccos, spices, liquors, and other savory flavors that provide more nuance and imagination. Here's to hoping I can get employed again, much like pre-COVID layoff, so I can afford more oddball flavors and become the next American Tom Klark.
Well this wasn’t a full year experience for me, started diy somewhere around september I guess but I do have a few notes on flavors. I will start from my favorite flavor and it is going to be a FLV Lychee. It is not the most versatile flavor and it usually not very popular along with other Lychee flavors but I admire this floral sweetness with a hint of kiwi and sugar I guess. It is hard to describe it cause I am sure everybody will taste a different notes. It is a 100% the flavor that will be used by me a lot in the upcoming year along with other lychee flavors from tfa, cap and fe. As for disappointment, there was a few. Most recent though is a TFA Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. Pretty sure not everybody will share this opinion, maybe even nobody but for me this flavor is absolute mess and shite. It resembles ice cream and maybe can fool you around but leaves an after taste of 0 calories sweetener with a punch of burnt sugar and some mellow sourness (what?). And it is used in million recipes on elr (I get it that it was the only option back then) but that is probably what made me buy it at the first place. Another disappointment is a TFA dragonfruit which is useful as emulsifier but absolutely non existent for me as a flavor. So this is more like a tool rather than a flavor. Ok. Now I said it, throw your rocks at me heh
Really Plex? I would think your favorite flavor would be some kind of White Russian flavor and I won't throw a rock at you but I've definitely got a snowball with your name on it my friend 😁👍
Lol, what is White Russian? Is that a drink? Bet it should have vodka in it
No rocks. I love FE Lychee and hope to see what you wind up doing with that one specifically, but also enjoy FLV, as well as CAP and TFA.
strange, strange world. SSA Multivitamin is my FOTY, and this was my only recipe this year worthy of sharing with other humans:
Me Lychee
2% FE Lychee
1% SSA Multivitamin
1% FLV Sweet Coconut
WF Egg Yolk is the flavor of 2020. Don’t @ me.
I can't tell if you're trying it say it was the best flavor of 2020, or the worst, or just the one that most tastes like 2020... and I kind of like that ambiguity in this case.
Flavor of the year? Easy, SSA Bakery Orange.
Need a little extra in a bakery? Use it low, like 0.5 or lower. Want a deep orange that can stand up to low flavors like bacco’s and custards? Use this. Want to make Cabin but with orange? Use this (shameless plug here for my Bespoke Autumn recipe https://e-liquid-recipes.com/recipe/3725377/Bespoke%20Autumn )
It’s so delicious, i love it
OMG I mixed that Bespoke exactly 14 days ago! It's ready for me to try! Can't wait to get home and get the dumb home things like showering and eating out of the way so I can try it tonight!
Hope you like it, let me know your thoughts. It’s not perfect, but it’s damn tasty. Remix it by all means if you like the idea!
Serious question, what does FA 7 leaves taste like to you? I want to like it snd kind of do sometimes, but I get heavy anise from it which I despise normally. Plus, if I remember the msds from FA correctly, I believe it has a natural extract hay or rye grain component to it which is bizarre to me
Flavors I've loved the most:
Chemnovatic: Apricot, Corn Flakes, Cotton Candy, Cucumber, Lemon Cream Wafer
VTA: Bakery Spice Blend, Lemon Meringue Tart, Persian Lime
Flavorah: Cinnamon Crunch, Clove, Brie Cheese, Marshmallow Vanilla, Moscato, Oriental Tobacco
Jungle Flavors: Dulce de Leche, Strawberry Sweet
Wonder Flavors: Blueberry Gummy Candy, Strawberry Gummy Candy, Croissant, Caramel Butter, Caramel Popcorn and Peanuts
Inawera: Creme Brulee (YC), Purple Blush, Sesame Sweets
Got a bunch of flavors that I haven't tried yet. List might have been different if I'd gotten around to them.
