Ok, I got my first Liter of Vapers Tek Throat-Hit Nic today... I thought I would buy a liter because the price is right and wasn't sure I wanted to commit to the VT premium stuff yet. To try it I made a virgin 10ml of 12mg to check out just the flavor.
All I can say is I feel no need to try or buy the premium VT right now. Man, this TH stuff has next to zero smell, no taste and a nice tingle on my tongue, and very good, surprisingly good throat hit for 100% VG. Honestly, I was expecting a pepper taste, which I hate... I'm getting a good tingle on my tongue but no pepper taste at all. I'm impressed, its good stuff... If its as good in a dessert or fruity mix I may just look no further and order some more.
When I spoke with Kevin last Fall about the TH nic (at the time it was called "Pepper"), it WAS the premium nic, but he bubbled O2 gas through it to get a bit of oxidation. This might have been based on conversations I had with him previously about how I purposely age some of my nics because a bit of oxidation adds some pepper/TH nuance and other subtle, but nice flavors can develop. I do this regularly with my Vermont Vapor 35 mg VG, and my Box Elder 100 mg VG. The Vermont Vapor is very expensive nic, but it was the first bulk nic I bought, back in 2009, and I still have some, and love it. Over time it yellows ans gets more peppery (is fairly peppery fresh) and takes on maple and tobacco notes. Quite delightful. And by "pepper", I mean nasal tickle or burn, not the taste of pepper.
@squee: You might be right. The US Extracted I am thinking about was a sample Kevin sent to me and some others here. I do recall it being sold for a brief period on the VT site, however. Not there now, evidently. I've not tried the eliquidwholesale US nic. Has anyone else?
@tierrataz: what I mean by "gamey" is not solvent taste. It is sharper, has more bite. Not sure if there are any nics on the market today that have this anymore. Box Elder vintage 2011 is one I am thinking of. It used to be the norm, and was different than the infrequent solvent taste (MFS 2010 was one, but MFS is very clean now, it seems). I think that extraction does not get all the residual oxides and other tobacco alkaloids completely out, and they do have their own taste, and will depend on the extraction method as well as the orginal tobacco used. The added distillation at the end virtually gets rid of these, leaving an essentially tasteless nic, often voiod of pepper or TH.
The US-extracted from VT was overpowering for me, but my brother really likes it as a flavor additive, so I think it is a matter of taste. It was not solvent taste. Kevin thought it tasted like an ashtray. I get a bit of that, but more cigar. I thought it should be named "Roughneck" or "Hooligan". Sort of an old-world smoke taste. As a background flavor it might work. It was certainly present at 12 mg, might be ok for some as part of a tobacco juice, but to be honest I gravitated away from it. And if it was that strong in flavor of any kind, I do question its purity. It was also quite yellowed.
