Flavourart Custard

Lately I've been all about the DIY (do-it-yourself) liquid and it caused me to be a bit inactive with my blogging adventures.  I decided to take this blog in a different direction instead of just letting sit in the blog graveyard.  I'm going to be reviewing some Flavourart flavors.  I've decided that after messing around with some recipes that I would like to go back to the basics for a bit.  I want to be able to mix my own recipes and somehow I'm thinking that I'll get better at this if I vape some of my flavorings as standalone flavors.  This is largely due to the fact that I have been working with new manufacturers.  The first new manufacturer that I've stumbled upon is Flavourart.  So far I'm loving the fact that they last longer which means that my credit card gets a much needed break.
First Impression:
Standalone:  3.5%.  According to the reviews I have read 2 to 5% is the range you want to stick with on this flavor.  I split the difference and chose to mix it in the mid range.  As we all know, taste is subjective so you may want to raise or lower your percentage according to your taste preference.  Try it at 2% first and then you can always add 0.5% more until you find your sweet spot.  Or, you could do what I did and plunge in at 3.5 % - lol

I ordered FA Custard thinking that it was going to replace CAP Vanilla Custard.  This is not like CAP Vanilla Custard at all.  Apparently since Flavourart is an Italian based company they make their custard the way a professional chef would make custard.  Custard is traditionally made with lemon zest in it.  CAP Vanilla Custard is more of a vanilla pudding type of deal.  This custard will not replace a vanilla pudding flavor at all.  This has a noticeable lemon taste to it.  It is sweet and slightly lemony.  It's not "make your teeth hurt" sweet.  It is a light flavor overall and it reminds me of the meringue on top of a lemon meringue pie.  It tastes light and fluffy to me with noticeable egg and lemon flavors.  I'm not getting a lot of creamy background from this flavor at all.  I'm vaping this in a freshly wicked Lemo RBT on an Eleaf iStick 50W at 4.7 V and 1.2 Ohm.  I don't SubOhm so ymmv.

I can see this flavor working with citrus fruits, and some berry flavors; blueberry and strawberry are coming to mind.   The lemon flavor might bring out those berry flavors more.  It would work in bakery flavors where the lemon zest in this wouldn't interfere with the other ingredients.  It would be a must in a lemon meringue pie recipe or anything of that nature.  Personally I am going to try it in a few recipes that I found on the internet.  I'll review those at a later date.

This is not a vanilla pudding flavor.  This may benefit from the addition of vanilla.  The lemon is pretty prevalent as I vape this freshly mixed.  It's more up front than I would have thought based on the descriptions from others.  I thought maybe the lemon would be in the background with the creamy notes being more up front.  Citrus flavors do tend to calm down and creamy flavors are known to grow stronger with time so I have high hopes for this being more in line with what I had thought it would be based on reading the reviews of others.

Again, this is not going to be the same as the typical vanilla pudding flavors such as CAP's Vanilla Custard.  I'll say it again; THIS IS NOT VANILLA PUDDING.  Personally I found myself pleasantly surprised that it wasn't a vanilla  pudding, however, I did order it thinking that I'd found a concentrated replacement for my stand by vanilla pudding flavors.  I just wanted you all to know that if you're looking for vanilla  pudding - move along - nothing to see here.  However, if you're in the mood for something different or something that is light for summer time, then give it a shot.  Now go on and vape like ya mean it :)

First Re-visit:  I mixed this up on Friday, June 26, 2015.  I have shaken it daily after my initial taste test.  Here it is Monday, June 29, 2015 (3 days later) and I've come back to it to give it another try.  The lemon was very much in the lead when I first mixed it, but now I'm finding that the lemon has smoothed out into a subtle flavor that I'm picking up on the exhale.  It's still a light, airy type of flavor that would be awesome as an ADV by itself.  I'm not really picking up much of anything from this flavor except the light lemon on the exhale with a subtle sweetness.  It tastes like lemon that has been baked into a pie rather than lemon that I just cut up.  It isn't tart lemon it's a lightly sugared lemon flavor.  I was hoping that the creamy nature of the custard tones would develop, but I haven't seen that yet.  I'm going to allow it to steep until July 13th and try it one final time before I mix it at a higher percentage to see if that does anything.

