https://i.imgur.com/EQ0IXcY.jpg
Thanks to u/wllmc and u/BullCityFlavors
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All mixed at the percentages listed, @ 3mg, 70v/30p, tested on a SteamCrave RDTA v.1, with dual vertical, 7 wrap, 24ga. Kanthal coils, with fresh cotton and dry burned coils in between tests. Steeped for 1+ week.
**Rhubarb (SSA) 1% 2-25-22** -- After even BRIEFLY testing this one, I felt compelled to start this review off with no fluff and stuff, no hyperbole, and get RIGHT to it. This IS, the most accurate Rhubarb, I have ever tried. Is it perfect ?? No, BUT it's pretty damned close. As a flavor tester, many times you have to test flavors, that no one in their right MIND would test. Some are out of this world delicious, others are outright terrible, but sometimes, JUST sometimes, you get to some REALLY accurate ones. This IS one of them. I've had more than a few, and some just smell/taste like cat p!$$. Great news is, this one DOESN'T lol.
HYPER accurate would be pretty close here. What many Rhu's do, is they seem to center around most of the bright, high end notes, and the body suffers. This one seemed to FULLY encompass the entire main body notes that most, if not all others, miss. Wow, because after being rather let down by some, this one really showed HOW it was done. A tick above mid level sweet, and just really tasted like you were eating a sweetened, fresh rhubarb pie with no crust. Sobucky didn't stop there, as they also threw in some of the sparkling, almost Kiwi like high end, bright notes to not only drive home the realism, but round it out. If I had a nailed down super "pie crust" stone, (I don't yet), I'd toss this one into is ASAP. Wow, Sobucky did the Rhu right here folks, and if you are in need for maybe one of the best, most accurate Rhubarbs, you should pick this one up. Nothing off-putting, and very good at 1%, with MAYBE a little headroom left, with possiblly 0.25-.0.50 (estimating) increase possible. Clean, accurate, fresh, and punchy, with PLENTY of body, I couldn't find fault with this one. **10/10**.
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Your ratings by vendor
Your ratings by score
Do you see the problem here?
>Do you see the problem here?
u/YepSoundsAboutRight Actually I don't. Maybe you could share or link to some of your flavor reviews to better show what non-problematic format or rating system you are using, to further clarify.
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As everyone does, it should know, is that taste(s) are subjective TO the end user. Everyone's tastes are different, and I repeatedly warn people, who may or may not make purchases solely on my reviews, as that can be RISKY, especially if we have different palates. I very often encourage people to post back THEIR feelings, thoughts, and reviews as I would love to hear them. Many times (not always) I receive feedback that my reviews are often times spot on, to their tastes/perceptions, and/or very close, and helped them make decisions.
While I DO receive many flavors for review free of charge, I also purchase far MORE flavors myself, and can choose what flavors I purchase, and review. As has always been the case with my reviews, they are provided FREE of charge TO and FOR the DIY community, to do with them, what they wish. No charge, no pay-wall, no subscription required.
As always, people SHOULD make up their own minds, based on THEIR palates, preferences, etc., and if I can help out in that regard, I'm more than happy continuing in doing that.
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I appreciate your feedback, as when you post as much online as I do, you have to take ALL of the feedback, and I do.
Even us old timers appreciate your reviews, SD. Ive read every single one of them and generally agree, of course there is personal preference as you mentioned. I would never have purchased any SSA had i not read your reviews and thus far ive agreed completely, with the descriptions themselves. I disregard the rating system, if i am being honest, just as i do with any flavor review ive ever read. I also like your format, easy to read as they arent convoluted. I dont internet much these days but i take the time to follow your posts.
Thanks for all your time and work. ~ KenOWhere
>Even us old timers appreciate your reviews, SD. Ive read every single one of them and generally agree, of course there is personal preference as you mentioned.
u/To0nMaN wow, KenOWhere, how ARE things brother ?? !!!! Very long time. I'm actually getting TO old timer status here, hehe.
I really appreciate you taking the time to post, and it made my night. I appreciate your honesty, and I would never ask for anything else. As you know, it's impossible to please everyone, especially online. I've had lots of great feedback once I started sharing these all on the Redd, and a few un-great, but what are you going to do ? If everyone agreed, well, it'd be a boring ass place now wouldn't it. :)
Considering you don't internet much these days, I'm honored, and flattered that you took the time, and I appreciate that. I hope to see you more, with whatever limited online time you have.
Thanks Ken.
