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Starting flavor count: 2,790 (down from 2,975 originally)

TASK OR TRASH - Each flavor gets assigned at least one task or it goes in the trash.

#Molinberry

Classic Cornflakes

I’m skipping ahead to this one because I can and will do that from time to time.

I’ll even do it on request, if you have something you want to see potentially trashed in the near future instead of waiting for it to come up as I work down my alphabetized spreadsheet of flavors, just leave a comment.

Basically I just can’t wait to throw MB Classic Cornflakes away, because it’s that terrible. MB Classic Cornflakes is a dumpster fire. It’s clearly supposed to be a corn-based cereal flavor, but that corny cereal is partially hidden behind a strange, strong, and very floral honey flavor, like honey infused with rose petals. And cat pee. It doesn’t really taste super strongly of cat piss, but it did give my room and my clothes some of that feline urine/meth lab lingering room note. TRASH 1

#Reka

Sexy Mango

Skipping ahead again. I encountered this looking at a recipe last week and I just can’t stand to have it on the shelf any longer.

I can guarantee you 100% that Reka Sexy Mango is the main ingredient in Cushman by Nasty Juice. If you like that stuff, you definitely want to pick this up. I will judge you as a disgusting person who’d probably pick up rotten mango off the ground and eat it, but who cares what I think, life's too short not to taste what you love. Personally, I hated that Cushman juice, it actually made me feel nauseated because of the excessive sucralose sweetness and over-ripeness. I thought jeez, Nasty Juice was probably very aptly named (I haven’t tried any of their other juices. After Cushman, I did not want to).

Sexy Mango is just not sexy to me at all. It tastes like it should be used for attracting flies, not vaping. All the mango elements are there but the funky muskiness that should be part of any mango flavor is turned up to like 15 out of 10 when it should be at around 5. It tastes beyond overripe, to me, even full-on rancid. It also comes with a very small amount of WS-23-type coolant in there, which is fine I guess, unless you don’t want it, and with a good bit of sucralose too, which, combined with the rotten overripeness, I found extra sickening. TRASH 2

#Capella

Blue Raspberry Cotton Candy

Update. To help me decide whether I needed to keep CAP Blue Raspberry Cotton Candy, I chose two recipes that used it less conventionally.

The first one should have you questioning my intelligence and/or sanity. Daki. Why in the world would I mix a recipe that its own creator described as “seriously spot on but also so gross. [emphasis mine]?” The assertions on both sides of that “but” are completely true, by the way.

But why is it so gross? I think bubblegum and bakery flavors just fundamentally do not coexist in a way that's tasty to me. A bubblegum ice cream vape doesn’t sound terrible to me at all, but then you put it in a waffle cone and just... yuck. Apparently he did this just to prove it could be done. That’s mental. I would not hesitate at all to try the waffle cone aspect of this with a different ice cream, or even the bubblegum ice cream part of this without any kind of cone. But together, it’s a masterful bit of craftsmanship that tastes vaguely yet seriously yucky.

The other one was this Guava Creme Pi. Well, not exactly. I did have to sub original Sugar Cookie for the V2 because I got a bit ahead of myself when I threw away the V2. It didn’t nail the McD’s pie crust or the guava goo inside, but was still extremely vapable. I’ll very happily finish the bottle. On the other hand, when it comes to this sort of profile, I definitely prefer Emily’s Guava Empanada, as it has a much better pastry shell and you really get that warm, cooked down guava filling, as well as a touch of spice and more present cream cheese note.

So based on all that, you’d very reasonably expect me to toss Blue Razz Cotton Candy now... but I just can’t yet. Previously I said Blue Frost Revisited almost makes BRCC worth keeping but it’s not like I’ll never enjoy another blue raspberry recipe if I can’t have that specific one.

I may have spoken out of turn. Oops. Because when I think about throwing away BRCC, I feel a little panicky. What if Blue Frost Revisited is the best blue razz recipe for me? I certainly can’t think of another off the top of my head. So, I should probably mix a batch of that to have a fresh taste of the bar that I would need another blue razz recipe to clear before I can say goodbye to BRCC. TASK 1 I’ll also try to prioritize mixing blue razz recipes going forward, maybe I’ll find one I like even more than the sequel to Blue Frost and I can finally be free of CAP BRCC.

#Decadent Vapours

Mango

I got a slight hairspray type chemical off note from it that I’m pretty sure was just overflavoring at 4% or understeeping at a couple of days, so I’m going to have to try it again after steeping or maybe at 2 to 3%. TASK 2

It was an extremely sweet, somewhat candyish mango. Top note sweetness tastes like cotton candy, like there’s a ton of EM in there. It might mute a mix, and it tangling up with the little bit of piney top note here is where that weird note is coming out at 4%. DV Mango has a thick, deep body that tastes like candy mango under that, and a lingering sweet finish.

