Great Lakes Vapes - great juice, great service

[Mitey F]

I just moved to this area (around Ann Arbor, MI) and noticed there are quite a few B&M's near me, so I've been setting out to try their juices. I LOVE buying local juices as opposed to getting them shipped. It's faster, cheaper, and you can usually try them before you buy.

Home - Great Lakes Vapes

Their website is still under construction, but keep an eye out.

I stopped by Great Lakes Vapes (NOT "GLV", I guess they're having a bit of an issue over that) the other day (in Ypsilanti, MI) to try some juices. They said they have only been around since the beginning of July, but looking at their flavor list, they have 150+ different flavors. I've been looking for a good tobacco, as my usual retailer has been out of stock for the last few months. They had every single one of their 150+ juices on the shelf to sample in dedicated CE4's (unlike GLV). I asked to use my own RDA and do some dripping, and the woman behind the counter gladly obliged.

I only tried 4 or 5 juices (you can only try so many at a time without confusing the hell out of your palate). I was specifically looking for a tobacco, something dark and earthy with a bit of sweetness. I tried their Black Honey Tobacco (kinda sweet, but delicious) and bought a bottle. I also tried their Wolverine (either their 555 or RY4, can't remember now) which is AWESOME. EXACTLY what I was looking for, and right now, my ADV. I also tried their Key Lime (not my style, but very true to the flavor), and another I can't remember off of the top of my head (again good, but not quite what I dig).

The Wolverine reminds me a LOT of some of the HHV NET's like Legend and Serendipity.

When I told her I wanted a bottle of X and Y, she asked me what strength, and went straight into the back, mixed it while I waited (and continued to offer her advice on other juices I try, chatted about nothing in particular etc), came back out and rang them up. I'm sure if they're real busy they may have to take an order, but when I was there, it was made to order, while I waited. Top notch.

If you're local to the area, I recommend you swing by and give some of their juice a try. It's great stuff, at reasonable prices (none of that ridiculous $1/ml stuff). I think 10ml bottles ran me $7 each? Not cheap, but definitely not crazy high prices like *some* of the juice vendors. Keep an eye on their website as it develops, I have a feeling they are going to do very well.

Anybody else tried their stuff? Care to chime in?

 

[y cherry y]

Didn't even know about them till now -- and I live in Ypsi. I'm pretty happy with the juices I have, but I will stop in and check them out.

 

[Scottitude]

Good to see another local vendor in SE Michigan but the name they chose seems calculated to confuse consumers and ride the coat-tails of the world famous GLV / Great Lakes Vapor brand.

Not a nice thing to do in my book, but based on other vendors that have popped up in the last year or so that have chosen names very similar to established high quality vendors, I suppose the prevailing logic is why spend the effort to build a brand and establish a customer base when you can piggy-back on the hard work of others?

Sad, really.

Thanks for the heads-up, though.

 

[Mitey F]

I agree, not the best choice of names. However, I DO like their juice a LOT more than GLV's, and it's cheaper too.

 

[PMKNHD]

Great Lakes Vapor (GLV) just started making their own custom juice and they taste awesome.

This vender knew exactly what he was doing when he opened his store and started posting in the ECF under the name Great Lakes Vapes.
Let's see, I'll take the good name Great Lakes Vapor (The real GLV) and change the last 2 letters of their name. Now I can suck off of their future would be customer base that wont know the difference.
Hey Joe, there's this great Michigan business that makes one of the best ecig mods on the market you've got to check out Great Lakes Vapor.
Hey Jane, there's this great Michigan business that makes some of the best ejuices on the market you've got to check out Great Lakes Vapor.

Google or phonebook search follows: Oh, ummm, which one was it. Come on! The guy should be shut down or at least have to change the name. What he's deliberately doing is no less than criminal!!!!

 

[Mitey F]

I don't agree with the name, however I've gotten MUCH better service at "Vapes" than I got when I went into "Vapor". When I went into GLV, they had all of their juices out to try... except their tobaccos, and "darker" flavors. They said they don't sell that much, so they don't let you try it, you just have to buy it. GLVapes lets you try ALL their juices, have a MUCH better selection (not JUST fruity stuff) and will even let you sit, vape, and watch TV there.

