Name and Format: Quintaessenza – H2O line (Angolo della Guancia) – Propylene glycol aroma 20 ml – received by the manufacturer
Batch: DST025
Nico: 2 mg/ml
VPG composition: 50 PG / 50 VG
Expiry date: 06/2022
Devices: Luca Creations Alpha RTA single coil 0.9 ohm (Kanthal A1 28 AWG) + Innokin Ares 2 RTA 24 mm single coil 0.9 ohm (Khantal A1 27 AWG) with Cotton Bacon Prime.
“In confused things, the genius awakens to new inventions.” From the alchemy’s dream, during the Middle Ages, distillation techniques acquired a first curative and then even mystical dimension, which aimed at the search for the pure spirit, the Quinta Essentia. It was so called in fact any liquid obtained by distillation, because it contained a concentration of the essential elements of any substance, whose characteristics and properties were determined by its “spirit”. The quinta essentia is the fifth vital element of the Earth, together with water, air, earth and fire.
After a little less than a millennium, the Angolo della Guancia alchemists, after being the first to introduce the distillation technique to the vaping world, extracting to all intents and purposes the first tobacco aromatic waters, pack the latest product by the H2O line: an aroma called Quintaessenza.
After MiXture H2O, Aromatized Cardamomo and Aromatized Caramello, with Quintaessenza the Reggio Emilia manufacturer further refines the distillation technique by letting us know that this aroma has been subjected to five passages of steam to obtain a much more full-bodied tobacco extract compared to the previous ones.
Here is what the manufacturer officially declares about Quintaessenza H2O:
Kentucky, Virginia e Latakia, il Distillato di tabacco organico più potente mai prodotto da Angolo della Guancia.
Kentucky, Virginia and Latakia, the most strong organic tobacco distillate ever produced by Angolo della Guancia.
Before going into the AroMatized Caramello tests, we remind you that this product is marketed in the shot series format, 20 ml of propylene glycol aroma inside a 60 ml bottle. To obtain the 60 ml e-liquid ready to vape, it will be necessary to add a base of 30 ml of vegetable glycerol plus an additional base of 10 ml of propylene glycol. The transparent label of the bottle (with the exception of two light blue bands with the product information) is singular, but very functional to the type of product, to clearly highlight and show the total transparency of this blend.
SMELL TEST
The smell test reveals the presence of a rather full-bodied tobacco mixture in which Latakia and Kentucky support each other showing off their strong smoky hints. The scent is very intense and the tobacco impact is decidedly more marked than on previous occasions. It is undeniable that, thanks to the multiple passages with steam distillation, Quintaessenza is much closer to the character of a classic tobacco extract than the previous H2O aromas.
So I’m ready for the vape test that I decided to face with Alpha RTA by Luca Creations and with the new Ares 2 by Innokin.
VAPE TEST
The olfactory sensations are also confirmed in the aromatic perceptions on vape. Quintaessenza represents a clear upgrade of the first three H2O aromas and, in a hypothetical path of connection between distilled tobaccos and tobaccos extracted with more traditional methodologies, it ideally places itself almost in the middle of the two methodologies. The matrix of this blend is openly dry and woody, although it must be said that its stamps are more or less impetuous and enveloping based on the vaporization chamber that you will make available.
In inspiration the perceptions coincide broadly with those already identified in MiXture, the first aroma of the line. The puff gives the pleasure of tasting a tobacco infusion, or rather, of tasting a sort of tobacco grappa! Unpublished sensations arise on the palate puff after puff… The tobacco mark is undoubtedly woody and raw; some of the typicalities of Kentucky and Latakia tobaccos are captured and at the same time known that there is little space for the sweet lines of Virginia, if not a light straw background.
The heart of the vape offers a thickening of the aromatic structure, with smoky hints in the front line, to underline an increasingly robust and decisive blend. The “quintuple” distillation by Angolo della Guancia perfectly returns to the vaper the backbone of the two dark tobaccos of the bouquet, but it does not succeed completely in showing the most subtle and typical nuances of each tobacco. For example, the richer and spicier notes of Latakia, or the Kentucky manure, find it difficult to emerge with the soft cues of Virginia which make a fleeting appearance only in exhalation.
This is a characteristic of “transparent tobaccos” or in any other way each manufacturer wants to call them; the aromatic score of a distillate is different from a classic extract and it is natural that it is not easy to understand how to “read” and interpret them, especially now that we are at an early stage of their existence. It is true, in the presence of much more mature cold-extracted tobaccos, an expert vaper will surely notice that a distillate is always a little less multifaceted, but Angolo della Guancia with Quintaessenza managed to raise the bar, succeeding to propose an e-liquid with a more clear and showy aromatic restitution than its older brothers. If it is true that proposing novelties is relatively simple, it is equally true that making innovation is much more difficult and complex. And Angolo della Guancia has succeeded this time too.
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Suggested dilution: 33%
Steeping time: ready to vape, recommended 2 days
Pro: Being able to vape tens and tens of milliliters of a real dark tobacco extract forgetting to rebuild your atomizer or replace your coil is priceless
Cons: It will still take some time to completely get used to this new type of tobacco taste
