If you dont want to read more than a couple of paragraphs - the overall upshot of it all is I recommend Kai as the best vape juice brand out of the below and all flavours received, despite not all being to my specific liking, were all still useable. Kind is second but only because I found Kai to be more reliable (the names match the flavour almost exactly so it is easier to make a blind decision with Kai - but a couple of the Kind Juice flavours are my absolute favourites, even though I only liked 2 of the 5 I got). My ultimate goal was to find a few flavours that I could just stick to all the time and stop buying new brand sand constantly testing new flavours out. It was clear I would easily find a few all day vape flavours from the Kind and Kai range that would finally end my tedious and costly search.
My Final Winners:
FYI: Ideally you should steep organic flavours for 24 hours (both Kind and Kai were very nice straight away but they did get even better after steeping).
A bit about me, as it relates to vaping:
I shifted to vaping from cigarettes 1 month ago and it has been awesome...I haven't had, or wanted, a cigarette since - why would I when vaping provides everything cigarettes does without the smell, horrible taste and social alienation that one suffers as a smoker in Sydney AU...I would have always chosen strawberry flavoured cigarettes if I had the choice previously. With an RSQ squonk regulated mod, with a Ghoul RDA, the throat hit is not exact to a cigarette but it is quite close (which is why those old vape pens never sufficed as a substitute for me). I recommend this mod hugely - even the vape store guys shifted to this mod when it was released and they had tried all the main regulated mod brands. My goal is to now find my favourite 2-3 flavours that I can just stick to (I dont have the patience or energy to constantly look for new flavours). So, this is where my journey has taken me - getting a shitload of samplers until I found the perfect 2-3 flavours to commit to. And, I thought, considering it is a somewhat new community, with so many options, that are a little costly, I would share my findings on the different brands I tried.
I rushed to buy the first flavours to arrive with my RSQ - I did some due diligence and researched best brands and flavours in market (although I must admit I found it hard to believe all the 5 star reviews every single brand and flavour got - after tasting some 5 star flavours I think many are misguided). I opted for Cosmic Fog and Black Note but wasn't fully happy. I then did heaps more research and learnt about diacetyl (dp) and AP etc and, even though I doubt these things can hurt you very much, I decided to try out organic vape brands and go with something FDA approved (if it is an option and there are good flavours, why not?). But, be warned, it may be harder to find a nice organic flavour than inorganic flavour....so far all the non-organic flavours I have tried have at least been useable whereas the bad organic flavours are awful and you really need to be careful with brand (and it doesn't appear reviews anywhere are legit...I cant imagine anyone rated velvet vapes or vaporfi above the rating of "vile").
Below are my brand reviews (I will unlikely do a separate review per flavour but will do top level brand review and favourite/least favourite flavours of the ones I tried out).
Beard
Overall Result: I wont do a larger review for this one as this is only flavour I will try of this brand. This one was ok but, if I was going for a floral flavour, the geisha full moon was quite a bit better. I found the vape quite dry and it made me cough a little - doesn't have that juicy aftertaste like Geisha Full Moon - and it had a more tropical edge than I expected (I dont know how to explain it but it was a little zesty for a floral - I prefer deeper floral tones)
Overall result: good vape juice for those that like tobacco flavours - seems their status as leading the market in tobacco flavours is well-deserved. Not for me though as I learnt, if given the choice, I prefer smoking desserts, fruits and flowers over tobacco. That said, Solo is great and 5/5 - I dont like pure menthol but this was a fantastic mixer and was only way I could tolerate cosmic fog Shocker.
They are not listed in the test results below but that is because vaporshark only tested brands they stocked at the time. Black Note claim to be diacetyl, ap and free of other known harsh chemicals associated with standard vape juice - they are not organic but seem pretty close to it and, after all, being diacetyl and ap free is main reason to switch to organic.
Overall result: Good vape juice quality but the flavours were too many for me which resulted in me liking parts of the flavour and not others...so just wasn't perfect. If I cant find a great organic flavour I will likely test out a few more cosmic fog flavours as they may have one that hits a better flavour balance (I was thinking of getting a sampler Milk and Honey just cause of all the hype). The majority of their flavours are diacetyl and mostly ap free but some score high with regard to ap (milk and honey is one of these but if the flavour as great as they say I may bend).
Overall Result: Just beats out Kind Juice. While Geisha Moon Song by Kind is one of my favourite flavours tried, I still found Kai's range to be a bit more consistent (I liked 2 of the Kind flavours and 6 of the Kai ones.) Kai had the highest hit rate and is a really safe choice..all flavours taste like what they say so you should be happy without doing much sampling. Their flavours also made great mixes.
Kind Juice (organic, FDA approved) - in order of favourites:
Overall result: Started with the Geisha flavour and immediately thought I would have a really difficult time choosing a favourite out of the 5 as it set expectations super high. Def my fave of all the brands so far as this flavour really hit nail on head for me. Make sure to STEEP juice for 24 hours - I didn't really take to vanilla bean on first try but after 24 hours it is actually super nice so it seems steeping makes quite a difference - the vanilla is awesome to mix any good berry flavour with.
Overall result: Vile shit that I will never touch again. Maybe if I steeped them they would get better, like the Kind ones did, but they smelled so bad when I opened the bottle that it is hard to bring it to my mouth.
Overall Result: Slightly better than Velvet Vapes but not by much. Most of them were quite gross...the smell is awful. The peppermint was actually quite nice but this was only one that was ok.
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