The Really Big RY4 Roundup (long)

[Brewer26]

Hi Bill,

Way early in this thread you had rave reviews for Quick Nic's RY4 but later on it dropped quite a bit. What happened with that one as I guess I couldn't find what changed in the many pages of this thread? I just received some 2 days ago and tried it yesterday. As for RY4's, I end up comparing everything to Tribeca as I really love that one. So that is my established base point. Quick Nic's RY4 appears to me very woody and strong right now. Good tabacco base but I'm having trouble detecting the caramel and vanilla notes at all right now. Perhaps they are being overwhelmed by the strong woodiness and tabacco coming through right now so I'm going to give that one some steep time before trying it again. I can smell the caramel and vanilla undertones but simply cannot taste them yet. And I'm really getting no sweetness at all. Right now to me it smells much better than it tastes.

 

[billherbst]

Hi Bill,

Way early in this thread you had rave reviews for Quick Nic's RY4 but later on it dropped quite a bit. What happened with that one as I guess I couldn't find what changed in the many pages of this thread? I just received some 2 days ago and tried it yesterday. As for RY4's, I end up comparing everything to Tribeca as I really love that one. So that is my established base point. Quick Nic's RY4 appears to me very woody and strong right now. Good tabacco base but I'm having trouble detecting the caramel and vanilla notes at all right now. Perhaps they are being overwhelmed by the strong woodiness and tabacco coming through right now so I'm going to give that one some steep time before trying it again. I can smell the caramel and vanilla undertones but simply cannot taste them yet. And I'm really getting no sweetness at all. Right now to me it smells much better than it tastes.

Brewer,

Initially, QuickNic RY4 (a synthetic tobacco RY4, and not the same juice as their more recent ouR whY qu4tro) impressed me with its uniqueness. It uses QuickNic's signature tobacco base, which is quite unusual. Over time, however, the uniqueness morphed into a less pleasing odd eccentricity to my palate. For me, it went from "How unusual! Great!" to "How unusual! Not so great." Thus its fall from grace in the rankings.

QuickNic has, however, made a brilliant recovery in my good graces with ouR whY qu4tro, which I regard as the most spectacular of the new crop of retail RY4s that are NET-based.

 

[thehangdude]

I am one of QuicknicJuice RY4's fans. I like the bold tobacco, and the rich caramel and vanilla that improve through a two week steep.

QNJ's RY4 was my go-to custom RY4 until the newer NET flavors came about. Now I can get an even better tobacco flavor with the NETs.

So when I want a classic RY4, I go with either Halo's Tribeca or Mr Vape's RY4. When I want something that pushes the envelope, the two Quicknic versions work as good as any.

 

[On Target]

I think its probably time for me to dig out my Vaporescence from my juice stash after reading Bill's comments. I have not sampled this one in months and did like it when I first tried it. It now has had a lot of steeping time and probably deserves a shot at getting into my daily rotation. Recently, Mr. Vape RY4 has been my favorite RY4 - I really like this juice. I recall a couple of recent comments about this one calling it "Tribeca Light' and "Tribeca Smooth". These are very accurate descriptions! I like Tribeca very much but right now, not as much as Mr. Vape. Of course in time, that will probably change as my fave changes more and more frequently than it used to.

 

[billherbst]

I am one of QuicknicJuice RY4's fans. I like the bold tobacco, and the rich caramel and vanilla that improve through a two week steep.

QNJ's RY4 was my go-to custom RY4 until the newer NET flavors came about. Now I can get an even better tobacco flavor with the NETs.

So when I want a classic RY4, I go with either Halo's Tribeca or Mr Vape's RY4. When I want something that pushes the envelope, the two Quicknic versions work as good as any.

Dude,

I'm so glad that you chimed in. You are a long-time fan of QNJ, and---as I recall---the first person on the thread to try (and rave about) QNJ's initial RY4. Nice to know that you like both offerings. Your opinions are always a welcome perspective, and your palate (unlike mine) displays remarkable consistency over time.

 

[billherbst]

Eleven more Also-Rans from The RY4 Report Card:

BlueMistVaping RY4 – Recently, BlueMist began to offer a new RY4, called RY4.5, which has a typical RY4 profile. Before that, BlueMist’s previous offering, called simply RY4, was a very odd juice that tasted almost nothing like a traditional RY4. I have no idea what the component flavors are. It’s almost perversely interesting---very weird but sort of compelling. When in the right mood, I actually like it. But it will never rise above the bottom third of The Big RY4 List. BlueMist RY4 is just too strange. It doesn't push the RY4 flavor envelope. It shreds it.

