Grand terrace vapor general discussion thread & reviews!!

[CountBoredom]

The tartness is fine IMO. Honestly I was pleasantly surprised at how close the flavor is to a natural taste rater than a candy taste.

Selling pre-steeped juice is a great ideal. Especially for the flavors that are very blah at the beginning of their life cycle. I think a lot of juices get bad reviews from newer vapers that still do not understand the importance of steeping. So if those flavors are sold after letting them steep then people will be getting a more true to flavor juice. It is also going to appeal to seasoned vapers, especially for those of us who like a juice and forget to reorder so that we always have some that is steeped and ready to go.

As far as PG/VG percentages go....well it does not really matter to me. I no longer care all that much about throat hit, nor do I care about blowing huge clouds. I am 100% about the flavor. TBH with all the RBA's out now with adjustable air flow wicking is not so much of a problem anymore. So even if a juice is as thick as syrup I just close the air flow thus creating a tighter draw and as a result thicker juices are pulled to the wick.

I fully agree with Carolina's thoughts regarding pre-steeped juices. Catering to the hobbyist crowd is one thing--we understand the need for steeping and will often have a bunch of flavors sitting in boxes/drawers all waiting for the pleasure of our vape. But many people just want a juice they can vape right away. Case in point is a friend of mine. He's the type that could easily go hobbyist but chooses not to because he already has so many other things going on. He just wants a vape that he can take around from site to site and not have to fuss too much about. So he has a pair of evods that he uses on top of his spinner and keeps one or two bottles of juice on-hand that he picks up at a local B&M. He'll change flavors from time to time, but that's about it. If he were to pick up some GTV, he'd crack it open right away and probably be disappointed.

I use tanks, both with airflow controllers and without, and have never had a problem with "All VG" juices. Of course, as you said RML, it's never truly 100% VG, but the point still stands.

 

[readmylips]

The tartness is fine IMO. Honestly I was pleasantly surprised at how close the flavor is to a natural taste rater than a candy taste.

Selling pre-steeped juice is a great ideal. Especially for the flavors that are very blah at the beginning of their life cycle. I think a lot of juices get bad reviews from newer vapers that still do not understand the importance of steeping. So if those flavors are sold after letting them steep then people will be getting a more true to flavor juice. It is also going to appeal to seasoned vapers, especially for those of us who like a juice and forget to reorder so that we always have some that is steeped and ready to go.

As far as PG/VG percentages go....well it does not really matter to me. I no longer care all that much about throat hit, nor do I care about blowing huge clouds. I am 100% about the flavor. TBH with all the RBA's out now with adjustable air flow wicking is not so much of a problem anymore. So even if a juice is as thick as syrup I just close the air flow thus creating a tighter draw and as a result thicker juices are pulled to the wick.

I agree with you on RBA and the thickness of juices. I have been leaning towards alot of mellow flavored vapes lately and it has shown through in most of the recent flavors. But also as you said, newer vapers do not know about steeping and are reviewing a product that is honestly not ready.

If you look further back to when I was leaving analogs behind you find offerings like G.T.1, it is so unique and over the top flavorful that a person is overwhelmed. Movie theater lemonade was an extreme tart mouthful as well. At that time my taste buds had most likely not fully recovered from analogs so everything we did here needed more flavor more more more.. kinda like how ben and jerrys ice cream became ben an jerrys. If you do not know about ben and jerrys and how the flavoring went so off the chart you should give their story a read, it is very interesting.

I have also stayed away from rush most places have had on custard for the last year or so. This next release is in fact a custard and it will taste terrible for at least 5 weeks. Another reason it took so long to perfect. Small tweaks were hard to adjust because of the exceptionally long steep time.

As I said before I am revamping the website a little and moving the prices back to where they belong. BUT and there is a big BUT here, I will still give ECF forum members sales from time to time and anyone who is active on this forum and does a good job of spreading the word for us will get additional discounts to use for themselves or to give to friends and whoever they feel deserve it.

Also, we will begin to possibly carry local juice lines who are boutique juices. They are pricey but are very good. Those Juices I will not be able to give to folks at the price I can with our own house brand due to one, not undercutting them with the prices they sell for now and two because it will cost me more to purchase bottles from them, than I already charge for one flavor juices or easy juices. While not everyone will want to pay brick and mortar boutique juice prices, the option will be there for those who would be interested in trying out something other than what we make.

