*NEW E-LIQUID REVIEW* Dark Cherry by Joozed

Recommended to me by CCR Vape Bar, ‘Dark Cherry’ by Joozed is forged in the heart of Herefordshire and I was intrigued to see what all of the fuss was about.

I like to think that over the years I’ve acquired somewhat of a more well rounded and discernible palate when it comes to tasting and reviewing e-liquids, so I was interested to see how I’d get on with this flavour.

In fact, my very, very, very first e-liquid back in 2015 was an off-brand, cheap and nasty cherry tunes flavour that was beyond vile, it left me with a bad taste in my mouth both literally and figuratively. So just before trying this instalment from Joozed, I admit I had a bit of trepidation at first, but all feelings of apprehension were allayed as soon as I took that initial puff.

Simplicity is often overlooked when it comes to e-liquid manufacturing but complexity is not always necessary in creating a decent e-liquid.

Notes of sweet, saccharine glacé cherries bubble to the top of the inhale giving a deep and flavourful vape, without being overwhelming. The lighter cherry tones are followed closely by a rich and dark cherry, highly reminiscent of the fruit itself. 

The relationship between these two cherry variants combine to create an unmistakably delectable and well-thought-out overall flavour. It has sweetness, it has tartness and it has a powerful fruity blast - what more could you want?

One of the things I enjoyed most about this flavour was the relative absence of unnecessary additions - no ice, no cream nor any other complicated elements.

You know when a flavour is good when it stands up on its own and is conveyed extremely well, making it an easy choice for any vaper who enjoys fruit-based e-liquids.

Thanks for the recommendation Simon!

Go to https://ccrvape.co.uk/ to grab this one of a kind flavour as well as the other e-liquids in the Joozed line.

*NEW E-LIQUID REVIEW* Inca by Digbys

Massive thanks to Digbys for providing me with this e-liquid to review.

To absolutely no-ones surprise, the latest offering from Digbys is, as you’d expect, on fleek (I’m no longer down with the kids, so I hope I used this phrase correctly!).

A new, complex take on a typical RY4 flavour, Inca is certainly one for the dessert fans out there.

It incorporates a diverse blend of earthy and nutty tobacco, rich caramel and smooth vanilla bean. When it comes to tobacco based flavours, a common miscalculation can sometimes lead to it tasting smokey and even burnt. This in itself isn’t too much of an issue, but in RY4 flavours, I much prefer a delicate and subtle tobacco. So, when I first tried Inca, I was impressed by how there were no smokey undertones - definitely an attribute I could appreciate.

The caramel element to this e-liquid not only balances the tobacco notes, but offers vapers a rich, multi-layered sweetness that comes across as both complex and whole tasting. The subtle notes of vanilla bean encompasses the flavour overall, it provides a smooth base for the tobacco and caramel to flourish.

With a VG:PG ratio of 65:35, this e-liquid is ideal to use in a sub-ohm set up, even more basic kits could handle it too.

This flavour is currently available in 0mg, 50ml shortfills that require nicotine shots to bring it up to your preferred nicotine strength.

Overall, I would say that I was surprised at how good this flavour was, but I already knew Inca was going to be pure gold before I tried it - it’s what I’ve come to expect from Digbys!

*NEW E-LIQUID REVIEW* Juice Roll-Upz Salt Range

Juice Roll-Upz as a manufacturer, holds a special place in my heart. One of their most popular flavours, Blue Raspberry, was the first flavour of its kind that I tried way back in the day. After becoming engulfed in trying and reviewing the hazy mass of eliquids thrown about over the years, my attention to Juice Roll-Upz  had somewhat waned, but the flavour, and my positive memory of it never did.

I feel that as a reviewer, my palate has become much more refined and only top of the line flavours seem to impress me. So after trying literally thousands (I’m not even exaggerating!) only a few meet my strict standards and therefore make the cut.

Juice Roll-Upz offers me a comfortingly familiar set of flavours, and a subtle but noticeable sense of nostalgia takes over on every puff.