My best flavor of the year is Wonder Flavors Starfruit.
Unique and versatile flavor with the ability to support other fruits in the mix.
My second best flavor of the year is Flavorah Persimmon.
A very complex flavor on its own and not always easy to work with.
My third best flavor of the year is Medicine Flower Black Cherry.
For me the most realistic black cherry on the market.
The worst flavor of the year goes to TFA‘s Rose Candy.
I just didn’t get it to work for me I assume.
As a runner up for the worst flavor of the year I feel FW Cantaloupe is up to it.
A perfect flavor if you want to vape secretly in a nail salon....
The best flavors I’ve single flavor tested this year are vta sweet cream, fa custard premium und cbv käsekuchen. I like it when things taste just like they’re named. The flavor I had the most fun with this year though was fa soho!
Not sure if they belong to this year, but I had in mind the same 2 flavors I've been using a lot this tear, VTA Sweet Cream and FA Premium Custard. Haven't tried the CBV. Would like to add WF Crispy Wafer, which I have enjoyed in a variety of forms, but mostly with a bit of INW Biscuit, they are just lovely together with Creams and Custards....
What a year. It's the year when I went from just ordering flavors to make other people's recipes to actually wanting to make my own stuff. Of the roughly 120 flavors i have, i still haven't had the time to SFT them all. But I'm working on it. Currently i have other people's notes for the flavors i have yet to SFT, just so I have a better idea of them rather than just being blind.
It is also the year when I started experimenting with recipes outside of what I usually go for. I'm a Custard and bakery kind of guy, but i have experimented with lemonades and fruit mixes as well and with that I've realized that I like my recipes to follow seasons. Like bakeries and custards during winter, fruits and beverages during summer.
That said, my flavor of the year has to be LA Lemonade. During summer i ran through that flavor at an alarming rate. Was really unsure of it when I ordered it as i didn't think lemonade would translate super well in to a vape, but damn was i wrong. I did a SFT and after my first few puffs i went on to chefs and ordered a 50ml bottle. Ran out of that rather quickly and ordered another 50ml bottle. Still have about 1/3 of that bottle left to use when it gets warmer again. Now I want to try and work that in to a warm kind of Custard, just because I really love that flavor. Haven't really gotten to it yet as school is kicking my ass when it comes to free time and creativity, but once the pace slows down to a more comfortable speed, I'm getting on that.
But that's not the flavor I've used the most this year, as i only really used it during the summer warmth, and here in sweden it is cold most of the year. The ones I've used the most are probably a tie between TPA Vanilla Custard and CAP NY Cheesecake.
The flavor i was most surprised about this year was FA Custard Premium. I made a SFT of that, let it steep 14 days before trying it. At first it was incredibly weird. It had this odd spice to it, like tumeric or something. It wasn't too bad and it could've been great in a savory kind of recipe, but i kept on vaping the SFT. Then about half way through my SFT bottle it just clicked. Now it is THE best Custard I've ever tried. I'm trying other people's recipes and sub whatever Custard they used for the CustPrem, just to see how it plays with the flavorings in their recipes. I now know that when I'm making my very own vanilla Custard recipe I'm going to base it on that very Custard flavor. CustPrem and Shisha Vanilla is in My opinion a really good combo and I can't wait until I can keep working on the recipe.
No matter how much of a shit show 2020 has been, it still is a great year for me in terms of vaping DIY. I've learned a lot, but also realized how much more I get to learn, and i am eager to learn it. I haven't had the time to be really active on the discord, but the few times I've had the time to be there, the people has been really friendly and very helpful, so that has been a great place for me, i just wish I could've been more active.
Holy crap, this post got to be a lot longer than intended. Oops.
If you really like lemonade you should try the lemonade trinity by humanpuck:
Lemonade Trinity by humanpuck
4% LA Lemonade
2 % FLV Lemonade
0.75% FA Lemon Sicily
It’s an amazing base that you can throw anything at.