Posted by Serenity in

Flavourart Custard

Liquid Review: Claim Your Throne by King's Crown

Hi guys!  It's liquid review Wednesday.  I have been visiting vape shops here in my hometown for a bit now.  I returned here about a year ago, but there really weren't any vape shops here.  This year seems to have brought many to my area so I've been checking them out.  Today I visited Steel City Vapor, yep that's in Pittsburgh :)  I discovered that they carry many of the flavors that I've always wanted to try, but didn't because $22 for a 30 ml bottle of liquid that I don't know I'm going to like - where do I begin with the crazy in that sentence?  Now before you throw tomatoes at me, I'm not ragging on people who spend more for their liquids.  Actually, my feelings are quite the opposite.  I don't mind paying $22 for a liquid that I know I'm going to like, but to buy a 30 ml bottle for that price untasted seems a bit of a stretch for me.  I feel I'm getting off topic so moving right along.

They have a rather large vape bar at Steel City Vapor so if you're in the area, check them out.  It's one of the largest I've seen so far in this area.  To my surprise, they carry King's Crown liquids.  I have been wanting to try Claim Your Throne and Bound By The Crown.  So I stepped on up to the vape bar and tried them out.  I ended up walking out of there with my very own bottle of Claim Your Throne.  Of course I wouldn't review it without spending some time with it.  I've vaped it on and off for a day.  I'm vaping it now as I write the review for it - trust me I am.

Flavor Description:  Impossible? Nay.  Nothing is impossible.  You may not have blood-right, but you have ambition and this bottle of liquid courage will tip the scales in your favor.  Expertly balanced, as if mixed by the King's alchemist himself, you'll find here a smooth blend of sweet creams, butterscotch, and brown sugar.

My Interpretation:  I'm getting a lightly sweet taste of butterscotch on the inhale.  I can taste the sweet cream on the exhale.  I'm left with the feeling that I have sucked on a butterscotch creme candy.  You know how the taste lingers a bit after the candy is gone?  That's what it is like.  I feel as though I've eaten the candy recently.  It's very airy and light, with a subtle cream finish.  I can definitely detect the custard notes in this more prominently on the exhale.  The butterscotch is more dominant on the inhale.  Overall the flavor is very balanced and smooth with nothing really smacking me in the face.  I've vaped it on my Provari using an Aspire Nautilus tank set at all airflow settings.  I have found that the flavor seems to come through more for me at the 3rd setting (beginning from the smallest setting).  I have vaped it using a cartomizer tank, as well.  The flavor is noticeably muted in the cartomizer tank.  That seems to be the way of it with carto tanks for all flavors.  A delicate flavor like this would not do well in these types of tanks IMO; in case anyone was wondering.

I do not detect any sort of burnt taste with this which is sometimes the case with these types of liquids for me.  It's not that the liquid burns, but the overall flavor seems to taste burnt to me while vaping liquids that contain brown sugar or caramel.  They just seem to have a burnt sugar flavor to them.  I didn't get this from this flavor at all.  It was just very creamy and deliciously sweet.  Very much worth the price IMO.  The vapor production was insane on this.  The flavor was stable and did not change as it steeped.  I didn't expect it to since these flavors are sold pre-steeped.  Overall I was very pleased and would gladly give it 5 out of 5 stars.

I wanted to review this liquid this week because I just got some flavors in my vape mail so that I could mix a DIY recipe for a clone of this flavor.  I will review the clone next Wednesday after it has some time to age a bit to compare it to the original.  I've been mixing my own liquids over the past few months now after having some rough experiences with liquid vendors.  I still purchase a few of my favorites from Steel City Vapor.  I find that it is a lot of fun experimenting with DIY liquid and learning about how the flavors mingle together.  That's just my 2 cents on this flavor, as always YMMV and vape 'em if ya got 'em.

