Most of the reviews I see here are of what we might call gourmet e-juice: lovingly handcrafted liquids made to precise user specifications using top-notch ingredients and secret recipes. I have two big shipments of such juices on the way, but they won't be here for a month or so (imagine waiting for your vape mail that long, folks!)
So what I'm reviewing is the e-juice I can actually buy down here in South America, normally through individuals selling on the local equivalent of eBay. Besides unlabeled, unbranded toxic effluent hand bottled by unscrupulous folks (which I've had to throw out), I've been able to get Liqua, Joyetech and Dekang e-liquids. The Liqua review is here.
The juices I'm reviewing today appear to be Dekang. I say "appear" because they don't list the manufacturer or much of anything else on the label (white background, light blue horizontal bars at the top and bottom, generic picture of either red wine in glass or a field of green plants) -- they just a generic message saying "Please keep out of reach of children", etc. The flavor and nicotine strength are on separate clear plastic stickers. You can have a look at these bottles here, where they are indeed listed as Dekang.
Al the juices I'm reviewing here are 18 mg strength, of an unspecified PG/VG mix. These are what I've been vaping for the last month or so, using an eGo-V V2 at 4v and CE4+ clearos.
The scale I'm using goes from 1-5:
1. Nasty. The mere idea of vaping it turns me off.
2. Not nasty, but not particularly nice. Tolerable for short periods if necessary.
3. Okay.
4. Nice! Would recommend it.
5. Stunningly good.
MINT: 4/5
A very nice mint flavor with decent TH. Not like vaping fresh mint leaves, but I only know what those taste like because I have some growing in the yard -- no mint flavored food I've had has had that taste, either. This is more like top-notch mint-flavored something -- as good as you can expect. The vape is very cool and refreshing. It also mixes very well with other juices, especially cinnamon and fruits. Recommended!
SPEARMINT: 3/5
This juices smells nice out of the bottle, and vapes pleasantly enough, but it has a sickly sweetness to it. TH is moderate. Not cool and refreshing like Mint (above), and doesn't mix very well with other flavors.
HONEY: 2/5
I can't pin down the actual taste and smell of this juice, but it's not honey. It reminds me of some scratch-and-sniff sticker from my childhood, but I can't recall which. Smell is fickle like that. It's not unpleasant, but it's a little too artificial, and a lot too sweet. TH is weak, vapor is fine. Doesn't mix well with anything I've tried so far (fruits). Not worth it!
CREAM: 4/5
I bought this on a lark, to see if I liked it. It tastes like extremely rich farm-made butter! So much so that I can't help but think it's secretly depositing fat around my midsection by some as-yet undetermined mechanism.
At first the taste was just too much for me. It was real, it was authentic, it was intense, and... it was butter. I often thought This is just a little too much like vaping actual food as I puffed away on it, and at first I could only deal with it for short periods. Then I decided to mix it 1:2 with Peanut Butter (below) and I fell in love.
The throat hit and vapor of Cream are both very solid. I can only imagine it would mix very well with baked goods. If you like this kind of flavor, I recommend it.
PEANUT BUTTER: 5/5
The idea of vaping peanut butter did not excite me. In fact, it seemed a bit weird. But since I have limited access to e-juice I tend to try stuff I wouldn't otherwise go for. So I tried Dekang Peanut Butter, and boy am I glad I did! Good TH and vapor production, and the taste is phenomenal! This juice cause my first (and so far only) vapegasm. After inhaling it into my mouth I slowly let it out through my nose, savoring the first moment the PB taste lights up my dopamine receptors. Delicious!
APPLE: 4/5
A good, solid apple vape. Good TH and vapor. Smells like green apple-flavored stuff, and tastes like it too. You won't confuse it with something that achieves the taste of a real, fresh green apple, but then again, supermarket apples rarely pull that off these days, either. A favorite.
BANANA: 3/5
This juice has a nice banana smell, but the taste is quite weak. After a few hits it sort of mutates into generic yellow fruity sweetness, rather than banana. It's pleasant, but disappointing. An extra flavor shot or two would be in order, but Dekang doesn't do that. TH is a bit weak, too.
