Flavor Review Friday - FLV Mild Tobacco

by /u/isuamadog

FLV Mild Tobacco

Review

Setup: mtl STNG 0.7 Ohm 2.0 ID 28/40 clapton 28.5W

nose: golden almost burnt caramel and hints of bourbon, IOW it smells fucking delicious

Description: 2.5% - At 4 days, I'm getting a really strong caramel note. Like this for me is the perfect RY4. Meaning, it is the caramel + tobacco that I really want. This has it both already mixed. Normally I would hate this kind of mixed flavor because I could do better myself but, in this case, it's lovely. Golden caramel smoothness with a light bacco finish. I love this. I heard this one is a steeper but I'm not believing it. I can't wait to see how this one steeps out. I can totally see this paired with apple and I know it will work because I tried it before (see Pairing Ideas below).

At 7 days, I'm still getting that golden caramel on the inhale. It's a little hard to describe because it is very well blended into the flavor. It reminds me of the flavor of the caramel on a candy apple without all the tackiness in the texture and more of in how it wraps this genuinely mild tobacco in a wrapper of golden goodness. It's way less musky of a flavor than sweet cigarette but that's the most relatable flavor I can compare it to. Mild Tobacco has hints of earthiness with moments of almost woody, almost oaky, but it never quite goes there. I'd say it's 60 caramel/40 bacco and both kinda toned down a bit, neither one being an aggressive flavor. This is definitely a marriage or respectful partners. I could totally and completely see folks using this as a standalone without question. Due to its relatively neutral presence in any one category -- tobacco, sweet, caramel, woodiness -- I see no reason why this flavor couldn't bear the brunt of a real nice mellow introductory tobacco vape. You could amplify any one aspect of all of these into something that was unique and yet hit all your spots. A dash of bacco here, caramel there, burnt notes, apple or fruit, a bit of nut, creaminess, etc. This is I think one of the best Flavorah flavors to be released for this universal appeal and I expect you will see it kind of crop up in quite a few recipes over time.

My other relatable flavor would be HS RY1. HS RY1 is a nearly perfect flavor to me in that it has complexity enough to drive a recipe at lower percentage by itself or can be bumped up a bit to play nice and fill out some other recipes while adding a bit of sweetness and complexity. FLV Mild can do exactly that if not more distinctly, in a way that I suspect no one will ever complain about. Lacking a definite tobacco note leaves this flavor up to the imagination of the mixer for where to take it next.

I'd heard this one is a steeper and I could wait this one out for another week to see where it goes. I have, before, had it over the course of a two month steep. I'll say that I find the flavor at 7 days is pretty much what it will be for the duration of the steep. If it is mixed with other flavors that benefit from a longer steep, great. I think at 7 days you are getting the beginnings of the more or less stable version of the concentrate.

Suggested percent: 2.5% seems to push this to the limit of where I might want it. I'd say as a stronger note or to pull nearly most of the weight in a recipe, I still wouldnt go over 2, I think. At 2.5 MTL, I was at the limit of where the notes appeared to start to stretch into 'too much' territory with a wee hint of sharpness every so often. In a mix, I'd probably stick with 1-1.5 because I would probably be using it for its strengths and can't see myself not wanting a decent amount of that pulling the bulk of the weight of several flavors all at once.

Pairing ideas: When I first vaped this, it screamed apple to me. It got a solid spot in my Prapple Bacco 2021 recipe I made playing off of fear's original Prapple recipe. I literally can see this being used 100% in place of anywhere where FLV Sweet Cig might have been used. (RIP SwCig) Feature at 2 and just accent it with whatever you like. I mean, it's so mild I can kinda see it going with literally anything.

Stats

ATF: 14 DIY Public Recipes / Used in 136 private recipes at an average of 1.573%.

ELR: Public Recipes: 20 / Average mixing quantity: 1.4% (Median: 1%)

Existing Recipes:

Prapple Bacco 2021

This was a fun one to make. I used Mild in place of Sweet Cigarette. Mild was just a better, more complex, less musky version of Sw Cig.

