The Really Big RY4 Roundup (long)

[Dream]

an aside...
usually when watching a movie at bedtime i alternate between Vaperite's VR4 & Rou's Toasted Hazelnut Blend... but mixing the two is paradise... just saying...

that said, i'm really looking forward to more of this mega-review and any ranking adjustments.

 

[billherbst]

Speaking of ranking adjustments...

More than two weeks have passed since I started this RY4 thread with the original list of 26 mini-reviews and rankings. Since then, three new RY4s arrived and were reviewed and added to the list, bringing the total to 29.

Now it’s time for a second updating of the list, this time with some surprising revisions and a re-shuffling of the rankings that is shocking even to me. The problem is how to rank the Top 10, all of which are superlative juices. I daresay that one could buy any juice in the Top 10 and be a very happy vaper.

The two weeks of steeping time since the original rankings made a significant difference in some of the newly bought and freshly-mixed RY4s, most notably the trio of VaporTalk Dulcis, LiquidXpress Taboo, and Elixir RY4. When I vaped these three for review immediately after their arrival in my mailbox, they were extremely bright and sparkly, almost to the point of effervescence. Their high ends were dominant over the lower bass notes of flavor. As I wrote at the time, my personal preference leans strongly toward the darker, deeper RY4s, and the rankings of the “bright trio” reflected that bias. With two weeks of steeping time, however, all three have changed (I might use the term “matured.”) The shrillness of their top ends has mellowed, their depth has begun to emerge in better balance, and all three have moved up correspondingly in my rankings.

I spent many hours today in comparison testing for the Top 10, dripping all ten contenders on three identical Joye LR510 1.5 ohm atties powered by three identical Madvapes VV boxes, each set to 4.1 volts. It was quite a horse race---during the home stretch, the pack was bunched nearly neck and neck, and the end was a photo finish.

As you peruse the revised rankings below, you’ll immediately notice the most surprising change, namely, that the old champion has been deposed. Backwoods Brew RY4 faded badly at the end and was nosed out at the tape by three other RY4s, finishing the race out of the money in 4th place. Why? The bottle of BWB RY4 I’m vaping is now almost a month old. And yet, it is still nowhere near as tasty as the bottle of Don’s RY4 that I bought back in November of last year, which was finished off this past spring. Clearly, this new bottle needs a lot more steeping time.

As I comparison vaped the Top 10 today, I decided that cutting extra slack to BWB’s RY4 for some hoped-for improvement down the road is simply unfair. (In judged sports, such as boxing and figure skating, I’ve always hated the injustice of champions getting a pass from the judges just because they're the current champs.) Look, no disrespect to Don or BWB intended, but I’m not sure we vapers should have to wait two or more months for any juice to mature to full satisfaction. Bottom line? Right now---today---BWB is not the best RY4 I have. In this group of superlative juices, a #4 ranking is still darned good, but will no doubt be a stinging disappointment to hardcore Backwoods Brew fans.


Note: Thanks to the kind generosity of two posters to this thread---wv2win and sweetpuff---I will receive in next week’s mail samples of both Janty RY4 and Halo Tribeca, which will then be reviewed and ranked, changing things again.


Current RY4 Ranking List, Updated and Revised

As general groupings, #1-10 are great, #11-20 are good, #21-26 are OK, and #27-29 are poor.

1. QuickNicVapor RY4
2. OzarkFresh Kentucky Burley RY4
3. Ikenvape IKV RY4 Gold, PG Blend
4. BackwoodsBrew RY4
5. VapeRite Organic VR4
6. VaporTalk Dulcis
7. LiquidXpress Taboo
8. ElixirLiquid RY4
9. PrimeVaping PV4
10. Want2Vape RY4

11.VapeMasters R4
12. KalamazooVaporShop RY4
13. VapeRite RY4
14. Madvapes Dekang RY4
15. NiteLiteVapor Renegade RY4
16. Esmoke4Life Riskee Yuice
17. VaporStation VS4
18. VaporStation RY4
19. FreedomSmokeUSA RY4
20. Want2Vape Rock Star

21. AwesomeVapor RY4
22. GoodEjuice RY4
23. Mist-Stix RY4
24. Kick Bass Vapor RY4
25. VoidMist RY4
26. Vapure VY4

27. AltSmoke RY4
28. BlueMistVaping RY4
29. FlavourArt oRYental 4

Untested/Unranked: JantyUSA Janty RY4
Untested/Unranked: Halo Tribeca

 

[Diablo]

Great job Bill, man that sounded like it was a lot of fun to do, to have all those juices at your disposal has gotta be great. I speak for myself but I monitor this thread 20 times a day and more and don't do that to have a biased picture painted for me and you clearly don't do that. If BWB got bumped so be it. A lot of other companies know they are the best and have stepped up to the plate to produce high quality RY4's and it looks to be showing. You cant be number one forever.

