Here's a review of some of the carts and juice I've trid over the past 3 weeks. Now that my taste buds and sense of smell have healed a bit, I feel a bit more confident in providing a fair review. I vape mostly on my manual PT, but my lasting impressions are based on both that and off the regular 3.7v VK batteries.
First up, cartos:
Caramel Mocha Frappucino 18/24mg - Mmmmmm. Wow, these were awesome. Full mouth and throat hit, and great flavor. When I get a real craving for analogs, this is my go-to cart. It's not overly mocha-y (compared to another mocha-esque liquid I've tried), and the caramel flavor is there but not pronounced, but overall an excellent coffee flavored cart. The 18mg cart has a slightly softer TH. Good vapor production, which matches the "feel" I'd expect from this type of flavor.
Strawberry 24mg - I ordered this as part of my initial order, and had very high hopes. I've had to go back and try it a few times, but sad to say, this one didn't cut it for me. It's a nice, medium Strawberry flavor with great TH, but these carts have a perfumey taste that is hard for me to get past. Decent vapor production.
Peach 24mg - It's peach for sure. Very good TH, with decent vapor production. Not one of my favorites, but I do find myself carrying it around in my case just in case I need a good TH (to conserve my CMF ;-) ).
Vanilla 18mg - My second order contained the highly anticipated Vanilla. Sigh...another disappointment
More perfumey than the Strawberry, with a hint of vanilla. After going back to try it at different times, I ended up blowing out the rest of the liquid in the cart and refilling with some Cola liquid.
Cinnamon Roll 18mg - Also part of my 2nd order, these carts were a total hit. Took a few minutes to distinguish flavors outside of cinnamon, but after a bit you do start to notice the "roll". Just the right amount of cinnamon flavor too, not overly sweet. These are my 2nd favorite, right behind CMF. Very nice mouth and TH (some of it courtesy of the cinnamon I'm sure), and nice vapor.
Pear 18mg (labeled as 16mg?) - A good light vape, and can easily tell the pear flavor. Didn't notice any perfumey flavor. Light-Medium TH, with vapor to match. I find myself reaching for this at night at my desk every so often (while reading the V4L forum ;-) )
French Pipe 18mg - I'm not sure what I expected out of this cart. I know some people swear by it, but I just didn't jive with me. Almost had a off-flavor of warm milk? It was an impulse order, and without being experienced in tobacco-ish flavors, I dont have much to add.
Parliament 18mg - A little more palatable than the French Pipe, but again, not my thing. Yeah, I should have just ordered the Tobacco Sampler instead of dropping 20 bucks on 2 packs of carts that now just taunt me from my desk. Oh well, live and learn.
Green Tea 11mg - I bought this thinking it would be nice for right-before-bed. Wasn't too bad, but I found it lacking a bit in the flavor dept. I could tell it was a Green Tea cart, but was a little lighter than I expected. Light-Medium vapor and a light TH (i.e. almost none).
Cowboy 24mg - I got this cart from the carto swap thread. I'll have to say this cart is just about as close as I remember smoking to be. Huge TH, and full vapor. Not sure how to explain the flavor, I just really reminded me of smoking an analog. I'm still contemplating ordering some of these, but I'm not sure why...lol
And now for liquids (all in Medium strength - 18mg):
Almond Choco Coco - Hmmm. Almost no flavor, this was one of my biggest disappointments. I even tried this one out in a fresh blank cartomizer, and still, I couldn't really distinguish anything good or bad about it. Won't be trying this one again.
Cola - Not bad at all. Has that tingly character you'd expect from a carbonated beverage. Good flavor - true to the name, and medium TH and vapor.
Blueberry - A light flavor, but could still tell it was blueberry. Didn't spend much time with it before I ended up mixing this with some VG-based Blackberry Champagne I have, which I now use as one of my night-time vapes.
Caramel Mocha Frappucino - I was soooo stoked when this order came in. All my CMF carts were empty. I carefully refilled the empties, but I swear this is not the same liquid used in the carts. I even stole a new CMF cart from a buddy of mine to taste side by side, and we both agreed it wasn't the same. Seems to have much more of a pronounced warm/sour milk flavor - blech. It's vapable, but only if I mix it with some VG-based Coffee liquid. And yes, I make sure to shake the hell out of bottles before using them to refill.
Cinnamon Roll - After the CMF let-down, I had hopes that the Cinnamon Roll liquid would brighten my spirits. But no matter how hard I've tried, I cannot trick myself into feeling the same way about the liquid as I do about the carts. The carts seem to have a much "fuller" flavor, whereas the liquid is pretty much a single note - weak cinnamon with some sort of as-yet-unidentifiable side flavor.
SMILIN' Special Menthol - I was never a menthol smoker, but I gotta say this is pretty good. Obviously the menthol aspect gives it a great TH, and it's got great vapor production. Like others have mentioned, there are times when I almost think I taste chocolate, like an Andes chocolate mint. This is a flavor I'll order again.
So yeah, there have been hits and misses; some great joy and some near-crushing disappointments. But thinking back, I'm one day away from my 3-week no-analog anniversary, thanks to V4L. So if I'm scoring my experience so far, I'll have to put it down as a PASS. Even placed an order for a XL manual kit yesterday, just so that I'd have extra batteries and supplies. And of course, I had to try the Butterscotch and S'mores.