I was lucky enough to have visited the World Vape Show in Dubai recently and came home with a few absolutely STUNNING flavours. They are all 30ml and 25mg/ml salt nicotine.

Grape

A keep it simple approach seems to be the way forward with this particular eliquid, a juicy, sherbet-like grape stands out on its own. No over complication is needed as it is both intense and mouth watering. I loved the intriguing sour sensation on my tongue, and the consistent flavour throughout.

Wild Berry Punch

Juice Roll-Upz signature candy edge is well and truly present in this eliquid. There are elements of ripe, mixed berries that emanate both fresh and expertly crafted vibes. The sweet candy notes, and the bold berries are met with a revitalising and complex fruit punch that can only be described as heavenly. This is a flavour that lasts all day, and you’ll never get sick of it.

Blue Raspberry

Just as I remembered it, Blue Raspberry is powerful, sour yet sweet and has the unmistakable candied taste that is synonymous with Juice Roll-Upz .

That sweetness is present in all of the flavours that I have tried from them, and that they are famous for. The sweetness found in these eliquids is positively perplexing as it doesn’t get overpowering or sickly yet it still retains a good level of mouth watering, sugary deliciousness. The ideal all day vape!

Overall, a massive thank you to Juice Roll-Upz for creating such a stellar line up. It’s not often I find that every flavour stands out, and for that massive kudos to them!

*NEW NIC SALT JUICE REVIEW* GRAPE & CHERRY BY FROSTBITE

Today I popped in to one of my favourite vaping haunts, CCR Vape Bar Hereford, and have decided to try a highly recommended nicotine salt eLiquid - Grape & Cherry by Frostbite.

Due to my ever evolving preferences when it comes to vaping, I have grown rather partial to small, simple pod style devices and fruity/icy 20mg nic salts. So when the folks at CCR suggested that I should try this eLiquid, I was excited to see what all the fuss was about.

I soon chucked a new coil in and filled up a pod - and, well, the Lost Vape Orion isn’t exactly known for its flavour production, but the taste was conveyed well and was surprisingly impressive, intense and mouth watering - despite the rather basic MTL capabilities. The grape is both juicy and well rounded and offers a candy-like smoothness that is then combined with a sharp, slightly sour cherry. But hands down the best feature of this particular eLiquid would be the perfectly calculated amount of iciness.

The candy/fruit notes are swept together with a cool inhale and are brought to life even further by an ear tingling, throat freezing exhale.

If you are usually a fan of fruity, candy and/or ice based flavours, then I’d highly recommend this eliquid. It is available in 10ml, and in 10mg and 20mg nic salts.

*NEW E-LIQUID REVIEW* Digbys ‘Grapple’ A new favourite???

A quintessential aspect of living in the UK is how we like to mention the weather at every opportunity. And so, I will be indulging this stereotype to say that this flavour from Digbys has arrived just in time for the hottest weekend of the year...so far.

An instant favourite of mine, Grapple is a refreshing blend of fresh and crispy Fuji apples, sweet Concorde grape and a revitalising swoop of mixed citrus punch.

The grape is full bodied and has a candy-like texture, I noticed a subtle sweetness to it that is complemented by a bold and energising apple. The citrus notes are in the perfect quantities, enough to enhance the overall flavour, but not so much so that it takes away from the grape and apple elements.

My favourite thing about this flavour was the fusion of invigorating fruits, and just the right amount of sweetness - making it ideal for vaping all day long.

It is obvious that careful consideration was taken when designing such an iconic and well executed flavour. The complex combination of fruity flavours just oozes summertime vibes although I would enjoy this every day of the year!

If you think you’d like this eLiquid, it will be available to order from the
15th June from their website www.digbysjuices.co.uk

*NEW E-LIQUID REVIEW* Digby's Strawberries & Cream

Another massive thank you to Digby's for sending this amazing new flavour for me to review!

Digby's and I go way back – DMC was my first ever vanilla custard flavour, and it still sits comfortably within my top eliquids of all time. So when I was contacted and informed about this latest flavour from them, I knew it was going to be something special.