I am glad to see Ikenvape took 3rd on it own now not tied as I enjoy that one quite a bit and I am gonna have to get my hands on some Quick Nic now for sure.

Keep up the good work Bill *cheer*

 

[Diablo]

Bill, was thinking what if you had a link at the bottom of your first post, pointing folks to the various updates you have done. Just a suggestion.



D

 

[billherbst]

Bill, was thinking what if you had a link at the bottom of your first post, pointing folks to the various updates you have done. Just a suggestion.

D

Diablo,

Good idea, if you can tell me how. The "edit" button vanishes after a certain number of days and is now no longer an option for me on the original post. I have a dim memory of someone posting that there was a way around that---to edit a post even after the button was gone---but I can't remember how to do it, and I may have just dreamt it.

If there is a way to still edit the original post and someone hips me to it, rather than adding a link to the thread page with the newest rankings, I might add a note at the bottom that actually contains the most current version.

 

[Diablo]

Hmmm...

I don't know Bill, I didn't know they did that to a post. Maybe a Moderator could reset or it or something. *shrugs*

 

[Dream]

maybe my taste buds are all messed up, but i can't seem to get to the point where i can even like Quick Nic's RY4.. How much time should I steep if I'm to give this another chance?

I still have Ikenvape and BWB coming... I hope these don't disappoint either.

 

[Diablo]

If the BWB is like any of their other juices its gonna take a few weeks before it starts to settle down, so when it comes just put it away and try it at 2 weeks but for me personally with the other juices I have 3 weeks seems to be when the flavor comes in. Ikenvape should be good out of the bottle it was for me.

I read a trick other day on a thread where if you take the juice in a glass bottle and nuke it for about 7-10 secs until it just gets hot and let the cover off of it for a hr or so it speeds that process up. I tried it on 1 juice and it did make it better, not sure if it makes it as good as it can get. I would not try that with the BWB but maybe the quick nic it might work.

 

[thehangdude]

maybe my taste buds are all messed up, but i can't seem to get to the point where i can even like Quick Nic's RY4.. How much time should I steep if I'm to give this another chance?

I still have Ikenvape and BWB coming... I hope these don't disappoint either.

Probably not your taste buds. The first time I tried the RY4 from Quick nic, it was just a couple days old. It had a bitter kind of taste. The flavors did not quite merge together. The tobacco was a little too harsh, and the caramel was overpowering the vanilla.

I tried them a couple days later, and they were much smoother. After 10 days, you can really enjoy how the flavors blend. The highs billherbst talks about are there, as well as a good low end flavor. I think it is still getting better.

I suggest with your RY4 (from all vendors) try every few days. You will be able to taste the transformation. This works with many of the tobacco mixes. I hated Casablanca for two weeks, then all of the sudden it started tasting good, then great. Boba's Bounty did the same thing.

I just got in my OzarkFresh today (after a long 11 day wait), and BWB should be here this week. I will give them a week, then start trying them. I figure 2-3 weeks until awesome.

If any of yours are not better after a few weeks, I will make you an offer.

 

[billherbst]

maybe my taste buds are all messed up, but i can't seem to get to the point where i can even like Quick Nic's RY4.

dream,

Taste is notoriously subjective and often worlds different from one person to another. A flavor I regard as nectar of the gods may taste to you like swill or sewage. That's an unavoidable pitfall of this and all juice review threads. So, if you got a bum steer, I'm sorry.

I also think thehangdude's post about steeping is savvy. Try letting the QuickNic RY4 steep for a week or two. If it still doesn't please you, perhaps FSUSA's RY4, which I didn't rank highly but many people swear by, would be more to your taste.

 

[beachpuff]

billherbst, thank you for such an informative thread!

