After toiling for a few days, I have read this entire thread and learned much about the history of our
vaping pioneers, greatest juice chefs and corp-fathers.
Now, let me begin by saying I think RY4 is the worst, most wretched, vile, swill-like, disgusting piss vape I've ever had in my short history of
vaping. And the reason I think that is the Dekang RY4 I got from LiteCig.
Before I got into vaping, I did plenty of research, both in gear and juices. Being an unemployed vaper on a tight budget, my first PV's were a couple $8 401 knock offs from Deal Extreme. Before I decided to switch to e-cigs, I had read a lot about the mythical RY4, and how it was the best taste ever. After reading it was caramel, vanilla and tobacco, the idea just tantalized my senses and evoked images of a smooth, lightly sweet, cigar-like deliciousness. Fortunately for me, there was no RY4 for sale at Deal Extreme, so I got some Camel instead. (which I absolutely loved)
Fast forward 1 month and I am getting my first order from LiteCig. Some supplies for my stepson and a few juices for me, including Dekang RY4. Words cannot describe what that RY4 tasted like, but I will try: It was a mixture between vaping a warm, steaming pile of cow manure over a bed of wild flowers and inhaling the most vile and offensive perfume in your anosmic grandma's arsenal. Even my wife complained it had a foul perfumey smell that stuck around for a while.
I had read a lot about steeping, so I dared to hope, and after steeping for a month, lo and behold. The taste was, in fact, worse. On my desperation to make it vapeable (remember I am a vaper on a budget and every ml is sacrosanct), I tried to cut it down with the few remains of my precious Camel... and it still TASTED THE SAME. Even after letting it steep with the Camel for a week, the taste was just as vile, floral, chemical and perfumey. By now, I assume it is residing in the nearest landfill.
It was then that I decided that something must be wrong with my taste buds and RY4 is just not for me, and it will probably never be. And until I land a source of employment (been looking for a few months now), I can't afford to experiment with juices and sample flavors unless I can be reasonably certain I will enjoy them. Every 1ml I get, is 1ml I have to vape. No juice cellar for me, at this time.
This has made me extremely scared of ordering RY4's. I want to. The flavors sound incredible on paper, and as I picture what it could taste like in my mind, I get a smile on my face. But the reality is, I ordered it and it was wretched. It did have caramel, it did have a tiny bit of vanilla, zero tobacco (even after mixing it 2/3 RY4 1/3 Camel), mostly bad and stale perfume.
Like I said, I'm a vaper on a very tight budget, so until I can improve my economic situation, I cannot and will not risk my 'vaping allowance' on a juice I am almost certain to despise and will not be able to vape. And mind you, I did vape over half of the wretched RY4 bottle because I had nothing else - I nearly went to buy a $1 pack of cigars to tide me over while I got new juices. In this sense, RY4 is not the vape that got me off analogs. It's the vape that nearly got me back on them.
All this said, however, when I CAN increase my vaping allowance enough to take a leap of faith on trying another RY4, this thread will greatly help me make an informed decision, and I deeply thank Bill for starting it. It has actually given me hope that there may be a RY4 out there that is like what I picture in my mind and I can love, even after I have officially written them off as the worst guano in the vaping world. (and decided the name actually stood for Revolting Yuck x4)
EDIT: Let this not be a reflection of LiteCig. They are a great vendor with some of the best prices in the western hemisphere. They just happen to be the people from whom I got Dekang Revolting Yuck x4 from. I have no reason to think the Dekang sold by other vendors is different and not the same horrid, gag inducing, excrement flavored, unvapable waste water with 2.4% nicotine content.
