The Really Big RY4 Roundup (long)

[hildicat]

hildicat,

I didn't know that Raf-a-licious was being discontinued by AVE. What a shame.

Ah, the profound Zen of vaping: Nothing is permanent on the Wheel of Sangsara. Lousy juices come and go without much notice. No one cared when they were here, and no one cares when they're gone. Terrific juices, however, arrive with anticipation and generate trumpet fanfares. Then they too may vanish, leaving those who loved them shocked and bereft, amidst cries of lamentation and woe-is-us. Goodbye "lost" Dekang RY4. Goodbye BWB Café Mocha. Goodbye NLV VapeTV Bounty Hunter. And now goodbye AVE Raf-a-licious. But then, hello and goodbye is the song of life.

As for recommendations, replacing Raf-a-licious won't be easy. Not that we lack wonderful RY4s, but the maple flavor in Raf-a-licious was rare in RY4s. I'd almost suggest leaving RY4 Land entirely and trying some Vermillion River Kentucky Maple as a reasonable substitute. Or perhaps DIY using Perfumer's Apprentice RY4 Double flavoring mixed with a little maple flavor concentrate.

Another possibility to replace Raf-a-licious might be vendors such as Mom&PopVaporShop or ECBlend. Both those American vendors have value pricing on custom-made juices. Both offer multiple versions of custom RY4s. Both have a sizable fan base on ECF. I'm pretty sure that either vendor (and others as well) would be happy to customize an RY4 for you with added maple flavoring. Tell them what you want, and they'll do their best to try to please.




Sorry, but I really can't. The issue of value (cost versus satisfaction) is far too complicated to boil down to a simple recommendation. Too many variables are involved, primary among them being the extreme subjectivity of taste. One person's best-bang-for-the-buck favorite bargain valhalla juice is another person's toxic sludge pond scum waste of money. LOL.

You, sir, are quite a wordsmith! Thanks for your outstanding comments and a very entertaining read.

 

[thehangdude]

So I think I found another Ry4 to try... mount baker Vapor RY4 E Juice, 15ml $4.99 + 1.95 shipped lots of options... great deal, here is one review: Different from the other RY4's ive tried. This is more real tobacco esque then others - though I havent tried that many other ry4s yet. It has a slight liquorice taste to it that even though i hate liqourice it seems right. The tobacco flavor is rich and sweet - raisiny like a bag of moist pipe tobacco. The throat hit is a little tamer than the virginia fire cut, but the flavor and vapor production are stellar!

Another thing with Mount Baker (whom I haven't tried) is 30ml bottles are only $6.99. So for $9 shipped, it is worth a try. But don't forget to add "ECF" code at checkout for 10% off!

 

[passerbyeus]

So I skipped the RY4 and made my own with the mix your own option and called it PY4 for passerbyeus4 , cant tell ya what I put in it in case its worth millions hahahaha thats only if I can get Bills stamp on it....

Another thing with Mount Baker (whom I haven't tried) is 30ml bottles are only $6.99. So for $9 shipped, it is worth a try. But don't forget to add "ECF" code at checkout for 10% off!

 

[thehangdude]

Well I got my RY4 from MtBakerVapor in today's mail. It is the same medium brown color as GJ4 from goodejuice. I decided to go ahead and try it out pre-steep. I took a whiff while filling a carto. It reminded me of a French Toast vape that I like. Maple. And it does have a flavor of maple when I vape it. The tobacco and vanilla are in the front, but maple and caramel are easily tasted as well.

Every time I take a drag, I here billherbst's voice asking, "What constitutes an RY4?" (Bill, did you know you sound like George Guidall?) I answered "No" before to chocolate. Now I am not so sure. The maple gives this a different flavor, but it still tastes like an RY4. Maybe this is why I chase the RY4s, to find how far it can go. Maybe this is why RY4 is not called Carnilla Tob.

