Hi there,
The first thing I remember when I think of my first vaping experience (almost half a year ago) is the terrible taste.. it was especially the after-taste that turned me off. The juice was some type of 'dekang rolling tobacco' flavour. And although it did not turn me off starting to vape myself, I tasted the same thing many times when I tried yet another type of tobacco flavouring. I'm still not sure what it is, but I think it is caused either by artificial sweeteners (I'm very sensitive to all those diet drinks, which give me a similarly terrible after-taste) or it is caused by some residu in the nic liquid itself (the base used by some manufacturers; this possibility came to my mind after I received some nic base that had the same awful taste).
Since then I tried several things to find my favourite juice. Browsed through all the info, lists and reviews about e-liquids on the different forums. Tried some out myself (but can not try them all: most e-liquid sold sold in my country is in online shops, so I need to order most of it on the internet and it would easily become a very costly adventure if I tried a lot of them). I also ordered some DIY stuff, VG and PG from different suppliers, some distilled and deionified water, a bunch of concentrated flavours (mostly dessert flavours from respectable brands like Perfumers Apprentice, Capella, Tast Puffs), and all the necessary bottles and needles to do the mixing and steeping. I could write a long story about it, but the short version is that I liked none of them much. And some are simply awful. So I have a drawer full of bottles now, but do not use most of it. I guess some of you might recognise that ;-)
Coming from smoking analogs, the whole idea of artificial flavourings didn't appeal to me very much anyway. I'm not someone with a sweetish appetite, and a juice with a flavouring of cheese, smoked fish, fried bacon or paella is of course even more hilarious..
Looking for juices with a minimal flavour profile I discovered the EcoPure line from Intellicig. I really liked it. Very clean with an almost indiscernible flavour, especially in the 'regular' type. The 'rich' variant has some very subtle sweetness in it. Since I tried it, the ecopure stuff has become my daily vape. I started with the strongest nic level of 15mg, which is incredibly strong stuff. This probably helped me getting off the analogs, but I tend to mix it down more and more (using VG and a drop of water), not because I have plans to quit vaping (I do not) but simply because the stuff is way too strong. You may think why I refer to 15mg as 'incredibly strong' but that is because their marketing is quite misleading. Intellicig measures the nic content in mg per capsule (which is 1/3 of a ml), so their 15mg stuff comes down to 45mg/ml. That's what I mean with incredibly strong.
Apart from the fact that I don't like being dependent on one supplier (as with everything; I like freedom of choice) I do not like the fact that intellicig has become part of BAT. For me, one of the nice things of vaping is to become independent of these big tobacco companies, so to find out that I am still sponsoring them was not such a nice discovery.
So my quest for alternatives continues, but I have not been very successful with that yet. Tried to recreate the ecopure stuff (using different combinations of VG, water and Ethyl Malthol) but I never came close. Also tried some other mildish flavours on the market. One that I found recently, which comes close in (the absence of) strong flavours, is RY4 18mg from Jwell (a French company that opened a vape shop in my city), which has almost no flavour and some nice but almost indiscernible undertones.
Anyone else on the hunt for subtle and clean flavours outside the categories of tobaccos, fruits, sweets, nuts, chocolates, coffees? I would like to know about your findings!
The first thing I remember when I think of my first vaping experience (almost half a year ago) is the terrible taste.. it was especially the after-taste that turned me off. The juice was some type of 'dekang rolling tobacco' flavour. And although it did not turn me off starting to vape myself, I tasted the same thing many times when I tried yet another type of tobacco flavouring. I'm still not sure what it is, but I think it is caused either by artificial sweeteners (I'm very sensitive to all those diet drinks, which give me a similarly terrible after-taste) or it is caused by some residu in the nic liquid itself (the base used by some manufacturers; this possibility came to my mind after I received some nic base that had the same awful taste).
Since then I tried several things to find my favourite juice. Browsed through all the info, lists and reviews about e-liquids on the different forums. Tried some out myself (but can not try them all: most e-liquid sold sold in my country is in online shops, so I need to order most of it on the internet and it would easily become a very costly adventure if I tried a lot of them). I also ordered some DIY stuff, VG and PG from different suppliers, some distilled and deionified water, a bunch of concentrated flavours (mostly dessert flavours from respectable brands like Perfumers Apprentice, Capella, Tast Puffs), and all the necessary bottles and needles to do the mixing and steeping. I could write a long story about it, but the short version is that I liked none of them much. And some are simply awful. So I have a drawer full of bottles now, but do not use most of it. I guess some of you might recognise that ;-)
Coming from smoking analogs, the whole idea of artificial flavourings didn't appeal to me very much anyway. I'm not someone with a sweetish appetite, and a juice with a flavouring of cheese, smoked fish, fried bacon or paella is of course even more hilarious..
Looking for juices with a minimal flavour profile I discovered the EcoPure line from Intellicig. I really liked it. Very clean with an almost indiscernible flavour, especially in the 'regular' type. The 'rich' variant has some very subtle sweetness in it. Since I tried it, the ecopure stuff has become my daily vape. I started with the strongest nic level of 15mg, which is incredibly strong stuff. This probably helped me getting off the analogs, but I tend to mix it down more and more (using VG and a drop of water), not because I have plans to quit vaping (I do not) but simply because the stuff is way too strong. You may think why I refer to 15mg as 'incredibly strong' but that is because their marketing is quite misleading. Intellicig measures the nic content in mg per capsule (which is 1/3 of a ml), so their 15mg stuff comes down to 45mg/ml. That's what I mean with incredibly strong.
Apart from the fact that I don't like being dependent on one supplier (as with everything; I like freedom of choice) I do not like the fact that intellicig has become part of BAT. For me, one of the nice things of vaping is to become independent of these big tobacco companies, so to find out that I am still sponsoring them was not such a nice discovery.
So my quest for alternatives continues, but I have not been very successful with that yet. Tried to recreate the ecopure stuff (using different combinations of VG, water and Ethyl Malthol) but I never came close. Also tried some other mildish flavours on the market. One that I found recently, which comes close in (the absence of) strong flavours, is RY4 18mg from Jwell (a French company that opened a vape shop in my city), which has almost no flavour and some nice but almost indiscernible undertones.
Anyone else on the hunt for subtle and clean flavours outside the categories of tobaccos, fruits, sweets, nuts, chocolates, coffees? I would like to know about your findings!
