NEW Capella Flavors Reviewed by SessionDrummer -- Testing Now!

Mixology Flavour Notes
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Succulent Watermelon (CAP) 4% / 6% (1-12-24) – I love great adjectives in flavor names, BUT, it does almost beg for MORE scrutiny.

succulent /sŭk′yə-lənt/

adjective

  1. Full of juice or sap; juicy.
  2. Having thick, fleshy, water-storing leaves or stems.
  3. Highly interesting or enjoyable; delectable.

Alright, I can go with the “full of juice, … juicy” on this one. At both 4% and 6% (it was improved at 6%), it did present as a fairly juicy, tasty Watermelon. It leaned heavily towards a candied WM, with some VERY interesting sweetness, that was almost like sugar crystals, along with some tartness. Now saying this was simply a candied WM, with some Sweet and Tart would be an oversimplification, but still kind of accurate. It tasted like a 75/25 ratio with 75% candied, and 25% natural WM, washed over by a nice candy sweetness, and a hint of tart on the finish. At both weights it was still surprisingly light, but didn’t taste “thin”. Your natural vs. candied tastes/needs will weigh heavily on whether you love this one or not. Personally I was kind of 50/50 on it, and felt like it was 80% of the way there, and with SOME improvement when moving from 4-6%, I’m unsure if cranking it higher would yield any more saturation or not. Tasty, juicy, and fairly candied were my take-aways, and with no off-notes to nit-pick, I would only mark down for the candy-ness, BUT, that’s MY personal preference/taste, and yours may be different. Nicely done, and somewhat lighter, it did hold my interest for 3 testers, which is never bad. If you want a sweetened, and tart-ened WM, this one will do it. It felt good at a 8.0/10. Your “succulence” mileage may vary…

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From the review, it seems that it veered more towards the noun than the adjective.

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Wild Raspberry (CAP) 4% / 6% (1-14-24) – All cards on the table, every time I test a “Wild Raspberry” I am always comparing it directly to the king, MF Wild Raspberry. So ANY WR has a big hill to climb. This one seemed to have a few Raspberries present, and it did have a “dirty” slant to it. Now I’m sure most times you hear “dirty”, it is probably a con, but with this one, it was a pro. Dirty, meaning it wasn’t a clear profiled RB, but went in a few directions. Not muddy, muddied, or muddled, but far more complex. The thing I liked the most was it wasn’t like any other RB I had, and that is always promising. It had some hints of a red RB, but also some darker berry elements, and with some slight wine notes, and a good tart finish. It had a few minor aspects of a blue raspberry as well, but only minor, and they added to the mystery and complexity. Even though it was a medley, it still stayed fairly on track for a RB, and sweetness was a few ticks below mid-level, and the sour/tart was nicely balanced without being overbearing. It leaned more towards a natural, with some light candied elements thrown in as well. Very easy to enjoy, and very hard to explain. At 4% (repeating), it felt like it needed more, and 6% seemed to do the trick. All in, it was a good showing from CAP with a medley of Raspberries, along with some darker berry notes, and a pinch of tart. Although different than CAP’s Shisha RB, I’m rating this one even with it, and leaving it at a solid 9.0/10.

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Tropical Mango (CAP) 4% / 6% (1-15-24) – Finishing out this NEW Release Series by Capella with this one. I have to admit when I read “Tropical” I was intrigued. You’ll have to read on to see if this one is a trainwreck, or a superhero. 3 testers later, I’m STILL not 100% sure if this one works/worked or not. Starting off it WAS a mashup/medley, so if you’re looking for a Mango mango, this ain’t it. It was pretty hard to nail down EXACTLY what was going on with this one, as Capella did a great job of balancing notes with this one. I finally settled on a three-way mashup of a Mango, Pineapple, and Coconut. Coconuts can be an “oily” or “suntanny” bunch, so like most others, it was lower in the mix with this one, and the Mango and Pineapple were fairly even, riding over the Coconut. They WERE indeed mashed up pretty damned good, which helped conceal some of the finer details I could normally pick up. At times it worked pretty good, others, not so much, but an interesting design none the less. Sweetness was just below mid-level, and no real off-notes, except an occasional sour that did wax and wane, and didn’t stay constant. Like most of the other new Cap’s 4% was good, but 6% was better. Mostly natural with no real candied-ness, and the bits and pieces I got OF the individual fruits did taste fairly accurate. I will admit, it DID have a “tropical” vibe to it, BUT, the Mango wasn’t really the star, so, that may or may not make it one for you. All in, it seemed that it didn’t work for me, more than it did work, so I decided to leave it a little lower, at a 6.75/10. Not a bad tropical medley, just never really took off for me.