DeeJStuff RY4 – Like so many of the lower-ranked RY4s, DJS RY4 isn’t half bad. It’s just that when comparison-vaped against highly-rated RY4s, its shortcomings become apparent. The juice aims at a Classic RY4 flavor profile and almost succeeds. The tobacco is neutral, the caramel and vanilla are nicely balanced, and it contains no off-flavors or distracting notes. Unfortunately, it does nothing to distinguish itself with an identity or make it stand out from the crowd. As an RY4, it’s OK but ho-hum.

FreedomSmokeUSA RY4 – This was my very first RY4 two and a half years ago when I began vaping, and I liked it a lot. Many of FSUSA’s fans still do. It’s Custom all the way---very dark color, cloyingly sweet, and almost maple-y flavored. Compared to delicious Custom RY4s such as Totally Wicked Patriot Range RY4 or Awesome Clouds AC3, however, FSUSA RY4 pales by comparison. Well, not exactly pales, since its intense flavor is so in-your-face, but it simply doesn’t measure up to any existing standard of RY4. I see why people might like it, but as an RY4 it’s not even close.

FreedomSmokeUSA RY5 – I don’t know what criteria FSUSA used to make the leap from RY4 to this juice. It is almost black in color and has so much extra flavoring (way too much) that they might as well just call it “Caramel Mud” and be done with it. As an RY-anything, it’s little more than a bad joke.

GoodEJuice RY4 – GeJ makes one of the very best NET-based RY4s: GJ4. That juice is amazing. This isn’t that. This is GeJ’s regular house-brand synthetic-based RY4, and it’s OK. But that’s all it is, just OK. Not one bit better than just OK. Do yourself a favor: Buy GJ4 instead and get something great.

GreenhouseOne RY4 – Another RY4 where the synthetic tobacco flavor disrupts the complementary balance. Classic RY4s require a relatively neutral tobacco base. RY4s with a stronger tobacco element are Custom and need a good-tasting tobacco flavor that complements the caramel and vanilla. The tobacco in GH1 RY4 doesn’t harmonize well with the other core flavors, detracting from them.

High Caliber Our 4 – I don’t know who makes this stuff, but before you can create a decent RY4 spin-off, you need to understand what makes a good RY4 in the first place. High Caliber doesn’t. Feels a bit like the genius as High Caliber vaped some FSUSA RY4, then tried to make something that was like it, but not. Many lower-ranked RY4s are nice juices, just not great RY4s. This one isn’t a good juice, period.

VapeRite RY4 – Way back in April 2011 I bought a 3ml sample bottle of VapeRite RY4. I’d already tried their VR4 and loved it, so I wanted to see what their more standard RY4 was like. Well, as I recall, not much. It was---like so many of these RY4s---acceptable, but not special. That bottle is long gone, so I can’t resample it here. I’m including it from memory alone.

Vapure V4 – I don’t have any more of this, either. Good riddance to bad rubbish.
Dreadful. Should be a warning to all RY4 makers: Use maple flavor rather than caramel at your own risk.

ECBlend Ruyan 4 and Ruyan 4 Extra Caramel – ECBlend is another deep discount juice vendor (like MtBakerVapor), and their RY4s are extremely popular. They shouldn’t be, but they are. As RY4s, they’re less than wonderful. But maybe these aren’t RY4s at all. Maybe they really are replicates of Ruyan 4 (I never tasted any of that, since it predates RY4 from way back in 2004-2005 and has been unavailable for a long, long time). Again, I can see why people like these juices—both are intensely caramel-rich---but as RY4s, they barely pass muster.

 

[billherbst]

Over the past couple days I’ve posted updated mini-reviews (more like post-mortems, really---get it? "post" mortems?) for 27 of the Lower-Ranked RY4s on The RY4 Report Card.

I’ve got only five more to go, but they represent the dregs, the bottom of the barrel, the stuff you rinse off the sole of your shoe, from the D, D-, and F rankings.

Those five are:

FeelLife RY4
TheVaporPro RY4
VaporRenu Re4Nu
FSUSA FlavourArt oRYental 4
Bauway RY4
​

Bauway RY4 gets a special mention as the All-Time Absolute Worst RY4 I've ever vaped, which may be a Booby Prize, but amounts to something of a perverse badge of distinction in itself. Is the Bauway RY4 I bought the Edsel of RY4s? Even worse. It's the Yugo of RY4s.

Sadly (but maybe happily), I’ve run out of gumption. I simply can’t bring myself to suffer the chore of vaping those five losers, even briefly. My reaction is on much the same level as eating dinner with someone who takes a bite of his food, immediately begins gagging, mumbles something like "Oh my God, how awful," then turns to you and says "Taste this." Sorry, I'll pass. Some infinitesimal chance exists, I suppose, that one or two of these so-called RY4s might be better than I remember (I doubt it), but it won’t matter, because I’ve already stood them up against a wall, offered them blindfolds, and ordered the firing squad to shoot.