  

Posted by Serenity in

Liquid Review: Claim Your Throne by King's Crown

Krispy Cream by Up In Smoke

I have some slides up there and they've been there for a bit waiting patiently for me to review the flavors.  So here goes:
Krispy Cream from Up In Smoke
40 pg/60 vg
12 mg nicotine
Rating:  4/5

This is a local shop that is right down the road from me.  I decided to walk in one day to check it out because it's really close to me and if I am ever in a pinch, then I can visit them easily.  They are supposed to be a vaping lounge, however, I didn't really see anything in the way of a lounge there.  I did see a small selection of vaping equipment and found a very knowledgeable staff so that is definitely good.  I purchased my Aspire Nautilus tank from them at a reasonable price.  They matched the price of a competitor online too so I was really impressed.  I decided to purchase a 30 ml bottle of their in house Krispy Cream flavor that is supposed to taste like Rice Krispy Treats.  It was made in 40 pg/60 vg blend with 12 mg of nicotine.

I assembled my brand new tank with fresh replacement heads.  I shook the fresh bottle of Krispy Cream and removed the lid on it for a few hours.  Then, I allowed it to steep for about 3 days before deciding to crack it open.  I hit it and "OMG!"  It tasted just like a Rice Krispy treat.  I got the rice based cereal followed by the gooey marshmallow sweetness and buttery goodness that is the heaven of Rice Krispy treat.  I took it to the bar later happily vaping it while watching the Steeler game.  My sister, who vapes occasionally when drinking asked me what I was vaping.  I told her and she wanted to taste it.  I passed it across the table to her and she was amazed at how much it resembled the flavor of the Rice Krispy Treat.  Then, her boyfriend had to try it in spite of the fact that he doesn't vape at all.  He thought it was good too.  I was extremely impressed by their level of accuracy with the flavor.  I was all set to give this a very glowing review (5/5 stars).

About a week went by and it sat about half full on my desk while I tried other flavors that had arrived in my vape mail.  I went through a lot of fruity vapes for a time and decided I was in the mood for something a bit sweet and dessert-like so I reached for this flavor.  It changed on me after the time had passed.  It became something of a very sweet custard type vape.  It was almost too sweet for me.  So I opted for some caramel apple instead thinking that maybe switching from crisp fruit to something that sweet maybe gave me the illusion that it was too sweet.  Then, I went back to it again.  I was met with the same sickenly sweet flavor as before.  It would seem that this liquid is best fresh and when it steeps for longer periods, then the marshmallow holds the flavor hostage and it loses the rice cereal flavor.

I will still give it a 4 of 5 star rating because it was very accurate when it was first mixed, but it seems to intensify on sweetness as it steeps.  I would still buy another bottle of it and vape it right away before it has a chance to steep much.  Everything else about the liquid seemed to be good.  It was a very smooth flavor prior to the longer steeping time.  The vapor production on it was ridiculous producing large clouds of vapor.  Overall, I  had a good experience with this liquid, just don't allow it to steep for long periods.

Posted by Serenity in

Krispy Cream by Up In Smoke

My Mt. Baker Experience

Hey guys so it's review Wednesday and I'm going to go over my experience with Mt. Baker Vapor (MBV).  Alright, so I frequent a lot of vaping forums so when the hype started up about Mt. Baker Vapor I resisted at first, but eventually curiosity prevailed.  I had to check it out.  Their liquids are insanely cheap; cheaper than what I determined to be a cheaper liquid.  Price is not as important to me as flavor.  Let's face it, it doesn't matter how pretty the packaging or how unique; if the flavor inside the bottle isn't something you like, then it's just going to be a pretty cool looking paperweight, yea?  Honestly I'd rather pay a little more for a flavor I know I'm going to vape rather than have one that is just going to end up in my yuck basket of liquid.  That being said, I found myself intrigued by both the price and the massive positive reviews I've found online by fellow customers.

My experience began by picking 6 flavors of theirs to try; Albino Drake, Caramel Apple, Honey Berries, Moo Juice, Peach Tobacco, and RY4.  I ordered 3 of them in 50/50 and 3 in 20/80 ratios.  Upon reading the reviews I got 2 flavor shots in Albino Drake and 1 flavor shot in all the rest.  Their website was very professional and easy to order from.  I did find it mildly annoying that a customer service representative kept popping up wanting to chat about my order.  I equated it to being in a restaurant and having an overly helpful waiter/waitress.

