It’s Ahlusion review time, once again. This time around, I vaped a trio of juices from this outstanding e-liquid company. Two of them were naturally-extracted tobacco e-liquids rounded out by sweet flavors. The other featured extracted tea accompanied by vanilla. One of the juices floored me after a month of steeping, while I enjoyed the others, but didn’t love them as much as other Ahlusion juices I’ve had in the past. Here are my tasting notes on Shipwreck, Caramel Wild Wood, and Vanilla Black Tea.
Shipwreck: This is one of the most unique naturally-extracted tobacco juices I’ve tried, but it’s not among my favorites from Ahlusion. That said, it’s unique flavor is something I crave every now and then. Shipwreck features a light tobacco base accompanied by coconut and lime. In some ways, the tobacco and coconut combine for a richness that reminds me a bit of Five Pawns’ Castle Long. Of course Castle Long doesn’t feature tobacco, so they’re distinctly different juices. The lime rounds out the blend nicely, giving Shipwreck a citrus top note. The juice is lightly sweet (my personal preference) and the tobacco is, of course, great. Compared to the tobacco e-liquids I see at most retail shops, Shipwreck is a superior juice. Compared to the many outstanding tobacco juices Ahlusion offers, Shipwreck is really enjoyable, but not among my favorites.
Juice Specs: 6mg nicotine, 50/50 PG/VG
Caramel Wild Wood: My favorite e-liquid in this Ahlusion review, Caramel Wild Wood features a medium tobacco base accompanied by a rich caramel flavor. Out of the mail, the caramel was too strong for me; it’s a great flavor that reminded me of Ahlusion’s Gold Member, but I wanted more tobacco out of the juice. After a month of steeping…wow. The tobacco becomes more prominent and the blend is outstanding. There are a lot of caramel tobacco e-liquids on the market, but few of them are in the same league as Caramel Wild Wood. The tobacco is fantastic — more distinct (to my palette) than Ahlusion’s House Blend and Tree River Blend tobaccos — and the caramel is marvelous. This is a juice that I will definitely order again in the future and only in big bottles. If you’re a tobacco fan with a sweet tooth then you’ll love Caramel Wild Wood.
Juice Specs: 6mg nicotine, 50/50 PG/VG
Vanilla Black Tea: This Ahlusion juice is a mix of extracted black tea flavor and the company’s excellent vanilla. On paper, it seemed like a juice I would love. In real life, it’s something I merely liked. Initially, the vanilla was much stronger than what I was hoping for. After a month of steeping, the sweetness backed off and the tea was more pronounced, but still not as much as I’d like. The black tea flavor is excellent — rich and slightly bitter (in that pleasant way). I wanted much more of the black tea flavor out of this juice. Vanilla Black Tea is certainly a very good juice and much better than most of the tea e-liquids on the market, but the balance didn’t quite work for me. I would order this juice again, but make a request to go heavy on the black tea and light on the vanilla.
Juice Specs: 6mg nicotine, 50/50 PG/VG
Steeping and Review Notes (Updated December 29, 2013)
On the advice of Wlad from Ahlusion, I’ve been trying a new steeping method as of 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.
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 a bottom-coil silica atomizer (The Russian and Aqua), various rebuildable dripping atomizers, and a clearomizer.
