HS Turkish Blended

Review

Setup: mtl STNG 0.7 Ohm 2.0 ID 28/40 clapton 28.5W & Asmodus C4 53W @ 0.2 Om shanti blah blah blah

nose: mildly pleasant but faint AP

Description: Shit. I forgot to write the percent on the tester :( Whomp Whomp. Probably 3%, it's an interestingly plain tobacco flavor in a vey Hangsen style. There's a hint of AP graininess amidst a very medium strength bacco flavor that comes across as a mild golden leaf with a decent amount of body. I really wish I had labeled this more than ever now since I want to make another tester at a stronger percent to see if I can't eke out a little more fullness out of it. After vaping this one for a while, and picking at it over a decent amount of time, I feel like whatever percent I did use it at just wasnt enough, in the end. The flavor was so soft and vague that despite tasting the tobacco notes that I did, I switched to the C4 Asmodus to get a better understanding of the nuances. Even with that, I couldnt really tell you much more about this flavor than that it presents as dry and that typical HS tobacco graininess steeps into more of a dry leaf than cereal corn chip. Not particularly strongly at whatever this percent is, but decently enough to warrant another sample at a much higher percent. Otherwise, it presents as a plain tobacco without any typical spice notes you'd want from an actual Turkish tobacco (or they were just so mild that they will show up on higher percentage mixes?)

~6% 8 days - You'd probably not believe this (but I do), yes I completely forgot to write the new percent on the new sample. So, I'm guessing this is 5 percent. I can't really tell, however, since I didn't write it down. My apologies. I was pretty certain that it was 6 and I just doubled the last one. With that out of the way, the flavor clarity has improved yet still comes across as 'soft'. Not that it isn't saturated here at X%. The flavor is not like that grainy AP that I am used to in most of the HS fares. It's actually a nice medium bodied, mid-dark golden tobacco taste. Considering that I would have to use this at a higher percent to use it, I probably wouldn't buy it as a stand-alone flavor, but this could totally pull it off for me. There's a musky body that is an actual flavor rather than some of that AP base that HS sometimes offers while you wait for it to steep down to a flavor. No real ashy or woody notes to speak of, it kinda comes across more like a mix of FLV Sweet Cig's muskiness and a touch of Cured to dry it up and fill out that body a bit.

[I'll let this tester sit for a month but I am not sure I will remember to update this after a month or two. Doubt it, in fact.]

Suggested percent: Solo/main 6-8%; in a mix 3-4%

Pairing ideas: I dont know why but I want to pair this with the SC/FE baccos I have been trying. It's already a little musky with a little body to boot, so some deeper richness, maybe a chocolatey one or a nutty one with some accent notes like some oak for a woodsy note. Maybe even a bit of menthol?

Stats

ATF: Public 2 DIY E-LIQUID RECIPES FOUND / Private Used in 22 recipes at an average of 2.682%

ELR: Public Recipes: 17 / Private recipes: 148

Existing Recipes:
Three Cities: A Tribute to Tripoli

Turkish Jade

The bulk of the recipes on ELR are by Johnny Ciocca from 2019 to May '22. More than a few dont look appealing to me. The only one that seemed logical was Marzi's Fez with the HS at 6% and a couple of accents. Not saying I would follow that recipe as such, but the style, sure.

Second Opinions:
In Noted Tobacco Time: Turkish ft. FomentLife & Jenn Winstead | Noted: 193 The noted team and guests u/FomentLife and Winstead discuss HS Turkish (without mentioning "Blended"). Sounds like the same flavor to me as they describe is as "soft" and not delivering much flavor at 2-4% (outside Winstead) but being a decent basic bacco. HS Turkish can be found at DIYVS as of posting time.

In Noted Asian Tobacco ft. Fear, ChemicalBurnVictim [ Noted: Ep. 91 ] Fear says it's "a good dark tobacco that isn't sweet and maybe a little spicy". I didn't get any spice really out of it so I'm not seeing that part of it.

u/[deleted] writes in Battle of the Baccos: Turkish/Orientals:

> This is a pretty decent one. It’s sort of a generic sweet-ish oriental leaf flavor. Not a lot of body, but it gives a pretty solid foundation to build on. I’ve extracted Turkish blending tobacco for an NET before, and this is a pretty good representation of how that came out. Maybe a little tickle on the tongue that can be interpreted for some spiciness, but mostly you just get a no frills tobacco flavor. Great one to have in the stash, but it’ll be needing some other flavors to help it shine in a mix. It’s not as strong as some of the others, and I would suggest starting off around 3% to test it out solo and in a mix. 7/10

ELR User Larry's Juice writes:

> Finally, a Turkish tobacco liquid that can be an all day vape. Similar to taste to a filtered Camel Light cigarette, but needs a bit of tobacco absolute or DNB in the mix for throat hit. Other users say 7% to 12% in the mix; this being the only down side to the liquid. Having mixed it at 5%, I can see why people are saying mix at a higher percentage. However, since this liquid is somewhat NET in creation, this is to be expected. Preferred single flavor mix: 6.0%

Kinnikinnick wrote the same thing. I assume Larry's Juice was first. :shrug: ELR

Final Thoughts

I hear that HS Baccos are long term steepers. That the flavor gets stronger at 1-2 months. I'm not about that life. There is absolutely no reason in 2022 with what is available to steep a mix for two months to taste it. Granted, those INW for Pipe flavors are greatly improved by 28 days but are perfectly acceptable by 14-21 days, with vanilla for pipe and black cherry for pipe acceptable by 7. And, those flavors are great. This one was merely ok by comparison, again, to what is now available. Deep diver? Go for it, at least to try CBV's tripoli tribute. But, then, you would also need HS Arabic (I dont have nor does diyvs carry it at present) and HS Elder Cap (diyvs). Just not worth it imo. Outside of the price, difficulty sourcing, lack of existing recipes, abundance of better options? Yeah, it's a decent enough bacco used up high enough. Meh. Don't bother. HS RY1 is a far better flavor even with the addition of the sweeter notes.