PART 1:

Noted Ep. 182: RAISIN (ft. Isuamadog)

(Ranked from worst to first)

As SFs none of the flavours this week were really gross and none tasted amazing. All were pretty mediocre. But the recipes tried this week which used them were all great.

VT Christmas Pudding: (Not part of the rankings) Dense cake. Dark molasses sweetness. Mix of spices, but hard to distinguish individual spices. Kind of like a blend of cinnamon, nutmeg and clove. No ginger or cardamom. Maybe a touch of anise, but not enough to be liquorice-y. Some musty fruit, like raisins or maybe dates.

7.16

CC (Chefs Choice) Spotted Dick and Custard: (Not part of the rankings) At the 20% recommended by Chefs ID10-T got an overwhelmingly musty raisin plus some vanilla custard. Very raisin-y. At 5% and steeped for a week, he thought it was an extremely delicious rich vanilla custard with a little bit of a dark, dried fruit. Fruit note makes it more interesting. Not specifically a raisin. At 12% Isuamadog got a lot of custard with a light, dark fruit finish. Thought it was pretty good. Somewhere between 12-20% it goes from predominantly custard with a touch of raisin, to raisin with a touch of custard. So there's potentially a good % where you can get both the custard and the raisin. ID10-T tested at 5% and 20%. Isuamadog tested at 12%.

10.41

BF (Bickford) Raisin: ID10-T didn't get much flavour at all at 2%. Just a vague, sweet fruit. At 4% as a SNV got dirty grape candy. Still pretty soft, not super flavourful. May improve after a steep? Isuamodog thought it was pretty thin. Not particularly good or bad. Tasted mostly like dark, purple grape. ID10-T tested a 2% and 4%. Isuamadog tested at 3%.

15.15

If you're looking for a little dried fruit and you don't need it to taste specifically like raisin VT Red Dates is a great choice. Could probably bend it into a raisin with a raisin flavour?

raisin flavours tend to be pretty potent compared with other flavours from the same flavour company.

BF (Bickford) Raisin Rum: Not raisin or rum. Not unpleasant. Dark-ish fruity sweetness with a slight musty quality. Overall not a lot there. Isuamadog thought it was pretty forgettable. When compared to BF Raisin it had a little bit of warmth. But no actual rum. Would probably get more dark fruit out of INW Dark for Pipe than you would from BF RR. ID10-T and Isuamadog tested at 3%.

18.13

OOO Raisin Flakes Cereal V1: (Discussed on Fruity Cereals episode) At 3% ID10-T got cardboard topped with cooked plum. At 6% like grape candy wrapped it cardboard. Between 3-6% goes from more of a prune to more of a candy, which is somehow worse with the cardboard. Isuamadog didn't think it was absolutely terrible. ID10-T tested at 3% and 6%. Isuamadog tested at 5%.

20.21

OOO Raisin Flakes Cereal V2: (Ranked much higher than V1) An improvement on V1. Isuamadog thought the fruit was clearer, brighter and sweeter. Came across as almost candy-ish. Grape, not raisin. Like a bright grape without the juiciness. ID10-T thought it was a little too bright and plum-like. But the cereal is better than V1. Isuamadog tested at 5%.

21.09

VT Rum and Raisin: ID10-T thought it was pretty throaty, bordering on harsh. ID10-T didn't get much raisin, barely there. Mostly a rum flavour with a little bit of raisin on the end. Isuamadog didn't get much raisin either. Thought it wasn't as good as VT Light Rum. Would have been better if they had just added some raisin to that. Emily thought it was a little throaty, but just added to the feeling of the alcoholic bite. Has the fruity sweetness of raisin, but not a strong, distinct raisin flavour. Not musky and funky like a lot of raisin flavours can be.

23.19

VT Light Rum is really good. VT Golden Rum tastes like skunky beer and ketchup!

TFA Raisin: Incredibly potent. ID10-T saw it being used as high as 3% on ELR- seems ike it would taste like rotten plastic flowers at that %. He thought it was mostly a full bodied raisin, but a lot of other things too. Raspberry-ish, floral top note. A little spice that's kind of anise-y and really out of place. Rotten taste that goes beyond a musty, funky raisin. Could maybe work where raisin is an accent in a recipe? Or to give a raisin-y note to a tobacco recipe? The floral higher notes would probably be the hardest to cover, but still doable. Not an unusable flavour, but use with caution. Especially as so potent. Isuamadog thought it could be paired with VT Red Dates to bend it into a raisin. He found 1% was unpleasant. Overall came across as a stale raisin. Didn't get any of the subtleties ID10-T described. ID10-T tested at 0.25%. Potent. Full flavoured that low. Might even be better diluted and used very low? Isuamadog tested at 0.5% and 1%.

27.18

NF (Nature's Flavors) Rum Raisin: Isuamadog thought it was like a cheap rum cut with rubbing alcohol and a sour grape mash finish. ID10-T didn't get any rubbing alcohol. Didin't get rum or raisin from it either. Got a generic, darker dried fruit flavour that could have been a raisin, date, fig etc. Cleaner/not as musty, funky or earthy than many other raisin flavours. Sweeter, without tasting like candy. Although did taste candied, like dried fruit that has been partially rehydrated with sugar water. Or like the candied dried fruit from a fruit cake. Might work as a raisin note if raisin was only an accent? Not unpleasant. A decent dried fruit flavour, but not really raisin-y. Isuamadog tested at 4%, steeped for about a week. ID10-T tested at 1.5%, steeped about a week.

