Earlier in the year, I reviewed three Highbrow Vapor e-liquids and was very impressed. I recently vaped three juices from Highbrow Vapor — Exotic Blend, Menthol, and Peach Thymbra — and the results were mixed. All three are high-quality juices and very distinct, but flavor-wise they were all over the place for me. That said, there’s a chance that all three could be what you’re looking for.
Highbrow Vapor e-liquids come in sturdy PET bottles, which I prefer over LDPE bottles. The bottles are covered in plastic and wrapping paper, tied together with decorative green string for a classy look. The package comes in a bubble-wrap envelope. The company does a good job at protecting the bottles while offering charming presentation. Highbrow Vapor juices are fairly priced at $15.00 for a 30ml bottle.
Here are the flavor breakdowns and steeping notes.
Exotic Blend: This is a cigarette-style tobacco e-liquid that’s very distinct, but also very polarizing. Exotic Blend is very much a love-it-or-hate-it juice. It’s almost like Highbrow Vapor tried to approximate the gruff ashiness of a burning tobacco cigarette. It offers an earthy flavor with a pine-seed taste. Most of the naturally-extracted tobacco e-liquids I enjoy use pipe or cigar tobaccos, so this one was definitely out of my wheelhouse. I thought I’d love Exotic Blends since I love tobacco e-liquids and have been very impressed with Highbrow Vapor. While this e-liquid is certainly unique, it’s not what I enjoy in a tobacco vape. Having said that, there are a lot of vapers that miss the “burning” taste of tobaccos cigarettes and this juice could be a great substitute for them.
This juice is moderately heavy on coils. You can vape it in a carto/tank, but don’t expect long life. A month or more of steeping helps cut down on the pine seed and gruff flavors.
Menthol: While Exotic Blend on its own wasn’t to my liking, I actually liked Menthol. It uses Exotic Blend with crushed menthol crystals. The menthol is strong and very refreshing, but it also counteracts some of the coarse qualities and the pine-seed flavor of Exotic Blend. It’s funny how an extra ingredient can change an entire recipe and that’s exactly what happened with Highbrow Vapor Menthol. It just had a better balance for my tastes. I didn’t love it, but I found it much more enjoyable that its sister juice. Again, this could possibly be a great choice for people that smoked menthol cigarettes and miss the “burning” taste.
Like its sister juice, Menthol is moderately heavy on coils. You can vape it in a carto/tank, but don’t expect long life. A month or more of steeping helps cut down on the pine seed and gruff flavors.
Peach Thymbra: After my first Highbrow Vapor review, my expectations for the company were pretty high. This juice exceeded those expectations. If you’ve read or watched my reviews then you know that I love natural peach flavors and dislike Gummi Rings peach flavors. Peach Thymbra is easily one of the best peach e-liquids I’ve ever had, with a slightly tangy, wonderfully clean, and utterly delicious peach taste. Highbrow Vapor makes this juice using a peach reduction, so it’s no wonder that the flavor is so accurate. This is an outstanding juice that I highly recommend to fan of natural fruit flavors.
Peach Thymbra vapes cleanly and is suitable for any kind of juice delivery system. The flavor is subtle out of the mail, but opens up after two weeks of steeping or more. Even then, it’s not an in-your-face juice, but a moderately sweet one (which I prefer). If you want in-your-face sweetness, there are options to up the amount of flavor used.
Steeping Notes
On the advice of Wlad from Ahlusion, I’ve been trying a new steeping method starting December 27, 2012. When the e-liquids arrive, I leave them uncapped for five minutes. Previously, I left them uncapped for about two days. After the liquids are given a few minutes to oxidize, the caps are put back on. The bottles are shaken every day for at least two weeks before vaping.
Exotic Blend
50/50 PG/VG ratio, 0mg nicotine
Mix Date: April 25, 2013
Uncapped: April 29, 2013 4:34PM
Vaped: July 14-30, 2013
Menthol
50/50 PG/VG ratio, 0mg nicotine
Mix Date: April 25, 2013
Uncapped: April 29, 2013 4:34PM
Vaped: July 14-30, 2013
Peach Thymbra
50/50 PG/VG ratio, 0mg nicotine
Mix Date: April 25, 2013
Uncapped: April 29, 2013 4:34PM
Vaped: July 14-30, 2013
Review Process (Updated February 17, 2013)
RPad.TV e-liquid reviews focus on the flavor of the e-liquids, since throat hit and vapor production can be altered by the PG/VG ratio and nicotine level selected. Each juice is vaped over a period of days in an atomizer, a cartomizer/tank setup, and a clearomizer. The exception is naturally-extracted tobacco (NET) juice; since those are known to clog up cartomizers quickly, those are vaped in atomizers and clearomizers.
I just got their 30ml bottle of cappuccino diablo, the taste, coloring, vapor and throat hit is JUST like Liqua Tiramasu. I vaped both back to back and they are 90% similar. I’m not unhappy about the juice, but in this case I will just stay with Liqua :/