specs: The 15ml samples of The Duke, Kick Back, and Santa’s Sauce that were sent to me free for review by Tony at IndigoVapor contain transparent liquids---caramel-colored for Kick Back and Santa’s Sauce, golden for The Duke---at 18mg nic strength. Base blend for each was unspecified, but, given their thicker viscosity, I’d guess 50/50 PG/VG at a minimum, and perhaps 40/60 or even 30/70. They might even be all-VG, except for the flavorings. All three juices had the kind of natural sweetness inherent in a high ratio of VG. Born on dates were 12/18/2012 for The Duke, and 12/23/2012 for both Kick Back and Santa’s Sauce. I let the three juices steep unopened in their bottles for 11 days after receiving them.
test hardware: Each juice was vaped by dripping into a 2.5 ohm IKV i06 atomizer powered by a VAMO variable power APV set to 8 watts RMS.
First off, I presume that these tobacco blend juices were made with synthetic, lab-based tobacco flavorings. Since nothing is mentioned anywhere I could find on the IndigoVapor web site referring to NET (naturally extracted tobacco), that conclusion seems reasonable. I prefer NETs to synthetics, but the bottom line is how the juice tastes, not the manner in which the tobacco flavoring was created. Good NETs are better to me than good synthetics, but good synthetics are much preferable to lousy NETs. These juices are good synthetics.
The vast majority of tobacco blend eliquids are still synthetic-based, but that is slowly changing as more NET-based tobaccos appear in the marketplace.
The Duke
product page description: “Our signature tobacco eJuice! Enjoy a bold yet subtle Tobacco vape accented by a semi-sweet note . Like all of our e Liquids The Duke provides exceptional vapor production and throat hit. Satisfying enough that The Man himself would vape it.”
My first inhalation of The Duke confirmed its heritage of synthetic tobacco. Memories of Dekang tobaccos wafted up from my brain’s associative memory storage. Since I stopped vaping Dekang and other Chinese synthetic tobaccos more than a year ago, the memory association was almost sentimental in a strange sort of way. I experienced a paradoxical combination of pleasure and disappointment.
The flavor profile was generally tasty and pleasing---nothing like “real” tobacco (smoked), of course---but familiar in the now-classic mold of how tobacco flavor has generally been presented in eliquids. The imitated tobacco varietal seemed to be Virginian mainly. Judged from that perspective, the flavor was potent and punchy, with minimal throat hit and maximum vapor production and mouth feel (so characteristic of mostly-VG base blends). On the other hand, the flavor was not at all what I have now come to expect from tobacco juices, since I vape NETs almost exclusively these days (except for RY4s, which are still mostly synthetics). To my current palate, The Duke's predominant flavor was imitation tobacco.
The juice is well-made, with other flavorings in the mix so completely integrated that only a single overall flavor emerges. Not a bad vape, but also not something I would reach for among all my tobacco juices.
Kick Back
product page description: “Just like the name suggests... Kick back, relax, and enjoy this Rich, and Robust Tobacco with a nice smokey touch to it.”
Now that I was steeled against being dragged back into The Duke’s world of synthetic tobacco flavorings, Kick Back came as a lovely surprise. Less aggressively tobacco-flavored and much milder than The Duke, I found the overall flavor profile of Kick Back truly enjoyable. My guess about why I like it so much more is that the other flavorings used in the mix are stepped up, while the tobacco flavoring gives up center stage and performs more as an ensemble player. As in The Duke, those other flavors are similarly mysterious to my palate, but that’s a good thing. They are well-blended and very tasty, and all the flavorings in Kick Back play well together.
Kick Back is a lovely juice, and a sterling example of how to use synthetic tobacco flavoring to produce a wonderful end result. Kick Back is simply delicious.
Santa’s Sauce
product page description: “This special blend of tobacco, chocolate and other holiday goodies is sure to please! This is what Old Saint Nick himself vapes to relax after a long night of delivery presents! This is staying on the site. Because let's face it. Everyday should be like Christmas.”
None of the three juices up for review here are sweeter dessert blends. They are all tobacco blends. Tobacco flavor is strongest in The Duke, less so in Kick Back, and slightly further diminished in Santa’s Surprise, a holiday blend that Indigo has now added to its permanent line.
Tobacco and chocolate, eh? Well, not in the way one might think. This is not a chocolate-tobacco blend. To my palate, it’s a tobacco infused with the creamy feel of chocolate, rather than the obvious flavor of chocolate itself. In short, it’s a creamy tobacco with just the merest hint of something chocolate-like in the finish. And that’s a good thing, because chocolate is among the most difficult popular food flavors to translate into vaping goodness. Fruits and vanillas are easy. Now that NETs are coming to the marketplace, tobacco flavors are more realistic and satisfying. Chocolates, however, are difficult to get right. Tony is to be congratulated for not overloading Santa’s Surprise with chocolate. His decision to keep the chocolate subtle is very smart, and yes, the creamy tobacco blend he came up with deserves to be offered all year ‘round.