I've got a suggestion for improving the FOTW - a small change in the format of the original post. We normally see "The week after that will be:" repeated over and over in the Coming Attractions List. It's nice to know what's coming, but we could be missing chances at Seasonally Appropriate FOTW's. We'll go through the spring without any Floral flavors and summer will pass without a whiff of Lemonade or Margaritas! Did you realize that any request made today will not debut until almost Labor Day? Simply adding dates to the list might help everyone plan and request flavors more in line with the time of the year.
Here's the way I think the same info should be presented . . .
|FROM|FLAVOR|TO| |:---:|:---:|:---:| |Jan 05|Dessert Tobacco|Jan 11| |Jan 12|Cantaloupe|Jan 18| |Jan 19|Toast|Jan 25| |Jan 26|Meringue|Feb 01| |Feb 02|Sherbet/Sorbet|Feb 08| |Feb 09|Pear|Feb 15| |Feb 16|Red Raspberry|Feb 22| |Feb 23|Vanilla Ice Cream|Mar 01| |Mar 02|Turkish Tobacco|Mar 08| |Mar 09|Rhubarb|Mar 15| |Mar 16|FOTQ|Mar 22| |Mar 23|Mango|Mar 29| |Mar 30|Coconut|Apr 05| |Apr 06|Cream Soda|Apr 12| |Apr 13|Bread|Apr 19| |Apr 20|Wood|Apr 26| |Apr 27|Cardamom and Chai|May 03| |May 04|Vienna Cream|May 10| |May 11|Sweet Cream|May 17| |May 18|Vanilla Cream|May 24| |May 25|Whipped Cream|May 31| |Jun 01|FOTQ5|Jun 07| |Jun 08|Burley Tobacco|Jun 14| |Jun 15|Sugar|Jun 21| |Jun 22|Blood Orange|Jun 28| |Jun 29|Honey|Jul 05| |Jul 06|Frosting/Icing|Jul 12| |Jul 13|Date|Jul 19| |Jul 20|Fig|Jul 26| |Jul 27|Plum|Aug 02| |Aug 03|Grapefruit|Aug 09| |Aug 10|Butter|Aug 16| |Aug 17|???|Aug 23|
What a great idea!
Another random thought . . . Flavors do NOT have to be added in the order they were requested. You can place them anywhere on the calendar. Do you remember pushing EggNog back over and over? Why not let people request a flavor and a time slot?
They don’t, and I’m cool with people requesting a later date... but I don’t want to bump them unilaterally because first come first served seems to fairest way to make this everyone’s Flavor of the Week and not just mine. Eggnog was an exception for... reasons.
Love the photo "cup of 2020" & I've loved getting into diy & watching noted this year! & I've also binge watched prob every noted EVER. I've learned so much & its a blessing to have you guys. Quite literally couldn't have done it without ya! Thanks Emily, Dave & Cheeba for all that you do!
Flavour of the year for me is a toss up. It’s either PUR Country Apple or SSA Bakery Orange.
Both of those flavour profiles have always been pretty bad to me until I tried those mentioned above.
My most used flavours are hazelnuts and creams.
To be fair though, I ordered almost 200 flavours this year and haven’t gotten to many, many of them.
Worst flavour for me this year has been PUR Watermelon. Not because it is terrible, but because it was super hyped and I don’t feel that any other flavour let me down as much as that one did (due to imagined expectations).
Expecting awesome and getting average is often a worse feeling to me than expecting below average and getting terrible.
Absolutely. I wanted it to be “the” watermelon. It just wasn’t for me.
CAP Sweet Cream takes the cake as the worst flavour I have tried this year, but I wasn’t even fussed about it.
With you on that WF Hazelnuts & Cream, lovely flavor, used it a lot this year. Works well with other flavors and fills out recipes very nicely...
They did an excellent job with that one. It’s in one of my ADVs.