Then comes another question, one dealing in price. This is not my favorite RY4, but it is very good. At $6.99 for 30ml ($6.29 after "ECF" code), is it a better deal than a $15 bottle I like more? Should I use this during the day, and save the good stuff for evening? No. I only vape 1.5ml per day. At the higher price, 75 cents a day is like three cigarettes. Thank you ecf!

Overall, MtBaker has not disappointed me. Good TH, good vapor (80PG), and a good quality RY4. The maple gives it another dimension, one that time will tell if I can embrace fully.

note: Mt Baker also through in an extra bottle with my small order. They sent me a 15ml bottle of Buttered Popcorn! I am not sure if that flavor is one I can ever embrace as a vape.

 

[Katdarling]

hang,

Pass the popcorn my way. I adore popcorn vapes!

So, I fell prey to a sale on Raf-a-licious, and got a bottle today. I've sampled it and like it but not on a clean atty, so it's a mixed taste. I'll have to go back thru the thread to see the comments on it and whether I agree or not.

Is it being discontinued?

 

[billherbst]

Is [Raf-a-licious] being discontinued?

Kat,

Yes. When the current stock of Raf-a-licious is gone, that's it. Adios. Arrivederci. Dos Vidanya. Goodbye. Forever. The 100ml bottles are already sold out at AVE, but 30ml bottles at various nic concentrations were still in stock as of earlier Tuesday evening (for 20% off, automatically applied at checkout). I forget the reason AVE gave last week for it's being discontinued, but I think it was an inability to obtain the proper flavorings, which is the #1 reason that well-loved retail juices vanish into the black hole of history. (Either that or recipe theft by a certain Dekang flavor chemist, but he's still in prison in China, as far as I know...)

Ah, Raf, we hardly knew ye!

 

[passerbyeus]

Bill any new reviews in the works?

 

[billherbst]

Bill any new reviews in the works?

None currently, given my austerity program of not buying juices (the only juices I buy these days are the daily vapes I can't duplicate or get close to with DIY, and none of those are RY4s).

 

[zogu]

None currently, given my austerity program of not buying juices (the only juices I buy these days are the daily vapes I can't duplicate or get close to with DIY, and none of those are RY4s).

If it is not a secret , what is your all day vape (what flavor)?

 

[billherbst]

If it is not a secret , what is your all day vape (what flavor)?

zogu,

No secret at all. First off, I don't have an all-day vape. I'm as fickle as a bumblebee when it comes to daily vapes. I hardly ever vape one juice for more than about five minutes before I shift to another. My go-to juices change from week to week. Mainly tobacco blends and coffees.

So, what I have on my desk are 26 PVs---eGos, tube mods, box mods, many VVs---each loaded with a different juice. I use lots of kinds of cartos and tanks (Resurrectors, DCs and DC tanks, Boge LRs and SRs, Ultimate CE2s, and Micromizer X7s). I also keep about 50 more cartos loaded and waiting in a cartridge case, plus I have another cartridge case that holds 50 cartos loaded with RY4s for comparison-vaping. I keep a similar arrangement of 25 more loaded PVs on my bedside table for vaping in bed.

Long-term fave tobaccos:
nitelite Bounty Hunter
vermillionriver Kentucky Premium
goodejuice Vita Bella
cloudsofvapor Black and Tan
mom&pop RYO
want2vape Managua
primevaping Natural Tobacco

Long-term fave coffees:
virginvapor Kona Coffee Milkshake
sweet-vapes Kona Latte
backwoodsbrew Espresso
backwoodsbrew Café Mocha
nitelite Capparillo Caffe Latte
coppercreek Coffee

Many DIY juices and some dessert vapes, especially
Strawberry, Strawberry Shortcake, and Strawberry Cheesecake
by numerous vendors and diy, but primevaping particularly

 

[STILLSMOK9]

zogu,

No secret at all. First off, I don't have an all-day vape. I'm as fickle as a bumblebee when it comes to daily vapes. I hardly ever vape one juice for more than about five minutes before I shift to another. My go-to juices change from week to week. Mainly tobacco blends and coffees.

