The Really Big RY4 Roundup (long)

[billherbst]

dream,

No, both VS4 categories were intentional, despite the seeming contradiction. Yes, I did feel that VS4 had more pronounced tobacco, but it's balanced also because it's not too sweet. In the way I use the term, "Balanced" means flavors that meld together especially well rather than equal amounts of each flavor.

Technically, the fact that VaporStation RY4 isn't included in any categories is a mistake, but the real reason is that I bought only a small sample bottle early this year, and all I can remember about it is that I was unimpressed. VS4 was much better, so much so that I still wonder why Vapor Station even sells the RY4. Anyway, I just can't recall enough about VS RY4 to put it in any particular category. Maybe I should add it to the So-So (Undistinguished) Group, but it might be better than that. I just can't recall, but I'm not hot to buy more just to be able to put it in some category.

If you have VS RY4 or have vaped it in the past, perhaps you can tell me what category to put it under.

An element of "darts tossed at a board" comes with all this, especially sometimes in the Category Groups. I do the best I can, but sometimes I feel hard-pressed to make accurate assessments. In short, I need all the help I can get from you and everyone else.

 

[Dream]

It's remarkable how well organized you are.. Thanks for the clarification. I'm going to have to try VS4 & RY4 on my next VS order. I'll share my amateur opinions when the time comes, .. soonish.

 

[billherbst]

I'll share my amateur opinions when the time comes, .. soonish.

That will be much appreciated, dream---from one amateur to another. (Ain't no professionals around here anyway...)

 

[xoYOmamaox]

well i take back my post bloogs ry4 juice is very week and cheep sorry its true but tribecca is my fav flavor only because i cant get but one bwb ry4 bottle at a time so all in all bwb is the best i will be stalking my email

Bloog has the best ry4 to me also tribecca and bwb ry4 is great gmv ry4 not so much

 

[xoYOmamaox]

I just got a bottle of vr4 from vaperite and out of the mail box not sure if i like it time to steep for a bit

 

[Filthy-Beast]

Filthy Beast,

With those criteria, you have plenty of choices. Here are three stellar RY4s from the very top of the Rankings List that fit the bill perfectly:

Janty Elixir RY4
Janty electronic cigarettes, e-liquids and carts - Elixir VG eLiquid RY4 15ml

Ikenvape RY4 Gold VG
IKV RY4 Gold VG Based 70/30 20ml

Prime Vaping PV4
http://www.primevaping.com/tobaccos...ypage_images.tpl&product_id=90&category_id=28

For PV4, you'll have to select the 30/70 blend from the drop-down PG/VG menu. Janty and Ikenvape are both sold only in that 70VG/30PG ratio.

Just got the Ikenvape in and have been dripping on Darwin at 2.2 ohm at 4v 7watts. Wow I love this. Next is to fill my VPX tank and try a 3ohms carto at HV/HW. This is my new all day vape.

Thank goodness I found this thread.

 

[billherbst]

xoYO,

One of the benefits of the search for an RY4 you love (countering at least somewhat the possible frustrations of the search itself) is that we have so many choices. If you sour on Bloog/Volt RY4, you've only got about 100 others to try. LOL.

Personally, I love VR4. If my rankings list were based solely on my own likes and dislikes, VR4 would be #1. The rankings include other considerations, however, such as the fact that VR4 is decidedly an RY4-variant rather than a true or classic RY4, so that knocks it down a couple notches to #4. I don't personally love VR4 any less just because it's not "traditional," but something in me is reluctant to give the top spot of "best RY4" to a juice that essentially thumbs its nose at the classic RY4 recipe.

I hope you find happiness with VR4, but, if not, I'm fairly confident you can find an RY4 on the Big List here that will satisfy you.

By the way, how much do you vape per day? I ask because even back in my early months of vaping last fall and winter, when I felt that Backwoods Brew RY4 was the hands-down winner in RY4s, a 30ml bottle would still last me a long time. In fact, I've bought only two bottles of bwb RY4 in a year, and the second one is nearly full. But then, I'm a "bumblebee" vaper rather than an all-day vape kind of guy. I switch from one juice to another every five minutes (or less)---like a bumblebee flitting from one flower to another---which is why I keep 19 PVs on my desk, each loaded with a different juice. I can't remember ever vaping a single juice all day long. If you're a single-juice vaper, though, I guess your 30ml bottle of bwb RY4 might not last very long. I hate having to ration juice, don't you?

