A Good Book

This flavor is inspired by one of the most glorious things in the existence of aromas, in my opinion . . . old books. What I’m not trying to do: create a vape that tastes like an old book. What I’m trying to do: create a flavor based on the findings of what aromas make up the smell of old books. Scientists have studied the volatile organic compounds (VOC) that combine to create the aromas that people associate with old books. This is intended to be a mélange of those aromas that has tobacco as its foundation with supporting notes from the other aromas.

The following are articles I read dedicated to the fabled old book smell.

From the New York Times Op-Ed page: Some scents add monetary value as well as historical interest. A dictionary owned by Mark Twain still had a distinct aroma of tobacco in its pages. Twain, of course, was an incessant smoker of cigars and pipes. Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/27/opinion/the-smell-of-old-books.html

From Mental Floss: A combination of grassy notes with a tang of acids and a hint of vanilla over an underlying mustiness” is how an international team of chemists describes the unique odor of old books in a study. Source: http://mentalfloss.com/article/31235/what-causes-old-book-smell#sthash.oyAVEY1V.dpuf

From IFLScience: Compound Chemistry reports that hints of almond are created by benzaldehyde, while vanillin emits notes of vanilla. Sweet smells come from toluene and ethyl benzene, and 2-ethyl hexanol produces a light floral fragrance. Additionally, the book can also retain some odors it has been exposed to during its history, such as smoke, water damage, or pressed flowers between the pages. Source: http://www.iflscience.com/chemistry/where-does-smell-old-books-come/

From Popular Science: The fact that the participants named chocolate wasn’t surprising to the researchers, though the frequency that they identified chocolate and coffee with eau de book was. “You tend to use familiar associations to describe smells when they are unlabeled,” Bembibre says. “And also, the VOC's of chocolate and coffee seem to be very similar to that of books. But it was still surprising to see that reference come up again and again.” Bembibre also tested what people thought of the smell of the library at St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, where the researchers gathered many VOC samples. The smells recorded there were as a whole described by participants as woody and smoky more than chocolatey, probably because they were able to see the magnificent wooden surroundings. The library was chosen for a reason; the smell in that library is so famed that it often gets mentioned in guest books, and the curator insists that any conservation methods must preserve the distinct smell. Source: http://www.popsci.com/old-book-smell#page-6

It is with these descriptions that I begin my journey (June 28th, 2017).

Tobacco – I’m going with a mix of FLV Red Burley and FLV Tatanka 2% and 1% respectively Almond – FA Almond 0.5% Vanilla – The papacy of vanillas, DIYFS Holy Vanilla 1.5% Chocolate – JF Milk Chocolate 0.6% Coffee – FA Up 0.5% Wood – FA Oak Wood 0.4% My addition based on personal experience: Fruity/muskiness - FA Fig Fresh 0.5%

This still very much a work in progress. It is delightful as a shake and vape, but I'm eager to see how this changes given a little time to unfold. As this progresses and/or changes, I will add more extensive flavor notes . . . at the time of this writing, I am early in the process (day 2).

Update (July 2nd, 2017):

Addition - added FLV Connecticut Shade at 0.5% . . . it brings in some coffee/cocoa notes and just a hint of leather. It feels like the perfect bookend (don't excuse the pun) to close out this recipe. I think this is now near completion.

Mixed up a 30mL of A Good Book at a ratio of 60vg to 40pg and loaded it in a tank that is somewhere between a very restricted lung hit and MTL.