So, what I have on my desk are 26 PVs---eGos, tube mods, box mods, many VVs---each loaded with a different juice. I use lots of kinds of cartos and tanks (Resurrectors, DCs and DC tanks, Boge LRs and SRs, Ultimate CE2s, and Micromizer X7s). I also keep about 50 more cartos loaded and waiting in a cartridge case, plus I have another cartridge case that holds 50 cartos loaded with RY4s for comparison-vaping. I keep a similar arrangement of 25 more loaded PVs on my bedside table for vaping in bed.

Long-term fave tobaccos:
nitelite Bounty Hunter
vermillionriver Kentucky Premium
goodejuice Vita Bella
cloudsofvapor Black and Tan
mom&pop RYO
want2vape Managua
primevaping Natural Tobacco

Long-term fave coffees:
virginvapor Kona Coffee Milkshake
sweet-vapes Kona Latte
backwoodsbrew Espresso
backwoodsbrew Café Mocha
nitelite Capparillo Caffe Latte
coppercreek Coffee

Many DIY juices and some dessert vapes, especially
Strawberry, Strawberry Shortcake, and Strawberry Cheesecake
by numerous vendors and diy, but primevaping particularly

View attachment 84902

Bill,

Is that Bounty Hunter in that spray bottle?

 

[siampumpkin]

I thought I would give everyone my quick review of RY4 from DeejStuff. I am just finishing my first tank of it and it is a good mellow version of the famous and loved RY4. Not too sweet with nice Caramel and Vanilla swirls on the inhale and nice nutty tones (almost like Hazelnuts) on the exhale. A nice mellow evening RY4 which could easily be an all day vape. This time I went with 60/40 blend at 150% flavor strength. Nice stuff and highly recommended.

 

[billherbst]

Bill,

Is that Bounty Hunter in that spray bottle?

Still,

Nah, it's that famous eliquid blend, Diluted Simple Green. Much tastier than that other famous eliquid, Windsield Washer Fluid.

 

[sandybeach]

Bill,

Is that Bounty Hunter in that spray bottle?

I've got that same bullet case to keep cartos in; it's the bomb!

 

[billherbst]

I've got that same bullet case to keep cartos in; it's the bomb!

sandy,

Almost. Yours has rectangular compartments (square holes); mine has round holes sized for .45 caliber cartridges. No matter. Ammo boxes work great for our purposes, don't they?

Now I need to find cheap plastic ammo boxes to store all 100 of the 3ml plastic dropper-top bottles and one dram glass eyedropper bottles I keep on my desk to top up cartos. I'm not a gun guy, though, so all the different types and sizes of ammo are bewildering. All I know so far (from Wikipedia) is that .50-cal is too big (20mm shell base), and 30-06 is too small (12mm shell base). Oh well, with luck I'll find one that works...

Not that it's any profound revelation, but I'm always amazed to discover that behind every consumer-based interest or activity, there lies an entire universe of infrastructure supplies and parts. I don't care what we're talking about---from molding boards for historic building restoration through hang-gliding equipment to guitar strings. Anything and everything. It's like Alice down the rabbit hole into Wonderland every time I have a reason to open up another of those doorways. I wonder how long that fantasy will last?

 

[Lowjack12]

Does steeping improve RY4s? The very simplistic and general answer is (in my opinion): Well, duh! Sure it does.

A truer answer is probably: Maybe. It depends...

Consider soup. Soup isn't just vegetables in broth. Soup is, well, soup. Those vegetables, grains, and meats in a liquid broth undergo a transformation that usually requires cooking. In the vaping world, steeping is the equivalent of cooking, akin to letting grape juice become fine wine by aging in casks. Steeping gives the individual flavor ingredients time to adjust to their new home---to move in and get comfortable in the PG/VG base---and also gives them time to get to know (and hopefully love) the other flavorings in their apartment building.