My order arrived to my door 3 days after placing the order - lightning fast!  I received a free 15 ml bottle of Jungle Juice.  I didn't realize that customers were able to request their free flavor otherwise I would have picked something like Bananas Foster.  I realized that if they made the juice when I ordered it and it only took 3 days to get to me, then it was likely going to need to steep.  So, I removed the lids from all of my liquids and let them breathe for about 4 hours.  Then, I put their caps back on and gave each of them a good shake.  I did notice that the cartomizers that I ordered had not been included.  I visited their website and spoke with a customer service representative.  She quickly credited my account so that I would be able to re-order the cartomizers at no charge.  Ok, moving right along.

I put them through the smell test.  The Albino Drake smelled tropical, mostly I detected pineapple with a hint of something else that might be citrus.  Caramel Apple smelled like a perfumed apple fragrance that was pretty strong.  Honey Berries didn't really smell like anything.  Moo Juice smelled like berry, but not really a strawberry fragrance.  Peach Tobacco smelled like peaches.  The RY4 scared me because it smelled like chemicals.  I let them sit for 24 hours in my darkened liquid cupboard.

The following day, I tried them out (except the RY4 because it was still scary) using my Aspire Nautilus tank with fresh heads.  I made sure to have 1 replacement head per flavor so that I could evaluate them all fairly.  I won't give you my entire evaluation of the flavors here because I want to do full reviews of the flavors at a later date.  I will only say that during this process I was in my kitchen one evening testing out the Honey Berries.  I did not fill the tank full of liquid because I was only "trying" it in order to determine whether it needed more time to steep or not.  As I was standing there with wet hands from washing dishes, I had vaped the last of my Honey Berries.  I reached into my cupboard to pull out some Moo Juice because I figured that Moo Juice would mix well with the Honey Berries so I wasn't worried about cross-contamination.  I take a long "toot" and, HOLY MENTHOL batman!  Being a first time customer of MBV, I wasn't sure if Moo Juice was supposed to contain menthol or not.  I had not read anything about menthol in the flavor description and no one reviewed it as such.  I asked on ECF and it was confirmed that it should not taste like menthol.  So, I contacted customer service again and the nice woman I spoke with the day before was not so nice this time.  Perhaps she was having a bad day.  She credited my account again after a conversation about whether or not I had ever tasted one of their menthol flavors before.  Honestly, really?  Menthol is pretty hard to miss as a flavor.  It's not like it can be mistaken for say, strawberries and cream?  At any rate, I did re-order it and my cartomizers so that crisis was averted.  I will say that their customer service is fast.  My problems with my order were taken care of very quickly, however, there is also something to be said for accuracy.  You can be as fast as you want, but if it needs to be re-ordered a few times, how fast is it really?

In short, I will agree that they do deliver fast service.  Both times that my liquids were sent they arrived to my door within 3 days of placing each order all the way from Washington to Pennsylvania.  That is remarkably fast!  Their customer service was efficient and I was impressed by being able to communicate with a live person rather than receiving the "Please hold your business is important to us" message that some companies have.  If they could work a bit on their accuracy of the orders placed, then I would agree that this is one of the best e-liquid companies out there in terms of price point and delivery.  However, if you're looking for exotic flavors, complex flavors or anything better than what you could mix yourself at home - keep looking.  Now go on and vape like ya mean it :)

Posted by Serenity in

My Mt. Baker Experience

Introduction

Hello to everyone out in cyberspace that might also be a vapor.  I'm Serenity and you've stumbled into my blog.  I'm hoping to be able to write in here once a week about my vaping journey.  So I'll start with my story - you know we all have one :)

I began my journey on October 31, 2010.  I was told to pick a day that meant something to me as the day to quit smoking.  I chose Halloween because I've always loved it.  There are other personal reasons attached to why I chose that day, but as Oprah says - that's a whole other show.  I don't think that I would consider myself an expert on vaping, but I am a veteran.  As such, I've seen some things regarding vaping that really just annoy me to no end.  So I wanted my first post on this new blog to be about some myths that I would like to dis-spell.