Anyway, good luck!

 

[lion6255]

I see that Blue Mist is number 23 on your list. I do Vape 100 % Vg with that said I really really enjoy it and it has a richess to it that some of the others don't have.
Maybe it is like spagetti sauce one wrong spice can make a person dislike it.

 

[Ceegary]

+1 on VR4 versus their RY4, streets better.

 

[washvap]

Bill, do you have any idea how much the shipping costs at Health Cabin? Wanna try some of their RY4 and some dekang juices.

 

[billherbst]

Bill, do you have any idea how much the shipping costs at Health Cabin? Wanna try some of their RY4 and some dekang juices.

Air mail from China is four bucks and change, depending on how heavy the order is.

 

[billherbst]

I see that Blue Mist is number 23 on your list. I do Vape 100 % Vg with that said I really really enjoy it and it has a richess to it that some of the others don't have.
Maybe it is like spagetti sauce one wrong spice can make a person dislike it.

lion,

That was from the original rankings, almost four months ago. Now Bluemist is #41 out of 42. But, you know, if Bluemist is #1 on your list, that's every bit as valid as my list. One man's ceiling is another man's floor.

 

[washvap]

Air mail from China is four bucks and change, depending on how heavy the order is.

Ay thanks a lot Bill, I appreciate it.

 

[billherbst]

Liberty-Flights sells six different RY4s---in their standard line of juices (which I understand to be Hangsen pre-mix from China), they sell RY1, RY2, RY3, and RY4 in PG, plus RY4 in VG. These are available in either 5ml or 30ml bottles. Liberty-Flights also offers what they call LF4 in an unspecified PG/VG blend as part of their USA Premium Blend line, but in 10ml bottles only.

As far as I know, Janty RY4 was the "original," first-ever RY4. It is the only RY Janty has ever sold. Later, Dekang and Hangsen, another Chinese juice supplier, reverse-formulated their own "RY-series"---RY1, RY2, and RY3, to go with RY4. Supposedly, the juices get sweeter as their numbers go up.

Let me start with "LF4," which Liberty-Flights describes as "our creamier, sweeter RY4." Imagine my surprise when I opened the package from Liberty-Flights and found four 5ml bottles of Hangsen RYs and a 10ml bottle labeled "VY4." VY4? What the hell? Apparently, Liberty-Flights' USA Premium Blend is nothing more than Vapure liquid, whose VY4 I reviewed in the original rankings (and not positively, since it contains---guess what?---chocolate), which a number of us who post on this thread feel does not belong in RY4s; sn this case, whether or not chocolate belongs, the rating is low simply because the juice doesn't taste very good).

I understand that vendors often get their juices from other source vendors, and I don't mind that as long as they identify their source vendor. (Most vendors don't, however, and it's one of my serious gripes with the commercial vaping community.) In this particular instance, it's essentially bait-and-switch, since even the name of the juice turned out to be a lie. Since I've already reviewed VY4, I'm disqualifying LF4. Heck, it's lousy anyway.

The Hangsen RY-series is about to suffer a similar fate at my hands. Liberty-Flights screwed up my order. They sent me bottles of RY1, RY2, and RY4, but rather than RY3, they sent two bottles of RY2. Damn. No surprise, really, since the printed labels on these tiny 5ml bottles use such small type that you need a magnifying glass to read them. Hey! At least use a larger font for the name of the damned juice!

Also, the bottles are that hard clear plastic that's darn near impossible to drip. You squeeze the bottle, and nothing happens. Squeeze harder---much harder---and juice appears at the tip but won't form a drop. Squeeze even harder---with the plastic fighting you the whole time---and finally you get a sudden stream of liquid flooding your atty. Aaaarrrggh! Not that Liberty-Flights is alone in using stupid bottles. But c'mon, people. Don't vendors test crap like this? Don't they even care?

All in all, a very bad experience. The bait-and-switch, the screwed-up order, and the terrible bottles. Three strikes and you're out. I feel like I wasted $16.