So, please consider those last five executed, assassinated, terminated, and laid to rest in unmarked graves.

Like the old Monty Python sketch about the dead parrot, they have shuffled off this mortal coil and are no more. They are ex-RY4s. LOL.

 

[EleanorR]

Bill, those RY4s aren't dead -- they're only sleeping!

I am so glad I caught your reference to Ahlusion's new Gold Rising -- I have a new sample which I am patiently steeping, but every time I take an experimental puff, I get no vanilla or caramel, only HAY!

At least now I know not to expect it to morph into a classic RY4.

 

[Cnew]

Over the past couple days I’ve posted updated mini-reviews (more like post-mortems, really---get it? "post" mortems?) for 27 of the Lower-Ranked RY4s on The RY4 Report Card.

I’ve got only five more to go, but they represent the dregs, the bottom of the barrel, the stuff you rinse off the sole of your shoe, from the D, D-, and F rankings.

Those five are:

FeelLife RY4
TheVaporPro RY4
VaporRenu Re4Nu
FSUSA FlavourArt oRYental 4
Bauway RY4
​

Bauway RY4 gets a special mention as the All-Time Absolute Worst RY4 I've ever vaped, which may be a Booby Prize, but amounts to something of a perverse badge of distinction in itself. Is the Bauway RY4 I bought the Edsel of RY4s? Even worse. It's the Yugo of RY4s.

Sadly (but maybe happily), I’ve run out of gumption. I simply can’t bring myself to suffer the chore of vaping those five losers, even briefly. My reaction is on much the same level as eating dinner with someone who takes a bite of his food, immediately begins gagging, mumbles something like "Oh my God, how awful," then turns to you and says "Taste this." Sorry, I'll pass. Some infinitesimal chance exists, I suppose, that one or two of these so-called RY4s might be better than I remember (I doubt it), but it won’t matter, because I’ve already stood them up against a wall, offered them blindfolds, and ordered the firing squad to shoot.

So, please consider those last five executed, assassinated, terminated, and laid to rest in unmarked graves.

Like the old Monty Python sketch about the dead parrot, they have shuffled off this mortal coil and are no more. They are ex-RY4s. LOL.

"It'll End in Tears"

 

[Jerms]

I understand Bill, but maybe this old schoolyard challenge will goad you into trying them..

I DOUBLE DOG dare you!

You can lick a frozen flagpole to prepare your tounge.

Sent from my LGL55C using Tapatalk 2

 

[billherbst]

I understand Bill, but maybe this old schoolyard challenge will goad you into trying them..

I DOUBLE DOG dare you!

You can lick a frozen flagpole to prepare your tounge.

Jerms,

Maybe we should update the old schoolyard taunt from "I double-dog dare you!" to "I Devil Dog dare you!" LOL.

 

[Jerms]

Jerms,

Maybe we should update the old schoolyard taunt from "I double-dog dare you!" to "I Devil Dog dare you!" LOL.

Wow, that's more exteme than calling someone chicken. Nobody.... calls me..... chicken.

Sent from my LGL55C using Tapatalk 2

 

[mattymatt82]

I have a large bottle of Bluemist RY4 4.5. Not my favorite, but it is vapeable. My DIY RY4 Nutzilla has steeped for almost a week now. I tried it out yesterday and so far I like it very much!! It's a keeper.

 

[passerbyeus]

RY4 Dream.............. will be ready this weekend to send out , any donations will be helpfull for the bottles etc please pm your address paypal is passerbyeus@yahoo.com ....I am very happy with it after about a month working on it , I will say its classic as straight vanilla, caramel and tobacco, but does not have the China classic taste.....will be looking for your thoughts...

 

[clnire]

PM sent Pass...

 

[billherbst]

RY4 Dream.............. will be ready this weekend to send out , any donations will be helpfull for the bottles etc please pm your address paypal is passerbyeus@yahoo.com ....I am very happy with it after about a month working on it , I will say its classic as straight vanilla, caramel and tobacco, but does not have the China classic taste.....will be looking for your thoughts...

I don't understand how anyone makes a Classic RY4. I've got a fairly good feel for creating diy Custom RY4s now, but getting that Classic flavor profile/overall taste is still elusive and downright mysterious to me.

 

[Sero]

PM sent pass. I've been working on DIY RY4s myself, but haven't been very successful mixing flavors. The best I made was straight 15% TPA RY4 Double. I couldn't get anything to mix well with that flavor either, but by itself it tasted pretty good.

 

[passerbyeus]

Ok I am not going to do a review on my own juice but I will tell you what your getting so there will be no surprises It will be sent out at 12mg 60/40 pg/vg unless requested different on the mg.

