"Tesseract's Big Damn TVC Round-Up." 10 from The Vapor Chef - Reviewed out-of-the-mail, and after 2 weeks. Updated frequently.

[Tesseract]

This review will be annotated as necessary, but here's the gist:
Flavors reviewed:

• Beeblebrox - 18mg - 50/50
• Black Pompon - 18mg - 50/50
• Deep Thought - 18mg - 50/50
• Frosty Cranberry - 18mg - 50/50
• Frosty Peach - 18mg - 50/50
• Hobbes' Blood - 18mg - 50/50
• Honey Perry - 18mg - 50/50
• PB Nomnoms - 18mg - 50/50
• Peppermint Pattie - 18mg - 50/50
• Unicorn Poop - 18mg - 50/50

All flavors mixed 12/7/2013
I am sampling these as I go, not all at once. My thinking is that time between each tasting will give a more unbiased reaction, as one flavor will not be judged in contrast to the previous one, thus allowing a more objective assessment.
The review will have two phases.
Phase 1. No steeping - from Mailbox to innokin iClear 30B. Package received today, 12/12/2013
Phase 2. Two Weeks steeping - 12/26.
I'm (trying) not reading the ingredients from TVC's page, to avoid coloring my opinion to conform with what's used.
Scoring: Scale from 1 - 10.

• 4 and below, don't waste your time,
• 5 being average in every way,
• 7 being noteworthy, something one can be fairly sure will make an impression,
• 8.5 being exceptional, a vape I can recommend with total confidence,
• 9.5 being amongst the best e-juice ever tasted, very rarely come across, an absolute must-vape,
• 10 being legendary, and thus unlikely to ever be awarded.

The story thus far. . .
Unicorn Poop - Who knew equine fantasy scat would be so delectable? It's uncanny how well TVC is able to nail down flavor mixes with abstract names, and they work.

• Taste: Watermelon à la pink Starburst. A bit of citrus. Keep vaping this one to pinpoint the taste, and one word stands out: Floral. As in, roses. This is not-unlike taking a nice whiff of a rose. It also has a small lime flavored citrus kick at the end. Just enough to be noticeable and top-off the flavor medley. So, as of now, I'm settling on Watermelon-rose-with a small Lime citrus kick at the end. None seems to outweigh the others, and I get the sense the whole is much greater than the sum of its parts.
• Thoughts: The taste is restrained and subtle. One thing I've noticed about TVC is he doesn't bash one over the head with a flavor. It's more subtle and nuanced, but definitely there. I dig it.
• Conclusion: So, out of the box, I really enjoy this vape. It's light, pleasant, and damned if it doesn't remind me of rainbows, butterflies, lollipops, bright sunshine, and such. For those who've played Diablo III, just think of 'the cow level.'

SCORE: 8
Stay tuned, More To Come. . .

To follow this review on my e-cig forum blog for a more concise read, click HERE

 

[Tesseract]

PB Nomnoms​

Out-of-the-box, no steeping.

Taste: Do you like pecan sandies? Sure, there's no pecan, but this is the first impression I get from vaping. PB? Check. Vanilla? Check. Brown Sugar? Not so much, and this is no doubt due to the lack of steeping. The PB is initially hinted at and smooth, but it is the after-taste which delivers a full essence of PB. Vanilla seems to be present throughout. Perhaps the smallest titch of brown sugar, but it's something I have to concentrate on to taste, so again, not so much. However, this pre-steeping commentary seems premature as this one promises to deliver once it gets a couple of weeks under its belt.

Thoughts: I really wish this one was 2 wks old already! I've a fetish for good vanilla and brown sugar. Can't wait for this one to steep. As for now, don't expect to be knocked over out-of-the-box. The flavor is there, but I just get the sense it's premature to review this one now.

Conclusion: So, out of the box, it's nice, but a tease. I can tell the best is yet to come.

Queue Tom Petty's "The Waiting is the Hardest Part".

SCORE: I'm with-holding a score, because this one needs steeping. Perhaps the above can shed some light on it, but rest assured, we'll be revisiting this one.


Stay tuned, More To Come. . .

