You get what you pay for?

[JJBandit]

Hi Folks,

I'm fairly new to vaping, and have found it really does help me quit smoking, however i'm having a bad time with e-liquids.

I was recommended to buy from an online store and got all my kit including some samplers. All was well other than deciding to get a gold blend tobacco flavour.. That was a mistake.

But now i have started i have been looking around for different flavours and noticed there are a lot of different prices.

After trying some of the different priced flavours, i'm starting to think that you really do get what you pay for.

Would you agree that the cheaper the liquid the worse it is? for example, i got some from the original store and was charged £6.99 for 10ml, compared to some i got at the local market which was 2 for £5. The ones from the market after a few puffs seem to give me a really dry throat, like when you smoke and hiccup at the same time which makes you cough and makes your throat really dry and slightly burning.

My question is really that is this more likely due to the percentages of the VG and PG? or is this due to the quality of the liquids?

Should i really be investing a little more cash in getting the more expensive liquids?

Any advice welcomed

 

[Bookworm]

I think some of the really cheap juices are not great. But I also don't care for a lot of really pricey vendors. All of my favorite juices are mid range in price. You really just have to try a bunch until you find some flavors you really like.

 

[KurrptSenate]

I would mostly agree with that sentiment when it comes to juice and it's quality

not always the case, but I find it's correct 9 times out of 10

 

[Susan~S]

Hello and welcome to the forum. Glad to have you here!

Juice is very subjective. Price has very little to do with it. I have vaped very expensive juice that I didn't care for (not that the juice was bad) and I tried some inexpensive juice flavors that were great.

Your best bet would be to head down to your local vape shop and "taste test" some of their flavors in their juice bar.

 

[B2L]

Susan is exactly right, there are good and bad at both ends of the price spectrum and what I love you may hate (and vice versa). Finding your favorites, like with anything, is a journey. Enjoy the journey

 

[renacer]

As a general rule, yes, you get what you pay for. The bottom rung e-liquids are the ones sold at gas stations for the most part. But quality involves more than price. For example, my brick and mortar shop of choice sells all its 30 ml bottles for $15 and obviously some flavors are much better than others. They also allow 60/40 VG PG or 80/20 or 100/0 all for the same price.

I think higher VG levels are essential for ex-smokers to achieve satisfaction. Yes, the PG provides the throat hit but so does the nicotine and the flavoring. The problem with a lot of people just starting out is their VG levels are way too low which I think is the biggest contributor to an unsatisfactory vape.

 

[Kloudz]

My local b&m sells 30ml, your choice of ratio blend and extra flavor for $2.99

 

[Light Seeker]

I see no correlation between price and what my taste buds prefer. Just pull a chair up to the juice bar, try everything. When you find something you want to get .... Only then ask the price. You may be pleasantly surprised

 

[Fattlestar]

Price and taste have not worked in unison for me. I've tried 7 different "premium" juice lines and none of them were worth the extra 10$ a bottle. Now I avoid almost everything that has "premium" in the description because, for me, it's a load of garbage. I've had more success with cheap labels.

Really you should cast a wide net. Try premiums, try budgets, just keep trying new juices until you find the ones you actually like. Every juice maker is going to be different, and some excellent liquids are budget priced.

If you can't find juice that suits you, you can start down the long and winding road of DIY juice.

 

[OlderNDirt]

Welcome to ECF, Bandit!

Good suggestions to which I would only add, whether on line or from your local B&M, buy your first juices in the smallest bottles. Buy the bigger bottles once you find it is something you like.

 

[Light Seeker]

Good tips. And as a new vapor, need to understand it's not like cigs.... Where everyone has their brand and continually smokes only that. With vaping, it's often a lot more pleasurable to vape 3 or 4 flavors through out the day, continually changing them up. Flavors that I once considered my 'all day vape' I can no longer stand

 

[K_Tech]

I've had "cheap" e-liquids that I've really enjoyed, and I've had premium e-liquids that I found unpalatable. It's all a matter of taste. I don't discriminate against cheap e-liquids, and I don't worship high-dollar liquids.

 

[djsvapour]

NOT NECESSARILY

I buy some £1 liquids, £2.40 liquids and quite a lot at £2.49. One of my favourites is £5.40 for 30ml.

I prefer it to all the £4.99 rubbish on the market. There are good and bad liquids at both ends of the price scale.

Most of the liquid on the UK market is there to make money (and lots of it) for the companies that sell it. It costs 20p to make and they sell it for £4.99.

I've vaped everything from 18p liquid (homemade) to £7.49 liquid. Drawing the conclusion "you get what you pay for" is not necessarily true.

 

[Alter]

Buying juice is a lot of hit and miss, more miss than hit for me. My wife liked a B&M juice that was 20 bucks for 15 mls so I went on a mission of ordering from many companies to try to find a cheaper alternative, lots of YUK but some good and finally after many many dollars spent I found one she liked that was 15 bucks for 50 mls. She likes 1 juice and been vaping it for months.
I like many different flavors, can't vape the same one for any time but have only found 1 juice that I say I could vape all the time and it comes from Israel. IMO its the smell of a freshly opened pack of cigs in a taste.
I have just recently found out that I can buy drams of Lorann flavorings in the bulk barn discount store so I've been adding some flavorings to change some of my not fond of juices and liking them. Adding wintermint to a bland cream/custard drastically changes the taste to a awesome mint without the menthol (like those white chalky lifesavers). I found 1 drop per mil was good.

 

[JRohrer]

I find it best to join a juice of the month club to get a sampling of brands and flavors available. There are so many brands and flavors that it is hard to know where to start sometimes.

 

[Bjorhyn]

My local b&m sells 30ml, your choice of ratio blend and extra flavor for $2.99

Damn. That's pretty handy.
Mind pm'ing me which one? Unless the juice is terrible, of course.

 

[Light Seeker]

Haha... Have saved many not so good juices by a couple drops of Bavarian cream, caramel, or some menthol crystals

 

[Vatigu]

I kinda screwed myself up. I picked up EZ duz it by ruthless and it was really freakin good (definitely the best juice I've had so far) but it's $18/15ml and I go through at least 30ml a week. More expensive than smoking was... and now I've been to 3 vapor bars and haven't found anything half as delicious... So yes at this point it feels like you get what you pay for.

 

[Alter]

I kinda screwed myself up. I picked up EZ duz it by ruthless and it was really freakin good (definitely the best juice I've had so far) but it's $18/15ml and I go through at least 30ml a week. More expensive than smoking was... and now I've been to 3 vapor bars and haven't found anything half as delicious... So yes at this point it feels like you get what you pay for.

Yes you sound like my wife. She likes 1 flavor and vapes it 24/7 along with her pink provari she has had now for almost 2 years using it also 24/7. I can get her to try one of my vapes but only just a few hits then hands it back to me. She vapes @5 mls a day.
So I see it as a investment of money spent that is now being saved finding her a cheaper vape is now being spent by me to enhance both our vapes. But you can have the best of the best juice and if your delivery system is crappy the juice will be crappy. So your gear definitely affects the taste of the juice.

 

[Cowboy192]

I don't go by price, I go by reputation, reviews and most importantly personal taste, I've had some expensive juice that I really couldn't vape, but then I've had the same with some cheap ones too, just a word of warning though, if your new to vaping don't overstock on any one juice or you may find that in a month or two when your taste buds fully recover you have lots of flavours that used to be nice