This review has been a long time coming for reasons you will understand later on in this massive manuscript . For now I will present three flavors made by Virgin Vapor from their organic line of E-Liquids. Organic Coffee Monkey, Organic Butterscotch Blond and Organic Snake Bite.
Disclosure Ron received this product at no charge for review purposes.
First Impressions
These products provided to me at no charge for the purpose of this review by Virgin Vapors and are part of their Absolute line of Organic E-Liquids that are certified under U.K organic standards as referenced below.
“They are all pure extractions from fruits, flowers, vegetables and nuts (any flavor that includes nuts is noted on the product page for those with nut allergies). Unlike the Virgin Vapor line, these flavors do not contain alcohol or additives of any kind. They are purge flavor extractions created by a proprietary, multi-stage technology that produces flavors that are true to life, because you are actually tasting fresh fruit, flowers, coffee beans or nuts! They are extremely potent, highly concentrated, genuine flavors resulting in very pure e-liquids that contain no colorants, fillers, diluting agents or preservatives and are also vegan, sugar free, gluten-free, GMA-free and soy -free. These precious flavor essences make our e-liquids an amazing delight to the senses!”
Prices are $13.50 per 1/2 oz bottle and $22.50 for a 1 oz bottle. The standard mix ratio for this line of e-liquid is 50/50 PG/VG or 100% VG. Available nicotine levels are 0,6,12,18 or 24 mg.
My order was promptly shipped in a standard USPS priority mail box (they will also ship standard USPS in either a box or padded envelope including packing materiel). Inside were well filled opaque brown glass bottles fitted with eye droppers and individually sealed inside a plastic Ziploc type bag surrounded by bubble wrap. The caps are also sealed to the bottle with a shrink wrapped plastic. No signs of leaking and no odor which in my mind means really well seated caps.
The bottles were clearly marked with labels identifying Virgin Vapor as the manufacturer, the name of the product, mix ratio, list of ingrediants, the level of nicotine both by mg and percentage (in this case 12mg) and a message that the product is only for use by people of legal smoking age and warning to “Keep Out Of Reach Of Children”
Now for the actual test
I have to tell you, when I opened the first of the bottles to test, I was very eager to try the liquid within the bottles as I have purchased e-liquids from Virgin Vapor in the past and I was absolutely delighted with the product. So I decide to start with Snake Bite. This is the description of that flavor from the Virgin Vapor website………..
“A dark, mysterious berry flavor that will make you crazy! Sweet, complex and dangerous, this flavor bites and won’t let go!”
Well, as usual, I take the bottle in hand, shake very well and remove the dropper from the bottle to see what the liquid inside looks like and smells like. A very clear liquid with just the slightest yellow tint to it. The scent of the liquid? To be honest, it was not pleasant. It did not smell like berries at all. More like a mix of what you would expect from cough syrup and some kind of cleanser. At first I was guessing it was alcohol but the product description clearly states that they do not use any alcohol in these liquids.
Well anyway, scents can be deceiving on occasion so I fill up a fill up a Kayfun Lite with a 1.5 ohm coil and fresh wick, and go to test it starting at about 15 watts. And that is pretty much where the test stopped. Right then and there. There was such a medicinal taste to it, with nothing of berry flavor to it that I really could not make it past about three of four puffs as the unknown component flavor was so very, very strong..
I repeated the above process with the Organic Coffee Monkey and the Butterscotch Blond as well.
Same results except for the Coffee Monkey which did have a slight banana scent and taste to it.
But as we all know, E-Liquids can and normally do get better with time. And I can’t tell you how many times I put away a flavor in disgust to take it back out further on down the road and it became a favorite of mine.
So I put all three of them away for 2 weeks.
Test again, same results.
Another two weeks on the shelf (30 days total now).
Same results.
Time to go to my bag of tricks for a solution.
I remove the caps (after shaking) from all three bottles, and put them in a dark warm place for 24 hours with the caps off and giving them a shake every 8 hours or so.
That dang medicine smell is still there, not quite as strong but still there.
Back they go into the warm dark place for another 24 hours. Same process as above.
The scent has lessened somewhat so I go to test them again.
Organic Snake Bite…………………Still a no go.
Organic Coffee Monkey…………Still a no go but the banana flavor has increased a bit and some coffee flavor is barely starting to appear.
Organic Butterscotch Blond………….No go.
Still very disappointed as from prior experience I know personally that Virgin Vapor is more than capable of producing a very tasty e-liquid.
So I sadly take all three bottles, put them in liquid prison with a note on my scheduler to give them one last effort in another month or so.
The time has come for one last try.
I remove the bottles and give them a final series of shaking.
The medicinal scent is still there but now in the background. A firm step in the right direction.
This time I start with the Coffee Monkey as it showed the most promise of the trio.
This time I am definitely getting the banana flavor with a good amount of a dark roasted coffee taste to follow it up. Has a kind of rich, creamy “feel” on my tongue as well. Good vapor production but not as much as a throat hit as I would normally expect at 18.5 watts on a 1.5 ohm coil. The medicinal taste is still in the background but the more I vape, the less I notice it.
Next up is the Organic Butterscotch Blond which was a flavor that I was really pulling for as butterscotch is a favorite flavor profile of mine.
The medicinal taste again is still there. This time I am actually getting very light notes of what I would call a mixture of butterscotch and heavy cream. The creamy mouth “feel” is still there and once again the medicinal flavor fades but not quite as much as the butterscotch element is just not strong enough to overpower it. Good vapor production and again a medium throat hit at the same setting.
Finally, I complete the circle with the Organic Snake Bite. http://www.virginvapor.com/
Which in itself I find strange as Organic Snake Bite is the only flavor of the three still offered for sale by Virgin Vapors. Apparently since it has taken me so long to get these flavors to the point where I could vape them, both the Organic Butterscotch Blond and the Organic Coffee Monkey (my favorite of the lot) have been taken off of the market.
Like I said before, I was extremely dispensation by these three offerings by Virgin Vapors as I have purchased from them in the past and I have been beyond delighted by their e-liquid flavors. Perhaps my taste buds are not sophisticated enough for specially processed 100% organic flavors? Quite possibly.
While I find that I could not recommend ANY of these flavors to you to purchase (with the possible exception of the Organic Coffee Monkey if you had two months to let it steep and is no longer available) don’t give up on Virgin Vapors. Like I said, they do have some great flavors available and as you can see from the FAQ section on their website.
http://www.virginvapor.com/
They do have strong commitments to product quality and safety.
See you in about 2 weeks!
