I've been evaluating a few e-juices from various vendors (the specifics aren't important and will have their own threads soon).
I've noticed that some of them have qualities that aren't typically mentioned here on ECF but I'm finding are VERY important to me personally in terms of what I like and what I dislike.
For instance, a well-known flavor from a well known supplier smells very good. It also tastes (to my tongue) very pleasant. Yet, on the linger of the inhale and the end of the exhale, I find something unpleasant about it. Something about the way it fill my sinus cavity on being exhaled.
It has this combination of an alcohol after-smell (bear with me!) which almost seems to pepper the entire hit. That peppery after-smell is unpleasant to me, ESPECIALLY since this is a sweet flavor and pepper would be EXTREMELY unexpected.
It's only there for a moment. Before I decided to make this post, I wondered if maybe I was crazy since nobody mentioned this before (again, this is a well-known flavor). But it's there, every hit, every time. And it's only there for a second, but it impacts the last few moments of this vape.
So I move on to another flavor *picks a bottle at random*...
This bottle is from the same well-know supplier, but is a different flavor (also well-known here on the forums).
This flavor presents me with a hit in the sinuses and nose (hence the title, Sinasal Hit) but it's very different. The sinasal hit comes BEFORE the main flavor. There's a quick second where I seem to smell-taste berry BEFORE the flavor of the vape takes hold and shines through.
In this case, I find the sinasal hit to be extremely pleasant. It adds a sweet note before an intense flavor and ADDS to the overall quality of my vape.
I now move to flavor three in my "sinasal" experiment.
This flavor is one that I do not like. It's a fairly common flavor type for all vendors, but it's from a vendor that is in the "kinda-well known" category. Actually, this vendor is pretty well known, but opinions are divided as to if this vendor is any good.
Anyway, the flavor is aweful. The sinasal hit on this seems to just add to the awefulness of the vape in general. They way it plays in my sinuses seems to fit exactly with the way it seems to play on my tongue. Aweful and perfume-like.
Either this flavor has no SH at all, or it has one that is so perfectly matched to it's flavor it isn't worth commenting on. Maybe this is a bad example because I don't like it. I don't think the sinasal hit and matching to the flavor is a bad thing, but this is just a bad flavor all-around. Okay, moving on before I hate myself for vaping more to pad this post...
Flavor four is from the same vendor as flavor three, but is a different flavor.
I like this flavor when vaped in general. I find it pleasant enough that if I was running low on my favorites, I'd load it up and take with me. It's something I enjoy vaping, but not something I prefer given other options.
The sinasal hit on this is odd. It seems to resonate with the flavor of the vape. But it's not like a "good flavor with a good flavor that make a great flavor" (Is it obvious that I'm thinking of peanut butter and chocolate, which this is not?)
The sinus hit on this seems to ebb and flow with the flavor. I think maybe my brain simply doesn't know how to handle the stimuli here. One moment, I notice the slight perfume in my sinuses, then the sweet flavor on my tongue and in the back of my throat. Then I notice perfume and then sweet again. I find this back and forth unpleasant though I don't find either of those sensations unpleasant on their own.
This is kind of the quintessence of what my "sinasal hit" concept is. It's the way vapes seems to impart charactaristics other than the burn at the back of my throat (TH) and the flavor. There's that "filling of the emptiness", the ghost of a flavor that might not always fit with what you just tasted.
Flavor five for this experiment is one I really, really, really like. It might be tied with flavor #2 for my favorite vape!
My sinasal hit on this is instantly the main advertised flavor. Odd, that I'd detect the main flavor with my sinuses before I'd detect it with my tongue. Well, maybe not odd, knowing how smell and taste interplay, but... interesting.
The main advertised flavor of this vape fills my sinuses intensely. It's obvious that the flavor I'm getting is artificial because the real thing doesn't hit my sinuses like that, but I've always found artificial flavors of this type to be pleasant.
My tongue tastes the added and secondary flavors as the sinus hit wears off. They don't compliment each other though they should. None of them is bad, the opposite in fact. But it's sad that this flavor vape isn't mingling as well as the "real thing" does. The secondary flavor is awesome in it's own and the sinus flavor is great, but I have tow DISTINCT flavors rather than one flavor that is amazing because of the parts involved.
I'm also detecting a subtle third flavor in the sinuses after the last hit has cleared. It's so faint that I can't call it unpleasant, but it would be if it were more intense. It's almost sweet. Not quite what I'd call "sickly" but damn close. It has a sweet berryish linger that makes me want to vape something else so that I stop detecting it.
Okay, so I'm done rating these five flavors in terms of this phenomenon I've noticed.
