Help with Castle Long Clone

[bghill]

I made a CL clone from a recipe on here. The taste is pretty much bang on to the real thing. I did buy a bottle as a taste tester and most recently vaped a tank of each back to back. The overall flavor profile is so close but the original is about twice as strong or deep if that makes any sense. I am looking for any tweaks to get more of all flavours a bit more. This mix is 3 weeks old now and the flavor profile has not changed in the last week so I think it is as steeped as it will get.

Here is what I made:

6mg 60/40 PG/VG

2.5% Bourbon - FW
1.0% Vanilla Bourbon - FA
1.5% Toasted Almond - Sig
1.5% Coconut - FW
1.0% Brown Sugar - Sig
0.5% Vanillan - Ecig Express
1.5% Acetyl Pyrazine - Ecig

1.5 hours in the UC at 130 degrees, 3 weeks in the bottle in the juice cupboard to now.

Should I up the % on all flavors maybe? Decrease? Thanks for any insights.

 

[sedition]

I'd change the PG/VG to 50/50 first - that's what Five Pawns uses. Should bump up the flavor a bit.

 

[Art Mustel]

I made a CL clone from a recipe on here. The taste is pretty much bang on to the real thing. I did buy a bottle as a taste tester and most recently vaped a tank of each back to back. The overall flavor profile is so close but the original is about twice as strong or deep if that makes any sense. I am looking for any tweaks to get more of all flavours a bit more. This mix is 3 weeks old now and the flavor profile has not changed in the last week so I think it is as steeped as it will get.

Here is what I made:

6mg 60/40 PG/VG

2.5% Bourbon - FW
1.0% Vanilla Bourbon - FA
1.5% Toasted Almond - Sig
1.5% Coconut - FW
1.0% Brown Sugar - Sig
0.5% Vanillan - Ecig Express
1.5% Acetyl Pyrazine - Ecig

1.5 hours in the UC at 130 degrees, 3 weeks in the bottle in the juice cupboard to now.

Should I up the % on all flavors maybe? Decrease? Thanks for any insights.

Are you measuring flavors by drops? You may be way short on flavors.
Also, your recipe is missing a key element...tobacco. it takes Hangsen RY1 at 2% but you can substitute with others.
2.5% Kentucky Bourbon (you can also use FA Whiskey)
0.5% Coconut (FA)
2% RY1 (Hangsen) (I use hangsen #5)
1% Toasted Almond (TFA)
1% Vanillin (TFA)
1% Vanilla Bourbon (FA)
1% Brown Sugar (TFA)

By the way, when you mention flavors by "Signature" they are actually TFA (The Flavor Apprentice). You may also find them in some recipes under the name TPA (The Perfumer Apprentice). So are the Vanillin and the Acetyl Pyrazine you mentioned: they are TFA. Ecig Express sells the TFA line under the name "Signature"...

BUT...if you like the mix you made and your complain is about lack of flavoring, make an small tester (5 or 10ml) doubling all flavors up. You don't need to wait 3 weeks to taste it...a couple of days will be enough. Now you will have a reference for your next larger batches. (I would not double the Pyrazine but that is me).

 

[BrentB423]

Made same as original. But mostly Vg. Can't get it anywhere as smooth as five pawns. Could be the pg...but it is such a moist Vape compared to what I made

 

[bghill]

Thanks for the insights. Increasing the VG will make it closer to the 5P CL as well. My clone was a bit thinner than the 5P and also a little bit lighter. I wondered what their ratio was, thanks for the info Sedition.
I measure by syringe as I am now making up to 30ml batches of my other favorites. Hope to nail this recipe down as I have ordered an oak bottle and plan to try steeping in that.
Will try a double % batch tonite of around 10 or 15ml.

 

[Kenna]

Thanks for the insights. Increasing the VG will make it closer to the 5P CL as well. My clone was a bit thinner than the 5P and also a little bit lighter. I wondered what their ratio was, thanks for the info Sedition.
I measure by syringe as I am now making up to 30ml batches of my other favorites. Hope to nail this recipe down as I have ordered an oak bottle and plan to try steeping in that.
Will try a double % batch tonite of around 10 or 15ml.

I don't DIY, but I do love CLR, & know that they use 2 specific vanilla's. Madegascar, & French. There are differences. Almonds & coconut are both toasted. There's flavor difference in toasted & untoasted. There's no difference in the CL & CLR except CLR is aged for a couple of weeks in the torched barrels. Hope you get this down pat!

