The Really Big RY4 Roundup (long)

[billherbst]

On Target, Haze is Mom & Pop Vapor shop's best seller. It is unique. I get a nutty cookie tobacco out of it. If you do order it, give it about five days steeping. It will get a reddish tint when it is ready.

I got out my 15ml bottle of tobacco Haze that's been "resting" in my juice cabinet for the past year. "Resting" is a polite way of saying that---for one reason or another---Haze never won me over, and I haven't vape it for a long time.

Mine never turned red. It achieved a lovely deep amber orange, but no reddish tint that I can discern.

I'm always interested to revisit juices that didn't thrill me initially. Will I remember why I didn't like them? Usually, the answer is yes, immediately---after a single toke. ("Oh, there it is, that flavor I didn't like.") Other times, the original reason is lost, having vanished into the "haze," so to speak, but I still don't like the juices. ("I don't know what's in this, but I still don't like it much."). On rare occasions, I'm pleasantly surprised.

Tobacco Haze falls between the second and third categories. Knowing that it's a favorite of our friend and colleague, thehangdude, does perhaps prejudice me a bit (I'm human and socialized, after all), but I'm not concerned with "objectivity" here, just pleasure. My first reaction is that Tobacco Haze is a good, well-made juice, meaning no obvious off-tastes or weird flavors to distort the flavor profile. After that, I keep vaping, waiting for my emotions to chime in and let me know thumbs up or thumbs down in terms of liking it or not. The problem is that my emotions are remaining silent as I vape Tobacco Haze. They don't say, "No, we don't like this," but neither do they say, "Yes, we like this,". They just murmur, "Hmmm, what is this?"

Hangdude writes that the flavor is nutty cookie tobacco. I don't quite get that out of it. Tobacco? yes, definitely. Nutty? yes, somewhat---not like a 555, but I do pick up a slight nuttiness. Cookie? No. Not to my palate. That sounds really good, though, so I think I'll add pour some of my 15ml bottle into a 3ml bottle and add a couple drops of stevia to that, just to see what happens.

OK, I'm back. I syringed out the Tobacco Haze liquid from my CE3 bottom-coil clearo and returned it to the 15ml bottle. Then I filled a 3ml bottle with Haze and added 4 drops of concentrated pure liquid Stevia (Kal brand, my standard sweetener). I have to be careful with Stevia. Too much---more than about two drops per ml of juice---deadens the flavor and can even make the juice taste bitter. But 1.3 drops/ml should be fine, and not overly sweet. I shook the 3ml bottle like crazy (which created micro-bubbles that made the juice cloudy and turned the deep orange color to bright orange). Then I re-filled the CE3 and gave it a go.

Hey, better! At least that's what my emotions are saying now. Adding a little stevia didn't change the overall flavor profile, just added a bit of sweetness. It's still not exactly cookie-like (Alt Cig is the grand champ of cookie juices in my book), but thehangdude was probably just looking for an easy single-word descriptor. I mean, it's not supposed to be a cookie juice.

I'll report back in later, after a couple days, to let folks know if my alteration "took." Lord knows, I've ruined enough juices in my day, but I've improved some, too. Time will tell on this one.

 

[ogredog]

I got out my 15ml bottle of Tobacco Haze that's been "resting" in my juice cabinet for the past year. "Resting" is a polite way of saying that---for one reason or another---Haze never won me over, and I haven't vape it for a long time.

Mine never turned red. It achieved a lovely deep amber orange, but no reddish tint that I can discern.

I'm always interested to revisit juices that didn't thrill me initially. Will I remember why I didn't like them? Usually, the answer is yes, immediately---after a single toke. ("Oh, there it is, that flavor I didn't like.") Other times, the original reason is lost, having vanished into the "haze," so to speak, but I still don't like the juices. ("I don't know what's in this, but I still don't like it much."). On rare occasions, I'm pleasantly surprised.

Tobacco Haze falls between the second and third categories. Knowing that it's a favorite of our friend and colleague, thehangdude, does perhaps prejudice me a bit (I'm human and socialized, after all), but I'm not concerned with "objectivity" here, just pleasure. My first reaction is that Tobacco Haze is a good, well-made juice, meaning no obvious off-tastes or weird flavors to distort the flavor profile. After that, I keep vaping, waiting for my emotions to chime in and let me know thumbs up or thumbs down in terms of liking it or not. The problem is that my emotions are remaining silent as I vape Tobacco Haze. They don't say, "No, we don't like this," but neither do they say, "Yes, we like this,". They just murmur, "Hmmm, what is this?"

