Chris 'majorvapes' SissonHere’s a look at the latest from Cloudfire, one of which happened to win Best in Show Menthol at CVE Toronto 2018. Cloudfire originally Hjelm Vapor is run by Ryan Hjelm a young ambitious juice maker out of Toronto that’s been absolutely killing it for the past few years. I first met him at Juice Jam a couple years back where I just had to pick up his original Cloudfire line for review and have been a fan ever since. At the Expo in Edmonton he was kind enough to set me up his latest release Cloudfire Dripgang: Gamma Five and Helix two incredible fruity blends that are just about perfect for summertime. Here are my honest thoughts on Gamma Five and Helix from Cloudfire Dripgang.
Bottles:
The juice comes in clear 60ml Chubby Gorilla style bottles with labels that sport a sort of space theme with Helix rocking what looks like a DNA Helix on top or a moon or a planet and Gamma Five sporting an image of what looks like a cloudy nebula. Both bottles look fantastic and don’t bear any resemblance to the original Cloudfire lineup with their almost comic book style labels. Both flavours come in an 80vg blend and the pair I got were in 3mg. Here’s a shot of the bottles:
Setup:
Testing was done mostly in a Hadaly clone with a three core alien(3×28/36ni80) build from the Canadian Coil makers SaddleHorse Blues, 4/5 wraps on a 2.5mm coming out to 0.28 ohms and running between 35-45w. Using Puff cotton, rda rinsed and rewicked in between. Here’s a shot of a fresh build:
Remember taste is subjective and results will vary! Click the titles for links to the products!!
Gamma Five
Site description: A mysterious candy blended of sweet grapes, tart grapefruit and sour orchard fruits.
My thoughts: Gamma Five is an interesting mix of grape, orchard fruits and just a hint of grapefruit. It’s not super tart despite the grapefruit as it only tends to come through on the tail end for me and very subtle when it does. The grape is the most forward in the blend but is mixed with something that makes it a bit more sour which might possibly be something like green or Fuji apple but it’s blended so well that it’s a little difficult to distinguish it from the grape. In a way it adds a more natural note to the grape and keeps it from tasting like syrupy medicine or anything like that, it’s still not quite a natural grape but it’s much closer then it would be without. It kind of reminds me of a Grapple or grape flavoured apple like you can find in the grocery store or like a few Grapple flavours that I’ve reviewed in the past.
The whole thing has a very slight candy finish that reminds me of those SweeTart candies, more of a powdered candy taste then a boiled sweet. Generally speaking there aren’t many grape flavours out there that really do it for me but with Gamma Five is definitely making the short list. It’s a little sweet but doesn’t taste sweetened or sugary, is really gentle on coils and would do well as an all day vape and that’s coming from a guy who almost never vapes grape.
Helix
Site description: A summer blend of red and black currant finished with an icy candy twist.
My thoughts: I really enjoy a good menthol vape especially in the summer but I’ve never been a big fan of mint, instead I tend to prefer that hit of cooling without the mint that often accompanies it. With Helix I get exactly the kind of coolness that I like, not too strong but not too weak either that perfectly balances out the mix of red and black currants. It’s a little bit sweet and a little bit tart but doesn’t have any real bite or sharpness to it. It’s a sort of smooth mix of the two types of currants, dark and sweet black currant and bright and tart red currants.
Personally Helix kind of reminds me of a blackberry candy with maybe a hint of red raspberry as it doesn’t quite have that tannic bite that I’ve come to expect from fresh black currants or the puckering tartness of the red variety of the berry. To me it’s almost more of a softened taste, like a jam made with the summertime berries but with a nice refreshing kick at the end. But it’s not thick and jammy, it comes across fluffy, almost powdery at times but always finishes with that nice refreshing hit of coolness. If you like nice berry blends with a hit of coolness, you’re going to enjoy this and I can see why it took home Best in Show for menthol. Absolutely ideal for summer time and I’ve already been enjoying it out on the patio with a cold drink!!
Overall:
I’m already a big fan of Ryan and Cloudfire, the man works hard to accomplish what he’s done so it’s really nice to see recognition being given where it’s due. Helix is a beautifully crafted menthol flavour and I think it was well deserving of the title Best in Show Menthol. I personally enjoyed Gamma Five just as much as Helix but you can’t win them all. Sure menthol flavours aren’t for everyone but those who enjoy them would do well to check Helix out.