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uzzaperez

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Oct 12, 2009
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The SEARCH for the PERFECT e-liquid

Disclaimer: This is totally subjective, how could it not be?

Taste may be on the tongue of the beholder but I scoured the forums for highly recommended juices and spent some time searching for the must have e-liquid. I focused on the quality of the juice more than the flavors I tried, as much as I could anyway, flavor is obviously a huge factor so it can’t be totally avoided. For me quality = flavor + vapor + throat hit + service. I didn’t settle on just one of course, but I want to share what I’ve found in case it helps anyone. Nic level is not a big consideration here because first you need to find a good juice, then you can get your nic level tuned in. If you are interested in what I’m using to vape these juices, go to this thread: The SEARCH for the PERFECT E-CIG, http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/general-e-smoking-discussion/64170-search-perfect-e-cig.html

NOBACCO (One supplier is Vapor4Life)
I started out with Nobacco because my preferred supplier sells it. It is a quality juice, it has better flavor and vapor than your standard Ruyan/Dekang flavors. The flavors are crisp and clean and much more tasty than your standard Ruyan stuff. This was a good place to start because as it turned out Nobacco is a good quality benchmark juice. I still order a lot of Nobacco, and love that you can get 5ml sample bottles from Vapor4Life if you want to try a lot of flavors without having to buy 30ml at a time. And some of my favorite flavors, like Green Tea, are flavors I never would have tried if it weren’t for a free sample just showing up with my order. Some of the flavors are too one-dimensional to satisfy – like peach or mint for example – they are not bad, they just don’t hit enough of the pallet to satisfy for long. If you get a one-dimensional juice, consider mixing to save the juice – peach mint for example hits a lot more of the pallet than either peach or mint.

JOHNSON’S CREEK (from, um, Johnson’s Creek)
Next, I ran out of juice and was desperate so I found a local store that actually carried a Johnson’s Creek flavor specifically branded for the Crown 7 e-cig. It was good, a very mild tobacco hint of chocolate hint of mint flavor. I liked it. It was tasty enough to hook me on vaping permanently, but I can’t say it was a stand out or that it got me to order from Johnson’s Creek. I grade it around the same quality as Nobacco, but I’ll stick to Nobacco for the superior flavor selection, though Johnson’s Creek has some unique flavors you can’t really get elsewhere.

RUYAN (One cheap supplier is Heaven’s Gifts)
Next I went to Ruyan. I did this on the incorrect assumption that all juices are more or less the same thing. DonDaBoomVape’s “Wonderful World” thread (awesome thread! many thanks!) in the new users forum tagged Heaven’s Gifts as one place to pick up juice on the cheap. They sell Ruyan Juices. Heaven’s Gifts is a great supplier of many stuffs, so don’t interpret my juice review as bagging on Heaven’s Gifts. Anyway, Ruyan juice pretty much sucks – the flavor is very weak and not pleasing, the nic levels and vape are okay. The difference between Nobacco and Ruyan was readily apparent in multiple different flavor selections. Cola Nobacco tastes like cola. Cola Ruyan tastes like urin. Virginia Nobacco is complex and maple-y. Virginia Ruyan tastes like your run of the mill bland tobacco flavor. And so on.

CaSH (One supplier is Puresmoker)
After Ruyan I knew that all juices are not created equal. Then began the hunt for a superior juice. I tried CaSH because Puresmoker is my other main parts supplier (I use both the Ace and the Prodigy). CaSH is good juice. I’d place it above Nobacco, my benchmark juice, based on the CaSHTab I have, but my other flavors I would place below Nobacco in terms of quality of the juice (not just flavor). The CaSHTab seems to produce more vapor and have fuller flavor than the other CaSH I’ve had. CaSH and Nobacco 555 are pretty comparable. CaSH Riskee Yuice is, as one should have guessed from the name, pretty comparable to Nobacco RY4. If you are looking for a staple in your juice collection and you appreciate any of the tobacco flavors at all, in my opinion CaSHTab is one of the must have flavors out there. It is nothing funky that you will enjoy until you are bored of it, it is a balanced flavor that you will return to again and again. It is one of the only tobacco flavors I will repeat order after reading on Wikipedia that some tobacco flavors have been found to have trace amounts of Tobacco Specific Carcinogens in them.

