Koko Bear from Grizzly Vapes (Max VG)

[firephly]

KokoBear by Grizzly Vapes

This is Koko Bear from the Grizzly Vapes collection which also includes Nanner Bear and a menthol version called Polar Bear. Koko Bear is the cocoa version of Nanner Bear.

Here is a little info on the "3 bears":

"First, a little about Grizzly Vapes. This is not a mix to order juice, it's not flavors in a bottle with nic and PG/VG. This is a crafted juice. It goes through a multistage process when it's crafted which stabilizes the liquid so it has unheard of shelf stability and is "pre-steeped" right out of the bottle. There's no need to let anything from the Grizzly line sit, 'age', 'steep' or whatever the kids are callin it these days. This is a MAX VG liquid. There is some PG in there, but only a little."

This juice is one of the best things I have ever tried and I have rapidly gone through 15ml and haven't gotten tired of it yet and am sure I never will. I haven't tried the other bears yet but I think I will soon based on the great experience I have had with Koko Bear.
Koko Bear is a complex mix of flavors that complement each other perfectly. It is a combination of a tobacco back note with a cocoa powder (not a sweet chocolate, but a dry cocoa) and a bit of banana and coconut and maybe vanilla which adds a creaminess. This is all infused with an earthy herbal quality which is just so perfect. It has a slightly cool exhale. It has some sweetness but is not what I'd classify as a dessert or a tobacco vape either. It has a bit of a graham cracker or banana bread or something similar to it, it's almost like something you could imagine eating, but it's not a bakery vape either. This juice is a rich and complex blend and is one of the few things I can vape daily or all day without getting tired of.

For a more sophisticated review see the review of Nanner Bear on this page, and imagine that same flavor with some cocoa added and you have Koko Bear:
Vapor Rater

Even though I like to vape mainly fruits and even florals sometimes, (and think of Free State's Jasmine or Virgin Vapors Bed of Roses as the kind of thing for a fragrant relaxing bubblebath), conversely I love this Koko Bear, it's like the woodsy huntsman of vapes, lol, or something for a meditative sit by the fire with a good book.

 

[bbb]

very nice review, thanks ... I've been vaping Koko Bear for a few weeks now and I'll 2nd your recommendation

my palette is damaged from long time smoking but I do taste the cocoa and sometimes the other nuances, it is a complex juice but the flavors meld very well ... nothing strong enough to definitively classify as a tobacco, dessert or bakery vape, imho ... but just enough of all those things to make for a pleasing evening vape, for me ... kind of a "heavy" taste and I mean that positively, similar to other popular all vg juices

 

[firephly]

I figured The Bears are so great someone needs to review them!

 

[lasttango]

I love these juices. Vaping "dirty bear" now… which is koko+polar ;-)

Good flavor but not too strong.

 

[lasttango]

…and I have acquired 5 more bottles since this pic was taken

Good news… the bears are not all that different - just variations of the original…

I am partial to polar, but I vape all three.

I truly think this is the best juice I have vaped since BWB's RY4.

Performance is killer.

I did try adding a little PG to it for my carto tank set up and it worked well.

 

[firephly]

…and I have acquired 5 more bottles since this pic was taken

Good news… the bears are not all that different - just variations of the original…

I am partial to polar, but I vape all three.

I truly think this is the best juice I have vaped since BWB's RY4.

Performance is killer.

I did try adding a little PG to it for my carto tank set up and it worked well.

I love that it's mainly VG, that is my preference, I use a protank and have had no issues with wicking.
I think you are one of the first who suggested the bears to me, thank you! That's quite a set of bears you have there, are you afraid they'll stop making them? lol

The guy who makes the juice is here http://www.reddit.com/user/Lolerwaffles/submitted/
I've been stalking him on reddit, lol, he says he's working on a new juice, I am so curious to see what it will be! He's actually a chemist who has worked in food science, that explains a lot.

Someone asked if he'd make a custard, he said "No custards, I don't trust the ingredient I would have to use. There is a tiny chance that they might have diacetyl in them. IMO it such a small chance I don't see an issue. I just don't want room for questioning the safety for my juice so I don't use it."

I think that's pretty cool, I trust this guy

 

[lasttango]

Thanks for the link! I wanna meet the chef!

