Known for its cig-alike products and an investment from Bruno Mars, Njoy surprised the vaping industry with the Njoy Artist Collection. A collaboration with five well-known and respected juice makers, the Njoy Artist Collection launched with five e-liquids that have been getting rave reviews for their complexity and deliciousness. While many enthusiast vapers associate Njoy with inexpensive products found in drugstores, gas stations, and the like, the Njoy Artist Collection is very much geared towards vaping enthusiasts. I first heard about the line from Craft Vapery’s Josh Krane and learned more from POET’s Randy Freer (one of the juice makers involved with the project). At Vape Summit III, Njoy’s Mike Maybaum told me more about the line and the thinking behind it.
For those of you not familiar with the flavors and creators behind the Njoy Artist Collection, here’s a brief rundown. Paramour by Daniel of Flavors is a blend of pear, peach, vanilla, and custard. Hedon’s Bite by George of Mr. Good Vape is a blend of different apples, caramel, and melon. Longtime friend of RPadTV Randy of POET has Dragonscape, a mix of Indian spice, tea, custard, and vanilla. Anne-Claire of Vaponaute has Sacre Couer, a melange of berry, rhubarb, custard, almond torte, and bourbon. Last, but not least, is Samba Sun from Jeremy of Good Life Vapor, a mix of clementine, peach, apricot, and marshmallow. As you can see, these are not simple one-note flavors that many vapers would expect from an e-cigarette company. The Njoy Artist Collection e-liquids are complex flavors aimed at vapers with discerning palettes.
Having a powerhouse like Njoy make products for vaping enthusiasts is a fantastic thing for the business. The company is highly influential and its distribution dwarfs the majority of most e-liquid companies. In many ways, it helps legitimize the vaping enthusiast segment of the market and helps mainstream consumers learn that there are better products than cig-alikes available. While some of the smaller juice companies I know are intimidated by the Njoy Artist Collection, I think it’s simply a sign of the vaping enthusiast market growing up. For the industry to grow, it doesn’t need another line of juices that’s only available in Southern California and made in the back of a shop. It needs products like the Njoy Artist Collection — juices that are made under the safest conditions and easily available to stores (not just vape shops) around the world.
Watch the Vape Summit III interview below and learn more about the Njoy Artist Collection.
Do any of the juice makers in this collection receiving any payments or kickbacks for their work? Not trying to challenge you, but how do you know these “juices that are made under the safest conditions ?” As cool as this collection appears, I see it as a direct reflection of the vape community. All together as one but everyone moving in their own direction trying to achieve the same end result. I would have liked to see the artist paired up with each other once and have the pair work together on one flavor. The public might see NJOY’ as a business acting much like Big Tobacco, Follow the money. Where are these profits from sales going.
I believe the juice makers were paid initially for the services and participation. I don’t know if they receive a backend cut. As for safety, Josh from Craft Vapers have discussed the lab conditions and I’ve chatted about the lab with a few of the Artist Collection makers. Compare that to several SoCal juices companies, several of which are very popular but don’t make their juices in sterile environments.
As for Njoy as a whole, I don’t have any issue with how the company’s profits are allocated. Njoy is not affiliated with a big tobacco company and claims to have no intention of selling to one.
Oh, so did all the artist use the same lab? So with these clean labs, what types of things or is it the threat of viruses & diseases that juice creators need to be mindful of? Like my kitchen,i’m not cooking in their if its filthy and not sanitary. Yeah I prefer clean sterile labs to mix my juice, and that’s good. But I’ve never heard of what are the risks or issues that may arise from poor procedures and unclean labs. Please never mention to me which juice company’s that I vape that are not mixing in ideal settings. Just warn me if you see me about to try somet new juice for the first time.
From what I was told, all the juice makers used Njoy’s facility. There are all kinds of contaminants that can alter the flavor and purity of e-liquid — bacteria, mold, dirt, etc. Equating it to a home kitchen doesn’t work because of scale. These are mass produced products that are being ingested. The top companies are using ISO-certified clean rooms to make e-liquids and you can be sure that the FDA will require a higher safety standard. While it’s possible for juice made in a garage or the back of a vape shop to be perfectly safe, is that a risk you want to take? One bad incident would get negative press for the entire business.
I’d think allergens would be a big concern. I have a guy in my band who is allergic to damn near everything, mainly cats, but cigarette smoke as well. When I first started vaping, he let me blow it directly in his face and he had 0 reaction (unlike if someone with a cigarette did that). Since then, I’ve been able to vape in our rehearsal studio care free.
Recently though, I picked up a bottle of a somewhat if not rather popular SoCal company (remaining anonymous) because one of my local shops started carrying it and I wanted to show support. I was vaping this at rehearsal when dude started choking up due to allergies. We determined it was the juice I was using. Thankfully, he was ultimately okay and understood that it was just the flavor of juice and not vaping as a whole.
Since then, I have been conscience of what juices I do and don’t bring to rehearsal.