I'm guessing this is meant to be .. Flavors that "came out" this year.
That's gonna have to be CNV Lemon Cream Wafer .. Not that I tried a lot of what's "new" this year though.
As for favorite that I personally just tried this year - That's a toss up between WF Butter Pecan Pie and NR Kigola (though I guess NR Kigola is more of a mix/blend/oneshot .. argh, who cares)
No, it's not meant to be flavors that came out this year, just flavors that you personally tried for the first time this year. You're doing it right.
I'm a little late for this one but I think that FA Cookie is the cat's meow. It's really good shit, seriously.
Finally tried Calipitter Chow this year after it had been on the nice to haves list for ages. It was love at first inhale. I'm not the most disciplined single flavor tester, but in this case I never got to mixing it (yet).
If anyone is aware of an unexpected/off beat use case for FLV ginger, I'd love to hear it.
I've been playing around with VTA Ginger Root, very potent stuff. Not sure how it compares to FLV. In VTA case, it spiced up chocolates and darker cakes nicely, if that might help. Only a tiny % to make things interesting, and they certainly made them interesting...
Not much into cocktails, but I'm guessing it might have a place there...
And then the obvious Ginger Cookie profiles, surely there are a few recipes out there...
Most used: I found myself gravitating to dessert tobaccos for most of this year (next week should be awesome!) so TFA RY4 Double (I have JF RY4 and FA Soho coming this week, very excited to try them), FW Butterscotch and Butterscotch Ripple (I have FA Butterscotch coming this week, also very excited to try it), FW Graham Cracker
New to me this year that I loved: Lots of things! Most notably: WF Vanilla Cream Extra, JF Sweet Strawberry, VT Sugarloaf, TFA Vanilla Custard II, LB White Chocolate Peppermint, FLV Yam, VT Lemon Meringue Tart...so many more
New to me that I didn’t love: OOO Cornbread (I really wanted to like it), MB Legendary Custard (they weren’t kidding about a bitter note), Cap Peanut Butter (just...terrible, much prefer DX), WF Baked Strawberry, GRM Samoan Dreams (I even cut the suggested % in half, still way overpowered).
Thanks for the tip on Samoan Dreams, just recently got that one in, haven't tried it yet, will try cutting it down to a fourth of the suggested %.
Here’s hoping that your vast experience and superior palate can translate it into something good! If anyone can...
One of the best flavours I've found recently is VSO Spork Pudding Vanilla. It's a really thick, dense custard after just a week's steep. It has one of my favourite vanilla notes, really nice darker caramel-y sweetness. It just beats any other custard I've tried hands down.
Plus if you're lucky they'll send you one of those nifty little Sporks with it!
I've been cheated out of a spork! Maybe you have to buy direct to get one - I got it from Chefs. Have you tried it then? How did you think it compared to other custard flavours?
I tried it back in 2017 or 2018, I think I remember it having a terrific vanilla but tasting more like vanilla frozen yogurt than custard. Not that vanilla frozen yogurt is a bad, I love that stuff. Thick, oh so creamy, sweet, and again that amazingly lovely lingering vanilla. Just not the eggy, buttery thing I was expecting from it saying custard on the bottle.
At the time, it was handed to me already dripped in an RDA that wasn't mine, I didn't own the flavor. I've since bought some recently directly from VSO (but haven't mixed it yet), since I was there buying something else anyway and wanted to support the creator, who once helped me find my phone after I lost it in an airport. I did get a spork. I think everyone who orders it from VSO directly gets a spork. I get that this is quite the accusation to make without any evidence, but I suspect Chefs also gets a spork for every bottle's worth, but Lewis hoards them all for himself instead of sending them out to Chefs customers. Like some kind of human Smaug reclining on a mountain of spork treasure.
My flavor of the year: VT Persian Lime. I have a theory that this one just keeps getting better and better the longer it steeps. It's awesome even if it's not true.
