Alright boys and girls, it’s no secret that we have been receiving a LOT of new members lately, and that’s GREAT !!! Also, it’s no secret that a lot of us are BUSY. Hell, we might even have a lot of NEW BUSY members too !!!
I talk a lot with @SmokyBlue about various things (mostly vaping lol) and the more I have, the more I like her. She’s been in the industry for quite a while, and despite her AFFECTION for @Flavorah :), she’s a damned good mixer-ologist. She surprised me during a recent conversation and asked me to pick out a few of her recipes to try out via her One Shots. I responded, and she shipped them right on out. Now, this was not done for the purposes OF a review, but seeing as though I am one of the SF Testing Kings, I didn’t see how I could NOT review them.
One shots aren’t for everyone, as many of us loooove (I have a flavor problem) to accumulate hundreds of flavors, and hope we can make something good from them. This can lead to buying duds, haters, and just plain bad flavors. This also takes a LOT of time, patience, etc. Even mixing UP a recipe from another mixer requires you to buy (you guessed it) ALL the flavors for that, and any other recipes you want to try.
Enter the One shots. Maybe you’re just pressed for time, don’t feel like buying MORE flavors, or just want to check out a recipe, before commiting to purchasing all the flavors. Hell, maybe you want to check out the mixer’s palate and/or style before commiting. One shots can help you out.
I’ve mixed many of her recipes, and somtimes (sigh) I have to sub a flavor or two, because NO ONE has more Flavorah than Smoky !!!
Going to post some pics, as I have JUST mixed them up, so there will be around a 7 day wait, before I can taste test them. I can tell you that they smell great, great, GREAT in their little sleeper tubes.
The shot tubes came in their own bags, with clear labels.
And, nice little steeper stickers.
The tubes were tightly capped.
Time to break out some of my BRAND new NIC, PG, and VG.
Toss in the flavor, NIC, then top off with your preferred PG/VG mix.
Cap, shake, sticker, and steep, just doesn’t get any easier than this.
Stay tuned guys, because these smelled REALLY good in their tubes. Can’t wait to try them out.
Cookie Nut Butter (One Shot) (SmokyBlue) 5% (11-6-19) – How do you create a “Nut Butter” without any peanut butter ?? !!! THIS is how. Now perhaps facetious, perhaps not. I was surprised that there was NO Peanut Butter in this, because smelling it I almost thought I did get some PB. Maybe it was meant to be the Butterscotch perhaps ?? 
Either way, this is not a PB recipe, but it has clear aspects OF PB. With 11 flavors in this one, and clocking in at a low low 5% overall flavor level, clearly something is going on here. Again, having barely SF tested any FLV’s, and having no knowledge of the flavors in this one, yet another surprise-er here. Very rich, full, and cookie-licious. With bourbon being included as well, I’m starting to sense a certain bourbon fondness of the creator. At first blush, the cookie, buttery-ness, and a hint of bourbon are apparent. Every once in a while the Vanilla, and Coconut BARELY reveal themselves, then hide back into the mix. Our friend Oak Barrel returns to deepen the mix, but the even bigger shocker was Greek Yogurt and Oatmeal Rasin !!! ??? Just small pieces of a much larger work here people. Clearly the buttery-ness of the Popcorn work flawlessly here, and in total concert, this turns out to be another fairly complex mix that is hard to individualize, but as a whole, works perfectly to impart it’s namesake. I’m not entirely sure how she decided on these 11 components, but I can see why she did. Nice, full and fairly rich cookie, with solid butter, and some bourbon kicks, that evens out with a smooth finish, leaving you wanting more. 9.5/10.
Nilla Haze AM (One Shot) (SmokyBlue) 4.4% (11-15-19) – Alright this one imparted a very dark, earthy-ness to it last week, so I wanted to give it another week to steep, to make sure it wasn’t pre-mature. After 2 weeks, it smoothed out a bit, but still had a very dominant darker, earthy profile. I’m going to guess probably the Hazelnut and/or Pralines. It almost had a slightly bitter finish, but NOT quite. Overall this is quite an interesting one, and you’ll probably either love it or hate it. The 3 vanillas, and 3 nuts paired well, and it def. with the nuts being forward, with the Smoked Butterscotch and Caramel rounding it out. Similar to Bust-A-Nut ?? I think so. Now personally I’m not a big Nut Guy, and don’t gravitate towards darker, earth-ier profiles, which I think this one is, but it really pulled well together as a sum of it’s parts. Creamy, nutty, earthy, and smooth, not overly sweet, with a dark undertone that carries all the way through, and into the finish. To my palate the vanillas were lower in the mix, and having not been able to score FLV Pralines yet, I cannot tell if the dominant note I’m getting is it, or the Hazelnut. If you like darker, creamier nutty mixes this will work for you. For my tastes I would have preferred the nutty-ness lower in the mix with the Vanillas more forward but as is, is a very interesting blend. 8/10.
Bahama Bound (One Shot) (SmokyBlue) 4.5% (11-6-19) – OK OK OK, FIRST one on deck !!! What IS going on in Smoky’s Lab you wonder ?? Some pretty freekin’ AWESOME SAUCE !! OK, but seriously, she warned me this one was going to slap me with a Cherry Stick, and I replied “Send it now”, and she did. Cherry, as we all know, is NOT very easy to do for vaping. Most cherries are just plain bad, terrible, or worse. I did not know what to expect. Smelled great in the bottle, and vaping it DID continue that trend. What makes this harder for me, is I am very good at SF tests, so this is different as I have multiple flavors I am unfamiliar with all melding together. With that said, this IS an excellent Cherry forward vape. Did not get any medicinal or floral notes, which is great, and, there’s more going on here beneath the surface. The Amaretto and Pineapple are working in concert with the Cherry to elevate this above a simple, linear Cherry. The sweet cream works well to even keel the mix, perhaps take a slight edge off, but is nicely placed only to manipulate the mix without muddying, or masking. What is more interesting was her use of Cranberry to just TWEAK it, and it’s subtle, but it’s impact is there. The bourbon is present, but seemingly JUST at the level it needs to be add, to give ti a slightly booze-ey-ness that clearly works here. My only (wait, what?) was the Oak Barrel, which I am completely unfamiliar with, so I don’t know how to detect it, but I’m guessing to add a smidge of darkeness. Repeated vapes proved difficult to truly pick out individual flavors, which is testament to the layering design. If you want a good fruit vape, that leads with Cherry, snaps it up with a boozy spice, this one will work for you. Can’t really find any faults here, and this is only the FIRST test, so excited to see what else she has in store. 9.8/10.
Passion Fruit Margarita (One Shot) (SmokyBlue) 4% (3-1-20) – I FINALLY got around to this one. First things first, I typically can’t or don’t vape liquor flavors. They never really translated well for me. Fine in the glass, but in the tank ?? Anyhow, as expected, for just over 4%, this one had a full, in my face presentation. Smelling and vaping this proved that nothing really stood out, but it puree’d into a fine medley of sorts. Tons of bright accents, but still had a lot to offer in the body department. NOT being a chill/koolada/ice kinda guy, it surprised me that not only could I vape this (LOL), but it was quite good. And that’s coming from the guy who doesn’t vape liquors, cooling, etc. I don’t think I would have been able to pick up on all the individual flavors in this one. I’d call it a keeper. 9.65/10.
Due to life changes, I will just have to see what the future unfolds.