Hangdude writes that the flavor is nutty cookie tobacco. I don't quite get that out of it. Tobacco? yes, definitely. Nutty? yes, somewhat---not like a 555, but I do pick up a slight nuttiness. Cookie? No. Not to my palate. That sounds really good, though, so I think I'll add pour some of my 15ml bottle into a 3ml bottle and add a couple drops of stevia to that, just to see what happens.

OK, I'm back. I syringed out the Tobacco Haze liquid from my CE3 bottom-coil clearo and returned it to the 15ml bottle. Then I filled a 3ml bottle with Haze and added 4 drops of concentrated pure liquid Stevia (Kal brand, my standard sweetener). I have to be careful with Stevia. Too much---more than about two drops per ml of juice---deadens the flavor and can even make the juice taste bitter. But 1.3 drops/ml should be fine, and not overly sweet. I shook the 3ml bottle like crazy (which created micro-bubbles that made the juice cloudy and turned the deep orange color to bright orange). Then I re-filled the CE3 and gave it a go.

Hey, better! At least that's what my emotions are saying now. Adding a little stevia didn't change the overall flavor profile, just added a bit of sweetness. It's still not exactly cookie-like (Alt Cig is the grand champ of cookie juices in my book), but thehangdude was probably just looking for an easy single-word descriptor. I mean, it's not supposed to be a cookie juice.

I'll report back in later, after a couple days, to let folks know if my alteration "took." Lord knows, I've ruined enough juices in my day, but I've improved some, too. Time will tell on this one.

Hey I love haze too but cookie? No way lol if anybody orders it cuz of the cookie remark that's on you hang! Its a tobacco slap in the face all the way lol but hey were all different .....

 

[thehangdude]

I have been vaping Haze for a year, and I say it is a tobacco nut cookie!

I have heard it said that Haze tastes like popcorn. *sigh*

But since I am outvoted, and this is an Ry4 thread, I will say no more.

 

[scarf-ace]

I see where Hangdude gets cookie from. Haze has a faint "baked" sweetness on the end of it. Truthfully I'm not a huge Haze fan. But it isn't bad, and it is a little cookie-ish

But hey! Just got home and what should be awaiting me but my two FREE bottles of Halo!

Uncapping them as the card in the parcel instructs...they both smell SOOOOO GOOOOD. But I'm going to be good and give them the designated 24-48 hours.

....waiting....tick....tock...oh who am I kidding. I want to try them nownowNOW.

Tribeca is a pleasant hit of ethylmaltol and caramel, with a very mild tobacco base. Bella Valente is just weird and a bit "oily" which reminds me of the unfortunate aftertaste of KBV's liquids. I don't notice the "insecticide" flavour that some do, but something definitely ain't right yet.

Okay. Lesson learned. Putting them away for a few days. (They will continue to steep inside the carto, right?)

 

[ogredog]

Just messing around hd

 

[sandybeach]

I got out my 15ml bottle of Tobacco Haze that's been "resting" in my juice cabinet for the past year. "Resting" is a polite way of saying that---for one reason or another---Haze never won me over, and I haven't vape it for a long time.

Mine never turned red. It achieved a lovely deep amber orange, but no reddish tint that I can discern.

I'm always interested to revisit juices that didn't thrill me initially. Will I remember why I didn't like them? Usually, the answer is yes, immediately---after a single toke. ("Oh, there it is, that flavor I didn't like.") Other times, the original reason is lost, having vanished into the "haze," so to speak, but I still don't like the juices. ("I don't know what's in this, but I still don't like it much."). On rare occasions, I'm pleasantly surprised.

Tobacco Haze falls between the second and third categories. Knowing that it's a favorite of our friend and colleague, thehangdude, does perhaps prejudice me a bit (I'm human and socialized, after all), but I'm not concerned with "objectivity" here, just pleasure. My first reaction is that Tobacco Haze is a good, well-made juice, meaning no obvious off-tastes or weird flavors to distort the flavor profile. After that, I keep vaping, waiting for my emotions to chime in and let me know thumbs up or thumbs down in terms of liking it or not. The problem is that my emotions are remaining silent as I vape Tobacco Haze. They don't say, "No, we don't like this," but neither do they say, "Yes, we like this,". They just murmur, "Hmmm, what is this?"