***I’ve heard the CaSH juice has gone through some changes recently and they aren’t able to get the same stuff right now. That may be why my older order of CaSHTab is so superior to my newer orders of CaSH 555 and Riskee Yuice. I know CaSH Cap used to be a standby for many vapors who don’t like the new CaSH Cap. I don’t know what changed or when/if things will change back but that is the word on the street.

DEUCE (a flavor from Litecig)
555 and CaSHTab are staples of mine because they have the right complexity for me to return to time after time. Discussing this in postings on the forum someone recommended Litecig’s “Deuce” to me. I liked it, it is a unique flavor and a quality juice (most of Litecigs other stuff, which I did order some of, appears to be more on par with standard Ruyan stuff – in fact I think it is standard Ruyan stuff). However, Deuce didn’t strike me as quite great enough to repeat order – it is a tobacco flavor and a little earthy for me. I won’t order it again because I just greatly prefer other products in this department. Bottom line is Deuce = pretty good imo and Litecig in general = Ruyan. I do recommend you try Deuce even though a bottle of it costs $2 more than their Ruyan flavors. Better juice is worth the extra $$$.

TOTALLY WICKED (from, um, Totally Wicked)
So I was scouring the forums by now and found that the most frequently recommended juices seemed to be from Totally Wicked, ECOpure, Tasty Vapor, Ms. T’s, and Decadent. Most other highly recommended stuff was a particular flavor people loved, and I figured I can find the right flavors on my own, I was just looking for a high quality juice supplier. So, I decided on watermelon as a good comparison flavor and ordered some watermelon, and it looked like State Express would be a worthy challenger to my tobacco flavors so I ordered that too. The watermelon was spicy. If you’ve heard Totally Wicked flavors are spicy you heard true. I think they add some pepper flavor of some kind to increase throat hit (if you are into throat hit TW might be the supplier for you). I like throat hit, but not at the cost of a good flavor with balanced throat hit, so I greatly preferred Nobacco watermelon.

As for the State Express…spice made sense with the flavor here, but it is a seriously strong tobacco flavor, and earthy too but without a touch of sweetness the Deuce seemed to have. If you don’t like to smell like you have been vaping, don’t order State Express, it is strong enough to leave a smell on you, and it lingers in your atty for a long long time. I didn’t find it could contend with the CaSHTab in terms of my tastes, but that is just a flavor preference, State Express is very good. State Express proved to me that TW juices are quality. I ended up mixing it with my Ruyan Virginia to make the Ruyan juice usable, and the State Express was plenty strong enough to make the Ruyan Virginia taste like State Express instead of the other way around.

Bottom line for TW is that I won’t order again for two reasons – 1) expensive, even though I will pay more for quality juice, TW wasn’t the best and they seem to charge the most, and 2) I don’t like the spicy in my sweet flavors, the nic is spicy enough. But, their juice is quality juice.

DECADENT (Decadent is currently producing just for Totally Wicked)
I have a feeling that the Decadent juices are all very very different from each other, so this one is tough to judge. I ordered the Cognac because I like the Nobacco Cognac so it seemed a worthy comparison. I only ordered one, and only will ever order that once, because the cost is prohibitive. It is only available in 30ml quantities right now, though you can get some Decadent flavorings for less, and the flavor is what is truly unique about Decadent. The Cognac flavors did not compare. Not even the same thing. Not comparable. I liked the Decadent Cognac, and I’d love to try other Decadent juices – but I probably never will because it is too expensive to try it and find out you don’t love the flavor. Imagine ordering 30ml of roast chicken, seriously. They really need a sampler option like Johnson’s Creek. I would order a sampler in a heart beat and maybe it would have something in it that would make ordering more worth the $$$. It is a good quality juice, and you can tell the passion that goes into coming up with these flavors is there – they care about their juice, but like the TW it is just not enough for the price when there is other fantastic stuff out there. The Decadent Cognac has a clean happy taste to it that grew on me. It is also strong enough to mix with other mediocre juices to save them…I used it to save my otherwise useless bottle of Ruyan Watermelon.