 

[john333]

I have some FA Oak Wood Flavor. Originally got it to go with my Kentucky Bourbon. Just those two alone make a good vape. Just throwing out the Oak Wood as an FYI. Think I will give this recipe a shot. Good luck.

 

[DenaInWyo]

I made two bottles of this today (my usual stock was getting low!) and in one I put four drops of the FA oakwood just as an experiment (straight from the FA 10 mL bottle for reference on what kind of drops).

Right away it smells..richer? I dunno. I'll try it in about a week and report back.

Edited to add: I should have mentioned, my version is slightly different than the ones posted here but based on the same clone recipe. I do use french vanilla (Cap V2) and I use TFA coconut candy instead of FA coconut..just seems like more the type of coconut for this rather than a fresh coconut.

 

[bghill]

I made a batch at 33% more flavour than the original recipe I posted above last week. Vaped a bit of both over the weekend and found the increased flavours did not change the flavour that much. A little bit stronger but not as much as I expected. Still can't wait to try it in another week. I made 15ml so got lot's.
Going to add the Madegascar Vanilla and toasted coconut to the next flavour order. I can see that would make a difference. Maybe a drop more coconut to as that is a favorite flavour of mine.
Also want another Bourbon or other alcohol flavour. Canadian Whiskey maybe.

This was the lastest recipe:

3.30% Bourbon - FW
1.33% Vanilla Bourbon - FA
2.00% Toasted Almond - Sig
2.00% Coconut - FW
1.33% Brown Sugar - Sig
.665% Vanillan
1.00% AP

Still waiting on the Oak Bottle. Should be any day now. Has anyone tried aging in one of these?

Oak Bottle | Infuses wine & spirits with oaky flavors quickly

I also am considering adding a tobacco flavour. Probably a RY4 or Cherry Cigar.

 

[Vulcano]

Yes, there are some other posts about those Oak Bottle, it looks like you "loss" about 20% of the total juice you put it, but it helps with the flavor

I don't have the links but if you search for "Oak Bottle" you will find some threads

 

[Stacy1]

Kentucky Bourbon from TFA and Whiskey from FA are both great alcohol flavorings

 

[Peeptoad]

I've had this recipe stockpiled from ................. by LadyRed69 haven't made it myself yet I still need to get the cherry blossom and red oak.

Castle Long

8% coconut
6% roasted almond
4% brown sugar
2% Vanilla Swirl
2% French vanilla
2% Kentucky bourbon
2% Red Oak
1% Cherry Blossom

 

[DenaInWyo]

Update from last week's FA oak wood experiment: This does impart a slight oak-ey flavor and it's not bad at all. This puts me very much in the mind of The Gentleman's Reserve from The Steam Co. If you try this, I would keep it a very low amount..probably not over 1% because the four drops I used is just about right. It could go a tiny smidge higher, but not much.

At any rate, this is the recipe I use. It's based on the clone thread that was so popular here, and I am SO grateful to the people who came up with it! One of my all time favorite juices and I never let myself run out.

Girl Scout Whiskey (Hey, I needed a name for it )

TFA Kentucky Bourbon 3%
Cap Toasted Almond 2.5%
TFA Coconut Candy 3%
INW Vanilla Classic 1%
Cap French Vanilla V2 1%
FA Vanilla Bourbon 1%
TFA Brown Sugar Extra 2%

Plus, of course, the optional tiny amount of FA Oak Wood.

 

[Art Mustel]

i like the 2 previous recipes...any CL clone that doesn't take AP works good for me. I have made the one with cherry blossom but i think it is too high on coconut and toasted almond. Specially the toasted almond. Will try it again lowering those to 6% and 3%.

 

[DenaInWyo]

Yeah..I don't think AP fits in there well.

 

[Mr.Mann]

I have some FA Oak Wood Flavor. Originally got it to go with my Kentucky Bourbon. Just those two alone make a good vape. Just throwing out the Oak Wood as an FYI. Think I will give this recipe a shot. Good luck.

This is very close to what I was going to post.

 

[Art Mustel]

There is a word of difference on this mix if you use FA Coconut instead of TFA's. I haven't tried Capella's toasted almond tho, it could work better than TFA's (I'm still experimenting since there is a "rancid" note that I perceive and I suspect it comes from this toasted almond after liquid is steeped for a while).