I normally try my hardest to get the juice battle ready to publish every Monday, but this week I needed to take an extra day of R&R, so we’ve got a rare Tuesday edition.

Last week I had a really diverse group of juices to sample from. There weren’t any clear cut winners and there were actually quite a few from this batch that I really didn’t care for much.

SO let’s jump right into it and start the countdown…

#10 Strix Elixers: The Bogart

This week’s biggest loser is The Bogart by Strix Elixers. Here’s what they say about it:

What sets our tobacco apart from others? We use only natural tobacco extractions from the highest quality tobacco leaves- nothing artificial here. This creates the most realistic tobacco eJuice for the best customer experience.

It seems like I’m getting one of these juices almost every week now that is horribly afflicted by the funk. With this juice I could tell as soon as I smelled it in the bottle – it has an absolutely wretched perfume stench, and it basically tastes exactly like it smells.

From one juice to another, whenever they have this quality, there is very little taste difference between them at all, it’s your typical horribly floral tasting tobacco vape.

I truly did not even want to try this one, but I never review any juice without trying it first so with great sadness I did a little dripping in my awesome Crown RDA setup. The results were predictable, and also as expected, I had to deep clean my rig to get the stench out afterwards. In fact, I took a q-tip and rubbed the entire device down with 99% alcohol, then let it air out for 20 minutes, and afterwards it STILL had the horrid stench and it was as if I hadn’t even cleaned it at all.

I wish there was more I could write about the actual flavor, but it really has no flavor other than a disgusting floral overtone that completely kills the rest of the flavor and makes it unvapable.

Additionally, I was particularly surprised when I went and read the description where they claim they “only use natural tobacco extractions”. I’m calling bullshit on that one right now. I think what they are doing here is trying to twist their description around to make it appear as if this juice is a NET (naturally extracted tobacco). I have tried tons of both NETs and standard tobacco flavored ejuices. I have NEVER tried a NET that had this kind of horrid perfume stench to it – and I don’t even see how it would be possible to get that stench with a true NET without adding a bunch of bullshit to it. The only tobacco vapes I have ever tried that have had this horrid flavor associated with them are all standard tobacco vapes, NOT naturally extracted tobaccos. So as far as their description goes, I think it is either ignorance, deception, or somehow they found a way of naturally extracting one of the worst fucking flavors of all time. Either way, I don’t like it.

#9 Bombies: Nana Cream

Coming in 9th place this week is Nana Cream from Bombies. Here’s what they say about it:

A creamy and smooth mixture of delectable fruits.

Before I get too deep into this – I should mention that I placed an order with them a couple of weeks ago, and ordered one of each flavor they had in the smallest size bottle available, and they generously upgraded the size on this one at no charge, so I thought that was really nice customer service on their part.

Now as far as the actual flavor goes, this one was interesting for me. I actually thought it tasted better than this week’s #8 and maybe even one or two more ahead on the countdown.

What I really didn’t like is the fact that this juice is called Nana Cream, and features a picture of a banana on the bottle, yet it doesn’t taste much like bananas or cream, and it is even described as a fruit medley – a flavor profile I would consider quite different than bananas and cream.

I really don’t get that at all. It just doesn’t make any sense to me. Particularly with a flavor like banana that is probably the strongest fruit flavor you can get in an ejuice, you would think that you wouldn’t want to misrepresent a generic fruit flavored vape as a banana cream vape, when they are clearly 2 totally different flavor profiles.

To me, this juice taste almost exactly like their Seven Seas which I reviewed last week. There are probably some subtle differences, but without literally trying the two side by side, I would say they are extremely close. It’s a very generic fruit flavor. I wasn’t able to pull out any really unique fruit notes at all from it, everything just kind of melds together to create a fruity jumble. If I really try, I can taste a small amount of banana, but I don’t know if it’s anything more than a psychological thing anyway. It’s not bad tasting at all, and in fact, I thought the flavor was quite full and it made for a relatively nice all around vape. There just isn’t anything really special about it, and it isn’t that much different than Seven Seas. Just like with Seven Seas, I didn’t find this juice to be very creamy at all, which again strikes me as odd that it has cream in the name, yet doesn’t taste like cream at all.

As much as I was looking forward to trying this one, it really didn’t impress me at all.