RML

 

[readmylips]

I fully agree with Carolina's thoughts regarding pre-steeped juices. Catering to the hobbyist crowd is one thing--we understand the need for steeping and will often have a bunch of flavors sitting in boxes/drawers all waiting for the pleasure of our vape. But many people just want a juice they can vape right away. Case in point is a friend of mine. He's the type that could easily go hobbyist but chooses not to because he already has so many other things going on. He just wants a vape that he can take around from site to site and not have to fuss too much about. So he has a pair of evods that he uses on top of his spinner and keeps one or two bottles of juice on-hand that he picks up at a local B&M. He'll change flavors from time to time, but that's about it. If he were to pick up some GTV, he'd crack it open right away and probably be disappointed.

I use tanks, both with airflow controllers and without, and have never had a problem with "All VG" juices. Of course, as you said RML, it's never truly 100% VG, but the point still stands.

Your friend is like me, I am willing to pay the extra if it saves me time. In my hobbies I am willing to save hundreds of dollars to build my own computers because I love to customize and I do not mind it does not have an off the shelf appearance.

I have been trying hard to make everyone happy, from brand new vapers to seasoned vapers and those vapers with and without time and with lots of money to burn and those with a small budget.

A smart quote goes "if you try to be everything to everyone you will end up being nothing special to anyone." While I truly dislike being a let down to anyone I am going to have to start to focus on our core business. I apologize to anyone upfront right now if you feel we do not have an offering for you or that we wont accommodate your requests. Anyone on the boards knows that I try to always say yes to any request.

It has come to a point though where We need to really just narrow down who we are and what we say yes to. In no way does that mean I do not want to hear suggestions or comments, it just means if I hear it and it is something we have to say no to please don't take it personal or be hurt over it. But we have to tighten up our offerings.

Speaking of offerings, Let me ask here, What do you spend the majority of your juice budget on? Inexpensive e liquid, pre steeped, DIY, Boutique, single note flavors, complex, savory, sweet, fruit, candy etc etc.?

RML

 

[CountBoredom]

Speaking of offerings, Let me ask here, What do you spend the majority of your juice budget on? Inexpensive e liquid, pre steeped, DIY, Boutique, single note flavors, complex, savory, sweet, fruit, candy etc etc.?

RML

That's a difficult question to answer.

When I first approach a vendor, I generally try to get a sampler if I can. My profile is mostly fruits, non-coffee beverages, and lighter desserts, so that is what I will include in a sampler or order straight up if one is not available. Generally, after I've formed a favorable impression of a vendor's flavors, I will make larger orders when there are sales. If a free shipping option is available (say, over $XX) then I will order to that limit, whether there is a sale or not. Another way that I sometimes buy juice is when I order hardware from a vendor who also has an economic juice line that I like (sort of like an impulse buy: getting a new tank? Sure, throw in 15 ml of ....). While I enjoy many complex flavors, I also like to have some single-note flavors on-hand. I'm generally willing to spend more for the complex blends, but I don't want to pay boutique flavors for simpler fare--however, I like my single-note fruit flavors to be very clean and am willing to pay a little more for that if the quality is really that good. Pre-steeped or non- makes little difference to me since I like to keep a larger collection on-hand (which also means that I don't always get to my reviews in a timely manner ), but it is exciting sometimes to break open a vapemail package and delve into it right away.

Hope that helps!

 

[readmylips]

That's a difficult question to answer.

When I first approach a vendor, I generally try to get a sampler if I can. My profile is mostly fruits, non-coffee beverages, and lighter desserts, so that is what I will include in a sampler or order straight up if one is not available. Generally, after I've formed a favorable impression of a vendor's flavors, I will make larger orders when there are sales. If a free shipping option is available (say, over $XX) then I will order to that limit, whether there is a sale or not. Another way that I sometimes buy juice is when I order hardware from a vendor who also has an economic juice line that I like (sort of like an impulse buy: getting a new tank? Sure, throw in 15 ml of ....). While I enjoy many complex flavors, I also like to have some single-note flavors on-hand. I'm generally willing to spend more for the complex blends, but I don't want to pay boutique flavors for simpler fare--however, I like my single-note fruit flavors to be very clean and am willing to pay a little more for that if the quality is really that good. Pre-steeped or non- makes little difference to me since I like to keep a larger collection on-hand (which also means that I don't always get to my reviews in a timely manner ), but it is exciting sometimes to break open a vapemail package and delve into it right away.

Hope that helps!

