Today we are going to talk about concentrated flavors and
some of my favorites. As we all know, each flavor is going to differ from
manufacturer to manufacturer. However, what some people do not know (or
sometimes understand) is that a flavor from the same manufacturer will differ
from batch to batch as well. Maybe they added a little less citric acid and a
little more sucralose to a particular batch of your favorite lemon flavor. If
you receive that specific batch then the normal lemon flavor with a bite that
you are used will be more subtle and a little sweeter than usual. These changes
are not always a result of error in manufacturing the flavor, but the
manufacturer changing the recipe. All of these factors will play a part in the
same flavor from batch to batch having a different smell, taste, and/or color.
When it
comes to color, this can be largely impacted by the manufacturers’ use of
synthetic chemical that may naturally exist in the fruit, spice, etc. or their
use of synthetic chemicals that simply mimic those flavors or natural extracts
directly from the flavor that they are trying to develop. For example, most
artificial (synthetic) strawberry flavors are typically a light pink to clear,
but a natural extract from real strawberries has a deep red color (unless they
filter the color out through a charcoal filtering or similar process).
Now
that we have cover some things related to concentrated flavor consistency,
let’s talk about some of my favorite flavors. My favorite types of flavors are:
1. Peanut
Butter
2. Bananas
3. Strawberry
4. Custards
5. Cereals
Hands down the best peanut butter
flavor out there is Capella’s Peanut Butter if you are looking for the flavor
to really stand out in your e-liquid. If you are looking for something a little
more subtle then check out the peanut butter from The Flavor Apprentice (TFA).
For banana flavors, the first one
that I tried was the Banana Cream from TFA and I never tried another one
because I was hooked.
When it comes to strawberry flavors
it really depends on what I’m looking for in my e-liquid. If I’m going for
something sweet I go straight for the Sweet Strawberry from Capella, for
something creamy I go for the Strawberries and Cream from TFA, and if I looking
for a nice subtle flavor I use Strawberry (Ripe) from TFA.
I thought once upon a time that I
would never find a vanilla custard as good as the one from Capella until TFA
released theirs. It’s hard for me to really say one of them is better than the
other because they are very comparable. I will say that I prefer the smell of
the Vanilla Custard from TFA more.
Lastly, when it comes to cereal
type flavors I believe there are only four worth mentioning. The Berry Crunch
and Fruit Circles from TFA, and Apple Jacks and Captain Crunch from Flavor
West.
I will leave you with this,
remember that no two flavors or batches will be exactly the same and when it
comes to finding a great (insert here) flavor is to try all the different
options from each manufacturer because flavor are 100% subject to personal
opinion.
By: Joshua Sheffield, Chemist/MIT
