That Five Pawns taste

[pennysmalls]

I received my Five Pawns sampler today and have dripped all five of these juices in my dripper today and I'm having a hard time deciding if I like them. The reason why is that they all seem to have the same background taste so they all taste the same in a way. I can't put my finger on it though...I can't figure out what the background flavor is but my brain keeps thinking of alcohol every time I vape any of the five flavors. Sort of like a woodsy beer taste. I know these juices are supposedly steeped in wooden barrels so maybe that's it? I don't know but what ever it is, it's taking over the flavors notes in the descriptions.

I'm using an eBaron Dripper Pro with a new wick and I can literally vape one juice completely out of my wick so that the first juice doesn't interfere with the second juice that gets dripped. Well except for the minty Bowden's Mate. So I know it's not one juice affecting the taste of the others. And I tried one of these juices in a second Dripper Pro that I have and I'm still picking up this background flavor so it's not my device.

Am I the only one that's noticed this? Can't be!

p.s. I read here on ECF that these juices are supposedly to be steeped for 1-2 months before you get them but mine isn't. The date is 12/1/13, so I'm wondering if I should let these bottles steep before trying them again?

 

[spaceballsrules]

What you are probably tasting is the scorched oak casks that they age/steep all their juices in, as you mentioned. The date on the bottle probably indicates the day they were bottled, but I am pretty sure that 5 Pawns only steeps their juices for 2 weeks, not months. According to 5 Pawns, the juices will still benefit from continued steeping.

 

[Train2]

Maybe it IS too fresh, since you mention an "alcohol" kind of taste?

Any tobacco (or vanilla) that I've tried that had an alcohol scent or taste, I would "aggressively steep". Which (for me) means open top time, and perhaps close-it/shake-it/open-it-up-again.
I haven't tried 5Pawns, so I don't know what they're supposed to taste like - but if it IS that alcohol thing, it may fade with steep time and improve the juice.

And I think it's just "Castle" that gets the oak barrel...and costs more...right?

 

[pennysmalls]

Thanks spaceballsrule and Train2. I'm not sure if it's just the Castle that gets the barrel steeping but by the taste of these it might be all of them. And yeah, Castle does cost more, I was really disappointed that it wasn't included in the sample package. I'm going to definitely let these bottles sit with the lids off then. That should tell me if it really is an alcohol thing. I hope that's all it is. If it's a barrel thing then maybe steeping will allow the added flavors to develop more and cancel out the background flavor, what ever it may be.

Thank you!

 

[JmanEspresso]

The only juice that is steeped in the oak barrels is the Castle Long.

And, when you taste castle long compared to anything else, its more then obvious(in a wonderful way)


But, otherwise, a cap off steep couldnt hurt if you're not liking the juices currently.

 

[pennysmalls]

Thanks for clearing up the barrel question JmanEspresso. I do want to try Castle Long but will see how I like the samples first. I wish the Castle Long came in a smaller bottle to try. Thanks!

 

[SchmidtyKy]

Where did you get the samples? From what I've read on here, it's hard to find just the samples. I wouldn't mind trying samples before I invested 25+ dollars to get a whole bottle.

 

[SnowDog]

Sampler packs are available from the Five Pawns website. Not hard to find at all if you only want to try the basic 5 flavors. The bottles are very small (4 ml if I remember correctly) but it's enough to get a good opinion.

 

[SchmidtyKy]

Sampler packs are available from the Five Pawns website. Not hard to find at all if you only want to try the basic 5 flavors. The bottles are very small (4 ml if I remember correctly) but it's enough to get a good opinion.

Thanks! Checking out the site now.

 

[RT88]

i'm trying Castle without much steep right now, recvd 5 days ago. Great packaging and specs on the bottle and little tube case.

i'm getting nutty, almost buttery macadamia and caramel. Tobac is really background. oak char is also background (good). it is subtle and complex but if the tobac doesnt emerge after 14 days, i might be the first one to say it's not for me. but i think there a good chance it can improve.

 

[BillyWJ]

What you are probably tasting is the scorched oak casks that they age/steep all their juices in, as you mentioned. The date on the bottle probably indicates the day they were bottled, but I am pretty sure that 5 Pawns only steeps their juices for 2 weeks, not months. According to 5 Pawns, the juices will still benefit from continued steeping.