BLUEBERRY: 2/5
This e-juice is pleasant, but not in a very blueberry way. The smell is kind of non-red berry-like, and the taste is sort of non-red berry-like, too, but it's even more muted than the smell. I want to like it, but it just disappoints. After a short while, it's hard to tell what it's supposed to be, to be honest. I always end up adding mint to it so it has some oomph. Not bad, but not worth it. Weakish TH, too.
PINEAPPLE: 3/5
A decent pineapple vape with good TH. You won't confuse it with the real thing, or even with top-notch artificial pineapple flavored candy, but it's nice enough on its own terms, and you'll always know what it's supposed to be (unlike blueberry, above). After a while it gets to be a bit too sickly sweet for me, though. Mixed with banana it rocks!
LEMON: 1/5
Very, very artificial -- somewhere between cheap candy and furniture polish. I have not touched this one after the initial test, and don't plan to unless it's the very last e-juice I've got left and the only alternative is an analog.
ENERGY COW: 3.5/5
A real surprise! Tastes just like it should -- like Red Bull. It's sweet but tangy, and has good TH. If you like RB, you'll like EC. If you don't (and I don't drink the stuff), you may still like it.
RUM: 1/5
CHAMPAGNE: 1/5
I put these two together because I can't for the life of me distinguish them. They look exactly the same, and they taste the same, too. Their intense artificial red color does not inspire trust. The TH is weak on both, and the flavor --which has not a hint of either rum or champagne-- is like melted red candies of some sort. Avoid!
CINNAMON: 5/5
Woah! This stuff rocks! Intense flavor and TH, good vapor. It's a bit too intense for me after a short while, but I love it every time I vape it. It works VERY well in a 1:1:4 mix of Cinnamon:Mint:<Fruit Liq I need to use up>. It hasn't harmed my clearos at all so far, to my surprise.
SUMMARY
Dekang is cheap Chinese liquid, for sure, but it beats the pants off Liqua and its allegedly Italian flavors. All in all, Dekang make decent quality liquids at a very good price. A couple are excellent, but they're exceptions. And a couple are pretty crappy to my palate, but they're also exceptions. These aren't gourmet e-juice, and I'd be surprised if anyone confused these flavors with the real thing, but they're worthwhile if you can't get or can't afford top-notch ones.
So what I'm reviewing is the e-juice I can actually buy down here in South America, normally through individuals selling on the local equivalent of eBay. Besides unlabeled, unbranded toxic effluent hand bottled by unscrupulous folks (which I've had to throw out), I've been able to get Liqua, Joyetech and Dekang e-liquids. The Liqua review is here.
The juices I'm reviewing today appear to be Dekang. I say "appear" because they don't list the manufacturer or much of anything else on the label (white background, light blue horizontal bars at the top and bottom, generic picture of either red wine in glass or a field of green plants) -- they just a generic message saying "Please keep out of reach of children", etc. The flavor and nicotine strength are on separate clear plastic stickers. You can have a look at these bottles here, where they are indeed listed as Dekang.
Al the juices I'm reviewing here are 18 mg strength, of an unspecified PG/VG mix. These are what I've been vaping for the last month or so, using an eGo-V V2 at 4v and CE4+ clearos.
The scale I'm using goes from 1-5:
1. Nasty. The mere idea of vaping it turns me off.
2. Not nasty, but not particularly nice. Tolerable for short periods if necessary.
3. Okay.
4. Nice! Would recommend it.
5. Stunningly good.
MINT: 4/5
A very nice mint flavor with decent TH. Not like vaping fresh mint leaves, but I only know what those taste like because I have some growing in the yard -- no mint flavored food I've had has had that taste, either. This is more like top-notch mint-flavored something -- as good as you can expect. The vape is very cool and refreshing. It also mixes very well with other juices, especially cinnamon and fruits. Recommended!
SPEARMINT: 3/5
This juices smells nice out of the bottle, and vapes pleasantly enough, but it has a sickly sweetness to it. TH is moderate. Not cool and refreshing like Mint (above), and doesn't mix very well with other flavors.
