Five Pawns Castle Long Reserve Review

[RPadTV]

Here's a review of five pawns Castle Long Reserve, Bowden's Mate, and Absolute Pin. Castle Long Reserve is a particularly interesting juice that's aged in a treated oak barrel for three weeks. All three of these juices are complex and feature multiple flavors. They're among the best juice I've tried. Keep in mind that if you like simple and straightforward flavors then perhaps these juices aren't for you. Then there's the price -- $27.50 for the standard line and $37.50 for the Reserve line (30ml bottles). I think these juices are worth the price, but understand that some vapers will find the cost excessive.

Full review and steeping notes here.

 

[Frankenmizer]

I'd like to thank Raymond for his invitation to post my impressions of Castle Long Reserve (CLR) in this thread.

I am not going to address the various points of view concerning the Five Pawns pricing structure and business/marketing model. That's been well-hashed on ECF. I did, however, think it appropriate to put my money where my mouth was before I said anything else on the topic.

My bottle was decanted June 21, 2013. It is 50/50 PG/VG at 12mg/ml strength. It was well-steeped when it arrived at my door.
My test rig is a ProVari Mini, a fresh Kanger ProTank 2 with a 2.5 ohm coil.

Five Pawns claims:
You'll taste toasted coconut, roasted almond, two different vanillas (actual vanilla bean and French), Kentucky bourbon, and obviously oak.

Does it deliver?


At 3.6 volts, almond and oak are up front. The other flavors are there, but well in the background. Vapor and Flavor are very good. Throat Hit is negligible.

3.8 volts is where the bourbon moves forward. Almond is equal to it, while the oak moves back a touch. Vanilla moves to the middle. Coconut is in the back. VTF is the same.

At four volts, the bourbon and oak are in the fore. Vanilla and almond follow, with coconut still in the background. Vapor and Flavor are very good. Throat Hit remained negligible.

At 4.2 volts the almond and coconut move up. The bourbon moves back. The vanilla and oak lose their distinctiveness because they have blended with everything else. VTF remains the same.

At 4.4 volts, the bourbon and coconut are in front, the almond is in the middle. Vanilla and oak say hello on the exhale. Vapor and Flavor remain very good. Throat Hit goes up a notch to mild.

Something I didn't expect occurred at 4.5 volts: Almond and vanilla took the lead. The others moved back. Vanilla persisted through the finish. Very nice. Vapor and Flavor are very good. TH remained mild.


The Verdict:

Five Pawns Castle Long Reserve delivers exactly what it claims across the voltage spectrum. CLR is the most complex blend I have experienced. There are six distinct flavors at work. All of them are present and vary in predominance depending on the voltage setting. Individual flavors moved up, back, and up again. Parings and triples did the same, in several combinations.

Say what you will about other aspects of Five Pawns, but Castle Long Reserve wasn't created by luck. I am convinced their flavor team are masters.

 

[RPadTV]

Thanks for your review Frankenmizer! It was awesomely detailed and enjoyable.

 

[Frankenmizer]

My pleasure. I've been evaluating CLR over the last week. I found the flavor changes by accident when I switched out a ProTank with a different coil resistance, and didn't change the voltage on the ProVari. CLR had a different profile at that setting..me being me, I started working across the "green" range of volts/ohms/watts.

You had mentioned complexity in your CLR review and you were right.

I wrote stream-of-consciousness so I'm editing the post here and there for grammar, tense, etc.

Thanks again for the opportunity to comment.