**UPDATE**

I decided to go back and really compare Nana Cream and Seven Seas since I mentioned above that I thought they were extremely close in flavor. I’ve been vaping both of these for the better half of this afternoon in tandem. I still think they are both similar in flavor. The big differences are, Bombies definitely does have some banana flavor. I don’t think it’s particularly strong, but it is very noticeable. Seven Seas I think has more of a melon flavor and also has some kind of menthol finish. So there are definitely some differences, and they are not almost exactly the same. They are however, still close in flavor – they both have a generic fruity aspect to them that I feel consumes a good portion of the overall flavor. So the two are clearly different, but they also do share a lot of the same common flavor. Between the two of them, I prefer Nana Cream over Seven Seas.

#8 Alice in Vapeland: Orange Makes Me Creamsicle

The number 8 slot this week belongs to Alice in Vapeland’s Orange Makes me Creamsicle. Here’s what they say about it…

Jack and Jill went up the hill carrying buckets of cream and oranges. They slipped and fell and mixed so well, that little creamsicles came tumbling after. Orange Makes Me Creamsicle is a delightfully orange-tangeriney creamy concoction, sure to make your lips wet. Orange you glad we made this.

I have tried 4 or 5 sample size bottles from AIV now, and they have all been pretty much flavorless up to this point so I was really not expecting a lot out of this one.

I was encouraged that it actually did smell somewhat like orange in the bottle, and even more encouraged that after taking a couple puffs, I could actually taste some FLAVOR.

While it does have some flavor – and by far the most flavor I have gotten from any sample size AIV bottle so far, it is still quite light on the flavor. In the original review, I mentioned now that I have tried a good handful of AIV juices, I’ve kind of noticed that they all have a similar aftertaste. It’s not a natural tasting aftertaste and the closest thing I can liken it to is fabric softener. It doesn’t exactly make the flavor any worse because it is really light and not really bad tasting, but I don’t think it helps either. Particularly with juices like these where the overall flavor is extremely light to begin with, I don’t think it helps at all to have an unnatural aftertaste as one of the only noticeable flavors in the vape.

So basically this one has a fairly decent orange flavor – nothing particularly special, but you can at least taste it. The biggest thing it was lacking for me, by far, was the cream component, which is a pretty large piece of the puzzle in this juice. In fact, I didn’t think it really had any cream taste at all.

At best this one is an average tasting orange vape. At worst, it’s a very light flavor that isn’t very accurate to description and has kind of an unusual aftertaste. Definitely not a juice that is going to make you cream your pants, as described.

#7 The Vapor Co: Smokey Cherry

I decided to bring the Vapor Co back into the fold for this week’s battle trying out their Smokey Cherry. This one doesn’t have a description and I couldn’t find it on their site right now, which is no surprised because everything they are doing seems to be a hot mess.

Anyway, I can only guess that the most basic description of a juice called Smokey Cherry would be a cherry tobacco flavor.

After tasting it, I am still pretty sure that is what this vape is supposed to be. As with a lot of artificial tobacco flavors, particularly ones that contain other strong flavors, it really doesn’t have much of any tobacco taste to it.

The cherry is definitely the star of the show in this vape. It is really strong and has an almost medicinal taste to it – it’s not a delicious fresh Bing cherry flavor. It’s a nasty cough drop kind of cherry flavor.

Normally that is something I don’t care for at all, however it’s interesting because the cherry flavor in this vape is just light enough so that it’s palatable. I think if it had been any stronger, this juice would be unvapable, but it is surprisingly smooth in it’s current state – not something I expected at all. In fact, the more I vaped this one, the more I grew to like it.

I don’t really like it for the flavor – the flavor really just isn’t that good. What I do like it for is that it vapes VERY well. It has an awesome throat hit that will kick your ass at 24mg, a good amount of vapor, it doesn’t burn dry at all despite being lighter on flavor, and it’s just a very nice all around vape.

It’s like if you were going to go buy some cherry flavored pipe tobacco or a cherry flavored cigarello or something like that. You don’t really buy it because the cherry flavor is amazing and tastes just like biting into a fresh juicy cherry. You buy it because you want to smoke it, and you want something that tastes a little better than a normal cigarello.