Myth #1:  Easy Transition
When I was researching the type of equipment to purchase that would begin my vaping journey, I remember that my primary goal was to stop smoking.  I found myself becoming very excited by the idea that I could purchase this gadget that looked like a cigarette and emulate the act of smoking.  There is a plethora of information out there where you can read inspirational stories written by people who have successfully quit smoking and enjoy vaping a great deal.  I found myself very inspired by it and extremely excited.  I did my homework and I purchased a nice starter kit.  I even got a good deal because the company was having a 25% off sale at the time.  I got a 10 ml bottle of liquid to start me off with.  Plus, I purchased a variety of 5 ml bottles in different flavors and different nicotine strengths because I had no idea what flavor I would like or how much nicotine I'd need.  In spite of the fact that I had what was considered the best equipment at the time, I still had trouble giving up my smoking habit.

That makes no sense.  How can THAT many people be wrong?  It's not that they are wrong.  I discovered that it's not just nicotine in cigarettes that causes some of us to keep returning to them over and over again.  There are over 3,000 various chemicals that can be found in 1 cigarette - based on the information that I have read.  Some people are also addicted to MAO's (L-Monoamine Oxidases.  They break down neurotransmitters and this has a lot to do with why people are addicted to certain things.  Medical studies have been done to show there is an increase in dopamine production in the brain while smoking.  Since nicotine can't account for this elevated rate, it is thought to be a result of something else present in cigarette smoke.  It has also been reported that adolescents are more sensitive to these changes, which makes me wonder if this happened because I was a teenager when I started smoking.  At any rate, I was one of the people that was addicted to something in addition to nicotine that I got from smoking traditional cigarettes.  This means that when I tried vaping, I was STILL smoking.  I thought I had failed and that vaping did not work for me either.  I met a guy on an electronic cigarette forum who explained to me that some people are addicted to another substance found in the traditional cigarette.  It was because of this one person that caused me to stick with it.  Had it not been for him, then I may still be smoking and thinking that I failed again.

I'm going to give you a very realistic idea of what my e-cigarette experience looked like in the beginning because I know you've read the same information that I have likely found and if you are on the fence, then you are probably thinking that you can pick up an e-cigarette and as if by magic your smoking addiction will vanish.  At least, that is what I thought going in.  I was able to cut the number of cigarettes I smoked per day in half during my first week.  That was an accomplishment in itself.  I smoked a pack a day for almost 20 years.  My first week of vaping got me down to half a pack because I reached for my electronic cigarette instead of a cigarette most of the time.  There were moments when I ran outside in defeat so that I could have a cigarette, but I chalked it up to being part of my learning curve.  I found that looking at it from the perspective that it was a learning curve and not a failure on my part helped me to continue my journey.  I was essentially re-training my brain to become addicted to vaping.  As someone else put it, look at it as beginning to vape and not to quit smoking.  The following week, I made myself reach for my electronic cigarette more.  By my third week, I was leaving my cigarettes in a drawer at home and taking my electronic cigarette with me while I was out.  I smoked a cigarette in the morning with my coffee and then the rest of the day I used my electronic cigarette.  I allowed myself to have another cigarette when I got home and then one final cigarette before I went to bed.  I went on like this for a few months.  I did cut out the cigarette in the middle of the day though.  On December 30, 2010 I quit smoking.  Why that day?  It's my birthday.

I know there are loads of stories out there of people who pick up an electronic cigarette and they just don't feel they want a cigarette anymore.  That's really awesome for them.  However, what happens for those of us who aren't so lucky?  Well, you need some determination and a support system filled with great people who will keep filling your head with words of wisdom to keep you going.  If you can't find someone, then email me.  I'll be your cheerleader.  It can be done and there are even people who start out with 18 mg or 24 mg liquid and then decrease their amount slowly weaning themselves off nicotine all together.  I wouldn't call e-cigarettes smoking cessation devices.  Some don't give up smoking, but will vape in situations when they can't smoke.  I don't really care about that.  I only wanted to be able to breathe and live a more active lifestyle again.  I consider vaping to be a hobby.  I don't believe that it is healthy for me.  It's healthier than smoking, but it's not healthy for you.  There may be risks involved that we haven't discovered yet, but I can breathe and I do live a more active lifestyle than I did 4 years ago so I consider it a victory.  I accomplished exactly what I set out to do.  Hmm....now about these extra 20 lbs I've put on over the years....

I hope you enjoyed my article and that you'll check back here next week because I'm going to dis-spell more vaping myths that you can find on the internet.  I believe I'm going to write about Myth #2:  Vaping Is Cheaper Than Smoking.

Posted by Serenity in

Introduction