Scorched = burned = carcinogen. This concerns me.

 

[yorkiegirl]

I tried several of the 5 pawns at a local b&m and wasn't very impressed. I tried Queenside, Gambit, and grandmaster. I stopped testing after that because to me they all tasted basically the same. They weren't necessarily bad. I just didn't like them well enough to pay that price because I knew the juice would be wasted because there is no way I could vape 30ml of it.

 

[Sweetab]

I don't like the taste that you're talking about either. I can't put my finger on it . But it's not appealing to me. It is in all of the flavors. It gives me the willies. Too bad for us...

 

[BillyWJ]

I tried several of the 5 pawns at a local b&m and wasn't very impressed. I tried Queenside, Gambit, and grandmaster. I stopped testing after that because to me they all tasted basically the same. They weren't necessarily bad. I just didn't like them well enough to pay that price because I knew the juice would be wasted because there is no way I could vape 30ml of it.

None of my local do tastings of it, but there is a $25 sample pack on their site. I'm concerned about the scorched oak barrel thing, but I have an order on the way...

Edited to add: And I found an answer - it's not a significant risk.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18001029

Granted, they're talking about ingesting PAH's, not inhaling them.

 

[AmandaD]

I'm almost sure the oak barrel is only used for the Reserve - and that isn't in the sample pack. I absolutely love them all, BUT I tasted a 0 nic at my local B&M and it did nothing for me. Which is weird - maybe the 0 nic? In any event I did end up buying a 30ml bottle of Absolute Pin and it's one of my advs. But it's not for everyone with it's fairly strong anise overtones.

 

[HawaiiVPR]

I tried 5 Pawns recently at a local B&M, I really wanted to like the juice based on what people say is a very unique and difficult to replicate taste, but I must still have a kids palate since the only things I can appreciate are candy/fruity sweet stuff. LOL

 

[bones1274]

i'm trying Castle without much steep right now, recvd 5 days ago. Great packaging and specs on the bottle and little tube case.

i'm getting nutty, almost buttery macadamia and caramel. Tobac is really background. oak char is also background (good). it is subtle and complex but if the tobac doesnt emerge after 14 days, i might be the first one to say it's not for me. but i think there a good chance it can improve.

The Castle Long is already well steeped, it was bottled back in October after 3 weeks of steeping in an oak barrel. It is the only Five Pawns juice that is steeped in an oak barrel.

There is no tobacco flavor in Castle Long so if you are waiting for it to emerge, it will not. It is coconut, almond, 2 vanillas, bourbon and oak.

 

[bones1274]

I don't like the taste that you're talking about either. I can't put my finger on it . But it's not appealing to me. It is in all of the flavors. It gives me the willies. Too bad for us...

I have tried all of their flavors and I have found them to all be completely different from each other with no similar taste between them. Could it be your set up? I use an RBA and wrap my own micro coils and depending on what ohm coil I wrap, it changes the Five Pawns flavors considerably, especially the Castle Long Reserve.

 

[BadTrainDriver]

FYI,

Castle Long Reserve has been aged and steeped in a treated oak barrel for three weeks.

You’ll taste toasted coconut, roasted almond, brown sugar, two different vanillas (Madagascar vanilla bean and French vanilla), Kentucky bourbon, and charred oak.

Liquid extracted from the barrels has been filtered using a proprietary filtration process before bottling.

All flavors are organic and we use only the finest ingredients sourced domestically and locally. All liquid is made in the state of California. Our liquid blends are comprised of 50% VG / 50% PG. Our flavors are extracted from actual base ingredients and we offer 0mg, 6mg, and 12mg nicotine levels.

Notice the "treated" and "filtered" part.
I'm not worried.

 

[pennysmalls]

Thanks for the responses everyone. I had the bottles sitting open since I first posted my question and the taste has not changed. I still don't know if I like them lol! There is something they are using and it's being put into each formula that comes in the sample pack, I can taste it. Like yorkiegirl said it's not necessarily bad but it's...well, I'm undecided. I'm betting it has something to do with the organic flavorings and the base they are in. That's all I can figure. The jury is still out on Five Pawns for me.