Parma Violet

I haven’t tried this. I don’t really want to right now, maybe later. I bought it specifically to mix a recipe, Violette by Kopel, so I’ll start there. TASK 3

Raspberry

My sample at 4% tasted like a a Raspberry Creme Saver and a flower petal in my mouth at the same time, but again, could be overflavoring. 4% is a lot higher than what I’m seeing it used at and I’m not sure where I got that number from. I’ll try it again at 2%. TASK 4

What I got from 4% was a weirdly rich, creamy-bodied raspberry with a satisfying saturation of flavor but unfortunately some moderately floral high notes. Beyond that it tasted like a candy raspberry, and specifically like a raspberry creme saver with that cream-tasting and rich-feeling body. It didn’t really necessarily taste perfumey, but it’s tart upfront and there’s some floralness all tangled up with that tartness. This level of floral wouldn’t be weird in a raspberry that otherwise tastes natural, but it doesn’t work as well with a more candy raspberry. Maybe if you wanted a floral note, like you were trying to make a raspberry-violet cream or raspberry-lavender cream or even raspberry-hibiscus cream, Decadent Vapours Raspberry would be exactly the right thing for the job. You could add a floral flavor and just lean in to the floralness, and another cream to the cream that’s already there, and be good to go. Otherwise, I’d pass on it based on the 4% sample, but we’ll see what happens at half that much.

Raspberry Dripple

Another creamy raspberry from Decadent Vapours, but this one is supposed to be creamy. It’s supposed to be a raspberry creamsicle type of thing, with a raspberry shell and an inside that’s ice cream filled swirled with raspberry syrup. It tasted a lot like the regular DV Raspberry, but with the floralness turned down and the creamy richness turned up, plus a good bit of vanilla. It succeeded in tasting like syrupy, candyish raspberry on top of some thick, rich vanilla cream, but some of that raspberry floral remained. I think maybe reducing DV Raspberry Dripple from the 4% I tried it at to maybe 2.5 or 3%, steeping it longer, or finding some kind of way to tamp down that flowery business could make this a really good raspberry creme flavor, but I just don’t know how well any of that will work yet, so I’ll try mixing lower and just see. TASK 5

Rhubarb Cuddle

This one worked just fine at 4%, though. Not a straight rhubarb, rhubarb mixed with cream. Very nearly a one-shot. I think it even has some sucralose sweetener in there, it definitely leaves a little sugar lips. The rhubarb part tastes a lot like INW Rhubarb and it makes me wish it tasted a little more like a different rhubarb that’s less forceful and astringent than INW, but the cream is extremely nice. Rich and satisfying, heavy, slightly buttery, non-vanilla, almost custard but not quite. If I wanted to do anything that involved both Rhubarb and Cream, this might be my go-to.

If anyone can convince me to keep Rhubarb Cuddle in my quiver full of flavors, it will probably be TamVapes. I’ll give this one a try, Love Like Rye. TASK 6

Sherbert Lemon

Perfectly fine sweet, candy lemon, I don’t get any of the fizz that was promised in the description or even a powdery, sugary element at all, but there is a lingering, very sweet finish. Just sweet, artificial, lemon candy, like a Lemonhead candy or lemon-flavored Kool-Aid drink.

Apparently DV recommends 20% for their Sherbert Lemon, I tried it at only 10% because 20 seems crazy, maybe it does get fizzy or at least sort of powdery like the sherbet candy if you crank it up, though. But I doubt it.

Also it’s spelled “Sherbert” with an extra R near the end instead of “sherbet” and I think that’s very annoying and a good enough reason to toss it. Well, that and the fact that I have plenty of other candy lemon flavors. TRASH 3

#Delosi

Black Licorice

4%, I got expired Black Twizzlers. It doesn’t have any weird notes that shouldn’t be there, but it tastes dull and flat compared to more vibrant licorices. It’s mild, slightly sweet, and smooth and might be a good flavor in the background of something but doesn’t taste like it has the oomph to be the centerpiece of a recipe. I tried 6% since 4% was such a soft flavor, and it gets a little plastic-ish chemical taste that starts to come out. Maybe there’s a sweet spot between 4 and 6 where it doesn't taste washed out but doesn’t have off notes either, but I was pretty unimpressed with Delosi Black Licorice. TRASH 4

Blackberry

Solidly mediocre compared to other blackberry flavors. It doesn’t have the darkness to come across as a blackberry. It tastes more like a boysenberry, or raspberry mixed with just enough blueberry to turn it purple. But not black. Other than not really tasting like a blackberry, there’s nothing really wrong with it, but it’s a soft flavor, dull, not bold and vibrant. It does seem like it would work more like a nonspecific berry background thing if you were in the market for that, but not a strong berry main note that you’d want to build a recipe around. TRASH 5