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Thanks out to Allan from Capella for shipping these last few out for these reviews. I will post them on the OG thread to complete the series.

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Nut Muffin (CAP) 4% (8-11-24) – Cakes, muffins, or cupcakes, how DO you make them, TASTE, like what they’re supposed to ? Capella, did a pretty good job, and somehow, it seemed more like a Muffin, than either of the cakes. This presented as fairly cakey, BUT, CAP added some darker, not really burned notes, but darker, maybe similar to molasses, which really pushed this one pretty solidly into Muffin-Ville. The darker notes, persisted (in a good way), and that way, the “cakes” never came to the forefront. Still cakey, but NOT a cake, or cupcake, if that makes sense. The nut(s) profile was harder to nail down, and while obviously there, exactly WHAT nuts, remained a mystery. No AP, no Los Fritos, or any of the typical off-notes, and the nut profile was lighter, non-bitter, and made me wonder if it was Pecan. No peanuts, or walnuts, so I’ll just leave it at “nutty”.

Continuing through the test, it almost reminded me of a bran muffin, but only somewhat, not entirely. Combined the light nuts and muffin did play nice together, with no off-notes or complaints. At 4% it was very full, but not overpowered. It might even be able to be cut by 0.5-0.75% without issue. Sweetness was about two ticks past mid-level, which left it fairly sweet, but in comparison to most mass marketed “muffins” it tasted about right. About my only “want” would be just a bit more nuts. Small want, for a big, tasty muffin flavor. Right before I started working on the scoring, I decided that a sweetened, nut and bran muffin was
about as close as I could get to describing it. With only the light nuts to “want” for, I settled on a high 9.1/10 for this one.

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Mint (CAP) 4% (8-12-24) – For the record (as always), I do NOT use cooling agents, and I am NOT a fan of them. With THAT outta the way, it’s no secret that Capella has some really good mints, Spearmint, Cool Mint, and Peppermint, some of which I’ve used a lot, though typically NOT for personal use. This one will probably go up there with the rest of them, BUT, there’s a but. BUT, hehe, it was almost more of a Mint Candy, than a pure Mint mint. When I first started testing, I was HIT with an onrush of what appeared to be cooling, but it calmed down after a little bit. Continued testing revealed there did seem to be some in there. Let your personal cooling preferences decide for you on that fact. The Mint itself was fairly clean, and was fairly sweetened, but it wasn’t JUST a sweetened Mint, it almost tasted candied. Not entirely, but it leaned more heavily towards that, than just a sweet mint.

Being a HUGE drinker of Mojitos, when I hear “Mint”, I’m thinking Fresh Mint. Now this wasn’t terrible, but I think it was fairly sweet/candied, so again, let YOUR thoughts on that decide for you. I can’t rate/compare the cooling in it, but from a “Not Cooler”, I would say it was fairly cool, on both the inhale/exhale, so it was in there. A nice mint, with a lot of uses, just not a pure, or completely natural mint, and with some cooling. Trying to leave my cooling feelings aside, and not rate on that aspect, it felt good at a 7.0/10, and as a somewhat sweetened, chilled mint.

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Wafer Crunch (CAP) 4% (8-16-24) – LAST one in this (kinda) new series. This one smelled great in the bottle, and continued during testing. Even after three testers, the two main take-aways stayed consistent. It was 75% vanilla wafers, and 25% Waffle Cone. At first, I wasn’t sure about the WC, but after more testing, I think it actually DID add some depth, a little crunch, and backing to the wafer profile. The wafer profile was VERY good, and accurate, with a pretty close representation OF a vanilla wafer. There may have been some light cream in there, but it was hard to tell. Not exactly like bighting into one, but the overall effect was pretty close. It was great at 2.5%, with no off-notes, and sweetness was just below mid-level. Tasty, almost crispy, and accurate. Nothing came to mind as a “must have” or “could have” with this one. NOT a pure Wafer, but the addition of the Waffle Cone, DID work here. Leaving this one pretty high, at a 9.5/10.

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Thanks again out to Alan from Capella, who always gets these sent out, sometimes before they’re released. 3 more new flavors from Capella. I will update the main post with these tests for easier reading, and as well down here. All were sent out from Alan for the purpose of this review, and will be tested at 4%, in a 70v/30p/3mg base, tested on the SteamCrave RDTA with dual vertical Kanthal coils. Fresh KGD cotton before every test, and tested at 65 watts.

