Even though my half-filled bottle of Raf-a-licious (purchased in December, 2011) is far too strong for me now---it's 18mg nic, and I vape 3mg or less these days---I just vaped a bit of it, since I still have 100 RY4s loaded into ancient cartos and clearos within easy reach on my desk. Even at 3 1/2 years old, and despite too much nic, Raf is still great.
If we could perform some sort of magical incantation rite and bring back Backwoods Brew RY4 and Alien Visions Raf-a-licious, we could permanently fill two spaces on the All-Time Hall of Fame Top 10 List of Retail RY4s.
Passer, thanks so much for your kind and generous words. Vaping has changed almost immeasurably since we began this thread four years ago, way back in June of 2011. Back then, there were no high-wattage regulated VW box mods, no sub-ohm tanks, no temperature control, and no cloud chasers. The ubiquitous eGo battery had only recently been brought to market. 510s weren't even standard connectors at the time, still competing with 808s and 901s. Vapers bought, tried out, discussed (and complained about) such "new" innovations as blue foam, dual coil cartos, and homemade syringe tanks. The earliest variable voltage mods were just beginning to appear. Shoot, almost no one did direct lung hits back then. These days mouth-to-lung vapers are becoming a rare and endangered species (tootie puffers, LOL). Even I gave in over the past year and now can't imagine MTL vaping anymore.
The world of RY4s has expanded in numbers and flavor profile, but---by and large---the great RY4s from 2011-2012 (or earlier, as far back as 2007, when RY4 was invented off-the-cuff one day by Lugo from Janty and a Dekang flavorist) remain just as good today.
We've done some yeoman work in this thread---reviewing, discussing, analyzing, and ranking approximately 200 RY4s, mastering our own DIY RY4 creations, exploring the history of RY4 and revealing some little-known facts while debunking other commonly-held but incorrect myths. I daresay that this thread is almost single-handedly responsible for categorizing RY4s into two classes: Classic (Chinese-style) RY4s, and Custom (modern American-style) RY4s. Before this thread, the majority of vapers didn't even know about RY4's Holy Trinity of tobacco, caramel, and vanilla flavorings. Along the way, a small cadre of posters came on board and hung in there loyally---you conspicuously among them. I'd have given up on the thread long ago were it not for your support and encouragement. You folks know who you are, and I regard you all as RY4 aficionados, experts, and my good friends.
Whether or not I update The Big RY4 Lists any further, I won't close the thread. I like to see it putter along as its occasionally discovered by newer vapers, or as you stalwarts add a post here and there.
RAF just had that classic profile with Aliens signature taste to it....sigh.... They really need to bring it back so may people are vaping now, I am sure the cost would finally work out for them.