I was going to name my juice RY4 Dream but it has changed to RY4 Ana

You get a smokey tobacco that leads and laying around is a mix of caramel and vanilla that seems to have joined with nothing but one taste, at the end of the day this is a sweet analog flavor.. so we have RY4 Ana

 

[Kent C]

The point here is simple: If the information from Ludo is correct and true, then the history I’ve assembled on this thread is accurate. On the other hand, if Ludo’s facts and descriptions concerning the creation of the original RY4 are untrue---for whatever reason: faulty memory, incomplete knowledge, or even outright deception---then the story I’ve been telling is inaccurate, just one more fictional account to add to the existing pile of BS.

There is a case to be made for the prosecution. At various points over the last three years, Janty has claimed in its on-site ad copy that a certain version of Janty RY4 was the “original” recipe. First it was Janty RY4 Classic, then it was Janty RY4 Elixir, and now more recently Ludo has assured us that Janty RY4 DK-series is the real thing, exactly the same recipe as the first-ever RY4 created ad hoc by himself and an unnamed Dekang flavor chemist one fine day in 2007 inside a Dekang production facility in China.

Well, I’ve personally vaped Janty RY4 Classic, Elixir, and DK, (each in the same nic strength) and I can attest without any hesitation or uncertainty that they are not identical. Sure, they’re all Janty RY4s, and all three share a strong family resemblance. But they are clearly not exactly the same or perfectly identical. How then could Janty have asserted in turn that all three were the “original” recipe for RY4? That conflict bothers me, and makes me wonder if all the other information we’ve gotten from Janty or Ludo might be suspect.

Bill.... a clarification here - at least from what I know. While Ludo claimed the 'same recipe' for the flavoring there was a difference... from his post on the RY4X:

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...7470-what-origin-ruyan-4-a-2.html#post2211458

"Last year we launched RY4X, that is Mik's mixture of PG and VG of the same formula. "

The original Janty RY4 was PG... so the addition of VG made the newer RY4X taste differently - I agree with you in that they are not the same taste, but the flavoring formula could very well be the same.

Perhaps the 'unnamed chemist' at Dekang is the other guy claiming credit.... if they both worked on it, they're both right

 

[billherbst]

Kent,

Thanks so much for the clarification. This whole history-of-RY4 thing is rife with hearsay, innuendo, gossip, semi-informed opinion, myth, axes to grind, innocent mistakes, misinterpretations, contradictory statements by the principals, etc. It's almost like a jigsaw puzzle where the pieces keep changing shape.

Ludo's posts on ECF tended to be a bit cryptic because he often wrote in a kind of shorthand without qualifying the specific boundaries or limitations. For instance, below is the text of the post you linked by Ludo, written in November 2010.

The thread was entitled: What is the Origin of Ruyan 4? (You even posted in that thread.) In post #16 of the thread someone asked who named RY4. Ludo replied in post #17:

"Janty did. I personally mixed the taste at a liquid manufacturer's premises, way back in 2008. And thus, RY4 became Janty's in house taste. It's the only taste I personally thought would be appreciated by many people. Last year we launched RY4X, that is Mik's mixture of PG and VG of the same formula."
​

OK, cool. But wait, Ludo wrote "2008." Janty's own copy on the RY4 product pages of its web site in years past claimed that Janty RY4 was "introduced on the market in 2007" In their current web site RY4 descriptions, however, no year is mentioned. So, which is it? 2007 or 2008? Best info I can come up with is 2007, but that may or may not be correct.

Also, Ludo doesn't specify in his post which Janty RY4 is the same recipe as RY4X. The only RY4s Janty offered in 2010 were from what is now called the Classic Series. I don't remember if the Elixir Series was introduced in late 2010 or 2011 (I think it was 2011, but I'm not sure). I know for certain that the Vitaya and DK Series didn't exist in 2010. So I assume that what Ludo meant was that RY4X used the same ingredient recipe/mix as what is now called RY4 Classic, but with a different base, a PG/VG blend rather than straight PG.

In the Janty Supplier Forum (which seems to no longer exist---perhaps Janty is no longer an ECF registered supplier), Ludo posted unequivocally that Janty RY4 DK-Series is his own original RY4 formula, the same one sold by Janty from 2007-2009 (his words), and that the Classic, Elixir, and Vitaya RY4s are revisions with altered recipe profiles. He even gave a timeline for Janty's various RY4s and described their differences.

Please understand, I'm not challenging your post. I'm just saying that sifting through all the information and misinformation is extremely challenging and often confusing.

Thanks for your post, and please feel invited to post anything else you know or learn about the history of RY4 or about RY4s in general.