Hey everyone!
Well, I have had two days to test out Tasty Vapor's Kretek clove. Overall, I'm gonna say that I am very pleased! That said, I may have TV tweak their recipe a little for my particular taste.
Anyway, here are the details. I used a Joye 510 with a cartomizer instead of a standard cartridge. I did a side-by-side comparison with a Djarum Light (the cigs, much different than the current Djarum Special "cigars" now sold in the US). That particular analog is in between a kretek and a typical cig. Wow, it had been over a week since I smoked a Djarum, and the first taste note was a nasty smoke flavor! OK, past that, the analog had good throat hit (of course), a little clove and spice, and some tongue and throat numbing. To my delight, the sensation of the TV Kretek (in 20% VG) compared quite well! Flavor was good, only slightly sweet, plenty of spice (no noticeable licorice), with some clove mixed in, and a slight numbing, mostly on the tongue. The major difference was that the TV Kretek juice gets a lot of its spiciness and kick from cinnamon, IMO. I do have to say that some of that may have been due to my poor mixing of the bottle before filling up the cartomizer, since the next day on my refill, it seemed more clove and less cinnamon. I also thought that might just be my tastebuds getting nuked from the cinnamon, but my wife agreed, and she only took a few puffs of mine each day. As an added bonus, I got that kretek-like snap, crackle and pop from my cartomizer!
In all, very good, and by far the best juice I have had to replace kretek analogs. The best thing is that it really helped curb my desire for the analogs. Way to go, Geoff!
For my personal taste, I would prefer a little more clove and less cinnamon, as long as the clove doesn't kill the throat hit. Maybe this will improve a tad as the TV Kretek juice ages. I may also mix up some juices that I have, and if I find anything good will pass it on here and/or the DIY threads.
Happy vaping!