Hangdude writes that the flavor is nutty cookie tobacco. I don't quite get that out of it. Tobacco? yes, definitely. Nutty? yes, somewhat---not like a 555, but I do pick up a slight nuttiness. Cookie? No. Not to my palate. That sounds really good, though, so I think I'll add pour some of my 15ml bottle into a 3ml bottle and add a couple drops of stevia to that, just to see what happens.

OK, I'm back. I syringed out the Tobacco Haze liquid from my CE3 bottom-coil clearo and returned it to the 15ml bottle. Then I filled a 3ml bottle with Haze and added 4 drops of concentrated pure liquid Stevia (Kal brand, my standard sweetener). I have to be careful with Stevia. Too much---more than about two drops per ml of juice---deadens the flavor and can even make the juice taste bitter. But 1.3 drops/ml should be fine, and not overly sweet. I shook the 3ml bottle like crazy (which created micro-bubbles that made the juice cloudy and turned the deep orange color to bright orange). Then I re-filled the CE3 and gave it a go.

Hey, better! At least that's what my emotions are saying now. Adding a little stevia didn't change the overall flavor profile, just added a bit of sweetness. It's still not exactly cookie-like (Alt Cig is the grand champ of cookie juices in my book), but thehangdude was probably just looking for an easy single-word descriptor. I mean, it's not supposed to be a cookie juice.

I'll report back in later, after a couple days, to let folks know if my alteration "took." Lord knows, I've ruined enough juices in my day, but I've improved some, too. Time will tell on this one.

You're socialized? Good to know

I worked at The NutraSweet Company for a few years until after Monsanto bought it, they lost their patent, and it pretty much faded away. Then I worked at another company that did chemical analysis of byproducts. One of the chemists told me that the gack from NutraSweet was even worse gack than the black liquor residue from paper mills. Since then, I have tried to stay as far away from artificial sweeteners as I can.

Just curious if you can use any type of sweetener when mixing juices that is more natural. I know Stevia is from a leaf, but I don't really know how it's processed.
With Stevia, I am not thrilled with the licorice taste.

 

[billherbst]

You're socialized? Good to know

Well, within reason, anyway. I mean, I'm not sociopathic.

I worked at The NutraSweet Company for a few years until after Monsanto bought it, they lost their patent, and it pretty much faded away. Then I worked at another company that did chemical analysis of byproducts. One of the chemists told me that the gack from NutraSweet was even worse gack than the black liquor residue from paper mills. Since then, I have tried to stay as far away from artificial sweeteners as I can.

Yes, both Aspartame (Nutrasweet) and Sucralose (Spenda) are controversial. As to how toxic they are, that depends on where one stands on the bell curve of foodism and culture. If you eat at Mickey D's twice a day, you're likely to feel that artificial sweeteners are fine (along with GMO foods and small amounts of radiation). If you're on the other end of the scale, where you eat only raw food---organic nuts, seeds, wild berries, etc.---and feel that western allopathic/pharma medicine is bogus, then artificial sweeteners are poison and guaranteed to cause brain tumors.

Just curious if you can use any type of sweetener when mixing juices that is more natural. I know Stevia is from a leaf, but I don't really know how it's processed. With Stevia, I am not thrilled with the licorice taste.

As far as I know, Aspartame is not used in elquids, but Sucralose is. I don't know about liquid saccharine. The most common sweetener in vaping juices seems to be ethyl maltol, but I don't know whether that's considered artificial or natural.

No sweetener is completely neutral---each imparts its own particular (and sometimes tell-tale) flavor. All the chemical non-naturals---acesulfame K, aspartame, neotame, saccharin, and sucralose---fall short of the relative neutrality of table sugar (meaning sucrose, in all its various incarnations). But natural sweeteners also impart their own flavors, which are sometimes subtle but often strong and distinct---various sugar cane derivatives, fructose, honey, molasses, sorghum, barley malt, rice syrup, stevia, etc.

