Wonder Flavours (WF) Concentrate Reviews

[RichJB]

WF Fluffy White Cake SC
Tested in the Hadaly clone, 0.5Ω simple spaced SS coil at 25W, full Cotton Bacon v2 wicks
Tested at 2, 3, 4 and 5%

Notes
My sniff test on WF Fluffy White Cake suggested more frosting than cake, and that is how it vapes too - at least at low percentages. At 2%, it tasted like frosting that had been made with condensed milk. At 3%, a very light golden semi-baked note emerged, balanced with that light vanilla frosting. At 4%, the cake finally showed up. It is very delicate and light, fluffy, and still has that semi-baked feel to it like a cross between cake and cake batter. Happy that the cake flavour had finally arrived, I bumped it up another per cent. That tipped it over the edge and, especially with the first vape of it after vaping some other flavour, it tastes putrid. Don't ask me how an iced cake gets putrid but this has a note I've never tasted in vape before and can only be described as "food that has gone bad". It also, oddly, vanishes after a few drags. But put it away for an hour or two, vape it again, and you will again get that putrid note. Keep it at 4% or less, though, and you will probably enjoy it.

Application
White cake is notoriously delicate and this flavour reflects that. I don't think this will stand up to chocolates or other strong toppings for your cake. It is not an assertive flavour and will be dominated easily. There is no dialing it up either because of that putrid off note. It will probably need to be used as an accent/complement for another cake or bakery flavour. It will add soft fluffiness to a more assertive bakery.

Who wants it?
If you're looking for a FW Yellow Cake replacement, this isn't it. On the other hand, FW White Cake apparently doesn't cut it so, for the meantime, this is probably the best white cake that is available locally. If you're not into bakeries and only want a select few bakery bases, skip this. But if you're a bakery nut and like mixing all manner of cake/cookie/waffle bases together, this will prove a versatile addition to your toolbox. Just give it some help, or use it to help more assertive flavours.

 

[RichJB]

WF Picarones SC
Tested in the Hadaly clone, 0.5Ω simple spaced SS coil at 25W, full Cotton Bacon v2 wicks
Tested at 1,5, 2, 3 and 4%

Notes
Wiki and YouTube research informs me that picarones are a Peruvian dessert which resemble deep-fried doughnuts made from a pumpkin/squash/butternut and sweet potato batter, then drenched in a syrup known as chancaca which is raw cane sugar and boiling water reduced to a syrup and infused with flavouring agents such as pineapple or orange skins, cinnamon, etc. When I read that description, I just had to test the flavour, albeit with a sneaking premonition that it wouldn't necessarily make for a great vape.

So which elements of the actual foodstuff are present, and how do they stack up?
Pumpkin - check. Unlike many concentrates with pumpkin in the name, this isn't a loose agglomeration of spices commonly used with pumpkin. It's the actual vegetable and comes across as earthy, orange and thus authentic. That may or may not be a good thing.
Sweet potato - check. This is a supporting flavour to the pumpkin, accenting it and adding a layer of vegetal sweetness. It's a decent balance and the two flavours mesh quite well together.
Oily deep-fried doughnut vibe - not overpoweringly so but there is enough greasiness in there to convince me that these are fresh from the fryer.
Syrup - check. And man, is there ever a lot of it. That apparently is true to the profile, Peruvians drown their picarones in syrup.
Added spices - mmmm, no. I can't blame WF for that. It is a relatively simple matter to add spices to taste, much harder to mask or eliminate a spice that is already in the flavour. So instead of the syrup being sweetness counterpointed by aromatic spices, it's flat-out cane sugar syrup.

This is a very assertive flavour, even at 1.5% it was hammering home. It does, however, scale well with no off notes manifesting at any of the percentages I tested. The different elements hang together well, I'm just not sure it's something I want to be vaping. Or even eating, come to think of it.

Application
If you're on the lookout for a versatile, plain unspiced pumpkin that will fit a number of applications, then... this isn't it. The vegetal sweetness of the sweet potato and the lashings of potent cane sugar syrup move this concentrate well out of "a pumpkin for all seasons" status. The only application I can think of for this is picarones themselves, it is just too distinctive to masquerade as anything else. The flavour will stand up well to anything you throw at it so it could be enhanced and bent in different directions. I would start at 2% for a top note. I can't give an accent note percentage because this is not suited to being an accent.

Who wants it?
If you enjoy your veggies cooked with sugar, this may well be the concentrate you've been craving. It's not pumpkin fritters dusted with cinnamon sugar, the sweet potato and syrup see to that. But it's close enough in overall character, veggies with added sweetness, that you may develop a taste for it.