It does, very much actually. You happen to a very sane and educated vaper. I value your opinions. I am going to move everything back to where it needs to be on the day to day basis for selling price points. But I am working with my vape team to come up with the best solution to rewarding folks like you. It looks like we will put you folks onto a special list that get private promotional codes. That seems to be the best solution for us so far, we will know more though and adjust as things continue to unfold.

Thank you for you thoughts about how you purchase. The way you purchase makes me feel more confident to bring a few friend who also have juice lines into our website as something to offer our customers who may be looking to try something to go along with their order from us but would not want to order from them and pay shipping and from us and pay shipping as well. All one stop shop kinda thing.

I am adding things today from us and changing things over as our vendor agreement has run out. As soon as that is done I will offer the board a new game and a new promo code, though heavy contributors like yourself should look out for your own private promo code. Thank you for all your efforts to help us be a better vendor, Count Boredom.

RML

 

[Carolina Vapoor]

Your friend is like me, I am willing to pay the extra if it saves me time. In my hobbies I am willing to save hundreds of dollars to build my own computers because I love to customize and I do not mind it does not have an off the shelf appearance.

I have been trying hard to make everyone happy, from brand new vapers to seasoned vapers and those vapers with and without time and with lots of money to burn and those with a small budget.

A smart quote goes "if you try to be everything to everyone you will end up being nothing special to anyone." While I truly dislike being a let down to anyone I am going to have to start to focus on our core business. I apologize to anyone upfront right now if you feel we do not have an offering for you or that we wont accommodate your requests. Anyone on the boards knows that I try to always say yes to any request.

It has come to a point though where We need to really just narrow down who we are and what we say yes to. In no way does that mean I do not want to hear suggestions or comments, it just means if I hear it and it is something we have to say no to please don't take it personal or be hurt over it. But we have to tighten up our offerings.

Speaking of offerings, Let me ask here, What do you spend the majority of your juice budget on? Inexpensive e liquid, pre steeped, DIY, Boutique, single note flavors, complex, savory, sweet, fruit, candy etc etc.?

RML

Catering to the masses while still offering high quality juice is not a reality IMHO. Whoever is mixing the juice will mix, test, tweak, test, tweak, test and so on until the have the a flavor that is spot on for what they want or think it should taste like. Now if a customer has the option of adding flavor shots, changing PG/VG ratios etc. and choose to do so then they will not get the flavor as it was intended. I prefer a quality juice with exceptional flavor over having all those options any day. One of my ADV comes from a vendor that only offers customers the option of nic. level. And normally they have a very limited amount of flavors available. Quality over quantity!

In regards to what I spend my vape budget on...Well that is a hard one to answer for sure. I normally have 5-8 flavors in my daily rotation. They consist of both single note and complex flavors. I lean more to the complex though. A single note flavor has to be pretty much spot on for it to go into my daily rotation. The styles are all over the board as well. I normally stay away from heavy menthol, tobacco, and coffee flavors though.

Not sure any of that helps you out but hopefully it will in one way or another.

 

[CountBoredom]

It does, very much actually. You happen to a very sane and educated vaper. I value your opinions. I am going to move everything back to where it needs to be on the day to day basis for selling price points. But I am working with my vape team to come up with the best solution to rewarding folks like you. It looks like we will put you folks onto a special list that get private promotional codes. That seems to be the best solution for us so far, we will know more though and adjust as things continue to unfold.

Thank you for you thoughts about how you purchase. The way you purchase makes me feel more confident to bring a few friend who also have juice lines into our website as something to offer our customers who may be looking to try something to go along with their order from us but would not want to order from them and pay shipping and from us and pay shipping as well. All one stop shop kinda thing.

I am adding things today from us and changing things over as our vendor agreement has run out. As soon as that is done I will offer the board a new game and a new promo code, though heavy contributors like yourself should look out for your own private promo code. Thank you for all your efforts to help us be a better vendor, Count Boredom.

RML

Wow! That is very kind of you, RML. Many, many thanks!

 

[readmylips]

Catering to the masses while still offering high quality juice is not a reality IMHO. Whoever is mixing the juice will mix, test, tweak, test, tweak, test and so on until the have the a flavor that is spot on for what they want or think it should taste like. Now if a customer has the option of adding flavor shots, changing PG/VG ratios etc. and choose to do so then they will not get the flavor as it was intended. I prefer a quality juice with exceptional flavor over having all those options any day. One of my ADV comes from a vendor that only offers customers the option of nic. level. And normally they have a very limited amount of flavors available. Quality over quantity!

