OK, friends, I sent on-site contact emails to customer service at SmokelessImage, BloogPlanet, and BreezeSmokes explaining about this thread, your requests, and asking if they'd send me small sample bottles of their respective RY4s for review.
As a side note, PBusardo did a video review of the Volt Starter Kit with both grape and RY4 flavor pre-loaded cartos (the kind that come in those sealed packs of five). Now, PBusardo is one of a select number of video reviewers that I really like. He's a straight, no-BS kind of guy, a very experienced vaper, and someone whose opinion I trust. He was impressed with the Volt e-cig for newbies, but he was totally dismissive of both pre-loaded juices---he used the term "generic," made a quick unhappy face, waved his hand, and moved on. No lengthy discussion. Yes, he stated the required caveat that taste is subjective, but I'm inclined to think that if I get the samples I requested, I'll probably agree with him.
That's relevant to this thread. My intention in starting the Big RY4 Round-up thread was
not to review every single RY4 in the marketplace, though I may end up coming close before I lose my mind and hand off the thread to someone else. My interest---then and now---was mostly in reviewing, comparing, and discussing the RY4s that are custom recipes from artisan juice-makers. either prepared in small batches for limited stock or freshly mixed as orders come in. That's where my heart is.
Sure, I felt that it was and is important to include RY4s from Dekang or other major Chinese suppliers that are available from vendors such as Madvapes and Janty, because RY4 was created by Dekang and therefore represents a benchmark against which to measure. And while I'm not obsessed with the Holy Grail of the original, mythic, and now-lost RY4 recipe, that is part of the mystery of RY4s and has some meaning for me.
What I'm
not very interested in is reviewing 50 separate RY4 pre-mixes from vendors targeting the as-yet-uncaptured mass market (read: newbies), who sell pre-filled, sealed cartos as part of e-cig starter kits. In those 50 RY4s, there might be only 4 or 5 that are actually different products. For me, that whole part of the vaping industry feels---how shall I say?---
corporate and vaguely
generic, even though the ad copy will work overtime to make it seem otherwise. I
like that this vaping is a young and still largely cottage-based industry, with many new and small start-up companies carving out niches for themselves in custom mods, juices, and flavorings.
Here's a link to PBusardo's VOLT review, with his 20-second dismissal of "generic" RY4s:
A Pbusardo Review & Contest! - The Volt E-Cig From Smokeless Image - Vapor Talk E Cig Forum
I did ask each of the three vendors above if their RY4s were pre-mixes, and if so, who were their suppliers. We'll see if they answer my questions and send me sample bottles.
And joogler's blend will benefit from a couple of weeks of steeping time...