Some liquid stevia products do have a slight flavor of anise and can taste bitter when too much is added.

I use KAL brand natural extract pure stevia leaf liquid, which has a non-alcoholic base of pure VG and water. It has no anise off-taste or bitterness in the amounts required to sweeten foods, drinks, or eliquids. I won't call it perfect, but it's pretty darn good.

Kal: Pure stevia liquid extract 2oz

 

[ogredog]

Depends on what you believe about Stevia....I have read a lot about how Stevie is a natural sweetener but how its processed is not.

The artificial sweetener issue is alarming, but so is high fructose corn syrup ...and sugar has its issues too...can we ever win? I mean we were not really made to process refined sugar. It isn't natural in that form but its so good!

Like said previously it depends how serious you want to get. After all my research in the past if you aren't growing it ( and even then some) or raising it....its tainted, polluted, gassed, injected, sprayed,dyed, preserved etc

I just gave up lol

 

[billherbst]

...if you aren't growing it ( and even then some) or raising it....its tainted, polluted, gassed, injected, sprayed,dyed, preserved etc

You said a mouthful there, dog. And so true. Supposedly authoritative information and claims as to "purity" or "not harmful to health" are sometimes either suspect or totally bogus.

Then, beyond the marketplace trust issue of buying a pig in a poke, there's the whole human fallibility thing. I try not to be evangelical about this stuff, because I'm all too aware that my feet are made of clay. We know so much, yet we know so little. And some of what we think we know may turn out to be just plain wrong.

 

[sandybeach]

Thanks for the info, Bill. The stevia sounds decent. I wonder if anyone uses pressed sugar canes or honey; that might tend to spoil too quickly.

As far as my food choices go, I taught my kids to look for as few ingredients on the label as possible. One ingredient is preferable. I'm lucky that I live in a large urban aread. I buy my vegetables and fruits and meats and fish at these non-chain markets that have top notch produce, with quick turnover. In my opinion, it's much fresher than the produce at Whole Foods, and 1/10th of the price.

I don't buy organic, or locally grown. But I do have a vegetable garden and grow my own basil for pesto. I also have tomatoes and cucumbers, parsley, cilantro, and dill, and catnip this year.

The cool thing about the community garden is the ethnic melting pot of people that garden there. One Chinese woman is very knowledgeable about herbs. She has me boiling dandelion greens and drinking the liquid. It tastes gross, but I have a medical condition that it dandelion tea is good for, in Chinese medicine.

 

[thehangdude]

Well, within reason, anyway. I mean, I'm not sociopathic.



Yes, both Aspartame (Nutrasweet) and Sucralose (Spenda) are controversial. As to how toxic they are, that depends on where one stands on the bell curve of foodism and culture. If you eat at Mickey D's twice a day, you're likely to feel that artificial sweeteners are fine (along with GMO foods and small amounts of radiation). If you're on the other end of the scale, where you eat only raw food---organic nuts, seeds, wild berries, etc.---and feel that western allopathic/pharma medicine is bogus, then artificial sweeteners are poison and guaranteed to cause brain tumors.



As far as I know, Aspartame is not used in elquids, but Sucralose is. I don't know about liquid saccharine. The most common sweetener in vaping juices seems to be ethyl maltol, but I don't know whether that's considered artificial or natural.

No sweetener is completely neutral---each imparts its own particular (and sometimes tell-tale) flavor. All the chemical non-naturals---acesulfame K, aspartame, neotame, saccharin, and sucralose---fall short of the relative neutrality of table sugar (meaning sucrose, in all its various incarnations). But natural sweeteners also impart their own flavors, which are sometimes subtle but often strong and distinct---various sugar cane derivatives, fructose, honey, molasses, sorghum, barley malt, rice syrup, stevia, etc.

Some liquid stevia products do have a slight flavor of anise and can taste bitter when too much is added.

I use KAL brand natural extract pure stevia leaf liquid, which has a non-alcoholic base of pure VG and water. It has no anise off-taste or bitterness in the amounts required to sweeten foods, drinks, or eliquids. I won't call it perfect, but it's pretty darn good.

Kal: Pure stevia liquid extract 2oz

Very nice, thought out post, but all I heard was "...then artificial sweeteners are poison and guaranteed to cause brain tumors."

