I tried one of these in a bigger ring gauge the other day. I picked up that bitter taste you spoke of in the beginning, but by about a 1/3 of the way through the bitter taste was not as strong or I was use to it. I had to put it out half way through because I had to go to school. I'm not sure if I would have put it out anyway or not though. I definately need to revisit these in the future.