In regards to what I spend my vape budget on...Well that is a hard one to answer for sure. I normally have 5-8 flavors in my daily rotation. They consist of both single note and complex flavors. I lean more to the complex though. A single note flavor has to be pretty much spot on for it to go into my daily rotation. The styles are all over the board as well. I normally stay away from heavy menthol, tobacco, and coffee flavors though.

Not sure any of that helps you out but hopefully it will in one way or another.

Helps me out in many ways. Thank you for your reply. You and count do an excellent job of of helping our direction at Grand Terrace Vapor. We brainstormed for a few weeks and debated some ideas from the forum, you and count b, and some other things that were requested by local and regional friends of ours.

We have recently revamped the offerings and think it will just take a little tweaking here and there to keep it close to the core of what we are and what we can do best to serve you.

Hopefully, everything will move in the real world like it does on paper....We shall see. For now lets just get this party started with a little giveaway and maybe a chitchat thread promo code. People who do not come in here can have the other deal, while contributors and readers of this thread can take advantage of the contributors code.

I will post up something here before the end of the day, for you guys, and those other guys who have not got on board yet with us.

RML

 

[readmylips]

Wow! That is very kind of you, RML. Many, many thanks!

well it has more to do with you and Carolina Vapoors participation and interaction with us...but thank you =) People should thank you guys lol.

In fact I will ask you both:

Carolina Vapoor: what amount of discount would you like to see offered for our Fall Kick off sale?____________

Count Boredom: what amount of discount would you like to see offered for our Fall Kick off sale?____________

RML

 

[Carolina Vapoor]

Helps me out in many ways. Thank you for your reply. You and count do an excellent job of of helping our direction at Grand Terrace Vapor. We brainstormed for a few weeks and debated some ideas from the forum, you and count b, and some other things that were requested by local and regional friends of ours.

We have recently revamped the offerings and think it will just take a little tweaking here and there to keep it close to the core of what we are and what we can do best to serve you.

Hopefully, everything will move in the real world like it does on paper....We shall see. For now lets just get this party started with a little giveaway and maybe a chitchat thread promo code. People who do not come in here can have the other deal, while contributors and readers of this thread can take advantage of the contributors code.

I will post up something here before the end of the day, for you guys, and those other guys who have not got on board yet with us.

RML

Ok I get it...I will not post in the deals and steals

 

[CountBoredom]

well it has more to do with you and Carolina Vapoors participation and interaction with us...but thank you =) People should thank you guys lol.

In fact I will ask you both:

Carolina Vapoor: what amount of discount would you like to see offered for our Fall Kick off sale?____________

Count Boredom: what amount of discount would you like to see offered for our Fall Kick off sale?____________

RML

Personally, I think 100% off would be nice, but....

Seriously, though. I'm not sure how the financials work out, so this is another difficult question to answer. A sale is usually put on to encourage volume and attract new customers. With that in mind, I would suggest 25% or more--50% would be ideal. If one looks at the http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/pay-forward-pif/418767-deals-steals.html thread, there are lots of 10-15% offers that happen each week and, as a consequence, end up becoming the norm. Across the board 25-50% off is much more eye-catching, particularly if the full savings are highlighted. You could even do a graduated savings: 25% for one bottle, 30% for two, etc. up to 50%. You could further incentivize larger purchases by offering free shipping (or, in the case of someone like me, no CA sales tax!) at a certain dollar amount. The dollar amount would have to be dependent on the average expected purchase amount (if such a thing could be calculated), so that people buying the cheapest juices with the largest discount would fall short of the deal... encouraging them to buy more or pick more expensive flavors.

 

[Carolina Vapoor]

well it has more to do with you and Carolina Vapoors participation and interaction with us...but thank you =) People should thank you guys lol.

In fact I will ask you both:

Carolina Vapoor: what amount of discount would you like to see offered for our Fall Kick off sale?____________

Count Boredom: what amount of discount would you like to see offered for our Fall Kick off sale?____________

RML

That is a tough one. Honestly the amount of a discount that I look for varies. It is dependent on my vape budget at the time I purchase something. If my vape budget is well funded then I am happy with something like a 5% discount or even no discount at all. On the flip side though when I have very little vape budget then I tend to look for the higher discounts.