Has anybody else noticed the same thing?
I've noticed that some of them have qualities that aren't typically mentioned here on ECF but I'm finding are VERY important to me personally in terms of what I like and what I dislike.
For instance, a well-known flavor from a well known supplier smells very good. It also tastes (to my tongue) very pleasant. Yet, on the linger of the inhale and the end of the exhale, I find something unpleasant about it. Something about the way it fill my sinus cavity on being exhaled.
It has this combination of an alcohol after-smell (bear with me!) which almost seems to pepper the entire hit. That peppery after-smell is unpleasant to me, ESPECIALLY since this is a sweet flavor and pepper would be EXTREMELY unexpected.
It's only there for a moment. Before I decided to make this post, I wondered if maybe I was crazy since nobody mentioned this before (again, this is a well-known flavor). But it's there, every hit, every time. And it's only there for a second, but it impacts the last few moments of this vape.
So I move on to another flavor *picks a bottle at random*...
This bottle is from the same well-know supplier, but is a different flavor (also well-known here on the forums).
This flavor presents me with a hit in the sinuses and nose (hence the title, Sinasal Hit) but it's very different. The sinasal hit comes BEFORE the main flavor. There's a quick second where I seem to smell-taste berry BEFORE the flavor of the vape takes hold and shines through.
In this case, I find the sinasal hit to be extremely pleasant. It adds a sweet note before an intense flavor and ADDS to the overall quality of my vape.
I now move to flavor three in my "sinasal" experiment.
This flavor is one that I do not like. It's a fairly common flavor type for all vendors, but it's from a vendor that is in the "kinda-well known" category. Actually, this vendor is pretty well known, but opinions are divided as to if this vendor is any good.
Anyway, the flavor is aweful. The sinasal hit on this seems to just add to the awefulness of the vape in general. They way it plays in my sinuses seems to fit exactly with the way it seems to play on my tongue. Aweful and perfume-like.
Either this flavor has no SH at all, or it has one that is so perfectly matched to it's flavor it isn't worth commenting on. Maybe this is a bad example because I don't like it. I don't think the sinasal hit and matching to the flavor is a bad thing, but this is just a bad flavor all-around. Okay, moving on before I hate myself for vaping more to pad this post...
Flavor four is from the same vendor as flavor three, but is a different flavor.
I like this flavor when vaped in general. I find it pleasant enough that if I was running low on my favorites, I'd load it up and take with me. It's something I enjoy vaping, but not something I prefer given other options.
The sinasal hit on this is odd. It seems to resonate with the flavor of the vape. But it's not like a "good flavor with a good flavor that make a great flavor" (Is it obvious that I'm thinking of peanut butter and chocolate, which this is not?)
The sinus hit on this seems to ebb and flow with the flavor. I think maybe my brain simply doesn't know how to handle the stimuli here. One moment, I notice the slight perfume in my sinuses, then the sweet flavor on my tongue and in the back of my throat. Then I notice perfume and then sweet again. I find this back and forth unpleasant though I don't find either of those sensations unpleasant on their own.
This is kind of the quintessence of what my "sinasal hit" concept is. It's the way vapes seems to impart charactaristics other than the burn at the back of my throat (TH) and the flavor. There's that "filling of the emptiness", the ghost of a flavor that might not always fit with what you just tasted.
Flavor five for this experiment is one I really, really, really like. It might be tied with flavor #2 for my favorite vape!
My sinasal hit on this is instantly the main advertised flavor. Odd, that I'd detect the main flavor with my sinuses before I'd detect it with my tongue. Well, maybe not odd, knowing how smell and taste interplay, but... interesting.
The main advertised flavor of this vape fills my sinuses intensely. It's obvious that the flavor I'm getting is artificial because the real thing doesn't hit my sinuses like that, but I've always found artificial flavors of this type to be pleasant.
My tongue tastes the added and secondary flavors as the sinus hit wears off. They don't compliment each other though they should. None of them is bad, the opposite in fact. But it's sad that this flavor vape isn't mingling as well as the "real thing" does. The secondary flavor is awesome in it's own and the sinus flavor is great, but I have tow DISTINCT flavors rather than one flavor that is amazing because of the parts involved.
I'm also detecting a subtle third flavor in the sinuses after the last hit has cleared. It's so faint that I can't call it unpleasant, but it would be if it were more intense. It's almost sweet. Not quite what I'd call "sickly" but damn close. It has a sweet berryish linger that makes me want to vape something else so that I stop detecting it.
Okay, so I'm done rating these five flavors in terms of this phenomenon I've noticed.
Has anybody else noticed the same thing?
