Review: Earth by ENSO Vapors

Quality – 8

Taste – 7

PG / VG Ratio – 25/75 PG/VG

Throat Hit – 1

Vapor Production – 7

Price Range – $27 – $33 (60ml Bottles ONLY)

Overall Rating – 7.25

 

I try to keep up with new lines coming around, especially here in central Ohio. Trust me it’s not easy to do sometimes! A new and emerging player right now is ENSO Vapor, and their first flavor offering Earth. So far it’s been a solid performer and left me impressed. Let me fill you in:

So based in the Columbus area, ENSO is the brainchild of a local shop manager. He’s had a passion for vaping and making sure folks are getting a quality bang for their buck for as long as I have known him and before that I am sure. His concept for the line is simple – give folks a premium liquid that is not just satisfying but worth the price tag. Where most lines are 15ml or more common 30ml, ENSO is only available in 60ml making it a great bang for the buck.

The notes on Earth are pretty mellow, coming at you with strawberry, kiwi and watermelon. I will be honest – I get more of the melon and kiwi than strawberry no matter what I vape it on. But that’s not a bad thing since the ratios on the two key notes complement each other very well! The kiwi gives you a nice subtle tart on the exhale keeping it fresh. I honestly preferred it more running in a temp control tank than to drip or in a regular sub tank. It really seemed to bring those light notes of the strawberry out more.

On the down side, and I have to be honest that I have been hearing this a lot, it comes across as a clone of Betty from Pinup Vapors. Now it is NOT a clone. Let me make that clear. I have vaped both side by side and the differences in flavor notes is pretty obvious device to device. I do get where the comparisons come in though. Personally I think ENSO should be honored that this flavor is being compared to such a loved line.

So where can you get it? Well you can hit their website – www.ensovapors.com – if you live outside the Columbus area. Or you can now pick it up at any of the Evolve Vapor locations or Uprite Vapor on South High. No matter where you go, it’s a solid all day vape that I think you will totally dig. Vape on!

Review: The Four Horsemen Vapor Company

Quality – 8

PG / VG Ratio – 85 / 15 (VG to PG)

Vapor Production – 8

Price Range – $18 to $20

Overall Rating – 8

Liquid manufacturers tend to have some kind of hook when it comes to their lines. Some times it’s just a label design, others it’s in the names they use. Where some companies might use it to draw customers for purchase because the liquids aren’t as tight as they could be – the Four Horsemen Vapor Company isn’t one of them on any scale. The labeling is simply their logo. Why? Because the flavors are great enough to stand on their own merits without a gimmick.

Old #4

Taste – 8

Throat Hit – 2

This is a melon and citrus blend light enough to be a good all day hitter, and flavorful enough to keep you wanting more (especially to figure out just what the melon is). There is a saying among chefs and magicians about not giving away the secrets on their signature thing. It seems this applies to mixologists for liquids as well, because the only answer anyone can get from Steve (who is one of the owners) is that “it’s a melon and citrus”. Now the official profile listing says its water melon, but I have yet to meet someone vaping it that buys that one. Regardless of exactly what the melon is what I can tell you is that the flavor when you drip this juice is wonderful. The throat hit is very light but only shows up when you’re running above 100 watts on a drip setup. Tank use is also good with this one, though the melon side tends to come out a little more. This is one juice though that loves low builds and high wattage, hitting its sweet spot at around 90 watts between a 0.2 and 0.3 Ohm build no matter what the device.

BFG

Taste – 7

Throat Hit – 1

Now BFG can stand for a lot of things depending on what you do in your life. In this case though, BFG stand for “Berry F@cking Good!” – literally and figuratively. This one has a great blueberry with hints of strawberry and a very light cream finish. The best approximation would be a light parfait or for those of you across the pond a bit of Byrd’s Custard and berries from Sunday brunch. The throat hit is virtually nil on this one, which is great. This one seems to be a natural fit for higher running sub-ohm tanks like the Supertank or the Herakles, which can push it in to that 80 watt range it seems to love the most. Don’t get me wrong – it does great dripping as well! But it does seem to get a little heavy tasting when you’re dripping above 75 watts or so, which is pretty common with anything that has a cream component it seems. Still it’s an amazing flavor that will keep you wanting more.

