Chris 'majorvapes' SissonThis past year we’ve seen a literal explosion of companies releasing salt nicotine based juice lines in response to the growing demand for high resistance high nicotine vaping that the industry has been experiencing. One of the more recent companies to get on board is an old favorite of mine The Juice Punk with the release of their L!X line. I recently got the opportunity to try them out and wanted to share my thoughts. Here’s my take on L!X from The Juice Punk.
Bottles: The juices come in clear 30ml authentic Chubby Gorilla bottles with matching labels bearing the name L!X across the front, the name of the flavour underneath and all the usual regulatory stuff we like to see. Each one has a slightly different colour which somewhat lines up with the flavour it contains. I believe the lineup comes in a 60/40 ratio and the set I got was in 20mg.
Setup: Testing was done in a Berserker MTL RDA and a Galaxies MTL RDA with simple 30g kanthal builds, about 6/7 wraps on a 2.5mm coming out to about 1.8ohms and running between 10-15w. RDAs were washed and rinsed in between flavours. Some were also tested in a variety of pods including a Pod 9, Prime Soul and a MiniFit.
Darts
Site description: Authentic Tobacco
My thoughts: Darts if you’re not familiar is a Canadian slang term for a cigarette and Darts the flavour is a pretty nice tribute to a classic Canadian tobacco blend. It’s not too dry, not too wet and reminds me of the smell and taste of a freshly lit cigarette. You know how the taste of the first cigarette out of a freshly opened pack tastes, Darts reminds me of that. It’s definitely based on a Canadian tobacco blend and not American with it’s lighter tasting blend of gentle Virginia tobacco that any smoker or former Canadian smoker would recognize. It’s simple and clean but still manages to hit the spot. It’s a nice enough tobacco blend that I actually appreciate how they don’t over complicate it with a bunch of other flavourings like caramel or vanilla and just let the tobacco speak for itself. This one would be ideal for folks just making the switch that still craves the taste of a classic Canadian cigarette and haven’t yet gotten into all the other flavours and blends out there.
Quad Berry
Site description: Black Currant, Blueberry, Blackberry, Raspberry On Ice.
My thoughts: I didn’t see the flavour profile of this one before I tried it so it was pretty much a blind taste test. What I put down in my testing notes though was actually pretty close to the mark as I had written down raspberry, blackberry, blackcurrant and black cherry. the juice punk “Quad Berry” is exactly as it sounds a blend of four rather dark berries but with just a touch of ice on the end to help lighten it up. I do find that the touch of cool almost gives it a cherry Halls sort of vibe but cherry Halls happen to be my favorite and I’ll often grab a pack when I’m not even sick. I realize after reading the description this doesn’t actually have cherry in it but it’s the closest thing I could think to compare the combination to. With all of those dark berries in there the flavour is quite deep so that hint of ice really helps lighten it up a bit. The black currant and blackberry are probably the more notable flavours in the mix and give it a really dark syrupy blackcurrant concentrate taste like Ribena or squash as it’s referred to in my house thanks to the British wife. It’s lightly sweet but not sugary at all, more of a natural tasting sweetness from all the berries in the mix. I think fans of deep dark berry blends will really appreciate this one!!
Mint Condition
Site description: Refreshing Mint.
My thoughts: I’m not sure that I personally would refer to this as a refreshing mint. To me it’s a jarringly strong minty menthol flavour that on the first hit absolutely takes my breath away. After recovering from the initial hit it tastes like a really cool spearmint but it also has a slight creaminess to it so maybe there’s a touch of peppermint in it as well. Whatever it is it’s strong and will definitely clear your sinuses if you’ve got any congestion. While I do enjoy a good iced flavour this one is just far too strong for my liking. I’ll likely use this juice punk to add to other flavours to give them a shot of minty coolness since on it’s own I find it just a bit too much. I know plenty of people out there like a good strong menthol and this one will definitely be for them. Not much else to say about this one but fans of the refreshing will want to check it out!
Saltwork Orange
Site description: Blood Orange, Hint of Mango
My thoughts: We don’t see a whole lot of blood orange flavours on the market which I think is a real shame. Blood orange is just like a regular orange but I find it has a slightly stronger orange taste and is usually a bit sweeter, almost like a concentrated orange. I personally think it’s the superior orange flavour and wish more companies would use it. With Saltwork Orange they’ve combined that classic blood orange flavour with a hint of mango and it’s fantastic!! It’s got a really nice well rounded orange flavour upfront with a touch of thick tangy mango on the finish. I don’t get any of that odd artificial plastic taste from the orange I get from so many others. I do however find after a while that the mango almost overpowers the blood orange but for the most part the two ‘orange’ flavours compliment each other quite well. This one too has just a shot of coolness in it though it isn’t mentioned in the description. It’s fairly strong and kind of gives it an orange Halls sort of vibe like the berry one but maybe isn’t quite as strong. I personally like the added freshness it brings to the flavour but if you’re not into menthol you might want to pass on this one.
Pound Town
Site description: Flour, Cream, Eggs, Sugar…
My thoughts: This one was my absolute favorite of the juice punk and the name is pretty amusing too. It’s based on one of the most classic cake flavours of all time the humble pound cake. The name pound cake comes from the fact that the original recipe called for a pound of each main ingredient so a pound of flour, a pound of eggs, a pound of sugar and a pound of butter. The cake would actually weigh four pounds. With Pound town you don’t have to bake four pounds of raw ingredients to enjoy the classic taste of pound cake. I’ve tried several lemon pound cake flavours but this I believe is my first straight pound cake and it’s absolutely delicious. It tastes thick and rich just like the real thing with a very simple cake flavour, like the most rustic cake flavour you can imagine. Simple and homey this one is comfort in a bottle. No vanilla, no cinnamon, no spice, it’s just like the description suggests flour, cream, eggs, sugar and nothing more.
Tropic Ice
Site description: Guava, Passionfruit, Mango, Crushed Ice.
My thoughts: With juice punk Tropic Ice I get a really mild mix of tropical flavours. I get hints of mango, guava and passion fruit but I also get a touch of creamy banana that I didn’t see listed in the description. I could just be imagining it or it could just be the mix of flavours playing tricks with my tongue. I’m guessing it’s the passion fruit guava blend that might make me think banana but it’s hard to nail down where it’s coming from. Whatever the blend is it comes off fairly soft for a tropical flavour. I was half expecting it to have a tangier punch with the mango and guava but something about it makes it come off sort of soft and smooth. It too finishes with a shot of coolness which works really well with the tropical blend. I actually found it tends to start fairly strong but after a few pulls it calms down letting you taste more of the fruit in the mix. For me the guava and passion fruit are the most forward with the mango just barely coming through in the mix. It’s a nice enough flavour but as far as I’m concerned it could use a little more punch to it.
Overall:
The Juice Punk makes some really incredible liquids and they’ve pretty much nailed it with this set. I think there’s just about something for everyone with this lineup with a slight lean towards folks who like things cool. I personally found a new fav among them and wouldn’t have any trouble recommending folks go check them out. So huge thanks once again to the good folks over at the Juice Punk, you guys are doing it right!!!