A S&V dark chocolate and raspberry milkshake. With valentines day coming up, this is a darker play on a sweetheart shake. The original is a bit of a sugar bomb, especially with the whipped cream on top. I wanted to really push that dark chocolate to front, and bring in a fruit syrup that was tarter and darker than the original cherry.

CAP Vanilla Bean Ice Cream- The ice cream base for the milkshake. I needed some fairly rich ice cream, both to hit the profile and to help carry the drier FA Cocoa. I've went with CAP because TFA's VBIC has that black pepper note and some dryness that needs to steep out. 3% was enough to get a fuller, richer ice cream flavor without getting too dense.

TFA Bavarian Cream- Thicker cream notes, heavy body, and most importantly works as a S&V. At 2%, without steeping, that nutty off-flavor works as a stand-in for the malty notes you'd expect from a milkshake. The volume and sweetness gives you some of what you'd get from using a separate marshmallow concentrate or a whipped cream to top the shake.

FA Cocoa- Dark cocoa powder that works as a S&V. 1.25% gives a punch of dark chocolate. The richness of the milkshake base fills the cocoa out and works to counteract any of the chalky texture you get can get from a drier chocolate concentrate.

FW Razzleberry- Bright, syrupy, raspberry with just a bit of darker blackberry flavor. Almost a "maraschino" raspberry flavor, Not floral, so works well without a steep. Stands in for a raspberry syrup added into the milkshake before blending.

And that's it. My S&V milkshake. Like all the other rounds, the true challenge here is in the restrictions. I felt like the S&V restriction was the biggest design challenge, although keeping a full milkshake flavor down to 4 concentrates also presents some issues. It was all about watching out for those unsteeped off-notes from dairy concentrates, while trying to build that milkshake base as simply as possible so I had some space to create an engaging flavor.

I mixed at 70% VG / 30% PG, with 1.5mg nic, but follow your heart. Works fine at 60/40.

The king of all chewy candy, the semi-elusive Mango Hi-Chew. The candy itself is just as much about texture as flavor, as it manages to be the sweet spot between something juicy and sweet like a starburst and chewy and substantial like taffy. I tried to replicate that at best as I could in vape form.

The fruit flavor here comes primarily from CAP Sweet Mango. The concentrate has a really soft, almost buttery overripe kind of mango quality that manages to be thick enough it's almost chewy. It's lacking most of the brightness and acidity you expect from a mango flavor, and it gets super weird at higher percentages so I had to build my juice around the level of mango flavor I could get without dragging up all those buttery earth notes that CAP Sweet Mango can get when it's overdone.

In my experience, peach and mango candy flavors are fairly similar, and I've used a a small percentage of a juicy peach to add some spark to the sweet mango without making it taste like a peach candy. CAP Juicy Peach has slightly less throat hit than TFA, and adds some of the acid and wetness to match the actual fruit flavor in the hi-chew. Still fairly potent, and even .25% brings up some throat-hit issues that I had to address.

CAP Marshmallow is foremost a textual element in here. I want some fluffyness and volume to the juice, helping it hit that taffy kind of mouthfeel. I think 2% gave me a nice volume without muting out that mango or bringing in too much vanilla.

TFA Whipped Cream is an accommodation for the contest format, and used mostly as an emulsifier for that mango and marshmallow. It does a lot work here, keeping the throat hit from the peach under control, dulling some of the more ripe notes from the mango, and pulling down some of the dry sugar and vanilla notes from the marshmallow further into the juice while adding to the thicker mouthfeel. Triacetin is a helluva drug, and it ends up being pretty vital for the shake and vape part of the contest.

It's a candy, so I think some sweetener is definitely a fit for the profile. I've gone with 1% of TFA Sweetener, because I wanted some of the inherent ethyl maltol sweetness for the mango note here, as well as the heavier, sugary sucralose to sort of force the juice onto your palate and further deaden the sharp edges on the peach and marshmallow.

I mixed this at 70%VG and 1.5mg nicotine, just because I felt like the higher pg was accentuating the weird notes in the sweet mango, but it's not a night or day difference in terms of flavor over 60%VG.

A ripe golden delicious apple. Juicy, warm golden delicious apple flesh with a light peel note on the tail end.

TPA Quince- Used for the juicy apple/pear volume of the fruit. The spicier top notes help reinforce the lingering peel.

INW Cherimoya- A sweaty overripe tropical banana flavor, used to convey the ripeness and the warmth of an apple that's just barely on the cusp of being overripe. Adds some creaminess to the overall mix, keeping the juiciness of the Quince and Cactus from reading like straight apple juice.

INW Cactus- Used primarily for the wetness and to keep the vape pleasant. At this percentage, smooths the throat hit from the cherimoya and quince. Any green aloe notes push toward to back end of the exhale and bolster the peel. A bit recognizable S&V, it calms down and homogenizes well overnight.

Sweet Guava with tart grapefruit and hops bitterness. Thick, dense, and juicy.

Elderflower cordial. Think St. Germain. I'm still waiting to be rocketed into the fourth dimension of existence. Until then, I'm going to miss cocktails... I mix at 75% VG. Certified shake and vape. Actually a bit better fresh before the champagne mutes everything all to shit.

Juicy, creamy ruby red grapefruit. I mix 75% vg, steep for a week to let the citrus settle and the vanillas show up.