31.01

FLV Oatmeal Raisin: Emily would have ranked a lot lower, thinks it's disgusting! Has a noticeable oat note. But the raisin is really strong and unpleasant. Overly funky and musty. At 3% Cheeba thought the raisin blends into the oatmeal cookie pretty well. He got a fair bit of spice. Raisin is a bit musky. At 1.5% thought the raisin stood out quite a bit. But when he took it higher the oatmeal and the cookie came out more. Isuamadog loved it. Thought it was oatmeal with brown sugar. Didn't get any raisin at all. At 0.5% ID10-T thought it was just musty and strong. But wasn't gross. Got a touch of cinnamon spice. Didn't get any oatmeal. Maybe something a little bakery-ish in the back and some brown sugar. Thought it tastes more like a raisin than any of the others this week. But does taste a bit like an old raisin. At 0.75% was just raisin. At 1% got a little gross. Cheeba tested at 1.5% and 3%. Isuamadog tested at 1.3%. ID10-T tested at 0.5%, 0.75% and 1%. Emily tested at 1%.

36.29

Someone in the chat mentioned FLV Oatmeal Raisin going well with FLV tobaccos and JF Ry4 Double.

FLV Raisin Rum: Very smooth. Cheeba thought it could do with a bit more of a boozy note. But could add some VT Light Rum (not VT Golden Rum!). Tastes like raisin rum ice cream without the ice cream. Which isn't boozy. But it is a little more funky or musty than the ice cream flavouring is. but it's not nearly as funky as FLV Oatmeal Raisin. Emily gets a bit of a nice spice note. Isuamadog thought it came across more like a warm syrup than an alcohol.

40.37

PART 2:

Noted Ep. 182: RAISIN (ft. Isuamadog)

Recipes:

raisin bran with Groceryboy_Jr by RUG_ly (ELR) A very authentic Raisin Bran. Perfectly crafted. Uses FLV Wheat, which is very barn-y and wholesome tasting. It also seems to be keeping the CAP Cereal 27 from becoming too corny.

43.25

Puffster (A hip granola tobacco vape) by Kotsos (ATF and ELR) Really good. Unfortunately this mixers only public recipe. Uses FLV Oatmeal Raisin, which works great in tobaccos. This mix has something dark, almost chocolate-y. It's really rich and satisfying. Creative idea to do a granola tobacco. Isuamadog has been trying to use FLV Caramel in a tobacco, but it's really thin. The brown sugar note in Oatmeal Raisin would work a lot better.

47.51

Dark by SlashaLO (ATF) Only 2.2% total flavour, but still very flavourful. FLV Turkish is spicy, but this recipe really brings out that spice. That spice note goes really well with FLV Sweet Fig and FLV Raisin Rum.

53.42

VT Fig tastes like liquorice

Camel Driver by nks (ATF) ID10-T's favourite recipe he tried this week. More-ish. A really tasty, blatantly pipe tobacco. A rich tobacco. Has a little touch of rum and dark fruity sweetness from FLV Raisin Rum and VT Red Dates. Uses INW Black for Pipe, which is a little smokey. Has a bold flavour, but isn't overpowering. The combo of sweetness from the FA Jamaica Special and the VT Red Dates is really nice.

56.43

INW Black for Pipe is a little smokey. It can taste a bit anise-y if it's not steeped for long enough. Given time it blossoms and is really good.

MBs Jam (using ENYAWRECKLAW yeo rice layer) by MECH_MOD_RN (ATF) Both ID10-T and Emily tried this recipe. Emily didn't like it at first because she doesn't like INW Raspberry. It's too bright and floral. but after letting it steep she really enjoyed it. The starchy base is really thick and full. Then you get bright raspberry. FA Forest Fruit and FLV Oatmeal Raisin helps to turn INW Raspberry into something better than it is as a SF. Help tone down and bridge the gap between the base-y brown sugar and the bright floral raspberry. Uses Wayne's rice layer, which is really good. Really creamy. Plus FE Sweet Rice doesn't become totally mushy after a steep. Although will probably fall apart eventually, so maybe don't mix up big batches. Doesn't use the VT Rice Base trick either. Get the really nice vanilla note from CAP Vanilla Whipped Cream.

1.00.11

INW Raspberry is too bright and too floral. Not a particularly great flavour.

Drunken Cinnamon Roll by besejuiced (ATF) All FLV. Uses 1% FLV Cinnamon Roll with 0.25% of FLV Sweet Dough. Sweet Dough really fills the Cinn Roll out and makes a spot on cinnamon roll. But Emily would have preferred a better cinnamon pastry flavour used. FLV Cinn Roll isn't bad, but the cinnamon note is a bit thin and metallic. Maybe could have used the FLV CR, but added a tiny bit of FLV Rich Cinnamon. It's not that 'drunk' as FLV Raisin Rum is a bit light on the rum. But there's enough there to let you know there is rum in it. The cinnamon comes through, but it's just the wrong kind of cinnamon.

1.03.43

FLV Sweet Dough is such an underrated flavour. Can be a bit hard to work with. Got to use it really low. Wouldn't go above 0.5%. Maybe 0.75% depending on the other flavours used with it. Usually 0.25% is going to be enough.

Raisin just seems like a profile I would never in my life want to take the time to research and work with. Like if someone just busted out a request for Tomato flavored recipes. Is it possible? Probably. But.. why? 😳