TASTY VAPOR (from, um, Tasty Vapor)
Next on the agenda was Tasty Vapor. These dudes know what they are doing. Still, you have to order a large bottle, but the cost is very reasonable. The juice is quality stuff. I actually didn’t love the flavors I ordered – Rootbeer Float and Blueberry Cheescake – they made great first impressions, but I don’t think I’ll be able to vape 30ml of them very quickly like I can with some others. It is very strong juice. But I will definitely be going back to try Tasty Vapor’s versions of classic flavors I know I like by using their custom flavor option. They make custom order flavors so if you have something you like and want it in quantity, this may be the place. Also they have “doublers” – an equally huge bottle of the same flavor you ordered, but in 0mg for only $9. This is awesome. You can order a bottle of 36mg in your favorite flavor, and order a doubler, and then you can customize the nic level of what you are vaping at any time without sacrificing any flavor. That shows a true understanding of what best serves their customers. Also, you can customize your level of VG vs PG which is big for people who have a preference and also seems to increase vapor.

As for the flavors I ordered specifically, the Root Beer Float actually tasted like root beer float, unlike the Nobacco Root Beer which actually tastes very similar to the Nobacco Whiskey which tastes very similar to the Nobacco Bud or Beer flavors. I did find that the Tasty Vapor lacked a certain root beer tang to it. This worked out okay because I found I liked it best mixed with a cola. This mix saved my Ruyan cola juice that otherwise would have been thrown away. The one thing that concerned me is the color – I believe SOME of the TV juices have coloring or dye in them. Root Beer Float was very dark brown, Blueberry Cheesecake was a creamy blue (still clear though). I don’t want to be vaping dye…I put out a post on the dye question and Mr. TV indicated that they are phasing out dyes and do not use them unless they are already in the flavoring that TV has judged to be a superior flavoring.

Bottom Line: My flavors were decent, but the juice was very high quality, and the other products like the doublers and the custom VG levels show a real understanding of what vapers need. I will order from Tasty Vapor again.

MS. T’S (from…uh…Ms. T’s Bakery)
This is good stuff. Great stuff. I ordered four flavors: Honey, French Vanilla, and Banana Fosters Coffee with and without Whipped Cream. All of them blow me away. The juice is definitely quality stuff. I got really good vapor and flavor, throat-hit seemed to be more related to the atty I was using than the juice itself, but it is a relatively mild throat hit. Not a lot more to say here except that I will be ordering form Ms. T a lot.

The Honey, a flavor I’ve been looking for for awhile, is very smooth and aromatic – a little flowery, but nice if you like honey (something I can’t get enough of in real life either). The French Vanilla is also more creamy tasting than most other vanillas. As far as the Bananas Foster Coffee – it tastes like its namesake; the big question for me was what the difference would be with and without the whipped cream adder and it is about just what you’d expect from the name. It seems to make the flavors a little sweeter and smoother. I would generally recommend avoiding the whipped cream and ordering some French Vanilla to mix with your juice to get the same result, if you like the result.

ECOPURE (One supplier is Cignot in the USA, Ecopure sells direct in the UK)
I ordered ECOpure’s Regular, Rich, Fresh, and Krystal. Krystal is totally flavorless, Rich is supposed to be a richer version of Regular but I can’t tell the difference (both have almost no flavor), and Fresh is the big winner - it tastes very light and clean with just the right hint of menthol. I don’t usually like mint and menthol flavors because they are too strong and I’m just not a big fan…but the Fresh is now one of my favorite vapes for when I want to get away from stuff with heavy flavor. I did notice that the menthol is much more pronounced in a KR than in a 901 or 510.

All of the ECOpure juices are all VG, and they all make a great base for DIY flavoring or evening out flavors that are just too strong. The juice I got was pretty thick, which may not be a good thing depending on how that effects your atty of choice, but it was good good quality stuff with a ton of vapor. Again, a solid recommendation for the DIY guys. And again, very very very light on flavor. I added a little bit of Loranne Key Lime flavoring and it was amazing.

BOTTOM LINE BEST QUALITY JUICE RANKING (imo)
I rate the quality (not flavor) of the juices I’ve tried as follows:
1. Ms. T
2. Ecopure
3. Tasty Vapor
4. Nobacco
5. Decadent Vapors
6. CaSH
7. Totally Wicked
8. Johnson’s Creek
9. Litecig’s Deuce flavor
15. Ruyan/Dekang stuff

GENRE AWARDS (so far)
Best (My Favorites) Flavors: CaSHTab, ECOpure Fresh, Ms. T’s Honey
Best Flavor Runners Up: Nobacco 555, Green Tea, and Tequila
Best Vapor: ECOpure
Best Vapor Runner Up: Tasty Vapor
Best Throat Hit: Totally Wicked
Best Service: Tasty Vapor for their myriad of customization options, and Vapor4Life’s Nobacco for their surprise samplers that let you try flavors you never thought to order, and Ms. T because of her constant updates on your order status if she can’t get it out right away.