HONEY: 2/5
I can't pin down the actual taste and smell of this juice, but it's not honey. It reminds me of some scratch-and-sniff sticker from my childhood, but I can't recall which. Smell is fickle like that. It's not unpleasant, but it's a little too artificial, and a lot too sweet. TH is weak, vapor is fine. Doesn't mix well with anything I've tried so far (fruits). Not worth it!
CREAM: 4/5
I bought this on a lark, to see if I liked it. It tastes like extremely rich farm-made butter! So much so that I can't help but think it's secretly depositing fat around my midsection by some as-yet undetermined mechanism.
At first the taste was just too much for me. It was real, it was authentic, it was intense, and... it was butter. I often thought This is just a little too much like vaping actual food as I puffed away on it, and at first I could only deal with it for short periods. Then I decided to mix it 1:2 with Peanut Butter (below) and I fell in love.
The throat hit and vapor of Cream are both very solid. I can only imagine it would mix very well with baked goods. If you like this kind of flavor, I recommend it.
PEANUT BUTTER: 5/5
The idea of vaping peanut butter did not excite me. In fact, it seemed a bit weird. But since I have limited access to e-juice I tend to try stuff I wouldn't otherwise go for. So I tried Dekang Peanut Butter, and boy am I glad I did! Good TH and vapor production, and the taste is phenomenal! This juice cause my first (and so far only) vapegasm. After inhaling it into my mouth I slowly let it out through my nose, savoring the first moment the PB taste lights up my dopamine receptors. Delicious!
APPLE: 4/5
A good, solid apple vape. Good TH and vapor. Smells like green apple-flavored stuff, and tastes like it too. You won't confuse it with something that achieves the taste of a real, fresh green apple, but then again, supermarket apples rarely pull that off these days, either. A favorite.
BANANA: 3/5
This juice has a nice banana smell, but the taste is quite weak. After a few hits it sort of mutates into generic yellow fruity sweetness, rather than banana. It's pleasant, but disappointing. An extra flavor shot or two would be in order, but Dekang doesn't do that. TH is a bit weak, too.
BLUEBERRY: 2/5
This e-juice is pleasant, but not in a very blueberry way. The smell is kind of non-red berry-like, and the taste is sort of non-red berry-like, too, but it's even more muted than the smell. I want to like it, but it just disappoints. After a short while, it's hard to tell what it's supposed to be, to be honest. I always end up adding mint to it so it has some oomph. Not bad, but not worth it. Weakish TH, too.
PINEAPPLE: 3/5
A decent pineapple vape with good TH. You won't confuse it with the real thing, or even with top-notch artificial pineapple flavored candy, but it's nice enough on its own terms, and you'll always know what it's supposed to be (unlike blueberry, above). After a while it gets to be a bit too sickly sweet for me, though. Mixed with banana it rocks!
LEMON: 1/5
Very, very artificial -- somewhere between cheap candy and furniture polish. I have not touched this one after the initial test, and don't plan to unless it's the very last e-juice I've got left and the only alternative is an analog.
ENERGY COW: 3.5/5
A real surprise! Tastes just like it should -- like Red Bull. It's sweet but tangy, and has good TH. If you like RB, you'll like EC. If you don't (and I don't drink the stuff), you may still like it.
RUM: 1/5
CHAMPAGNE: 1/5
I put these two together because I can't for the life of me distinguish them. They look exactly the same, and they taste the same, too. Their intense artificial red color does not inspire trust. The TH is weak on both, and the flavor --which has not a hint of either rum or champagne-- is like melted red candies of some sort. Avoid!
CINNAMON: 5/5
Woah! This stuff rocks! Intense flavor and TH, good vapor. It's a bit too intense for me after a short while, but I love it every time I vape it. It works VERY well in a 1:1:4 mix of Cinnamon:Mint:<Fruit Liq I need to use up>. It hasn't harmed my clearos at all so far, to my surprise.
SUMMARY
Dekang is cheap Chinese liquid, for sure, but it beats the pants off Liqua and its allegedly Italian flavors. All in all, Dekang make decent quality liquids at a very good price. A couple are excellent, but they're exceptions. And a couple are pretty crappy to my palate, but they're also exceptions. These aren't gourmet e-juice, and I'd be surprised if anyone confused these flavors with the real thing, but they're worthwhile if you can't get or can't afford top-notch ones.
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