Like many people, I had for months eagerly awaited the availability of Ikenvape's RY4. Now, Ikenvape is not a juice site. In fact, RY4 is the only liquid Ikenvape sells. Why? Well, therein lies a story:
Back in the day, Dekang created a series of juices named Ruyan #1, #2, #3, and #4, or just RY1-4 for short. RY4 was the crown of the line, sort of like the Chanel #5 of juices---a slightly-sweet concoction of caramel-vanilla-tobacco with some additional subtle flavors (no one knows for sure). For many vapers back then, RY4 was their all-day vape, the juice that helped them quit cigarettes.
Then, in mid-2010, Dekang's chemist left the company with some bad feeling, or so the story goes, taking with him his original formula for RY4, the ingredients and blending of which were apparently a big secret that only he knew. A new, ersatz RY4 was hastily formulated, but vapers quickly screamed that this knock-off RY4 was NOT the same. Ever since, every backyard juice alchemist from Shanghai to San Francisco and Beijing to Biloxi has been trying (apparently without success) to replicate the lost formula. Users throughout the vaping community bemoaned the loss of that fabled RY4, which has achieved almost mythic status in the year since its disappearance.
Enter Isaac at Ikenvape, who resolved to solve the riddle by recreating the "original" RY4, which is at last for sale on the IKV web site (at least occasionally; mostly, it's out of stock).
Well, I bought some, and this is my review. The caveat is that I was able to purchase only the VG version (actually a 70/30 blend of VG-to-PG), which I read is not quite as flavorful as the PG version (70/30 the other way). So bear that in mind.
My "qualifications" are that I have a LOT of different vendors' RY4s in my juice stash: Backwoods Brew (my 30ml bottle is down to about 2ml now), Madvapes Dekang, Freedom Smoke USA, Liberty-Flights, Nhaler, Bluemist, Vapemasters, Mist-Stix, Vapor Station, Voidmist, and Awesome Vapor. I've also RY4 variants from Vaperite (VR4), VS Vapor (VS4), and Vapure (VY4), or even iVape (Sweet Caroline) and Want2Vape (Rock Star). I like some better than others, but they are all finally variations on a theme. (Never had Riskee or Dulcis, though.)
I've read a couple other threads reviewing the new IKV RY4, and the posts are almost unanimously over-the-top in singing the praises of this juice. Unbelievable, fabulous, terrific! People seem to be going ape over this stuff. Except me, that is. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not about to review the IKV RY4 as lousy. No, it's pretty good. But after all the hype and waiting, I expected something truly amazing, and---for me at least---my high expectations have not been met.
What does the Ikenvape RY4 taste like? Well, surprisingly enough---to my palate at least---the flavor is almost identical to the Madvapes "China Liquid" (Dekang) RY4 in the 50ml bottle that's been steeping since I bought it back in November, 2010. Throat hit has slightly more impact with the Madvapes RY4, but that's because it's 24mg rather than the IKV's 18mg. Otherwise, I can't tell a substantive difference. Both are not too sweet, with more tobacco-like presence than many of the other RY4s I listed. Also, both have singular flavor, meaning well-blended. I can't pick out the vanilla or caramel or any other flavor as separate nuances.
But wait, isn't the Madvapes DK version the reformulated RY4? Well, I certainly thought so, but all I can honestly report is that to my taste buds the flavor is almost exactly the same as the new/old IKV RY4.
All in all, Ikenvape's "original" RY4 is pretty good stuff---two and a half stars out of four, maybe even three stars if the PG version has more flavor than the VG I have---but it's not the return of the Avatar.
There you have it. All right, now everyone can chime in and tell me how wrong I am. LOL.
Back in the day, Dekang created a series of juices named Ruyan #1, #2, #3, and #4, or just RY1-4 for short. RY4 was the crown of the line, sort of like the Chanel #5 of juices---a slightly-sweet concoction of caramel-vanilla-tobacco with some additional subtle flavors (no one knows for sure). For many vapers back then, RY4 was their all-day vape, the juice that helped them quit cigarettes.
Then, in mid-2010, Dekang's chemist left the company with some bad feeling, or so the story goes, taking with him his original formula for RY4, the ingredients and blending of which were apparently a big secret that only he knew. A new, ersatz RY4 was hastily formulated, but vapers quickly screamed that this knock-off RY4 was NOT the same. Ever since, every backyard juice alchemist from Shanghai to San Francisco and Beijing to Biloxi has been trying (apparently without success) to replicate the lost formula. Users throughout the vaping community bemoaned the loss of that fabled RY4, which has achieved almost mythic status in the year since its disappearance.
Enter Isaac at Ikenvape, who resolved to solve the riddle by recreating the "original" RY4, which is at last for sale on the IKV web site (at least occasionally; mostly, it's out of stock).
Well, I bought some, and this is my review. The caveat is that I was able to purchase only the VG version (actually a 70/30 blend of VG-to-PG), which I read is not quite as flavorful as the PG version (70/30 the other way). So bear that in mind.
My "qualifications" are that I have a LOT of different vendors' RY4s in my juice stash: Backwoods Brew (my 30ml bottle is down to about 2ml now), Madvapes Dekang, Freedom Smoke USA, Liberty-Flights, Nhaler, Bluemist, Vapemasters, Mist-Stix, Vapor Station, Voidmist, and Awesome Vapor. I've also RY4 variants from Vaperite (VR4), VS Vapor (VS4), and Vapure (VY4), or even iVape (Sweet Caroline) and Want2Vape (Rock Star). I like some better than others, but they are all finally variations on a theme. (Never had Riskee or Dulcis, though.)
I've read a couple other threads reviewing the new IKV RY4, and the posts are almost unanimously over-the-top in singing the praises of this juice. Unbelievable, fabulous, terrific! People seem to be going ape over this stuff. Except me, that is. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not about to review the IKV RY4 as lousy. No, it's pretty good. But after all the hype and waiting, I expected something truly amazing, and---for me at least---my high expectations have not been met.
What does the Ikenvape RY4 taste like? Well, surprisingly enough---to my palate at least---the flavor is almost identical to the Madvapes "China Liquid" (Dekang) RY4 in the 50ml bottle that's been steeping since I bought it back in November, 2010. Throat hit has slightly more impact with the Madvapes RY4, but that's because it's 24mg rather than the IKV's 18mg. Otherwise, I can't tell a substantive difference. Both are not too sweet, with more tobacco-like presence than many of the other RY4s I listed. Also, both have singular flavor, meaning well-blended. I can't pick out the vanilla or caramel or any other flavor as separate nuances.
But wait, isn't the Madvapes DK version the reformulated RY4? Well, I certainly thought so, but all I can honestly report is that to my taste buds the flavor is almost exactly the same as the new/old IKV RY4.
All in all, Ikenvape's "original" RY4 is pretty good stuff---two and a half stars out of four, maybe even three stars if the PG version has more flavor than the VG I have---but it's not the return of the Avatar.
There you have it. All right, now everyone can chime in and tell me how wrong I am. LOL.
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I can now stop wondering what the heck this juice is supposed to be like and just enjoy it.