If you’ve found the e-liquid from heaven let me know.
 

uzzaperez

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Oct 12, 2009
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There are at least two that I'd like to see you add to this list of comparrisons..

The first being Nhaler's juice...something like Drewbacco1..

the second being a new premium juice company on the market halo ( halocigs.com )

Thanks for the recommendations. Lately I've been sticking to my top 5, except for Ecopure as I've decided to move away from pure VG, but I'll have to try something out.

With Nhaler, what is the big difference between the "lung" juices and the "other" Nhaler juices? Preferably between the same flavors would be enlightening? I've been eying their stuff...
 
Hey again! I've been doing some reading on juice since I'm not too happy with any of the juice I ordered.

I read your OP and went to some of your more recommended places to buy but most of them are PG based so I'm wondering if you know of any VG based liquids that are of comparable quality to the Tasty Vapor, V4L and Nobacco stuff you liked but have samplers.

I saw eastmall has a huge sampler pack but I read they are based of Dekang liquid which is what came with my KR808 and I think it's also all PG. I'm not sure if switching to VG will be the answer but so far my throat gets pretty raw and feels like I get a thick build up. Each drag feels like the last hit or two off an analog being kind of harsh, hot and nasty tasting.

Thanks again!
 
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stompasaurus

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Oct 30, 2009
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Great post, thank you.

I'm a Tasty Vapor fan myself.. I'd recommend trying some more of their mixes, even though the DIY options for mixing your own flavor are pretty extensive. Atomic Fireball is their #1 seller and for a very good reason. I'm also partial to their Butterfinger, Spiced Rum and Bananas Foster, and I keep wanting to try more. The doublers are actually $15 but buying that and a bottle of 48mg liquid is the best deal I know of for liquid of this quality.
 

uzzaperez

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ECF Veteran
Oct 12, 2009
1,031
198
Perez-uzza to this day
Hey again! I've been doing some reading on juice since I'm not too happy with any of the juice I ordered.

I read your OP and went to some of your more recommended places to buy but most of them are PG based so I'm wondering if you know of any VG based liquids that are of comparable quality to the Tasty Vapor, V4L and Nobacco stuff you liked but have samplers.

I saw eastmall has a huge sampler pack but I read they are based of Dekang liquid which is what came with my KR808 and I think it's also all PG. I'm not sure if switching to VG will be the answer but so far my throat gets pretty raw and feels like I get a thick build up. Each drag feels like the last hit or two off an analog being kind of harsh, hot and nasty tasting.

Thanks again!

vapor4life now has VG cartomizers, and if you order a pack and then note in your order comments that you would rather try a series of flavors and strengths in VG they will do their best to satisfy your request with whatever they have in stock. Not only can you get a good sampler pack there, but they have improved quality control these days so their cartos are more consistently full than what I get from other suppliers.

One word of warning though: in my experience *thick* VG does not perform as well as PG in cartomizers due to the slower absorption rate of thick juice.
 

Raven1

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Nov 24, 2009
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RUYAN (One cheap supplier is Heaven’s Gifts)
Next I went to Ruyan. I did this on the incorrect assumption that all juices are more or less the same thing. DonDaBoomVape’s “Wonderful World” thread (awesome thread! many thanks!) in the new users forum tagged Heaven’s Gifts as one place to pick up juice on the cheap. They sell Ruyan Juices. Heaven’s Gifts is a great supplier of many stuffs, so don’t interpret my juice review as bagging on Heaven’s Gifts. Anyway, Ruyan juice pretty much sucks – the flavor is very weak and not pleasing, the nic levels and vape are okay. The difference between Nobacco and Ruyan was readily apparent in multiple different flavor selections. Cola Nobacco tastes like cola. Cola Ruyan tastes like urin. Virginia Nobacco is complex and maple-y. Virginia Ruyan tastes like your run of the mill bland tobacco flavor. And so on.


Heaven Gifts does NOT sell Ruyan juice, it sells Dekang. They even have the disclaimer on their site. Ruyan liquid is only available in Ruyan carts. There is no comparison. Ruyan juice is A+. Dekang is about a C-
 
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