( To follow this review on my e-cig forum blog for a more concise read, click HERE)

 

[LisaR]

I'm looking forward to the rest of your reviews!

 

[SchmidtyKy]

I just got 6 samples from Vapor Chef in the mail today. Took the caps off the bottles to let them sit over night (6ml bottles). But I just had to try the Honey Pearry. I'm enjoying it, but looking forward to your review. I did the same thing with my first sample pack from Alice in Vapeland and with an order I placed with Giant Vapes who sent me a bunch of Derp Sauce. It's so much fun.

 

[Tesseract]

12/14/2013

Black Pompom - Wow. Reportedly this one needs steeping but even out of the mail, very nice.

Taste: I never really had a hankering towards pomegranate, and little knowledge of currant, but always liked lemon. The presence of pomegranate and currant is very upfront. Many flavors take a moment for the bouquet to unfold and present, but this one couldn't be further from that. I prefer this sort of vape, rather than waiting around for the taste to appear. Within an instant of inhaling, the taste reminds me of blue raspberry blow-pops. However, there is no sour taste at all, and the flavor is not artificial tasting and overly saccharine. It's more akin to a 100% fruit drink, but without the parch on aftertaste. I suspect this is remedied by the lemon. Closing out the vape is a nice, subdued hint of lemon. On point of interest is that the pomegranate/currant and lime are not mixed, rather separated by what I'll arbitrarily call 85% promegranate/currant followed by 15% lemon. Nice thing about the lemon as it serves as a pleasant palate cleanser. I have very high hopes once this one has had time to steep.

Thoughts: This is where TVC excels. Everyone makes mint chocolate, or RY4, or strawberry, and so on. The culinary artistry involved in blending currant, pomegranate, and lime shows the spark of creativity and knowledge of constructing unique flavor presentations. So glad I took the plunge on this one. The nice thing is I don't get flavor-burn out, and this one is pleasurable from the first vape to the last vape.

Conclusion: Out-of-the-box, this one is already in my Top 5.

SCORE: 7.5 -But, to those who enjoy fruit flavored vapes like i do, a solid 8.5, and don't miss out on this one

12/15/2013

Peppermint Pattie - This one was a bit of a surprise, as in 'I'm surprised it isn't better.'

Taste: Right-out-of-the-box, this one has a pleasant mint taste, and rather than being like peppermind candy, it is definitely derived from mint leaves, and this makes for a much more restrained and more complex 'minty' taste. However, the chocolate taste is disconcertingly weak and nondescript. In my experience, chocolate vapes take a lot of steeping to come into their own, which was definitely the case for me with HighBrow Vapor's Dark Chocolate Mint.

That's all that can really be said about this flavor. It's chocolate, and it's mint. This being the case, the flavor hinges on the quality of the chocolate and mint, and is where, as they say, the rubber meets the road.

Thoughts: How to state this one right, to strike the right balance? I wasn't like this, but I wasn't like this, either. A mixed bag, indeed. The mint is amongst the finest I've tasted, period. Better than the mint in the aforementioned HBV's Dark Chocolate Mint, and light-years better than any average mint flavor. But, the presence of chocolate is beaten down by the already relatively subtle mint. In fact, I can't really gauge the chocolate on its merits, because there's a presence to it, just enough to say it's present, but it's like trying to spot a dwarf in a mob of vikings.

Conclusion: I'm holding on to hope that the chocolate will mature with steeping. It has a ways to go. The only reason the score isn't lower is because the mint flavor pulls the score up significantly. Without the mint, TVC's peppermint pattie'd be like Peanuts' Peppermint Patty, and receive a D- grade on this test. If you like a very good peppermint flavor, then this is your bag, baby. If you want a chocolate mint flavor, like biting into a York Peppermint Patty, you may be better off looking elsewhere.

SCORE: 5.5 - not steeped; mint flavor is excellent, but the chocolate flavor is very weak and nondescript and destroys the overall quality of this flavor. If, and this is quite an if, the chocolate turns out to match the mint flavors' quality, it will be a huge game changer. We shall see in a couple of weeks.

Stay tuned, More To Come. . .