As someone who has smoked a quarter of a million ciggies, I tend to not care much what is in my vapor. As long as it tastes good, I will vape it. I know that not every (ecig) vendor cares about our collective health. I also know that all vendors care more than the cigarette companies.

At least the ecig vendors and ejuice makers are still small market. They tend to vape their own creations, and therefore care as much as I do. Most all have eliminated diacetyl voluntarily. I would imagine they know as much as I do about the sweeteners.

You know, this post didn't really add anything to the conversation. I guess I should go make a bologna and cheese (food) sandwich with a dollop of Miracle Whip, then go to bed.

 

[sandybeach]

Very nice, thought out post, but all I heard was "...then artificial sweeteners are poison and guaranteed to cause brain tumors."

As someone who has smoked a quarter of a million ciggies, I tend to not care much what is in my vapor. As long as it tastes good, I will vape it. I know that not every (ecig) vendor cares about our collective health. I also know that all vendors care more than the cigarette companies.

At least the ecig vendors and ejuice makers are still small market. They tend to vape their own creations, and therefore care as much as I do. Most all have eliminated diacetyl voluntarily. I would imagine they know as much as I do about the sweeteners.

You know, this post didn't really add anything to the conversation. I guess I should go make a bologna and cheese (food) sandwich with a dollop of Miracle Whip, then go to bed.

I hear you have to fry the bologna first

 

[EleanorR]

And make sure it's Cheeze Whiz, not just any ol' cheese food-product.

 

[On Target]

I was inspired by Hangdude to pull out my 7ml sample bottle of Tribeca and re-try it. I have had it since May and thus, thought some steeping time might be beneficial. At first vape, I had the same bug spray, hospital disinfectant reaction that Bill and others experienced. In fact, it really turned me off to the point I almost threw away all 7 samplers. It almost made me sick to my stomach it was so bad.

After over 3 months of steeping time, it is now a pleasure to vape Tribeca. The "purity" undertone has mellowed out to the point it is almost non-existent and the flavors blend together as one. Heck, I went ahead and took advantage of Halo's 15% off Labor Day sale that expires today and ordered a 30ml bottle. I still have almost all of the 7ml sampler so maybe by the time this is gone, the 30ml's will have steeped long enough not to make me gag LOL.

Bill, you inspired me to order a bottle of Halo's Turkish Blend too! I include BWB's Casablanca in my daily vape rotation and this has been and still is one of my favorites. Glad you mentioned this one does NOT have the same bug spray, hospital disinfectant base. I am not a fan of having to wait 3 months after purchase before vaping!

I am still waiting on BWB to come out with their re-formulated RY4 and my patience (and supply) is running low! I hate my favorite RY4 is no more.

 

[billherbst]

I was inspired by Hangdude to pull out my 7ml sample bottle of Tribeca and re-try it. I have had it since May and thus, thought some steeping time might be beneficial. At first vape, I had the same bug spray, hospital disinfectant reaction that Bill and others experienced. In fact, it really turned me off to the point I almost threw away all 7 samplers. It almost made me sick to my stomach it was so bad.

After over 3 months of steeping time, it is now a pleasure to vape Tribeca. The "purity" undertone has mellowed out to the point it is almost non-existent and the flavors blend together as one. Heck, I went ahead and took advantage of Halo's 15% off Labor Day sale that expires today and ordered a 30ml bottle. I still have almost all of the 7ml sampler so maybe by the time this is gone, the 30ml's will have steeped long enough not to make me gag LOL.

Bill, you inspired me to order a bottle of Halo's Turkish Blend too! I include BWB's Casablanca in my daily vape rotation and this has been and still is one of my favorites. Glad you mentioned this one does NOT have the same bug spray, hospital disinfectant base. I am not a fan of having to wait 3 months after purchase before vaping!

I am still waiting on BWB to come out with their re-formulated RY4 and my patience (and supply) is running low! I hate my favorite RY4 is no more.

On Target,

Yes, it's amazing how delicious Halo's juices can be after that hospital disinfectant overtone finally diminishes. I fully expected it to be present in the two juices I recently received free from Halo: Turkish Blend and Belgian Cocoa, but neither had it. The Belgian Cocoa smelled terrific, although it turned out to taste somewhat artificial to me, as most all chocolate/cocoa vapes do. But the Turkish Blend is very nice even when fresh.