The problem you seem to be missing is that your scoring system comes across as arbitrary. If you've explained how it works somewhere I must have missed it. If you're saying "it's subjective" that doesn't really explain where you get the number or even why you decide to include it in the review.
Of course you're free to just throw any number or any description at any flavor and there's nothing anyone can do to stop you from not even trying the flavors before making up every detail of your reviews; IMO the rating shoots your credibility in the foot and not everyone is like Ken, setting aside one aspect and taking the rest for what it is, many people see that as casting doubt on the legitimacy of the rest of what you're saying (I hear about it every day)
I agree that the number rating system seems a bit, not redundant, but not much to go on alone. However, the way I see it, and also the reasons I find these reviews by u/Session-Drummer invaluable:
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they give you a percentage to work with thats not the average % on ELR (which is often skewed by a few nutjobs using it at 20% for example lol) **
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they let you know that, at the very least, if you buy this flavour, it can be vaped and is likely to not make you vomit/demolish the coils/melt your lungs**
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they do mention accuracy between the name of the flavour/description and the way it vapes, which is where the number system comes in handy (and the graph provided below breaks it down a bit better than I expected even)
So while its exceedingly rare for u/Session-Drummer to say "0/10 dont buy" I dont think that makes their effort less worthwhile... sure the rating system isnt much to go by but they never really rate based on other flavours of the same profile/name right? It seems to me as if they are more like, can we vape this stuff at all and is it going to taste similar to its name if we do.
Because these flavours are mostly not made to be vaped, so as we all know, they sometimes dont taste anywhere close to how they are meant to (or how they do in food/drink) when they are vaped.
Thats why I hold these reviews in high regard. I have never thought that the number rating system should be used to compare flavours against each other to determine eg the best rhubarb flavour.
As for how they would work in recipes, thats a whole other thing, and I feel that maybe these reviews have been misunderstood in that the primary goal is not to tell you exactly how to use them in a recipe...
In summary, I think u/Session-Drummer is doing SFT testing for all of us so we know which to buy and which to avoid based on the names of the flavours, and they add any thoughts on recipe usage where they can, but u/Session-Drummer remains the SFT champ doing the dirty job so many of us seem to avoid...
Lastly, I think that the numbers are never really very low because u/Session-Drummer doesn't just try literally every flavour available, but chooses or is given ones that are kind of known already to work in a vape.
This whole thing is pure conjecture, especially the last part, so I could just be wrong on all counts and would be happy to entertain further discussion or simply be corrected. I did feel the need to speak on behalf of u/Session-Drummer however because I perceive a slight misunderstanding of what is still dedicated, quality and useful content.
**though I dont think its that difficult to source percentage info that is less affected by outliers or info about which flavours that wont kill your lungs/coils, it still does not devalue the persistent contributions of u/Session-Drummer IMHO
>IMO the rating shoots your credibility in the foot and not everyone is like Ken, setting aside one aspect and taking the rest for what it is, many people see that as casting doubt on the legitimacy of the rest of what you're saying (I hear about it every day)
u/Apexified that is very unfortunate in that case.
The format that I have shared here, is the exact format that I use on multiple sites without issue(s). It's because there just isn't enough time to re-tool all of the reviews specifically for the Redd, hence the "universal" formatting.
The personal rating score is used in my master database so I can track, in regards to my needs, etc. Flavor rating doesn't have to be complicated, and it's really up to what's most important to the end user, who may score it completely differently, depending on THEIR needs.
I think often times, this gets over-complicated, and it doesn't need to be. Typically I use the 6:2:1:1 system, specifically
https://i.imgur.com/wGGfW3m.png
6 points for Accuracy, 2 points for Intensity, 1 point for Complexity, and 1 point for off-notes/florals/medicinals, or lack thereof. Other mixers may or may not score Accuracy as high as I do, or maybe even higher, hence the subjective nature of it all.
I agree with this statement.
There's not much use for a review that let us all know, that a peach taste like a peach and then a bunch of filler words, that really explains zero on what position the flavor got in a recipe, back, front, barely any suggestive pairings. Just to end it with "This is a peach, 10/10".
If you want to call them reviews, then review the flavor instead of just telling us that it taste like what the label says. Lack of info, out of mind scoring = zero trustworthiness.
That's pretty rude. Because it gives completely false information; i should say biased, just like you say about u/Session-Drummer reviews.
See, i appreciate all review(er)s, no matter how great their reviews are or what grades they are giving away. It's useful information for me and they contribute to the community. Sadly there are not many in this community who take time to write reviews and worse, too many don't even find time to rate their flavors or have a courage to show their opinion to the public... (and those are often the loudest critics of reviewers).