My 2020 Winners: INW Purple Blush, INW Two Apples, INW Shisha Lime, INW Shisha Lemon, INW Shisha Gingerbread, FA Cucumber, FW Ginger, CAP Jelly Candy, PUR Country Apple, FLV Eisai Tea, JF Honey Peach, TFA Vanilla Custard II, FA Whipped Cream, CAP Cantaloupe, TFA French Vanilla Deluxe, CAP Grapefruit
My 2020 Losers: HS Caramel Toffee, FLV Tangerine, FLV Apple Filling, FLV Lychee, FLV Citrus Soda, FLV Toffee, VT Lime Cordial, INW Lemon, INW Lemon Mix, INW Yes We Cheesecake, JF Yellow Cake, TFA Red Licorice
On-the-fence: VT Hard Crack Toffee - need more time with this one
+ around 50 "new" flavors that I haven't had time to try out yet - gunna be a busy 2021!
probably 80% of the flavours I've tried were within this last year, hadn't tried anything from FLV, VT, OOO, WF or INW before 2020, however:
my best 2020 flavours: -FA Indian mango, this thing is great, and the best mango I've tried to date
-WF Tropical Gummy Candy & I would've added Kumquat here if it wasn't -to me at least- pretty weak.
-SSA : I just got 20 different flavours, haven't used most of them yet but from the hands tests I just can't wait to mix with them. Garden mint stood out to me the most, it's just fantastic, more realistic and very different from any other mint-type flavour I've tried. almost got myself Cottage cheese out of curiosity XD.
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Underrated/ underutilized flavours IMHO: VT shisha blackcurrant, probably more of a grape than a black currant, but it's fantastic, VT Ginger root, VT Mastiha, VT Parano carrot. I really hope more of us will play around with these in the future.
Flavours I can't get enough of and that I think everyone should at least try: M&P Calipitterchow, WF caramel peanut popcorn, FLV Root Beer, FLV tobaccos (probably the whole line), FLV Yakima hops, FLV rich cinnamon, FLV Yam, FLV Sour Apple, FLV Cranberry, VT Rice Base, VT Devon Cream, VT Sour Lemon, VT toffee Ice cream, Cap Sweet Currant, OOO Cornbread and probably 20 more, I know probably none of these came out this year, but for a relative newbie like me it's all new =]
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Sorry for the long comment, again thank you guys, I'm very grateful for what you do.
and Happy New Year everyone
While I can't speak for anyone else, nor do I have a flavor to articulate the zeitgeist of the abomination known as 2020 (Worst. Year. Ever.), if I had to choose the best NEW (and unexpected) flavor for me (especially for this time of year), it'd have to be FLV Eggnog.
I mainly got it for shyndo's Spiced peaches and cream, since I had a full 30ml of WF Peach Pie & Cream that I was struggling to put to use. This is one of, if not the best < three-flavor recipes I've found and is the best two-flavor recipe that I've ever tried, by far. I'm really impressed w/ the eggnog because even tho it's still kind of a niche flavor, it's far more versatile than I expected, which was a pleasant surprise. I'm confident it can be used as a key component in a pumpkin pie by a better and more experienced mixer than I.
The other flavor which met, if not exceeded expectations and is the absolute best flavor overall that I've tried this past year, is FA Custard Premium. While this wasn't a surprise and not exactly new to me due to already having FA Custard, it is without a doubt superior. Whether the only difference between the two is simply the removal of lemon, I'm not sure, but it results in a significantly superior flavor and custard that can now be used in a variety of recipes.
Hi Bud, with you on that Custard Premium, it has replaced most of the older custards for me. And the Peach Pie and Cream is awesome aswell. I came up with a pretty tasty recipe (to me at least) if you're looking where to use the flavor in https://e-liquid-recipes.com/recipe/2689441/ZigZ%20Leite%20con%20Jalletas
First 4 flavors of the recipe are key, for the rest you can probably get away with subs or omit...