Happy vaping!
-adam
First up, cartos:
Caramel Mocha Frappucino 18/24mg - Mmmmmm. Wow, these were awesome. Full mouth and throat hit, and great flavor. When I get a real craving for analogs, this is my go-to cart. It's not overly mocha-y (compared to another mocha-esque liquid I've tried), and the caramel flavor is there but not pronounced, but overall an excellent coffee flavored cart. The 18mg cart has a slightly softer TH. Good vapor production, which matches the "feel" I'd expect from this type of flavor.
Strawberry 24mg - I ordered this as part of my initial order, and had very high hopes. I've had to go back and try it a few times, but sad to say, this one didn't cut it for me. It's a nice, medium Strawberry flavor with great TH, but these carts have a perfumey taste that is hard for me to get past. Decent vapor production.
Peach 24mg - It's peach for sure. Very good TH, with decent vapor production. Not one of my favorites, but I do find myself carrying it around in my case just in case I need a good TH (to conserve my CMF ;-) ).
Vanilla 18mg - My second order contained the highly anticipated Vanilla. Sigh...another disappointment
More perfumey than the Strawberry, with a hint of vanilla. After going back to try it at different times, I ended up blowing out the rest of the liquid in the cart and refilling with some Cola liquid.Cinnamon Roll 18mg - Also part of my 2nd order, these carts were a total hit. Took a few minutes to distinguish flavors outside of cinnamon, but after a bit you do start to notice the "roll". Just the right amount of cinnamon flavor too, not overly sweet. These are my 2nd favorite, right behind CMF. Very nice mouth and TH (some of it courtesy of the cinnamon I'm sure), and nice vapor.
Pear 18mg (labeled as 16mg?) - A good light vape, and can easily tell the pear flavor. Didn't notice any perfumey flavor. Light-Medium TH, with vapor to match. I find myself reaching for this at night at my desk every so often (while reading the V4L forum ;-) )
French Pipe 18mg - I'm not sure what I expected out of this cart. I know some people swear by it, but I just didn't jive with me. Almost had a off-flavor of warm milk? It was an impulse order, and without being experienced in tobacco-ish flavors, I dont have much to add.
Parliament 18mg - A little more palatable than the French Pipe, but again, not my thing. Yeah, I should have just ordered the Tobacco Sampler instead of dropping 20 bucks on 2 packs of carts that now just taunt me from my desk. Oh well, live and learn.
Green Tea 11mg - I bought this thinking it would be nice for right-before-bed. Wasn't too bad, but I found it lacking a bit in the flavor dept. I could tell it was a Green Tea cart, but was a little lighter than I expected. Light-Medium vapor and a light TH (i.e. almost none).
Cowboy 24mg - I got this cart from the carto swap thread. I'll have to say this cart is just about as close as I remember smoking to be. Huge TH, and full vapor. Not sure how to explain the flavor, I just really reminded me of smoking an analog. I'm still contemplating ordering some of these, but I'm not sure why...lol
And now for liquids (all in Medium strength - 18mg):
Almond Choco Coco - Hmmm. Almost no flavor, this was one of my biggest disappointments. I even tried this one out in a fresh blank cartomizer, and still, I couldn't really distinguish anything good or bad about it. Won't be trying this one again.
Cola - Not bad at all. Has that tingly character you'd expect from a carbonated beverage. Good flavor - true to the name, and medium TH and vapor.
Blueberry - A light flavor, but could still tell it was blueberry. Didn't spend much time with it before I ended up mixing this with some VG-based Blackberry Champagne I have, which I now use as one of my night-time vapes.
Caramel Mocha Frappucino - I was soooo stoked when this order came in. All my CMF carts were empty. I carefully refilled the empties, but I swear this is not the same liquid used in the carts. I even stole a new CMF cart from a buddy of mine to taste side by side, and we both agreed it wasn't the same. Seems to have much more of a pronounced warm/sour milk flavor - blech. It's vapable, but only if I mix it with some VG-based Coffee liquid. And yes, I make sure to shake the hell out of bottles before using them to refill.
Cinnamon Roll - After the CMF let-down, I had hopes that the Cinnamon Roll liquid would brighten my spirits. But no matter how hard I've tried, I cannot trick myself into feeling the same way about the liquid as I do about the carts. The carts seem to have a much "fuller" flavor, whereas the liquid is pretty much a single note - weak cinnamon with some sort of as-yet-unidentifiable side flavor.
SMILIN' Special Menthol - I was never a menthol smoker, but I gotta say this is pretty good. Obviously the menthol aspect gives it a great TH, and it's got great vapor production. Like others have mentioned, there are times when I almost think I taste chocolate, like an Andes chocolate mint. This is a flavor I'll order again.
So yeah, there have been hits and misses; some great joy and some near-crushing disappointments. But thinking back, I'm one day away from my 3-week no-analog anniversary, thanks to V4L. So if I'm scoring my experience so far, I'll have to put it down as a PASS. Even placed an order for a XL manual kit yesterday, just so that I'd have extra batteries and supplies. And of course, I had to try the Butterscotch and S'mores.
Happy vaping!
-adam