Peach Sin

Taste – 7

Throat Hit – 2

How many of you reading this grew up in the south in some fashion? I ask that question, because for me this reminds me of the homemade peach wine that my Aunt Eva used to do: a nice flavor of natural peach with a whisper of cinnamon (and I mean like someone just ate a cinnamon bun and blew you a kiss whisper) to let the flavor pop. This is one that I am a bit on the fence about. The flavor was good in my tank when I first opened it up, but better in my RDA after it steeped for about a week. That makes it hard to say which option is really a better choice for this one. What I can say is that for me the best flavor and vapor combination comes in at about 70 watts with around 0.5 Ohm coils regardless of the device. The throat hit seemed a little stronger when I first tried it versus after it steeped, but either way it was really light.

Snake Bite

Taste – 9

Throat Hit – 2

This is the anchor of the four, and DAMN but it’s awesome! I won’t lie here – this juice is the reason it took so long to finish this review. I went through three bottles of it before writing this review (purely for wanting to be thorough of course!) and I am dying for the first of the month to get here so I can pick up more since I have exceeded my personal vape budget for the month.

If you have ever had the shot of the same name, it is almost dead on to that. This is a great combination of lemon & lime that gives you the sweet and sour notes you expect, with a barely there throat hit to really remind you of the drink. If you are looking for your next all day vape – this IS the one. I could not find any of my tanks or builds on my RDA’s that didn’t love this juice. It seems to love being hit at about 85 watts on just about any sub-ohm build over 0.15 Ohm’s. I went through multiple builds trying to find a combo that it didn’t taste great on, and below that resistance seemed to only mute the flavors slightly but nothing more. Seriously the only liquid in my personal arsenal that comes close to being this much of a fav for me is the Cherry Limeade from Maxx’d. IT’S. JUST.THAT. GOOD.

In the end, I have to say that this has been one of the more enjoyable lines for me to review. The flavor profiles are superb; the high VG content means clouds for days; and the simplicity of the line while giving such great contenders for an all-day hitter just knocks this one out of the park. Now as of this review, you can only pick this up from four shops: Top Notch Vapor in Dublin, Groveport Vapor Station in Groveport, Steadfast Vapor in Grove City, and Trackside Vapor in Mount Vernon. You can however order direct from their website at www.fourhorsemenvapor.com to take care of your needs. They do only come in 30ml bottles, but for those of you like me who get the minimum nicotine you can in a line they offer a 1.5mg level which is great. Folks you really have to check these guys out. You won’t be disappointed!

Now if you will excuse me, I have to go try and shake out the last few mils of Snake Bite I can from these empties….

Review: Toucan Express by GI JUICE

Quality – 8

Taste – 8

PG / VG Ratio – 70 / 30 (VG/PG)

Throat Hit – 2

Vapor Production – 6

Price Range – $18 to $20

Overall Rating – 7.25

There are a few liquid manufacturers out there who have released a line, experienced some changes in one way or another internally, and decided after the dust settled to update their line. Sometimes this turns out for the better, sometimes the worse, and yes sometimes it just doesn’t make a difference. The ability to take user feedback on their products and make positive changes is what separates the quality juice makers from the ones just trying to make a buck in a growing industry. GI JUICE is one of those that has listened, and took their product in the direction of greatness.

**Normally I would do the entire line review at once, but since there are seven different flavors as of the time I am writing this, budget constraints will keep to one flavor at a time. – RP **

Now I will be honest here – the first time I tried Toucan Express, I was not a huge fan. I had tried several companies fruit loops flavors, and although this one didn’t rank in the bottom by any means it also didn’t stand out at the top either. I was getting ready to write up my initial review on the flavor when I had the opportunity to meet the owner at a local vape meet. We spoke for a bit and he asked for my no holds barred opinion of the flavor, which I gave him. He said that he appreciated my candor, and that they were working on tweaks to the entire line based on feedback from vapers. At that point I decided to give it a while before trying the juice again, and then doing my review. I am here to say that I am very glad I did!