As a general rule, the overwhelming majority of RY4s benefit from steeping. How much? Well, classic RY4s (meaning from China) tend to improve less with steeping, because the primary ingredients in their simpler flavor profile (tobacco-caramel-vanilla) already love each other before being mixed and are hot to jump in the sack together the minute they arrive in the bottle together. Even so, some steeping is likely to help even classic, straightforward RY4s.

The greatest benefits of steeping, however, are seen in artisan-crafted custom RY4s (mostly made in the U.S. by the individual vendors that sell them). These custom RY4s tend to be more complex and use more flavorings than classic RY4s, and that added complexity requires more “cooking” time to become great “soup.” Custom RY4s are often made-to-order and arrive in the mailbox within two or three days of their born-on dates, so they’re not yet mature. The individual flavors don’t know each other well and need extra time to meld, blend, and make happy-happy together.

Probably the most “famous” example on ECF of custom RY4s that benefit from long steeping times is BackwoodsBrew RY4. Posters often report that BWB RY4 continues to improve in yumminess with each successive month. The more months it steeps, the better it gets. This is not to suggest that one shouldn’t vape BWB RY4 (or any other juice) fresh from the mail, merely that aging the juice helps its flavor profile to mature and emerge fully.

Another case in point is SpringVapor Black Label RY4. I reviewed this decidedly custom and complex RY4 back on January 27th, about six weeks ago. Knowing that Black Label was made-to-order, I’d let it steep a week before doing my review. At the time, I preferred SpringVapor’s other RY4, called Fall Harvest, which is a more classic RY4 and has a simpler flavor profile. I felt then that Black Label’s atypical mix of complex flavors pushed the envelope of an RY4 profile almost too far.

Yesterday, I got out my Black Label RY4 carto and gave it another go. The extra month and a half of steeping improved the juice immensely. Individual flavors had receded as the complex mix moved into union. Was this a different creature that had undergone some magical transformation, like the caterpillar that secretes a chrysalis to morph into a butterfly? Well, no. The “new” Black Label RY4 was still clearly recognizable as an older version of the “young” Black Label, but it was so much better! Deeper, richer, and more satisfying, like a gawky adolescent who had matured into an attractive adult.

The moral of the story is “Give Juice a Chance” (Egad, shades of John Lennon and Yoko Ono interviewed in bed together in 1969!). We should remember to not be too quick to pass harsh judgment on fresh juices. At the very least, we would be well-advised to revisit new juices a month or two down the road, to see what steeping can do to bring out their best.

This applies to all eliquids, of course, but especially to the more complex, multi-flavor tobacco blends, such as custom RY4s.

Do you steep with the bottle opened or closed?

 

[billherbst]

Do you steep with the bottle opened or closed?

Lowjack,

I've done both, but it turns out that organizing the safe cabinet space and maintaining the relative attentiveness required by open-bottle steeping is more gumption than I have. I hoped for more improvement than I got with two-week open-bottle steeping, so the relatively high hassle-to-reward ratio didn't pass muster for me.

Maybe open-bottle steeping is better (I don't know), but it's too much trouble for me.

 

[mia347]

Been meaning to give my response to this post's rating on VapeRite Organic VR4. Smelled and tasted like freshly mowed grass or awful weed, even after steeping. Threw it out.

 

[billherbst]

Been meaning to give my response to this post's rating on VapeRite Organic VR4. Smelled and tasted like freshly mowed grass or awful weed, even after steeping. Threw it out.

mia,

More evidence that taste is subjective. Many vapers who read this thread love VR4. But so what? The only taste buds that matter are yours. If you don't like hot dogs, the fact that millions of other people love hot dogs won't change your disliking them one whit.

 

[urquidezj]

so far the best ry4 ive had is mom and pop ry4v2. the madvapes one was too plant grass like. fsusa ry4 wasnt good at all tasted like their wyatt earp just not as strong. i went ahead and ordered some from mt baker. i did the diy mixes we will see how good i did when they get here lol.