If you like that one and yet want to try something different, u/TeslaDelMar has got you, fam. He took the tobacco layer and made the apple layer his own in:

Starkonja's Head - Apple Tobacco

The idea for this mix was a red apple tobacco. It's brighter and more juicy than a shisha/molasses take on apple tobacco.

I've had the privilege of trying this mix thanks to Tesla (always missing one flavor) and I can attest it is lovely. If the nuttiness in my version is a distraction to you, Tesla has you covered. The apples he used work really well to make a solid red that plays with those baccos in harmony. Also, this is a great example of how to adapt a recipe to your own tastes. Stealing is only borrowing without giving due credit!

There's a series of mixes made by u/Chainvapor that look interesting to me. You can tell these grew organically and seem to indicate a passion for the profile. I would mix any one of these:

1. Mild 555
2. The Bacco you want
3. Bob's Bacco

Second Opinions:
Flavor of the Quarter ft. Fresh03 | Noted: Ep. 206
u/ID10-T warns the newer FLV baccos need to be used at 3% for all the notes they present and "greatly benefit" from a steep (with vanilla not as much). Also, ID notes that there's a bit of an ammonia taste off-note that steeps out of Mild Tobacco at 2 weeks.

ELR user Frunkster writes:

Pre Warning – this is pretty strong / potent stuff, take the mild in the title with a pinch of slat.

This is a really good tobacco flavouring IMO, I would not go as far as calling it mild in terms of the strength & forward nature of the tobacco in it, more a mild blonde tobacco if that makes sense? Sort of like a blonde Vagina [sic] but with more depth of flavour, almost in to being mildly ashy but more like a smokey notes than ash TBF, the tobacco very much leads but is softened & sophisticated by the accompanied middle ground caramel taste, by middle ground I mean it's not leaning to far towards being creamy or buttery & not leaning to far in the dark caramelized notes, like the tobacco itself it's very much mild & mellow yet bold enough to be perceived well, it's RY4esk [sic] but very much more tobacco heavy & does not have any creamy or nutty notes to it, seems to be pretty complex & there's no mistaking it as a fairly full on tobacco, it's mildly bitter & very tobacco authentic.

It will no doubt be a good flavouring to mix with as it's bolt & full of character, but I can see it being quite the bully so care will be needed if blending this with other flavours. Additional – the aftertaste really does linger, like after smoking real tobacco. % tested @ - 1

ELR user Steph Abbs writes:

At 1% shake and vape - indeed a pleasant mild tobacco with caramel. After 4 weeks, wow, it’s not so mild, a full on cigarette taste for me, with very background caramel. I agree with Frunkster’s notes, particularly the after taste, and reckon this would work wonders in a baccy biscuit mix. Update: After about two and half months steep: it’s calmed down to a very palatable dry tobacco with caramel very much in the background, a good late night vape but a little ‘thin’ for my taste (which is more tobacco custard leaning). Preferred single flavor mix: 1.0%

u/Session-Drummer WRITES:

I've NEVER been a big bacco vaper ... you can call me a somewhat reluctant tobacco vaper/tester ... It presented as a fairly complex affair, with the main notes being a mild (duh) tobacco and a very rich caramel ... it had far MORE tobacco, and less caramel ... The tobacco was full but not overly strong or bitter, and the "caramel wash" as I was calling it, just envoloped [sic] you during the vape. At times I even got almost smoky notes, but they kept moving in and out of focus, which really just left this one as a deliciously complex blend of a mid dark tobacco, and a very rich, yet not overpowering caramel. Preferred single flavor mix: 1.0%

Final Thoughts

FLV Mild Tobacco is a wonderful addition to the FLV Tobacco line. It has a unique taste that covers everything you would want out of a tobacco ry4 balance (unless you want vanilla which is such an easy fix). This can be vaped as a stand alone for people who want an easy one-and-done, bent either way to desserts or less mild tobacco mixes, paired with fruits, etc. I imagine you will see some boozy mixes with it if there aren't already some. Hell, just add some to Tesla's mix if you're lazy. Or, pull a Chainvapor and just work your way up to it from a nice Mild pairing you like.

Mild Tobacco is an essential flavor in my opinion. Not much else to say. I look forward to your recipes with it.

-i