As a result, I refuse to review these juices or add them to the lists. Yeah, I know, I'm upset right now, but I have only so much patience for sloppy incompetence. So, tough luck.

 

[thehangdude]

Take a deep breath bill (preferably with a PV in your mouth). Remember, you are doing this for the team.

My gripe this Monday morning is perfume. What is it in some RY4s that taste so bad? Is it just me?

I ordered an RY4 from a really good vendor, a vendor who has awesome, clean tasting flavors. But their RY4 has a wierd perfumey or chemical taste. Is it the Vanilla? the caramel? the two together? Does the taste ever go away?

*Takes a deep breath with pv in mouth*

 

[goodtimes]

I ordered an RY4 from a really good vendor, a vendor who has awesome, clean tasting flavors. But their RY4 has a wierd perfumey or chemical taste. Is it the Vanilla? the caramel? the two together? Does the taste ever go away?

Would this happen to be NLV's RY4?

I know you didn't mention them by name, but this is, after all, an RY4 review thread, so I figured I'd ask...

 

[thehangdude]

Well no, I haven't tried NLV's RY4. I tried a couple of their flavors, but wasn't impressed by anything but their prices. (Although I feel like the only one sometimes.)

The specific one I was thinking of was DIY Flavorshack. Dawn is an awesome vendor, always has clean, delicious flavors and gives extras freely. I love her Napoleon, which is vanilla and caramel and clean and yummy. I ordered her RY4 and her Caramel and Vanilla RY4. Both had a perfume flavor (to me).

This isn't the first to give me this taste. Copper Creek, which also has great, clean, natural flavors came off as chemical to me (and bill). Not really chemical, more like the flavors don't play nice together.

I am specifically talking about good vendors. Vendors who should be able to nail an awesome RY4. The ones I am not talking about are the dirty sock vendors. The vendors who can't get unflavored nicotine to taste good.

 

[billherbst]

Take a deep breath bill. Remember, you are doing this for the team.

hangdude,

I was 2/3 through writing the long Liberty-Flights review, having great difficulty discerning any difference between RY2 and what I thought was RY3 (they tasted exactly the same to me), when I became suspicious and literally got out a magnifying glass to examine the teensy-weensy type on the labels. Sure enough, L-F had sent me two bottles of RY2 instead of one each of RY2 and RY3. Having already worked on the review for half an hour and feeling scammed by the bait-and-switch of LF4/VY4, I left the arena of moderately aggravated and entered the pugilistic ring of extremely put off.

But since it's "for the team," here's a shortened review of the three they sent me:

Hangsen RY4 is actually pretty good, if you like dessert vapes. It's rich and sweet, but nicely balanced. (Performance, meaning vapor production and throat hit, is as one would expect from all-PG at 18mg---acceptable but not amazing). All three flavor elements---tobacco, caramel, and vanilla---are clean, tasty, and well-matched. While not a Top 10 juice, Hangsen RY4 is somewhat better to me than average or middle-of-the-pack. Not in Dekang RY4's league, but a solidly satisfying vape, with no off-notes or eccentric flavors.

I'm left with a lingering and slightly disturbing question: Why can't some of the American custom juice makers do as well as the Chinese in formulating RY4s? Sometimes USA-made RY4s are terrific---scads of ECF members consider Backwoods Brew RY4---which is clearly an RY4-variant---to be far superior to any Chinese version. Too often, however, USA-made custom RY4s fail to improve upon an already-winning formula by messing with the ingredients or introducing odd flavors, as in the case of chocolate in Vapure VY4.

Anyway, on to the RY2. Initially, that juice seemed to me to have a stronger tobacco flavor, at least until I realized that what RY2 has isn't more tobacco, but less caramel and vanilla. Rather like a leaner, stripped-down version of the RY4, Hangsen RY2 is closer to a straight tobacco blend than a classic RY. Curiously, I liked the RY2 a tad more than the RY4, I guess because it's less sweet, which brings out the pleasing tobacco base.