Burley Tobacco

If this hadn’t steeped for two weeks, I’d have been less annoyed by the slight weird plasticky chemical off note and just assumed it needed to steep longer. And it might still need that, or it might be that 4% was too high for a single flavor. But as it stands, this was a complex nutty (kinda peanutty-ish), mild, not too dry, slightly woody, kinda mapley sweet tobacco that’s ruined by a plasticky undercurrent and finish. I could try it lower but at the same time, it wasn’t very strong, and probably just isn’t a good flavor. TRASH 6

Butter

Weird. It tastes like buttered, roasted nuts, light on the nut. I got a lot of butter and a lot of “roastedness” - It’s hard to explain but it’s just like essence of the difference between roasted peanut and raw or boiled peanut. But only a light nutty taste in the finish.Delosi Butter tastes like it might be weird otherwise, but could be the perfect thing for adding butter to nuts. But there are plenty of other buttery nut flavors, I don’t need this one. TRASH 7

Cake Batter

Cake Batter flavor with a somewhat watery texture. It does taste like cake batter, but it doesn’t have that bakery-type thickness. It needs some serious thickening up. But the top notes are delicious cake batter. It’s a vanilla cake batter basically but it tastes a little more yellow than that, like there’s a bit more egg yolk in it. Again, I don’t get that eggy rich thickness though, just the yellow batter flavor. I’ve had cake batter ice cream where it actually had cake batter in it and that was amazing. I’ve also had cake batter ice cream that was just artificially flavored - this reminds me of that. TRASH 8

Cereal Base

Haven’t tried this yet. I’ll mix 2% and 4% samples. TASK 7

Clove

Surprisingly complex. It’s clearly clove, but the clove is not very bold and there are little hints of other things, like tobacco, chocolate, and caramel. Just little hints. It’s actually quite pleasant to vape. When it comes to the actual clove, that is kinda soft. It’s really flavorful and not yucky, but has a lot of extra going on and isn’t the boldest clove.Could pass as a single flavor clove cigarette vape if you don’t care that the tobacco is very light, it reminds me of what you’d probably get if you bought some off-brand ejuice labeled clove cigarette. Doesn’t really taste like one, but is like the “good enough for government work” version of clove cigarette ejuice. I have better cloves. TRASH 9

Cream Soda

Another one I haven’t sampled yet. I’ll try 2% and 4% samples. TASK 8

Custard

Not really a custard. More fluffy than thick, not dense or especially rich. Like a marshmallow. It’s got a bright vanilla like a vanilla yogurt type of vanilla, you know those Dannon vanilla yogurts? It’s not eggy, a little sweet, really light on the butter, with a slight off-putting spice note that’s hard to identify, and it’s got some sourness like whipped cream that’s been left out too long and gone off. TRASH 10

Grape

Soft meh purple candy top note, but it has a really interesting creamy mouthfeel and thick base. I don’t know that it has enough punch to be a good single flavor grape, but if that grape top note were enhanced with another grape it could be really good in something like a grape taffy or grape gum flavor with that thick creamy base. But, I have other flavors that will do that even better. TRASH 11

Lemon Lime

2% and 4% samples again. TASK 9

Mango

It’s a little soft and pretty candy-like, reminiscent of one of those mango Hi-Chew candies but watered down, without the more intense burst of flavor those have. Not much of the piney or citrusy top notes or funky realistic stuff, but Deliosi Mango is a seriously good, sweet candy mango flavor. Very thick and creamy feeling, basey. I definitely want to hit it with another, more punchy mango, but this is well above their usual mediocre stuff.

I’ll give this Arizona Mucho Mango recipe a try. TASK 10

And this intriguing mango-ginger-peach-mint thing, Gringo. TASK 11

Papaya

There’s nothing blatantly wrong with it, it just has a soft, flat, sweet flavor that tastes very tropical. Not clearly papaya, but I guess it’s as close to papaya as it is to anything else. Not papaya enough to put papaya in the name of a recipe that uses this but no other papaya. Has that short of citrus + melon thing going on. Tastes more like this should be named “papaya punch.” It doesn’t taste like Hawaiian punch, but it does taste like some kind of off-brand “tropical punch” kool aid type drink. A bit thin, but not dry. Might make good background flavor or any number of tropical mixes or especially tropical candy mixes, but I’m spoiled by stronger, better papaya flavors. TRASH 12

Peppermint

Mostly tastes ok, like a plain basic no-frills candy cane peppermint, but it’s a fairly soft, light flavor that’s also a little harsh. Not like unvapeably harsh, but like a typical level of throatyness that a citrus flavor would have. It’s not a bad flavor, but so many other plain peppermint flavors just vape better. TRASH 13