Regarding ratings. Everyone has their own rating system; i rate my flavors differently. To understand reviews more (and bias of reviewers) you just have to read more of their reviews. Read all reviews of that particular series and you'll get a pretty good idea what'sgreat/good/bad and what's not. That way you'll learn and adapt their rating to your own easily. Noone else can do that for you and that's not reviewers to blame.
Bitching about (too many) high grades. It's all about rating system one has, not about your perception. 9.20 might be 3/5 in a different rating system of the same reviewer. There's also one other important thing you missed somehow, which makes your graph biased. Time of a review. We know how improved flavors are each year, so our ratings change in time (but written reviews don't). Just think about how amazing SB Ripe TFA was 7 years ago, a perfect 10 probably, but then the competition came around, FA, INW, JF and 5 years ago that same SB Ripe was worth maybe 6/10 grade and today is probably just a lousy 3/10. Flavors get improved all the time and ratings from 5 years ago are not relevant today + also, too often we all find cracks in flavorings later when mixing the recipes (and that's when the flavoring shows its true value, not during very limited testing time). You have to adapt while reading.
To get a better idea how our grades (yours included) change in time, check some of the highest graded and most popular recipes from 5 or 7 years ago. Yes, some are still fine, hardly anyone is spectacular today, and most are messy, forgettable at least and most you'll never mix again (but they were 10's at that time for you). In fact, you most probably make better mixes today with your own mediocre experience (at least to your taste) with these improved flavors popping up all the time. That's why such generalization of flavor ratings is a wrong info and a reader should be aware of that. 2017 iPhone was rated as perfect at that time, but it doesn't mean it's perfect 10 today (and those reviews from 2017 still say it's perfect).
Should we bitch about Youtubers who all are seeing just great/magnificent/fantastic flavors in the latest WF series? There's nearly zero talking about what flavors are not worth to buy / are bad or a garbage. Sometimes they can't / don't want to mention even 3 most forgettable flavors. Or VSO in the past? I'd say NO, we should all be thankful for all their reviews anyway. And ratings like 8.50 / 9.24 / 9.87 are a much better info than zero rating (or just a descriptive rating); to me at least.
One more thing about ratings and bias – what's your opinion about recipe review(er)s on ATF? Should we believe them, are they trustworthy? Asking because... how many reviewers are grading recipes lower than 4 or and the average rating given by a reviewer is probably around 4.88? (while many 'reviewers' don't even never drop less than a perfect 5 every single time)? Biased? Fair? Fabulous info? Yet, i'd still say we're (should be) glad they are commenting anyway. At least i am; i get some useful info (but i'd get much more valuable info if they'd be giving away some 2's and 3's sometimes or at least rate recipes as 9.12 or 9.63).
My 2 cents. Thanks to all reviewers of flavorings, of recipes, youtubers; your work is highly appreciated in this community.
How does this compair in your opinion to the current reigning, defending, undisputed heavy weight champion INW Rhubarb?
>How does this compair in your opinion to the current reigning, defending, undisputed heavy weight champion INW Rhubarb?
u/xIcePickAbortionx sadly I don't have the INW Rhubarb, but I think I'm going to have to now, if nothing more than comparison's sake. Thank you for that.
I Def Like to refer to Session Drummers reviews as much as I do Noted flavors on YouTube..I just trust some mixers opinions and usually agree with them just so I don't have to single flavor test a million blueberries,strawberries myself etc Some experienced mixers just know what to look for and what it should taste like and how it stacks up to the many others in a particular category ,therefore I trust and appreciate his single flavor tests despite "Flavor is subjective" Yes taste "is" subjective that's true but 9 outta 10 people who "know flavor" and what to look for in a particular flavor category..I believe these peolple can pretty much tell you which ones suck n which dont for the most part..especially people like him that have tried so many.Just like Noted Flavors on YouTube im not gonna go buying the one at the bottom of the pack that all 3 mixers agreed wasn't very good or had an odd aftertaste or they felt needed help.I just trust their knowledge,experience n value their opinions Session Drummer to me is one of those people so thank you Session Drummer for your insight n well described taste n reactions..it almost feels like I'm there tasting it too.Keep up the excellent work,it can't be easy to go over every sectrum of concentrates and your details n descriptions are amazing.Bless you and Thank you,you've steered me to some amazing flavors I never would've thought to try without having read your descriptions and insight 👌😀
Fuck yes