Strawberries & Cream is a notoriously intricate flavour profile to execute, and many that I have tried previously came across as artificial or overly sweet, therefore masking the overall taste.

But, when I finally chucked some fresh batteries in my mod, and re wicked my RDA, I was ready. This eliquid boasts decadent and rich strawberry notes that is then layered with a sumptuous and all encapsulating creaminess. Out of the thousands (yes, really!) of flavours I have tried over the last 6 years or so, I felt that this flavour in particular had an unmatched smoothness to it, unlike any I have had before. Despite the sweet notes, I didn't find it to be sickly – therefore giving this eliquid a definitive edge as an all day vape. I also found that it was rather forgiving on my coils, another fantastic reason to choose this eliquid.

Digby's Strawberries & Cream comes as a 70% VG, and therefore is an ideal choice for sub-ohm users and/or cloud chasers that also like full on flavours.

As an overall conclusion, I was incredibly impressed by yet another hit from Digby's and would highly recommend it to fans of dessert flavoured vapes.

TOP OF THE VAPES MARCH 2021

Wow! It really has been a long time since I did my last ‘Top of the Vapes’ entry. Things have changed in some ways, and very much stayed the same in others.

Vaping is racing ever forward, and at the time of writing this, I feel that high(er) wattage pod/mod systems are the latest craze in the vape world.

Devices such as the Voopoo Drag X, Smok RPM 160 as well as the Ursa Quest 100w kit from Lost Vape, have boldly carved their own space in the current vape market.

In light of this new hype, I will try to include one of these style of kits in this instalment of ‘Top of the Vapes’

ELIQUID (NIC SALT)

PINK LEMONADE BY ECIGR8

ELIQUID (FREEBASE NICOTINE)

H20 BERRY BY TAFFY MAN

POD SYSTEM

LOST VAPE ORION PLUS

REBUILDABLE 

ATMIZOO DOTSHELL RBA FOR THE DOTAIO

HIGH WATTAGE ‘POD MOD’

ARTERY NUGETT 200W

HONOURABLE MENTION

SQUID INDUSTRIES SQUAD KIT

 

*NEW E-LIQUID REVIEW* Carousel Salts by Innevape Labs

Over the past year or so, I have found myself gravitating more and more towards MTL/Pod set ups. Due to this, I’ve drastically reduced my juice consumption and now tend to go for 50/50 VG/PG nicotine salt options.

Up until about 2019, nic salts were pretty much uncharted territory for me. I had noticed the rapid growth of this new innovation, and wanted to jump on the bandwagon.

Nicotine salt eliquids offered me an ideal solution that involved discreet cloud production and no need to puff endlessly trying to get that ever important nicotine hit.

So, for my typical, high wattage, high VG eliquids, I am very much a fan of dessert flavours. Following this logic, my first few nic salt choices were also based on desserts, but for some reason in MTL set ups, they just didn’t work for me.

I soon fell in love with anything fruity or candy based, so it was natural that when I discovered Carousel, I had to give it a go.

Described as a ‘Mystery Cotton Candy’ flavour - it is just that! A difficult to discern but incredible elaboration on a typical candy floss flavour. There is a variety of tropical fruit notes, including something I can best describe as a sweet pineapple. These complexities only improve the overall flavour in my opinion, and I never felt it to be dull or tedious. Flavour is carried well when using MTL devices, and the hit is smooth and satisfying. Since finding this eliquid, I have yet to come across such a well rounded and intricate candy based flavour.

In the UK, Carousel is available in short fill form, as well as 10ml bottles that are 10mg/20mg nicotine salt.

Abroad, it can also be found in 30ml 24mg/50mg variations.

Price wise, 10ml is usually sold for £5, however some quick web searching will bring up lower prices as well as multi-buy deals.

Still one of my ‘go tos’ when it comes to nic salts, I only wish it was available in bigger bottles!