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Guarana (CAP) 4% (9-18-24) – Having never eaten a Guarana, nor being a big fan of energy drinks where it is used frequently, this one was a very interesting flavor to test. This flavor was actually quite unique, and presented as a very light, somewhat fruity apple, with an almost soda like fizzy-ness, and a slightly bitter citrus finish. Now the finish was really hard to nail down, as I called it a citrus finish, but it didn’t taste like lemon or lime, but strangely enough, more like a blank canvas citrus finish. VERY hard to explain, but it was a great finish for the flavor. At 4% it was still a somewhat light(er) flavor, and could benefit from a slightly higher single flavor percentage. The apple was fairly red, but not a juicy red delicious, but really more like an apple soda, with a very slight, but good fizzy aspect. Sweetness was just below mid level, and it was an interesting flavor. I don’t think I have any on my shelves quite like this one. Tasty, fresh, somewhat soda-like, and with a citrus edge, with some fizzy-ness is what this one was. Even though it was a somewhat lighter flavor, it was hard to fault this one, with no off-notes, and about the only “want” would have been a little more presence, which might easily be remedied by a slight strength increase. Very good, and decided to leave it at a high 9.0/10 rating.

Maracuja (CAP) 4% (9-20-24) – Having never technically eaten a Maracuja, and researching it a bit, it seemed like there was a lot of confusion that Maracujas were Passion Fruit. It appears as if there ARE some differences. Needless to say, they were similar, but the Maracuja had some interesting profile differences when testing. It did taste somewhat like a typical PF, but it had a very good, citrus-y, and slightly acidic back note to it. This one tasted a lot more fresh, and refreshing than a regular PF. The citrus aspects never fully pulled Lemon or Lime, but were clearly there, and really did have a little acidity/tart which helped kick it off. At 4% it was still a somewhat light flavor, but didn’t scream for more. No off-notes or complaints, and sweetness was a few ticks below mid-level. All in, it was a lighter, fresher, and tarty-er version of a PF. Freshly placing this one fairly high at a 9.5/10.

Pistacho (CAP) 4% (9-22-24) – Last one on deck from Alan at Capella. Right out of the gate, I could tell this one was going to be good. Smelled very authentic in the bottle, and that continued throught the testing. Wow, Capella did a really good job capturing a natural Pistachio with this one. I could almost taste the “green” in it. Now, about the only issue I had would be it was just a bit sweeter than I would have liked, but THAT, was it. P’s can be somewhat sweet, but not sweetened. This one was just at about mid-level sweet, and while I couldn’t call it sweetened, or candied, it leaned just a bit on the sweet side. Beyond that single “thing”, the rest of it was stellar. Sweet, savory, nutty, and with a hint of earthy-ness that did help sell it. Not too heavy in any of the aforementioned, but just enough, and all the nuances worked in harmony.

It wasn’t creamed, or creamy, but there was a lighter, almost creamy aspect to it. No shells, no skins, but beyond that, it WAS in here. Very authentic, and natural tasting with no off-notes or complaints, with the exception of the slightly sweeter-ness of it. I spent extra time with this one, trying to find something to complain about, but I couldn’t. At 4% it was very rich, and full, and didn’t feel like it needed any more. It was on the higher “mid” level of saturation. Having bled the last tester dry before writing this, I think I’m going to mix up two testers with some custard, and sugar cookie, just to enjoy it even more. Very good, and rating it high, with only the slightly higher than expected sweetness to complain about, at a 9.6/10. Put it in your cart, and get your “green” on.

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Pistacho (CAP) 4% (9-22-24) – Last one on deck from Alan at Capella. Right out of the gate, I could tell this one was going to be good. Smelled very authentic in the bottle, and that continued throught the testing. Wow, Capella did a really good job capturing a natural Pistachio with this one. I could almost taste the “green” in it. Now, about the only issue I had would be it was just a bit sweeter than I would have liked, but THAT, was it. P’s can be somewhat sweet, but not sweetened. This one was just at about mid-level sweet, and while I couldn’t call it sweetened, or candied, it leaned just a bit on the sweet side. Beyond that single “thing”, the rest of it was stellar. Sweet, savory, nutty, and with a hint of earthy-ness that did help sell it. Not too heavy in any of the aforementioned, but just enough, and all the nuances worked in harmony.

It wasn’t creamed, or creamy, but there was a lighter, almost creamy aspect to it. No shells, no skins, but beyond that, it WAS in here. Very authentic, and natural tasting with no off-notes or complaints, with the exception of the slightly sweeter-ness of it. I spent extra time with this one, trying to find something to complain about, but I couldn’t. At 4% it was very rich, and full, and didn’t feel like it needed any more. It was on the higher “mid” level of saturation. Having bled the last tester dry before writing this, I think I’m going to mix up two testers with some custard, and sugar cookie, just to enjoy it even more. Very good, and rating it high, with only the slightly higher than expected sweetness to complain about, at a 9.6/10. Put it in your cart, and get your “green” on.

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