I know, I know. I know what you’re thinking. How is it POSSIBLE, that I haven’t officially reviewed any Inawera flavors ?? Hehe, I asked myself the same question, as I have been using them almost daily. Great news is, I finally got around to testing some of them.
A few of these I have been using for years, but the rest are new to me, so breaking NEW ground here. I finalized on testing these at three weights (0.75%, 1.5%, and 2.0%) depending on the flavor.
Testing as always on the SteamCrave RDTA v.1 running dual vertical 24 ga. Kanthal coils, and fresh Koh Gen Do cotton before every test. All mixed in a 70v/30p/3mg carrier base, and steeped for 2 weeks (because of the Custard !!!). At tested at 65 watts. Stay tuned as these were just mixed up, and are now waiting for the testing…
Cappuccino (INW) 2.0% (6-23-25) – I’m actually surprised I haven’t solo’d this one until now. The main 3 notes I got were espresso, cream/milk, and cocoa. I played with this for quite a while, and I kept coming back to those 3 main profiles. No coffee, or milk chocolate, but espresso, and a pretty good cocoa. The cream/milk was harder to directly identify, but the semi creamy mouthfeel made it evident. At 2% it was perfectly strong, and I didn’t want to increase it at all. Sweetness was just at, or slightly above mid-level, so it leaned on the sweeter side.
I’m surprised there aren’t more substantial reviews for this one, because you could easily use it solo as a one shot. At times I got an almost caramel sticky-ness to it, others not so I don’t think I’d qualify that as a true caramel profile. About my only want, would be a smidge more espresso, but even as it stood, the main 3 notes were very evenly matched, and fairly equal. No off-notes, and pretty damned good solo. Too hard to put down, and/or mark down. Leaving this high at a 9.4/10. If you like a great cappa you may want to get this one.
Custard (INW) 2.0% (6-24-25) – I still can’t believe it took me THIS long, to FINALLY solo this flavor, as I’ve been mixing with it forever. There are obvious similarities between it and CAP VC1, but this one not only steeps FAR faster, but isn’t quite as rich, or overpowering, depending on your tastes. Beyond the rapid steep, probably the second most interesting aspect, is it smells far “egg heavy”, that it presents when tasting it. TBH, I don’t know it’s DAAP status, but had read it was DIK free, and if true, is even more impressive.
It fell squarely in the egg-ish custard camp, with some nice brighter vanilla notes on the finish. Rich, but not thick, some light egg, but not overpowering. Another interesting aspect, is it was very solid at 2%, vs. CAP’s which you would have to mix quite a bit higher to get the same saturation levels. Sweetness was just below mid-level, and I tried to, but failed to find any nit-picks. All in, a very good alternative to CAP’s VC1, with a much lower usage, lighter egg component, and far faster steep times. Very hard to knock it down with all of that going for it. Easily a 9.8/10.
Flue Cured (INW) 1.5% (6-27-25) – While still not really being a bacco or NET’er, I reluctantly review, yet another tobacco. Realizing the Flue Curing uses heat to cure the tobacco, I didn’t get any truly dark, smoky, or burnt notes from this one. I got far more mid-dark notes, along with a very healthy dose of “raw” notes. Now being a non-bacco’er, that’s my term for a natural, unbaked taste/flavor. It presented as pretty natural tasting, with an almost honey like quality to the finish. While the mid-dark notes were very good, they weren’t heavy, so it had about a mid-strength tobacco saturation overall. It leaned to the sweeter side, but not as high as your typical RY4. At 1.5% it was at a good strength, and could maybe be pushed 0.5% if needed. I struggled to try and better define the “raw” or “natural” notes, with maybe a touch of grassy-ness. After the finish the natural/raw notes lingered which was nice, and added authenticity. Again, as a non-bacco guy, I’d leave this one as a mid-strong, mid-dark tobacco with a great natural/raw overtone, sweetened, with a honey like finish. With no complaints or off-notes, leaving it fairly high at a 9.5/10.
Lime (INW) 0.75%/1.5%/2.0% (6-28-25) – Out of caution, I started this one low at 0.75%, and it clearly needed more. It presented as a fairly candied lime, or better, a lime syrup. Bumping it to 1.5% it started to better take shape, as more of a full-er lime, but still with some syrupy aspects. I pushed it higher to 2.0%, and did indeed start to get some telltale ceiling limit “Lysol” overtones, so I’m going to stick this one at a 1.5% for SFT. At this weight, it never presented fully as a 100 natural lime, as it still had some syrupy/candy nuances to it. I had thought maybe it had been borked during the reformulations, but it appeared not to be.
At 1.5% it did present as a good juicy lime, with some very realistic rind notes on the finish, and was about as strong as I could push it before the “lysol cleaner” effect at 2.0%+. Sweetness was somewhat below mid-level, which also left it “sweetened”, without being “sweet”. A very good, natural tasting lime, and my only complaint would be the light, but still persistent candy/syrup nuances. I finally decided to leave it still high at a 8.9/10.
Inawera Reformulation Reference: https://imgur.com/W9stLSN
Peach (INW) 1.5% (6-29-25) – Right out of the gate, you could tell this one was a Yellow Peach. It was interesting, because it wasn’t very bright or punchy, but seemed centered more around the mid-dark notes, with some darker ones thrown in. The FIRST thing that came to mind was a “mixer peach”, or “baser peach”, as it seemed like it could cover a LOT of the middle notes, but would need some brighter, punchier help. I did get some “skin” in there, so that helped add to it’s authenticity. At 1.5% it was about 6.5/10 on the strength scale, but that could have been perceptional due to the lack of brighter notes. Sweetness was just below mid-level, and not overt off-notes to complain about, with the exception of a somewhat dryness on the finish. It wasn’t candied, or syrup’d, and while missing the brighter notes, did lean heavily towards a natural peach. All in, this would work in any mix where you needed a good yellow peach, but, it would need some assistance, to fill in, and round out the entire peach. An ok peach solo, but an even BETTER peach base building. Leaving this one at a 7.0/10.
Pear (INW) 1.5% (6-29-25) – Man, this one smelled G-O-O-D in the bottle, and SOME of that translated when testing it. Either I’m partially (or completely) Pear Blind, or it’s just hard to make a good pear flavor. I mean, this one for starters, had some pear aspects to it, and it was very juicy, and could VERY easily be used in any pear mix, I just didn’t get the overwhelming sense of “Pear”, such that it could be the driver in any mix. FA’s Pear is my current go to, and while better than this one, it wasn’t even fully “there” enough for my tastes.
At 1.5% it was full, but felt it could use some more presence overall. There WAS a nice almost grainy-ness to it, which COULD be similar to the “sugar sand” effect you got when eating a real one. At times, I almost got more of a green center, with pear skin notes from it. No off-notes or anything out of place, but again, as the main driver in a pear mix, I think it would be best paired with at least FA’s Pear for better results. Please test it yourself, and let me know if I’m just “Pear Blind” or not LOL. Pear-ish, nice soft grainy (almost) texture, very juicy, and tasty. Leaving this one similarly placed to the INW Peach as a substantial mixer/baser, and at a 7.0/10.
Raspberry (Malina) (INW) 0.75%
Shisha Apple (INW) 1.5%
Shisha Mango (INW) 1.5%
Shisha Raspberry (INW) 1.5%
Tiramisu (INW) 1%
Two Apples (INW) 1.5%
White Grapefruit (INW) 0.75%