So, two out of three of these juices are winners. The Duke fails for me (sorry, Tony)---a synthetic tobacco throwback in a world of burgeoning (and better) NETs---but Kick Back and Santa’s Surprise are both worthy offerings in IndigoVapor’s line-up of quality juices. Kick Back is my favorite.
Links to purchase:
The Duke from IndigoVapor
Kick Back from IndigoVapor
Santa’s Sauce from IndigoVapor
test hardware: Each juice was vaped by dripping into a 2.5 ohm IKV i06 atomizer powered by a VAMO variable power APV set to 8 watts RMS.
First off, I presume that these tobacco blend juices were made with synthetic, lab-based tobacco flavorings. Since nothing is mentioned anywhere I could find on the IndigoVapor web site referring to NET (naturally extracted tobacco), that conclusion seems reasonable. I prefer NETs to synthetics, but the bottom line is how the juice tastes, not the manner in which the tobacco flavoring was created. Good NETs are better to me than good synthetics, but good synthetics are much preferable to lousy NETs. These juices are good synthetics.
The vast majority of tobacco blend eliquids are still synthetic-based, but that is slowly changing as more NET-based tobaccos appear in the marketplace.
The Duke
product page description: “Our signature tobacco eJuice! Enjoy a bold yet subtle Tobacco vape accented by a semi-sweet note . Like all of our e Liquids The Duke provides exceptional vapor production and throat hit. Satisfying enough that The Man himself would vape it.”
My first inhalation of The Duke confirmed its heritage of synthetic tobacco. Memories of Dekang tobaccos wafted up from my brain’s associative memory storage. Since I stopped vaping Dekang and other Chinese synthetic tobaccos more than a year ago, the memory association was almost sentimental in a strange sort of way. I experienced a paradoxical combination of pleasure and disappointment.
The flavor profile was generally tasty and pleasing---nothing like “real” tobacco (smoked), of course---but familiar in the now-classic mold of how tobacco flavor has generally been presented in eliquids. The imitated tobacco varietal seemed to be Virginian mainly. Judged from that perspective, the flavor was potent and punchy, with minimal throat hit and maximum vapor production and mouth feel (so characteristic of mostly-VG base blends). On the other hand, the flavor was not at all what I have now come to expect from tobacco juices, since I vape NETs almost exclusively these days (except for RY4s, which are still mostly synthetics). To my current palate, The Duke's predominant flavor was imitation tobacco.
The juice is well-made, with other flavorings in the mix so completely integrated that only a single overall flavor emerges. Not a bad vape, but also not something I would reach for among all my tobacco juices.
Kick Back
product page description: “Just like the name suggests... Kick back, relax, and enjoy this Rich, and Robust Tobacco with a nice smokey touch to it.”
Now that I was steeled against being dragged back into The Duke’s world of synthetic tobacco flavorings, Kick Back came as a lovely surprise. Less aggressively tobacco-flavored and much milder than The Duke, I found the overall flavor profile of Kick Back truly enjoyable. My guess about why I like it so much more is that the other flavorings used in the mix are stepped up, while the tobacco flavoring gives up center stage and performs more as an ensemble player. As in The Duke, those other flavors are similarly mysterious to my palate, but that’s a good thing. They are well-blended and very tasty, and all the flavorings in Kick Back play well together.
Kick Back is a lovely juice, and a sterling example of how to use synthetic tobacco flavoring to produce a wonderful end result. Kick Back is simply delicious.
Santa’s Sauce
product page description: “This special blend of tobacco, chocolate and other holiday goodies is sure to please! This is what Old Saint Nick himself vapes to relax after a long night of delivery presents! This is staying on the site. Because let's face it. Everyday should be like Christmas.”
None of the three juices up for review here are sweeter dessert blends. They are all tobacco blends. Tobacco flavor is strongest in The Duke, less so in Kick Back, and slightly further diminished in Santa’s Surprise, a holiday blend that Indigo has now added to its permanent line.
Tobacco and chocolate, eh? Well, not in the way one might think. This is not a chocolate-tobacco blend. To my palate, it’s a tobacco infused with the creamy feel of chocolate, rather than the obvious flavor of chocolate itself. In short, it’s a creamy tobacco with just the merest hint of something chocolate-like in the finish. And that’s a good thing, because chocolate is among the most difficult popular food flavors to translate into vaping goodness. Fruits and vanillas are easy. Now that NETs are coming to the marketplace, tobacco flavors are more realistic and satisfying. Chocolates, however, are difficult to get right. Tony is to be congratulated for not overloading Santa’s Surprise with chocolate. His decision to keep the chocolate subtle is very smart, and yes, the creamy tobacco blend he came up with deserves to be offered all year ‘round.
So, two out of three of these juices are winners. The Duke fails for me (sorry, Tony)---a synthetic tobacco throwback in a world of burgeoning (and better) NETs---but Kick Back and Santa’s Surprise are both worthy offerings in IndigoVapor’s line-up of quality juices. Kick Back is my favorite.
Links to purchase:
The Duke from IndigoVapor
Kick Back from IndigoVapor
Santa’s Sauce from IndigoVapor
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