Red Bull Type

Also sold as “Red Energy Type.” Emphasis on the Red here. It doesn’t taste like red bull or even energy drink at all. It tastes like cherry-berry candy, very sweet, with a slight medicinal off note that might be a nod to the bit of bitterness you get from an energy drink. It’s distinctly cherry but with some unidentifiable red candy berry behind it. Slight medicinal off note tastes more like actual cough syrup than the new vinyl shower curtain off note that folks sometimes describe as “medicinal.” But it’s very slight, and overlayed on top of something extremely sweet. It doesn’t do sugar lips quite the way that a bunch of sucralose does but I would not be surprised to find there’s a little sucralose in this flavor. Or maybe Stevia, which would explain that kind of bitter medicine edge. Whatever is going on there, it’s very sweet and very “red” tasting with a syrupy texture. Bringing it down from 5% might take some of that edge off, and if it did, I might use this to sweeten some kind of cherry mix, like maybe a cherry soda recipe. It doesn’t taste anything like an energy drink though, and there are other ways to sweeten a cherry soda recipe TRASH 14

Strawberry

A natural strawberry with a punchier tart top note flavor and less sweetness than other strawberries, like a less-than-fully-ripe strawberry, but not floral or perfumey, just tart. Without that sweet depth it’s a little on the thin side but it does have some fleshy-type body with a little sweetness to it. Quite usable I’m sure, but there are so many strawberries and quite a few of them are just better. TRASH 15

Strawberry Cream

Lots of very sweet, syrupy, bright candy strawberry with a thin and slightly pukey cream. Velvety smooth with a moderate bright vanilla but a pukey butyric undertone. I can’t abide this. TRASH 16

Strawberry Milk

Blends together a fake but not aggressive strawberry and a light dairy cream, like a pepto pink beverage. Strawberry is soft and milky cream is a little thin, lacking the real richness of a full-fat strawberry milk... like a strawberry skim milk. But, nothing offensive or deeply off with it, nice clean smooth flavor. I want to add FA Milk or OoO Milky Cream to it AND a brighter candy strawberry, but it’s fine. It’s delightfully mediocre, which puts it ahead of a bunch of other strawberry + cream type flavors.

1-2-3 Strawberry Milk V1 TASK 12

Co. | Flavor | % ---|---|---- DF | Strawberry Milk| 3 FA | Milk | 2 JF | Strawberry Sweet | 1

Sweet Cream

I don’t have much to say about this one. It’s creamy. It’s a little bit sweet. It definitely hits the profile, but it lacks the richness I’m looking for in a sweet cream flavor, it’s a bit on the thin side for this type of flavor. Kinda bland. Not at all buttery. But also, no off notes, not even vanilla. Pleasant enough. Pretty mediocre. Might even say delightfully mediocre. Or perfect if you’re looking for a nondescript, not too heavy, cream flavor to sit right in the middle of a recipe that’s using other things for top notes and base. It reminds me a lot of FA Cream Fresh, but even thinner and less milky than that, and a little sweeter. So, like a less good FA Cream Fresh, which I have a big bottle of. TRASH 17

Vanilla Cream

Great vanilla cream. I can’t find anything wrong with it. The vanilla in it tastes like Snack Pack pudding vanilla. The cream isn’t as thick, smooth, or sweet as a Snack Pack, but it’s creamy and sweet and a bit milky. Like a just-add-milk instant vanilla pudding with too much milk added. Not buttery, but some richness to it. If I really think about it, there’s the slightest hint of fruitiness to it, not enough to be distracting, but just enough to make me really want to mix it with some kind of fruit. I made a quick cherry-vanilla-milk recipe when TFA Cherry Extract was first offered by BCF and I used TFA Vanilla Swirl in it. I think it would have been a little better with Delosi Vanilla Cream instead.

Cherry Vanilla Milk V1 TASK 13

Co. | Flavor | % ---|---|---- DF | Vanilla Cream| 4 TFA | Cherry Extract | 5 FA | Milk | 2 INW | Marzipan | 0.25 WF | Blackcherry Jelly Bean | 0.25

Whipped Cream

Pretty skimpy flavor at 2%, I should have pushed it higher. But what flavor is there, I can’t find anything super wrong with it. Its fluffy whippedness seems like it might come across as a little chalky, maybe, but it’s not glaringly off in any way. Very light vanilla. It tastes like Cool Whip. I don’t know what it will do in a mix, but it tastes so much like some of the other whipped creams that blend in rather than having a separate whipped cream layer that I think it’s reasonable to assume that’s what it would do. I’m good on whipped cream, thanks anyway. TRASH 18

That’s it for now. I’ll burn down my collection of DIY Flavor Shack flavors next time.

New flavor count: 2,772