Honest Review Time: The Zen Vaper

It’s not all that often that I get to review American based liquids so when an opportunity to check out some new juice from down south came up I jumped at the chance. This set of juices comes from a company called The Zen Vaper, a company our of Delaware that’s recently been making a push into Canada. Fully licensed and insured they’re both an international wholesaler and online retailer. I know for a fact they’re already available at TheoryLabs and appear to be listed for pretty standard prices. I got a set of four of them to check out and I have to say I was not disappointed. Here are my honest thoughts on some liquids from The Zen Vaper.


Bottles/Packaging:

The juices come in authentic Chubby Gorilla V3 bottles, the newer zen vaper that doesn’t tend to spit up the juice and they all sport Canadian compliant labels. The labels are fairly simple with the name The Zen Vaper across the front with the name of the flavour listed towards the bottom. They each have a colourful background which somewhat lines up with the name of the flavour. I got a set of both standard and salt nic versions and the standard ones range from 70vg up to 80vg while the salt versions all stick to a 60vg blend. The standards came in 3mg while the salts were all 20mg.

Setup:

For the salt version testing of Zen vaper was done in a variety of review devices including a Caliburn G, a Vaporesso Xros and an OFRF nexMini all with fresh coils or pods.

For the standard versions testing was done in a variety of review devices including two Vaporesso Xirons, a VapX Geyser S and a Wotofo Manik again, all with fresh coils.

Remember taste is subjective and results will vary! Click the titles for links to the products!!


Transcendence / Transcendence Salt:

Site description: The OG signature Zen custard. Hand made in small batches this vanilla bean custard converts custard haters and rewards custard connoisseurs with a sublime and transcendent vape experience. This thick and creamy vanilla custard comes pre-steeped and ready to vape right out of the box. It has a luscious mouth feel and will quickly become your all day every day flavor. You should probably buy two bottles so you can hide one while enjoying the other. (80/20 vg/pg)

My thoughts: You guys probably know by now I’m a huge custard fan so Transcendence was basically top of my list and the first one I tried from the set. It didn’t let me down. Lightly sweet with a smooth, almost silky feel to it, it coats my tongue with a gentle classic vanilla custard flavour. On the back end I get a taste of something familiar, something a bit darker and sweet like caramel or brown sugar. I’m leaning towards brown sugar as it has just a slight bitter burnt sugar kind of taste at times, it’s not overbearing and I personally don’t mind it but it is there. It adds a deeper complexity to the flavour so it’s not just vanilla you’re tasting.

I did find the salt version had a bit less of that brown sugary note which actually let the eggy vanilla come through a bit more so if you’re not a fan of brown sugar or caramel you may want to try that version instead. With the standard version that brown sugar top note kind of lingered and I could maybe see it wearing thin with some folks. The flavour as a whole however is not overly complex and they definitely didn’t cram the kitchen sink into this one. So if you’re like me and you enjoy a classic vanilla custard, Transcendence would be well worth checking out!! For me this one is easily an all day vape and it won’t be lasting long!!

Namaste / Namaste Salt:

Site description: Cinnamon infused still-warm-from-the-oven sugar cookie. The cookie was one of my childhood favorites, this flavor will quickly become one of yours. (80/20 vg/pg)

My thoughts: Next on the list was Namaste, which I believe may have originally been called Snickerdoodle. Like the description says it’s a nice warm cinnamon infused sugar cookie or as some often refer to them, a snickerdoodle. It’s a pretty classic taste, a nice sweet, almost buttery sugar cookie flavour with just a touch of cinnamon on the tail end. Cinnamon flavours have always been a challenge, finding the right balance so as not to be too grating but also still hit the spot and Namaste manages to find a pretty sweet balance.

This one for me has also been in the daily rotation since it arrived and will probably stay there until it’s gone. Something about it reminds me of one of my all time favorite Cookie flavours, maybe a hint of nuts or maybe it’s just the blend of cookie and cinnamon they use but whatever it is, it’s fantastic! Who knows, it might even be the weather but either way Namaste is a super enjoyable all day type of flavour for me and I’m sure any other dessert lovers would agree.

Harmony / Harmony Salt:

Site description: Fruit Salad is a family of fruit – meet the juicy peach who married the sweet ripe pear and their three children – fresh ripe raspberry, soft-n-sweet yet precocious blueberry, and ripe-n-ready strawberry! Simply fruitastic!! (75/25 vg/pg)

My thoughts: I’m generally not a huge fan of fruit medleys as I find it a challenge to really taste anything other than a somewhat ambiguous fruity flavour. With Harmony however before even reading the description I managed to pick out several of the fruits after just a quick taste. The crisp pear and tart raspberry in particular stood out with hints of sweetness from the strawberry kind of lingering in the mouth. The peach also makes an appearance at times usually as a sort of warmer mid note, ripe and juicy but also a bit like a fuzzy peach candy. The one fruit I had missed in my tasting notes was the blueberry but after reading the description while trying it again I’m pretty sure I could even pick up hints of blue from time to time.

The flavour as a whole is bright and sweet, not cloying but one of the punchier flavours in the set and despite being a sort of mishmash mix of fruits it was rather quite enjoyable. It doesn’t quite give me that classic Dole fruit cup kind of vibe, more like a homemade fruit salad with a blend of seasonal fruits that someones mom had on hand. The fruits are all domestic so there’s nothing really exotic about it and any fruit lovers would probably enjoy picking this one apart. Maybe as the weather warms I’ll be more into this one but for now it’s taking a back seat to the other flavours in the set.

Nirvana / Nirvana Salt:

Site description: A big mouthful of sweet ripe strawberries mixed into a rich and creamy custard. You might want to get two bottles of this so you can let one steep while vaping the other. One of the tastiest strawberry custards you’ll ever vape!  (70/30 vg/pg)

My thoughts: Nirvana zen vaper for me was a pleasant surprise. I normally don’t love strawberry cream flavours but Nirvana manages to skirt my golden rule by serving it’s strawberries up in a creamy bowl of custard. I actually reviewed a similar flavour just recently and this one would easily compete. It’s a mild blend of mainly ripe strawberries over a nice warm vanilla custard. That brown sugary note from Transcendence doesn’t seem to be there, just the rich creamy base and those sweet ripe strawberries. The strawberries have nice a bright clean taste, not too sweet and not really jammy, definitely leaning more towards ripe but paired with the custard they at times take on a sort of Campino candy kind of vibe.

Super smooth, lightly sweet with a really nice vanilla custard undertone this is another one from the set that I would have no trouble vaping on all day long. And that’s coming from someone who traditionally doesn’t dig strawberry flavours, or at least someone who burnt out on them many years past. I think it’s the custard in this case which keep this one afloat for me but if you’re either a strawberry cream or a custard fan this one is a pretty solid option.


Final thoughts:

If you’re counting that’s three out of four that were a hit with me so I think it’s safe to say The Zen Vaper makes the cut. As I mentioned above all of their liquids are small batch, made in Delaware and are available in Canada through Theory Labs. I think their available flavours for now are limited but hopefully once proven they will expand the lineup north of the border. They’re going for pretty standard B&M pricing so they’re not a budget brand or anything but if you’re into big bold flavours and lean towards desserts this was a solid set to start out with!! Welcome to Canada The Zen Vaper!

How they add up
8.3Overall
Presentation8
Flavour Accuracy8.5
Uniquenes7.5
Overall quality of product9