*NEW HARDWARE REVIEW* Squad Kit by Squid Industries

SPECS:

Size: 45.5 x 20.5 x 86mm

Wattage: 5-30W

Working Mode: VW

Battery Type: Built-in 1300mAh

Display: OLED Screen

Atomizer Type: 2ml Refillable Metal Atomizer with 0.6ohm mesh coil; 2ml Disposable Pod with a built-in coil (sold separately) and RTA Atomizer (also sold separately)

Following a somewhat obsessive amount of research as well as learning the opinions from my favourite YouTube reviewers, I decided to go ahead and purchase this stunning kit from Squid Industries. After having previous experience with the original Double Barrel, also from Squid Industries, I certainly had high hopes for this device.

The immediate thought I had when holding this kit for the first time was its impressive weight, I felt that the hefty nature of this mod gave it an air of unparalleled quality.

This kit comes in a plethora of colours and designs, ranging from a simple black finish to multicoloured floral patterns. Size wise, the Squad is clearly on the small end, especially when compared to other devices with similar features. It fits snugly in your hand, and the curved edges just accentuate the comfort felt when holding this kit.

Somewhat of a conundrum, I would personally describe this kit as an All In One (AIO) device. It has an inbuilt 1300mAh battery that can handle roughly a day of light usage before needing to recharge.

Squid Industries has designed a 2ml tank system that is exclusive to this AIO. It is available in 3 varieties; a disposable tank, an RTA tank and a tank that takes stock coils.

The disposable tanks are ideal for new vapers, as there is no messing about with priming and installing coils, and they have been designed with ease of use in mind.

On the other end of the spectrum, the RTA version features a 2 post deck (single coil) that is a doddle to build on. Flavour can be intense but largely depends on what type of wire/coil set up you choose. I had a minor issue building such a small coil as the deck itself is tiny. When it comes to wicking, you can expect it to behave much like any other RTA on the market, too much cotton = dry hits and too little = possible risk of leakage.

The tank that incorporates stock coils features a simple fill port near the top of the tank, and coils fit tightly screwed in to the base. The pre installed coil is a 0.6ohm mesh variant, and has offered me near to a weeks worth of moderate usage, without losing flavour.

That being said, due to the long chimney, flavour can be somewhat muted. However this didn't bother me at all as I'm not one for intense flavour.

These particular coils aren't the easiest to come by, especially in brick and mortar shops. The good news is that Aspire BVC and Artery HP coils are compatible with this tank, meaning you won't be left high and dry when it comes to coil choice.

All tank options have a small, adjustable air flow ring that ranges from tight MTL to RDTL. I tend to use mine about halfway open and it gives me a warm, tight draw with the perfect amount of flavour.

These tanks are not compatible with any other device unless you use a 510 adaptor, therefore that also means that any other tanks will not work with this device.

Overall I found that all tank options had slightly reduced flavour, but did deliver a warm and powerful hit.

This device has a wattage range of 5W-30W and I stick to about the 20W mark when using the 0.6ohm coil. Although 30W may seem very low when compared to big, dual 18650, 200W mods, I felt it was plenty enough for the style of vaping that this kit offers.

Despite its tiny size, this device manages to feature an OLED screen that displays wattage, ohms, voltage, amps and a battery life indicator. Nice and simple!

The price point is rather unclear, depending on where you look, it can be anywhere from £19.99 to £50. I (obviously) went for the £19.99 one, so in my case it was well worth the money. However, I don't know if I could justify spending much more than about £30 for this kit – even though I had a largely positive experience with it.

In summary, I was pleasantly taken aback by the performance of this unassuming little kit. The whole set up was easy to navigate and I really liked the choice of atomisers that you can use. The diluted flavour for me was a massive plus, as I don't consider myself much of a flavour chaser. The ergonomics of this device were flawless and the substantial weight of it was satisfying to say the least. When it comes to pricing, I think that £19.99 is well worth it. I found that this device is able to cater to all levels of vapers, whether you are in to disposable tanks or building your own coils.

PROS

• Robust, high quality feel

• Atomiser styles suited for all types of vapers

CONS

• None