My first experience with RY4 was a prefilled Bloog carto. I thought it was OK, but at that point I was vaping fruit and dessert flavors and forgot about it. Decided a few months later to try IKV's PG RY4 when it first came out, and I was hooked.

Unfortunately, I didn't buy enough of IKV's (10mg is my evening sweet spot and he's been out for a while), so after reading your reviews I bought some from Prime Vaping, Vaperite, AVE, and KBV. I'm not thrilled with Vaperite's base (although it could be my new cartos, lol), but I like Prime Vaping's. AVE is just too sweet for me, perhaps it needs more steeping. I actually like KBV's tobacco line, but still nothing that I've tried comes even remotely close to IKV.

Looking forward to your take on Janty & Halo, thanks again for keeping us all posted!

 

[Dream]

dream,

Taste is notoriously subjective and often worlds different from one person to another. A flavor I regard as nectar of the gods may taste to you like swill or sewage. That's an unavoidable pitfall of this and all juice review threads. So, if you got a bum steer, I'm sorry.

I also think thehangdude's post about steeping is savvy. Try letting the QuickNic RY4 steep for a week or two. If it still doesn't please you, perhaps FSUSA's RY4, which I didn't rank highly but many people swear by, would be more to your taste.

Bill, there is no need to apologize... I'm extremely picky, especially with tobaccos and coffees. And, i'll repeat the mantra "taste is subjective". You stated that you wanted readers to share their opinions and i did. If that rubbed you the wrong way that was not my intention. I appreciate the time and effort you put into this thread and continue to check back often.

As I wrote, it's the first day.. I just didn't bond with quick nic.. It happens..
but your fsusa comment? I mean, come on.

 

[Dream]

Probably not your taste buds. The first time I tried the RY4 from Quick nic, it was just a couple days old. It had a bitter kind of taste. The flavors did not quite merge together. The tobacco was a little too harsh, and the caramel was overpowering the vanilla.

I tried them a couple days later, and they were much smoother. After 10 days, you can really enjoy how the flavors blend. The highs billherbst talks about are there, as well as a good low end flavor. I think it is still getting better.

I suggest with your RY4 (from all vendors) try every few days. You will be able to taste the transformation. This works with many of the tobacco mixes. I hated Casablanca for two weeks, then all of the sudden it started tasting good, then great. Boba's Bounty did the same thing.

I just got in my OzarkFresh today (after a long 11 day wait), and BWB should be here this week. I will give them a week, then start trying them. I figure 2-3 weeks until awesome.

If any of yours are not better after a few weeks, I will make you an offer.

Thanks thehangdude! This gives me some hope for quick nic's ry4. i was worried that I got a bad batch or something..
For the record, I didn't like Vaperite's VR4 at first either..I'll keep your advice in mind for the Ozark Fresh, BWB, and Ikenvape RY4's as well.

BTW, I'm having the same experience with Casablanca... It was much better the second time, but it needs more time. w2v's Acid Blondie took a few days to settle down enough for me to appreciate.

If I don't bond with any of these I'll definitely let you know
Hey, how's the Ozark fresh out of the box?

 

[fforest]

Billherbst you might want to add Perfumers Apprentice RY4,to the RY4 list to end all RY4 lists.

RY4 is a fantastic flavor.Great job here.

 

[thehangdude]

Thanks thehangdude! This gives me some hope for quick nic's ry4. i was worried that I got a bad batch or something..
For the record, I didn't like Vaperite's VR4 at first either..I'll keep your advice in mind for the Ozark Fresh, BWB, and Ikenvape RY4's as well.

BTW, I'm having the same experience with Casablanca... It was much better the second time, but it needs more time. w2v's Acid Blondie took a few days to settle down enough for me to appreciate.

If I don't bond with any of these I'll definitely let you know
Hey, how's the Ozark fresh out of the box?

The Ozark is not horrible out of the mailbox (as Quick nic's was) but it is a little perfumey, maybe sassafras like. That should go away soon enough.

I really wanted to hate OzarkFresh. They took 11 days to get me my juice. It came in this generic white bottle with only flavor and number on it. "KENTUCKY BURLEY RY4 24" was all it says (24 is for mg). No invoice in box, no "your package has been shipped e-mail, not even "OzarkFresh" on the bottle. I really wanted to hate them, because I never wanted to order from them again.

