Particularly odd given your taste buds. Do you see production and expiration dates printed on the cap? Mine shows Prd date as 8/23/2014; what does your's show? Also on the bottom of the bottle is embossed a '1' and the letters 'HS'.
But yes, FA tobacco are more concentrated flavors. Tab Blend has always been a mild flavor to me but not so much the Red. Maybe mix, put away for 4-7 days and then try -- could be vaper's tongue. Somebody has probably already proven but I have a pet theory there is a lot of variations in taste sensitivities both within and between individuals.
The bottom of this bottle has embossed "HS" and "6" (what's the number for?) My other essences have "5" or "6"
The caps on all my essences say prd:08/23/2014 exp:08/22/2016.
I tried all of these several times, from 2% up to 50%, then tried them straight a few times since. It's been a few days...I'll try Congress straight again, in a little while.*
Yes, I am tasting them fresh-mixed. To me, tobaccos tend to mellow with age, but maybe that's the wrong strategy with these! I did mix a couple small bottles at 25% and put them away for a long steep...to try again later this month. Trying to research a starting percentage online I found everything from under 5% to 40%. I wonder if that's all "individual preference" or partly due to batch-to-batch variation.
If your Red and mine are from the same batch, and you cannot vape yours comfortably at 100%, I am obviously Hansen-essence-taste-impaired. I've never experienced this side of it before; I've always marveled how some others can't taste flavors that seem strong to me (like some FA fruits).
* just did this...Using the same tank/battery as I had my FA tobacco recipe in, loaded 100% Congress essence. I like the flavor fairly well; it's not harsh or especially strong to me like this. This one seems weakest of all to me. A drop from the bottle tastes mildly sweet, very lightly flavored. But then it's probably the mildest tobacco flavor of my bunch. It's about the color of maple syrup and pretty thick texture (all 4 are like that).
Now vaping Red USA Mix essence at 100%...I have used tobacco flavored disposables with various versions of M/Red/American flavors, and this at 100% is about the same flavor level - certainly not stronger than a White Cloud "regular" flavored Fling disposable.
Will try Indian again in a few minutes...
Ok - Indian Tobacco essence at 100%. This is a darker-tasting flavor I got specifically to see if it's like White Cloud's "Apache" flavor, thinking it would be good to mix with. I have a few of those disposables here. It's not the same flavor, but it's quite similar. Just-mixed Indian isn't as smooth as the disposable -- I'm sure this one changes with steeping -- but as for overall flavor strength, I think the disposable is a tad stronger. Most online reviews of this White Cloud flavor agree with my opinion that this is their strongest tobacco flavor. I could imagine being happy with "only" 75% or so flavoring with this one. Or I could use it at 25% for a background note with 1-1.5% FA tobacco flavorings.
I have Highway next...be right back. (decided to skip it; just not a favorite of mine).
So now I loaded my own mix from yesterday (2% total FA flavoring, mostly Virginia). It's
at least as strong definitely stronger than those Hangsen at 100%. I know FA has stronger flavorings, but 50 times stronger?
I have a dozen or so tanks loaded with various non-tobacco flavors, so took some puffs of those. They all come through loud and clear as usual, even a simple 0.75% FA Vienna Cream.
Maybe I'm a freak of nature!