 

[firephly]

very nice review, thanks ... I've been vaping Koko Bear for a few weeks now and I'll 2nd your recommendation

my palette is damaged from long time smoking but I do taste the cocoa and sometimes the other nuances, it is a complex juice but the flavors meld very well ... nothing strong enough to definitively classify as a tobacco, dessert or bakery vape, imho ... but just enough of all those things to make for a pleasing evening vape, for me ... kind of a "heavy" taste and I mean that positively, similar to other popular all vg juices

I've been reading on here a lot, and honestly never heard of anyone not liking the bear juices.
Sometimes I wonder if my palette will change much, I've been mainly smoke free for 3 months now after 33 years of smoking.

 

[lasttango]

I wouldn't recommend this juice to everyone ;-) Lots of folks out there want to vape candy bars and cupcakes and slushies…

I urged a friend here to buy these thinking he'd love them and he didn't…

I think this juice is great for people who like juices from places like bwb… or nets… or typically prefer tobacco juices but want to try something a little more flavorful… not for people who have fetishes for flavors.

I will make this claim… with the exception of a straight up boring menthol, this is one of two juices I have found in 4 years that I never feel I need a break from.

 

[firephly]

I wouldn't recommend this juice to everyone ;-) Lots of folks out there want to vape candy bars and cupcakes and slushies…

I urged a friend here to buy these thinking he'd love them and he didn't…

I think this juice is great for people who like juices from places like bwb… or nets… or typically prefer tobacco juices but want to try something a little more flavorful… not for people who have fetishes for flavors.

I will make this claim… with the exception of a straight up boring menthol, this is one of two juices I have found in 4 years that I never feel I need a break from.

You never know! I generally prefer fruits and especially coconut (sometimes I add some coconut to Koko Bear if I am in the mood to make it a little creamier. It is really nice with it, I think there's a bit already in there too). I have been afraid to try much tobacco since I've been disappointed by most, and I don't really want tobacco that often, and rarely want menthol although I love mint, but occasionally I add a bit of tobacco to Koko Bear too if I want to make it less sweet. But normally I mainly like clean fresh natural tasting fruity stuff and creamy stuff that isn't too sweet. I'm not too big on super sweet and bakery flavors though. Bakery stuff has a weird murky taste to me from what I've tried. I love earthy flavors and herbal notes too, and a complex smooth flavor like this that sort of changes a little each time you vape it. It's just so smooth and it isn't too much of anything, isn't too strong, or too sweet, or too tobacco, or sickening in any way at all.

I wonder what tobacco he uses in this, a reviewer said maybe piroque. I just looked up pioque, I guess it is used in American Spirit's which were my cig of choice.

 

[bbb]

I think this juice is great for people who like juices from places like bwb… or nets… or typically prefer tobacco juices but want to try something a little more flavorful… not for people who have fetishes for flavors.

you nailed my past preferences lasttango, I vaped nothing but nets for about a year ... my tastes have changed over the years and like you, I've been vaping about 4 yrs now, after smoking for 40 ... but nets were too hard on my hardware so I've gone back to hybrids and lab juices ... there are plenty of synthetics out there, like the Bear, that still scratch the itch and taste good too

 

[firephly]

Someone asked me what the throat hit is like on this, I don't know what to say as I don't really understand what throat hit is exactly, I've read that it's a thump in the back of the throat but I guess I haven't noticed that necessarily with any juice I've ever tried...

 

[lasttango]

I think the throat hit is killer… and I typically vape strong menthol - This juice has presence… big thick clouds…. full mouth feel (whatever I mean by that) and it whacks my throat nicely… not in a painful way, but kind of like a cigarette used to.

I love earthy flavors and herbal notes too, and a complex smooth flavor like this that sort of changes a little each time you vape it. It's just so smooth and it isn't too much of anything, isn't too strong, or too sweet, or too tobacco, or sickening in any way at all.

I like that - I get this…

…and my net comment… I actually dislike nets strongly… but I do think net vapers tend to appreciate complexity… and herbal/earthy tones as opposed to candy bar tones… so I guess that's why I came up with that.

I am still a pipe smoker and perique is one of my favs… Typcally it's used as a high note in pipe tobaccos… not usually as a straight or main chord in the mixture…

So, I see why the reviewer guessed perique… because the earthy tone of the grizzlys is where you get the very slight hint of sweetness and the earthy tone is in the higher notes…

(totally my opinion here, so if I sound like I know what I am talking about, just remember that I am only trying to make sense of the vape)

I don't taste perique at all… in fact, I don't really taste tobacco… but I sense something like it in the base…
and this tone does behave almost like a perique tobacco might in a virginia/cavendish type of pipe tobacco mixture… by behave I mean that the slightly sweet earthy high note leads the inhale and chases the exhale…

apologies for the confounding pretentious talk ;-)


yeah, it's just e-liquid I know ;-)

 