Oh yea, even tho I've only been able to use it once since it was a BF order from Chef's so have only had it for a few weeks (only have 10ml since the 30ml was out ASAP, and they wouldn't lemme add more than one so gotta use it sparingly), it's def my fav and prolly the best custard overall but need to see how it mixes w/ others in order to assess its versatility before reaching that conclusion w/ certainty.
Unfortunately, I'm missing the 2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th. While I received my first VTA flavors in the order mentioned above, they ran out of Pudding Base and I didn't get to grab the Frosting as it wasn't a high priority on my flavor wishlist, w/ the other two not being on my radar.
Is there going to be a Best of 2020 thread? Figured I'd ask here instead of a separate post.
You mean Recipe of the Year?
Some not so popular this year, but that I have enjoyed, and not saying they are the Dogs Bullocks, but enjoyable.
FA Pannetone. Has too much lemon where it shouldn't probably be, but its a really good lemon, with a hint of fruit mix and the bakery in the backgroung. Enjoyed it as single flavor for a while.
VTA Frozen Pineapple Yogurt is intended as a One Shot. Pretty weak. But it is tasty, and very versatile, works well with other flavors. A nice tropical Base when added to WF Coconut Custard and FLV Guanabana, All 3 around 2% and some Vanilla Swirl to Swirl it all up...
WF Tahitian Vanilla Cream works with everything, such a nice vanilla. There Vanilla Cream Extra is great too...
WF Hollandaise Cream, honorable mention, for there's not another nuanced cream like it, and also works great in recipes...
VTA Golden Syrup hasn't been mentioned, so lets throw that out there...
VTA Pandan Leaf is probably a very bad flavor for most, but just blew my mind when I first tried it, and I kinda love it for that reason, all I can say is that it's a tough vape, very earthy. Used low it with Golden Syrup and Orange Marmalade in a mix, and just works for me, its sooo different. Sort of a pallete reseting flavor..
Enough for just 1 comment...
Excellent year regarding the quality of flavors released (with fresh new brands CNV, SSA, VSO) that will be difficult to beat anytime soon (me fears dark clouds for vaping are coming => resulting in less new flavors released and not many new brands will appear compared to if the future was bright).
Bought around 180 new flavors this year; about 60 of those i'd buy again. Many standouts, so i'll rather mention a few complete disappointments for me: Sasami Loganberry, Orange Liqueur, PUR Sweet Coffee with sweet Cream, FA Juicy Ripe BB, Indian Mango.
Best flavor for me was CAP Sweet Guava. I got it to try Prickly Victory and I never expected to like it so much. I'm not even that big into guava but it's absolutely amazing.
Worst was definitely RF Strawberry Jam with Toast. I tried that DIYorDie Strawberry Jam Monster recipe and it was the most disgusting thing I've ever vaped.
i like your fancy table.
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best flavors for me?
Flavor Monks Gin - incredible complexity and realism
FM Tobacco Bastards Cohiba - after an initial mistake of mixing way too fucking high, 3% is a great cigar flavor
FM TB Mint - Near perfect mint tobacco
FLV Arabian - Never really got into it before. 0.2 and you will turn any tobacco base sharp and slightly ashy plus potential for uses outside of baccos in unusual ways
FM Blackberry - just a real nice berry flavor, totally enjoyable
MB Classic Belgian Waffle - real strong clear waffle
and new for me was trying all these great mints: flv peppermint, lb wcpm, inw shisha peppermint, ssa natural/garden
Favorites of the year is WF crumble topping, to me it's exactly what it says on the label but if I go over 2% I get I strange fruitiness out of it so I stay between 0.5 - 1.5%. Second place: WF sweet bread, to me it's like RF baked bread but softer and more manageable, love it with croissant. The worst is again WF....baked pineapple...not baked not warm....to me , just a mix between cap golden pineapple and VTA Sugarloaf pineapple..... disappointed..... looking forward to the show!