I ordered a couple other flavors, one of which was Blueberry Cobbler. Man that stuff is good. It is fresh blueberries, maybe a muffin is closer, but I can see cobbler. I haven't tried the other flavors, but am now looking forward to them post-steep. Not sure if I would order from them again, but they have redeemed themselves a little.

 

[billherbst]

You stated that you wanted readers to share their opinions and i did. If that rubbed you the wrong way that was not my intention.

dream,

No wrong rubbing at all, my friend. It's me, not you. The past couple of days, I've been more aware than usual of the bizarro nature of the basic presumptions behind this thread. I mean, all reviews are subjective, and reviews involving taste and/or flavor are especially gonzo, way out there on the fourth standard deviation. The term "juice review" is almost an oxymoron. Then add to that the business of rankings, and things get even stranger.

Having started this little frankenstein monster, I ask myself, "What's the point, Bill?" Well, I love vaping, and I like hanging out on ECF, so the point for me is to up the level of entertainment and foster more camaraderie---even if this is only a "virtual" community. The downside is that people do in fact make decisions about where and how to spend their hard-earned bucks based on what they read on ECF (I know I do).

Though it's bogus for me to exaggerate the impact of my sudden "street cred" here as a reviewer (I'm not Grimm Green or PBuscardo), I am indeed learning first-hand how a good review or a low ranking can affect sales for vendors, many of whom in this young and largely cottage-based industry are really good folks who sincerely care about their products and their customers. I just don't want to inadvertently screw up and cause harm.

I'll keep this going as long as the fun outweighs the weirdness. So far, so good...

 

[fforest]

Billherbst for a new newcomer and not so newcomer it is a real jungle out there in flavor land..
How many people have the time or money to check out all of these companys RY4 juices?Almost no one.
This thread you have put together is very much appreciated.Especially by those of us who consider
RY4 to be the Holy Grail of E-juices.
I dont think there will ever be a perfect tast for every one. But thanks to every one on this thread the RY4 Jungle may be getting a little more clear.Which is good.

 

[Diablo]

Taste is subjective, but most people should find at least 1 out of the top 10 that is a winner for them. Taste isn't that subjective. This is an RY4 flavor juice only review and not a top 10 tobacco flavored juice list. If none of the top 10 do it people it could be RY4 isn't the flavor some folks are looking for.

A lot of juices need to steep in order for them to blend together. I myself would let it steep for at least 3 weeks before I made my final judgment on it, just to be sure I don't toss out what could have been the best juice I ever had.

Just saying

 

[ogredog]

If the BWB is like any of their other juices its gonna take a few weeks before it starts to settle down, so when it comes just put it away and try it at 2 weeks but for me personally with the other juices I have 3 weeks seems to be when the flavor comes in. Ikenvape should be good out of the bottle it was for me.

I read a trick other day on a thread where if you take the juice in a glass bottle and nuke it for about 7-10 secs until it just gets hot and let the cover off of it for a hr or so it speeds that process up. I tried it on 1 juice and it did make it better, not sure if it makes it as good as it can get. I would not try that with the BWB but maybe the quick nic it might work.

heat it and then pour it in some coffee lol

 

[thedudeabides]

Not in agreement on a lot of these flavors, but this is all subjective!

I rank Iken's RY4 #1 for one reason and one reason alone. It is the closest to the original, bar none.

RY4 was originally created by Dekang. It was a tobacco vape, first and foremost - but it had hints of caramel and vanilla, and even a little nuttiness. Most of these flavors are the exact opposite, I struggle to even taste tobacco, it's like I'm vaping a caramel candy, with maybe the slightest hint of tobacco. Those juices should not even wear the RY4 badge, they are not true to the original at all. Caramel Vanilla Tobacco? Sure! RY4, umm no. Waaaay too sweet. And to be fair, I have not tried everything on the above list, but in my search of the perfect RY4 and 555 I tried many.

Some people get into the sweet candy vapes, and these may be the RY4s for them. But being the tobacco lover I am I just can't stomach calling them RY4.

On a side note, I ordered Quick Nic's RY4 and 555 based on the reviews here, same, waaaay too sweet as well. If anyone is looking for barely used 30ml bottles (5 drops each), just pm me.

If you want a real tobacco based RY4 go with Iken's. If you want the best tobacco based 555, go with VS Frisco.

My work is done here, please don't hate