I'm not much of a betting man, but Don may come up with something to pull your you-know-what out of the fire before you run out of BWB RY4 entirely. At least we can hope so.

 

[On Target]

On Target,

Yes, it's amazing how delicious Halo's juices can be after that hospital disinfectant overtone finally diminishes. I fully expected it to be present in the two juices I recently received free from Halo: Turkish Blend and Belgian Cocoa, but neither had it. The Belgian Cocoa smelled terrific, although it turned out to taste somewhat artificial to me, as most all chocolate/cocoa vapes do. But the Turkish Blend is very nice even when fresh.

I'm not much of a betting man, but Don may come up with something to pull your you-know-what out of the fire before you run out of BWB RY4 entirely. At least we can hope so.

Don better hurry! I only have enough to re-fill a carto once, maybe twice of his RY4. I "might" be able to stretch that out a week or two.

 

[billherbst]

specs: The 5ml bottle of 100% USA-made VaporBeast Holy Grail RY4 that was sent to me for review by our colleague Jim Bob (thanks, JB!) contains a deep amber-colored but still transparent liquid (darker than many RY4s), at 24mg nic in a 70/e0 base blend. Testing was done using a 2.6 ohm CE3 bottom coil carto powered by a ProVari set to 4.1 volts to produce 6.5 watts (CE3 bottom coils prefer less watts and give superior performance at relatively low voltage).

If Tim, the owner of VaporBeast, writes his own copy for product descriptions on-site, then he must have read some of our thread, because his blurb is well-informed about RY4:

This RY4 mix has just enough sweetness to take you to the promised land! The tobacco base is rounded off with vanilla and hints of caramel. It's got that ‘sweet’ & ‘sour’ appeal at times, but its interesting because of its' chameleon characteristics. You will likely discover different flavors bursting out at different voltages as well as on different devices. This will likely be one of the best RY4 variations you have ever experienced. Discover why we named this juice the "Holy Grail."
​

Naming this Holy Grail RY4 implies one of two meanings, either specific or general. The specific meaning would be that this RY4 replicates the mythic “lost” Dekang RY4 from days of yore. If so, I can’t comment, because I wasn’t vaping then and never had any of the fabled Dekang. The more general meaning is that this juice is where the vaper’s quest ends for the best RY4 ever. On that one I can and will comment, since I’ve vaped and reviewed more than 80 RY4s.

When I began vaping Holy Grail RY4 for the first time as I started writing this review, my palate immediately picked up a flavor note that seemed odd to me. I think it's linked with the vanilla, but it might be the tobacco base, which I presume to be synthetic, since custom RY4s using natural tobacco extracts are usually defined as such. Anyway, that note took me aback. It wasn't terrible, per se, but my palate threw up a red flag. Within minutes, however, the strangeness of that flavor had nearly normalized itself in my brain. It's still present, but not offensive to me.

I can taste the core components---tobacco, vanilla, and caramel---but they are well-blended rather than distinct. Tobacco is the solid base flavor here, with an up-front presence, augmented by the vanilla, plus (as the description states) a hint of caramel. That’s a recipe profile I like, rather than the inverted profile of many classic RY4s where caramel predominates with support from the tobacco and a touch of vanilla. The sweet-sour contrast is very subtle, and while the juice is definitely sweet, I'm not sure I'd class this as a dessert-type RY4. It is, however, richer than many RY4s---the vanilla especially---even without extra flavoring added.

How good is it? Is this truly the Holy Grail of RY4s, or is that just another exercise in marketing hyperbole? Well, I like it, but I don't regard it as the Holy Grail. I'd put VaporBeast RY4 a bit below my current favorites: RWVapors RY4, Vapor..... RY4, and CrystalELiquid RY4 Double Tobacco.

This a very boldly flavorful RY4. Taste is subjective, of course, and varies too wildly to guarantee that everyone will like it, but I think most vapers who appreciate RY4 will enjoy this well-made juice. I guess that odd note from the vanilla could mar the experience for someone, but all the other elements are beautifully in place.