When I went into GLV, the woman at the counter seemed to be getting fed up with me after trying 3-4 juices, and got this "so are you going to buy anything?" look on her face. Their in-house mods were also in the cabinet, so I asked to take a look at one for ....s and giggles. She handed me a WELL used one from behind the counter, not one in the display case, put a battery in, and a dripping atty to let me try it. I took the battery cap off, and noted the VERY rough threads, and asked if I could see a NEW one to make sure it was just because it was a well (ab)used mod. She told me "they're just like that one. That one just needs some WD40". Piss poor customer service, and I haven't been back since.

GLVapes on the other hand, has been nothing but a pleasure. So regardless of whether or not they made a poor choice in business names, their service is FAR superior to GLV, and I think their juice is much better too.

 

[Scottitude]

Never been to great lakes vapES and I will never go there, on principle. Well that, and the fact that I'd have to call him out on his copy-cat nomenclature in his own store in front of anyone present.

I'm sure they have some great juices and might have incredible customer service but there's no way the dude accidentally happened to choose a business name that could also coincidentally be abbreviated with the iconic letters, "GLV".

Sorry you had a bad experience at the real GLV, Mitey F, but as you freely admitted, you purposely imposed upon her to let you try a mod " for ....s and giggles" so perhaps she smelled BS from the get-go.

An honest and responsible manufacturer would never let customers use a device and then turn around and sell it as "new" so it makes perfect sense to have a test-mod available, whether used or abused.

Admittedly, I'm biased; I use GLVs (the real deal) exclusively and when we lost everything but our cat in a fire, Sarah made sure we had everything we needed until we could restock our vaping supplies.

The "Vapes" people may be great folks too and the more vape shops there are, the better, but the name itself is just wrong and a slap in the face to GLV and their customers.

Okay, I'll vacate the soap-box now.

 

[Mitey F]

Sorry you had a bad experience at the real GLV, Mitey F, but as you freely admitted, you purposely imposed upon her to let you try a mod " for ....s and giggles" so perhaps she smelled BS from the get-go.

An honest and responsible manufacturer would never let customers use a device and then turn around and sell it as "new" so it makes perfect sense to have a test-mod available, whether used or abused.

Admittedly, I'm biased; I use GLVs (the real deal) exclusively and when we lost everything but our cat in a fire, Sarah made sure we had everything we needed until we could restock our vaping supplies.

She offered to let me try one of their mods. When I asked to simply SEE a new one (after she handed me a raggedy-... used one), she basically said "no". That's piss poor customer service. If you went to buy a new car, and asked for a test drive, and the salesman said "well, we've got this 5 year old model, same car, but it has 100k miles. That'll work, right?", you'd laugh in their face and never come back... right?

 

[ahall13]

I'll admit the name thing sounds shady. Having said that it is close to work and being new to vaping I was having horrible luck trying random flavors online. They were very helpful and I was able to get an idea of what I like. I think them doing 50/50 pg to vg probably was the big help for me. The 70/30 was irritating my throat.

The employees are a mixed bag. Some are amazing and others are friendly buck lack knowledge. Since I didn't know great lakes vapor before visiting this store the name issue isn't a huge deal for me. But I get that they should have used a unique name.

 

[Mitey F]

I'll admit the name thing sounds shady. Having said that it is close to work and being new to vaping I was having horrible luck trying random flavors online. They were very helpful and I was able to get an idea of what I like. I think them doing 50/50 pg to vg probably was the big help for me. The 70/30 was irritating my throat.

The employees are a mixed bag. Some are amazing and others are friendly buck lack knowledge. Since I didn't know great lakes vapor before visiting this store the name issue isn't a huge deal for me. But I get that they should have used a unique name.

I've only dealt with one woman, and one man the few times I've been in there. Both were helpful. Where do you work?

 

[ahall13]

On state street (used to be the 777 building) so not super close, but close enough to stop by on lunch.

 

[Aviationrich]

Awesome, I was just talking to a friend on Facebook that works there.

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