I couldn't discern much difference between the RY1 and RY2. Something is different in the RY1, but I couldn't tell you what it is. I'm guessing even less caramel, but who knows? My preference was for the RY2 and RY4, however, as the RY1 seemed to be missing something. (I also have a bottle of RY1 I purchased many months ago from Rocky Mountain Vapor. I know it's Chinese, but I don't know what supplier it's from---Dekang, Hangsen, Joye, whoever. But I had the same reaction to that RY1 that I just now had to the Hangsen RY1: not dreadful, but missing something.)

All in all, the winner for my palate is the lean RY2, which is better by a hair than the richer, sweeter RY4. The losers are RY1 and the "custom" VY4 (LF4), which I cannot recommend. I'm now quite curious about the "missing" RY3---which I think I might like a lot---but I'm too upset right now with Liberty-Flights to contact them about correcting the order by sending me a bottle of RY3. Maybe I'll get over that fit of pique in time. No point in cutting off my nose to spite my face, and those people owe me a bottle of RY3, damn it!

I'll add the three other Hangsen RYs to the rankings and categories at the next update.

 

[billherbst]

My gripe this Monday morning is perfume. What is it in some RY4s that taste so bad? Is it just me?

hang,

No, it's not just you. Not by a long shot.

I don't know anyone who likes that perfumey, synthetic-chemical side-effect or aftertaste that some juices have. Sometimes it's unwanted floral notes, other times weird spiciness, but it's always off-putting.

This is most vexing to me with two kinds of juices: tobacco flavors and bakery/dessert vapes. I'm on a continuing quest to find unsullied, clean tobacco flavors (the best of which so far are natural extracts from macerated real tobacco), and chocolates. I have yet to find any vendor who makes really good chocolate flavors. This is not the case with fruit juices, where the issue isn't perfume or chemical aftertastes, but rather natural tasting (as in "real" fruit) versus overly sweet fruit candies aimed at children's palates. I'm not down on sweet juices---Vapealicious' StL Gooey Butter Cake is to die for---but I much prefer natural-tasting fruit flavors.

I don't long for tobacco flavors that taste like smoking cigs/cigars/pipes. I didn't smoke for 40 years because I liked the flavor. What I liked was the impact. The reformulation of tobacco "flavors" for eliquids is a whole 'nothing thing. The new development of WTA (whole tobacco alkaloids) seems to offer some promise in offering the WOW factor in knockout tobacco flavors for vaping, but I haven't tried any of those yet.

I've read many posts suggesting that the perfumey notes and chemical aftertastes will go away after steeping the juices for a month or so, but that hasn't been true for me. My personal experience is that if a juice tastes perfumey right out of the mailbox, it'll taste perfumey forever, and I might just as well throw it out after the unpleasant initial vaping. Steeping does seem to help the flavors mature, deepen, and blend in some freshly-mixed juices, but nothing gets rid of flavors I don't like. After numerous failed attempts, I've completely stopped trying to "save" what I consider lousy juices by adding flavorings or mixing them with other juices I like.

Conversely, I also don't experience that flavors "degrade" over time. Yes, I may sour on a juice I once liked because my tastes change or I find another similar juice I prefer. The best examples of that for me are FSUSA RY4 and RY5, Bluemist Caramel Tobacco, and BWB RY4---all four of which I loved for quite awhile in my early months of vaping, but which no longer thrill me. Even after a year, they all still taste the same to me when I revisit them from storage, but I just don't love them anymore.

On the other hand, I tired of Bluemist Robacco after some months, put it away, then got it out six months later and was surprised to find that I liked it again. Go figure.

Meanwhile, I continue to buy way too many new juices, most of which don't do much for me. The quest, apparently, is endless.

 

[Hiryu]

That is sooooo bizarre. My bottle is clearly labeled LF4.

The LF website mentions their 'custom' line is a 90/10 PG/VG blend. Now that you mention it, tho, the LF4 does have a very subtle chocolaty kind of undertone, which is probably where the 'creamier' part comes from. With today's custom of wonton relabeling of juices, I do think it's very likely that the true provenance of the juice could be this VY4 you mention.

Oh well, it's the first RY4 that has not made me want to hurl with it's chemical/floral crap, plus, I did enjoy vaping it. At the very least, it has given me enough hope in non-traditional RY4's to try VR4 at a later time.

PS: I agree on the bottles. They are a pain to drip, at least on the 5ml line. Now I just syringe juice out of them while I find other bottles for the juice.