VaporBeast Holy Grail RY4 grade: A- (Edit: I've been vaping this enjoyably for hours, so I bumped the grade from B+ to A-)

Link to purchase: http://www.vaporbeast.com/Holy_Grail_RY4_Sweet_Tobacco_p/l4.htm

 

[passerbyeus]

If it smells like cat pee and taste like cat pee then it must be cat pee!!!!

specs: The 5ml bottle of 100% USA-made VaporBeast Holy Grail RY4 that was sent to me for review by our colleague Jim Bob (thanks, JB!) contains a deep amber-colored but still transparent liquid (darker than many RY4s), at 24mg nic in a 70/e0 base blend. Testing was done using a 2.6 ohm CE3 bottom coil carto powered by a ProVari set to 4.1 volts to produce 6.5 watts (CE3 bottom coils prefer less watts and give superior performance at relatively low voltage).

If Tim, the owner of VaporBeast, writes his own copy for product descriptions on-site, then he must have read some of our thread, because his blurb is well-informed about RY4:

This RY4 mix has just enough sweetness to take you to the promised land! The tobacco base is rounded off with vanilla and hints of caramel. It's got that ‘sweet’ & ‘sour’ appeal at times, but its interesting because of its' chameleon characteristics. You will likely discover different flavors bursting out at different voltages as well as on different devices. This will likely be one of the best RY4 variations you have ever experienced. Discover why we named this juice the "Holy Grail."
​

Naming this Holy Grail RY4 implies one of two meanings, either specific or general. The specific meaning would be that this RY4 replicates the mythic “lost” Dekang RY4 from days of yore. If so, I can’t comment, because I wasn’t vaping then and never had any of the fabled Dekang. The more general meaning is that this juice is where the vaper’s quest ends for the best RY4 ever. On that one I can and will comment, since I’ve vaped and reviewed more than 80 RY4s.

When I began vaping Holy Grail RY4 for the first time as I started writing this review, my palate immediately picked up a flavor note that seemed odd to me. I think it's linked with the vanilla, but it might be the tobacco base, which I presume to be synthetic, since custom RY4s using natural tobacco extracts are usually defined as such. Anyway, that note took me aback. It wasn't terrible, per se, but my palate threw up a red flag. Within minutes, however, the strangeness of that flavor had nearly normalized itself in my brain. It's still present, but not offensive to me.

I can taste the core components---tobacco, vanilla, and caramel---but they are well-blended rather than distinct. Tobacco is the solid base flavor here, with an up-front presence, augmented by the vanilla, plus (as the description states) a hint of caramel. That’s a recipe profile I like, rather than the inverted profile of many classic RY4s where caramel predominates with support from the tobacco and a touch of vanilla. The sweet-sour contrast is very subtle, and while the juice is definitely sweet, I'm not sure I'd class this as a dessert-type RY4. It is, however, richer than many RY4s---the vanilla especially---even without extra flavoring added.

How good is it? Is this truly the Holy Grail of RY4s, or is that just another exercise in marketing hyperbole? Well, I like it, but I don't regard it as the Holy Grail. I'd put VaporBeast RY4 a bit below my current favorites: RWVapors RY4, Vapor..... RY4, and CrystalELiquid RY4 Double Tobacco.

This a very boldly flavorful RY4. Taste is subjective, of course, and varies too wildly to guarantee that everyone will like it, but I think most vapers who appreciate RY4 will enjoy this well-made juice. I guess that odd note from the vanilla could mar the experience for someone, but all the other elements are beautifully in place.

VaporBeast Holy Grail RY4 grade: B+

Link to purchase: http://www.vaporbeast.com/Holy_Grail_RY4_Sweet_Tobacco_p/l4.htm

 

[billherbst]

Don better hurry! I only have enough to re-fill a carto once, maybe twice of his RY4. I "might" be able to stretch that out a week or two.

Well, in that case, you're toast.

 

[sandybeach]

And make sure it's Cheeze Whiz, not just any ol' cheese food-product.

Eleanor, Hah! Cheez Whiz is how I get my dog to take her pill. I make a sandwich: 2 little pieces of Beggin Strips spread with Cheez Whiz with a pill stuck in the middle. I can just see my cat thinking "You dumb sucker!"

Bill, so these are your current RY4 faves? RWVapors RY4, Vapor..... RY4, and CrystalELiquid RY4 Double Tobacco. I haven't vaped any of them, will have to give them a try.