[bbb]

you're still a pipe smoker but dislike nets ? ... well yeah, I can appreciate a good tobacco in a pipe more than a vape ... if not for the hazards, I'd still be smoking a pipe too ... as for appreciating complexity, I guess I do

I'm waiting on Black Cavendish and Bombay, 2 pipe tobacco juices from net.com and H1N1 so I still use both nets and lab juices

I think you're right on the money re: the tobacco base background in Bear, there isn't much tobacco presence ... and it doesn't have the grassy taste of too much absolute, so maybe it's extract ?

if anyone wants to try a great herbal/earthy tone vape, try want2vape Cold Infusion, (now called CI) a Drew Estates cigar vape made with the real thing

 

[firephly]

I think the throat hit is killer… and I typically vape strong menthol - This juice has presence… big thick clouds…. full mouth feel (whatever I mean by that) and it whacks my throat nicely… not in a painful way, but kind of like a cigarette used to.



I like that - I get this…

…and my net comment… I actually dislike nets strongly… but I do think net vapers tend to appreciate complexity… and herbal/earthy tones as opposed to candy bar tones… so I guess that's why I came up with that.

I am still a pipe smoker and perique is one of my favs… Typcally it's used as a high note in pipe tobaccos… not usually as a straight or main chord in the mixture…

So, I see why the reviewer guessed perique… because the earthy tone of the grizzlys is where you get the very slight hint of sweetness and the earthy tone is in the higher notes…

(totally my opinion here, so if I sound like I know what I am talking about, just remember that I am only trying to make sense of the vape)

I don't taste perique at all… in fact, I don't really taste tobacco… but I sense something like it in the base…
and this tone does behave almost like a perique tobacco might in a virginia/cavendish type of pipe tobacco mixture… by behave I mean that the slightly sweet earthy high note leads the inhale and chases the exhale…

apologies for the confounding pretentious talk ;-)


yeah, it's just e-liquid I know ;-)

Lol, yeah it's just e liquid, but when it comes to finding an alternative for smoking it becomes very important! It took me so long it seems like to start finding things that were really satisfying to me for longer than an hour at a time. I understand the "full mouth feel" idea completely, I think that is more important for me than throat hit, just that feel of smooth heavy full creamy vapor is really satisfying. I think a complex flavor really helps to keep vaping interesting and keep me off cigs.

I taste a tobacco note in there but it's just kind of an underlying earthiness or a base flavor that balances the sweetness of the coconut, vanilla, banana part. I wonder if there is some kind of herb in there too adding to the earthy flavor.
I don't know enough about tobacco flavors to even guess what kind he uses, it might be a couple of different ones.

 

[lasttango]

you're still a pipe smoker but dislike nets ? ...

LOL…

Yeah… all nets, no matter how good they are taste a little like wet socks to me… or something decaying… I can't appreciate the tobacco unless it's burning.

I keep trying them anyway.

I guess that's why I like the lab juices best… I like fresh e-liquid… the more it steeps, the more I dislike it.

My brain is wired where I view vaping more like a perishable food than a tobacco - all this aging and steeping in oak barrels stuff does nothing for me.

 

[firephly]

Have you tried Good Life Vapor's El Kamino? I just saw a review that made it sound a little like Koko bear.

 

[lasttango]

Have you tried Good Life Vapor's El Kamino?

Good juice, but nothing new or different - very much like dorky stud, bounty hunter etc… I gave mine to a friend… just too sweet for me.

Koko Bear nanner and polar are game changers… and they are all the same juice… just slight tweaks… koko isn't so chocolately… just a hint of cocoa really. Polar is the most different just because of the menthol… let me think for a bit - It's not easy coming up with anything quite like the bears…


Firephly, what mg do you vape?

 

[firephly]

Good juice, but nothing new or different - very much like dorky stud, bounty hunter etc… I gave mine to a friend… just too sweet for me.

Koko Bear nanner and polar are game changers… and they are all the same juice… just slight tweaks… koko isn't so chocolately… just a hint of cocoa really. Polar is the most different just because of the menthol… let me think for a bit - It's not easy coming up with anything quite like the bears…


Firephly, what mg do you vape?

Generally 18mg. I tried 24mg and that was too much. Lately I have been buying more in lower like 12 for day time and 6 for night time because I find that when I chain vape at night (when I do most of my vaping) the higher mg keeps me up at night and I'm an insomniac kind of anyway, lol

what do you vape?

 

[firephly]

The new line is out! It includes a tobacco and 3 other flavors
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...imple-edition-grizzly-vapes.html#post11828451