Toucan Express is just what you would expect from the name: a flavor to remind you of those little fruity O’s from your days watching Saturday morning cartoons. Hey I won’t lie to you – I STILL enjoy a nice bowl of them at my age! This liquid though really captures the best parts of those marathon cartoon days from so many years ago. On the inhale, you get wonderful notes of the same five fruit flavors from the cereal. Unlike some other lines where you either only get a sugary milk taste on the exhale, or a grainy dry cereal taste, Toucan Express gives you a wonderful mix of the two.

Vapor production on these is pretty good, as the line is designed to drip. It does well in sub-ohm tanks, but if they are light on air flow it can start to hammer a coil. I found that it did better in the Supertank for instance, than it did in the Kanger tanks. The sweet spot on this one really seemed to be around 70 watts for both device types, though above 75 watts on tanks seemed to really drop the exhale flavor completely. Dripping it at 75 and above was ok, but like most flavors as you increase the wattage you begin to loose complex flavors after a bit.

In the end, this is a really good flavor to see as a staple inside this line. The improvements to the flavor profile and the fact that the owner really does listen to what customers are saying to make the line better go a long way for me. There are several shops around Columbus and Zanesville now carrying it, including the Vapor Station and Advanced Vapor shops. Or you can order it direct from the company at www.gijuicellc.com (which if you’re out of state shopping is a handy option).

One last thing: I want to offer up some thanks to the owner here, as a portion of the proceeds from the sales of this line go toward helping homeless veterans. To me, that says a lot about the company as well that they’re making a commitment to help our veterans. Two big thumbs up!

Review: Original Content Vapor Company

Quality – 7

PG / VG Ratio – Max VG (85 / 15 or more)

Vapor Production – 8

Price Range – $18 to $20

Overall Rating – 7

I enjoy being able to spot light liquids that are produced in my local area. It’s one of the fun parts of doing these reviews. Original Content is a new juice company located in south east Columbus, and they are getting going with a bang.

Summit

Taste – 7

Throat Hit – 5

Summit is the heavy hitter of the group. A strawberry limeade flavor, with a crisp lime kick on the exhale. The taste will remind you (if you’re around my age anyways) of the custom drink mixes you could get at a soda shop. The big lime hit is brought out further since the juice is cut with an alcohol, which bumps the throat hit. In this case though, it’s a good bump that really brings out the lime flavor. This is one that makes for a good all day vape, and really seems to pop in a low sub-ohm build at about 85 watts. It does well in some of the higher sub tanks, such as the Herakles and Super Tank. But trying to keep it tanked and running on high wattage seems to mute the strawberry side too much.

Crispy Custard

Taste – 6

Throat Hit – 1

Inside the realm of dessert flavors, there are a LOT of choices. This one though is an original that I have never come across. The profile listing says the flavor is a donut with powdered sugar on top. The best approximation I can give you is a Krispy Kreme custard filled with powdered sugar. The dough taste component is very light, letting you get the taste of a fresh one from the shop – crisp and airy. The custard side is a solid cream with a splash of vanilla and hint of sugar, which will have you checking your chin for dribbles. The throat hit is almost non-existent, which you want in a dessert vape. The only down side on this one is that after a bit you start to lose that flaky dough taste and get overwhelmed by the cream. It does well both dripping and tanking, so long as you don’t go too low. The sweet spot really seemed to be around 65 watts on a 0.5 Ohm build for either option.

Flower Power

Taste – 7

Throat Hit – 2

This green apple and raspberry flavor rounds out the line. Another contender for an all-day vape, this mix has a green apple profile similar to a Fuji apple: very crisp and light, without the over juicy taste that you get from a Granny Smith. There is a malic acid in this one, which really pumps that sour apple bite up and adds a little throat hit. The raspberry exhale gives it a nice, refreshing pallet cleanse for the next hit. As with Summit, this is one that seems to pop more when dripping than with tanking. Running at 85 watts around a 0.2 Ohm build brings all the flavors in to play on every hit. If you’re a tanker, then about 70 watts on 0.5 Ohm coils in the Arctic seemed to give the best combination. Overall a good vape either way.

In the end, this is a good starting offering from this company. The flavor profiles are unique to the line, and will keep it standing out. With this being a max VG line, some little tweaks to make it more accessible to the growing sub-ohm tank users will take this one to the top I feel. Right now, you can find them at Uprite Vapor in Lancaster, which is worth the drive to check out!