I tend to also look at per Ml cost when I am strapped for cash. You know the more bang for my buck approach. This is when I will normally seek out the .30-.36/ml juice especially if there is a sale that allow me to get it cheaper than that. Normally I am forking out .40-50/ml and for an exceptional juice that I just can't live without I hit the .60-.65/ml mark.

I say all of that to say this - To me any discount from a vendor is greatly appreciated regardless of the amount. Money saved is money saved. Sometimes the higher discounts all me to buy things that I normally could not afford or just am not willing to pay a high price for.

 

[Carolina Vapoor]

Speaking of saving money. Here is something I thought was cool. Last year my youngest daughter and I started picking up any change that we find laying on the ground. We put it in a separate change jar so we could keep track of it. Last year we picked up a little over $75 in change.

Doing the same thing this year but with a purpose. We are going to use it to help a random family out at Christmas. I do not know how much we have yet because we do not count it until the end. While $75 or even $50 does not seem like a lot for most; for some it is the difference in their child getting something for Christmas or not getting anything at all.

I was just amazed that we found that much change just laying around in parking lots, at the park, on walking trails etc. When you factor in that the majority of it was in pennies it amazed me even more.

 

[CountBoredom]

Speaking of saving money. Here is something I thought was cool. Last year my youngest daughter and I started picking up any change that we find laying on the ground. We put it in a separate change jar so we could keep track of it. Last year we picked up a little over $75 in change.

Doing the same thing this year but with a purpose. We are going to use it to help a random family out at Christmas. I do not know how much we have yet because we do not count it until the end. While $75 or even $50 does not seem like a lot for most; for some it is the difference in their child getting something for Christmas or not getting anything at all.

I was just amazed that we found that much change just laying around in parking lots, at the park, on walking trails etc. When you factor in that the majority of it was in pennies it amazed me even more.

Good for you! I, too, pick up change. It all goes into a bucket that then gets used to buy supplies for my kids' school. It's a public school, but because we live in an area that does not have a lot of underprivileged students, the school does not get as much funding as others in the district (no federal/state dollars).

 

[Carolina Vapoor]

Good for you! I, too, pick up change. It all goes into a bucket that then gets used to buy supplies for my kids' school. It's a public school, but because we live in an area that does not have a lot of underprivileged students, the school does not get as much funding as others in the district (no federal/state dollars).

Yeah we wait until all the back to school stuff goes on sale and then we stock up on it for the next year. Just last week we got the box of 24 crayola crayons for .25 each. we got 40 boxes for about $11. Also got packs of paper for .10 a pack so we picked up 100 packs. The majority of it we will donate to the school next year. It is funny though; every year the kids bring home a supply list. On that list there is mandatory items and optional items. The optional items are basically just extras that you would like to donate to the school and that list is normally twice as long as the required items list.

 

[CountBoredom]

Yeah we wait until all the back to school stuff goes on sale and then we stock up on it for the next year. Just last week we got the box of 24 crayola crayons for .25 each. we got 40 boxes for about $11. Also got packs of paper for .10 a pack so we picked up 100 packs. The majority of it we will donate to the school next year. It is funny though; every year the kids bring home a supply list. On that list there is mandatory items and optional items. The optional items are basically just extras that you would like to donate to the school and that list is normally twice as long as the required items list.

We do that too. Of course, being a public school, they can't designate anything as "required," but most people bring in everything that's on the list. The loose change collection goes towards other things.... like a new tether ball, etc.

 

[readmylips]

Ok I get it...I will not post in the deals and steals

It will be your deal so post it up wherever you feel people it should be posted.

I am getting ready to add many more test flavors so...lol...the giveaway will be getting bigger and bigger each time it runs. I am getting ready to add so many flavors that I may have to cap the amount I send to each person so we can get timely reviews. We will adjust as needed as it moves forward.

RML

 

[readmylips]

Alright Carolina and Count, I am programming in something to test as we speak. I will post it up in a second and pm it to you both. Right now on paper this seems cool to me but who knows in actual application how it will look hahaha.

RML.

 

[readmylips]

The Count Boredom code to test is

PROMO CODE: countb30

30% off your cart total when you order at least $50.00 and FREE shipping if you order $75.00

Offer valid from now till October 10th 2014

RML

 

[readmylips]

The Carolina Vapoor code to test is

PROMO CODE: carolinav40

40% off of any e-liquid in your cart and no price restriction to apply the 40% off plus FREE shipping at $75.00

RML

Valid from now till October 9th 2014.