That’s pretty much how I look at this one. It really doesn’t taste that great, but it kind of makes me feel more like I’m actually smoking. The performance is good and the flavor doesn’t really get in the way.

#6 Azure Vaping: Rob’s Blackjack

The best of the bottom half this week is Rob’s Blackjack by Azure. Here’s what they say about it:

in the works for almost 8 months, this flavor went through many trials before we finally settled on a recipe that we felt truly proud of.



This rich, dark tobacco is laced with sweet vanillas and subtle suggestions of spice. Sitting somewhere between the flavor profiles of cigar and pipe tobaccos, it’s surprisingly smooth, but not without a little bit of kick in the back of the throat, giving it a full body.



I hope that you enjoy this flavor as much as I do.

I was really looking forward to trying this one for a couple reasons. One, because I have been somewhat of a fan of Robacco for quite a while now, and I wanted to see how this one compares. Two, because I happened to get this one at 32mg nic and I have only ever vaped a couple juices with nic that high, so I was interested to see if the throat hit would kick my ass.

On the first point, I found that this juices is actually very close in flavor to Robacco. In fact I really couldn’t tell you any differences between the two. The cool thing about this flavor, is that it is very unique. Robacco is the only other juice I’ve tried that tastes anything like this. To me, it tastes like a shitty cherry pipe tobacco – which I actually think is kind of interesting and cool for an ejuice. The moment I tasted it, that is the first thing that came to mind. The tobacco doesn’t come across as super natural or anything like that. The description doesn’t even mention cherry at all – but that’s the thing that I think I get the most out of this juice. It also maybe has kind of a molasses flavor to it. It’s hard to describe because there just isn’t anything else out there like it. They did also mention vanilla and spice in the description, and frankly I didn’t taste much of either.

On the second point, I ended up being kind of disappointed with this one at 32mg. Not only is it 32mg, it is also 80% PG, so I figured there was potential for this to have a really crazy throat hit. Frankly, I didn’t find it to be any better than other Azure juices I’ve tried at 16mg. I only vape higher nic levels for the throat hit -not because I’m some kind of nicotine fiend or something, so there is no reason why I would ever get this one above 16mg again.

All around, I do like this flavor and I think it is really original. That said, it’s not a particularly delicious flavor, and it’s not something I want to vape in more than short bursts. I’ve had a huge bottle of Robacco for a long time now and it’s one of the few juices I get a slight craving for every once in a while – but after a short vape session I’ve usually had enough.

It’s a really interesting and creative flavor and if you’re into tobaccos, particularly pipe tobaccos, I definitely think it is worth trying.

#5 ECBlend: Dragon’s Breath

Coming in dead-center this week is Dragon’s Breath from ECBlend. Here’s what they say about it:

ECBlend’s Dragon’s Breath® – After-Dinner smooth and creamy flavors leave a lingering freshness and cooling sensation after vaping. A special mixture of Mints blended into a Creamy version of our very popular Dragon Signature Series . ”Oh! So Creamy!”®

The Dragon series has been kind of hit or miss for me. This week I was looking forward to trying Dragon’s Breath because it’s not the typical fruity/berry combo that their other Dragon series juices I’ve tried so far have been.

This one is an after dinner mint flavor. Now admittedly, I’m not the biggest fan of mint, and after dinner mint isn’t at the top of my list of flavors I’ve been dying to try, but I have to say I was pretty impressed with this one. It has a subtle chocolate undertone that carries through the entire vape. The mint is nicely balanced and doesn’t overpower the rest of the flavor. All around, it is pretty accurate. The only thing I didn’t pick up a lot of was cream. I felt this was much more of dry vape and doesn’t have a lot of richness to it at all. That said, the flavor was still quite full and doesn’t leave you feeling like you want more.

For me, this one was just OK, but that is probably largely because I just don’t really care for this type of flavor that much. If you are into mint or chocolate, you might actually like it a lot more than I did, because they were dead on with the accuracy of the flavor. It also vapes very well offering one of the better throat hits I had this week, and a nice plume of vapor.

#4 Smokecignals: Donut

This is one of those juices that to me, just sounded good. And I was really excited to try it – particularly after their Cookies ‘n Cream quickly became one of my favorite juices ever. Here’s what they say about it:

Have it plain or filled. Your choice.

I went ahead and ordered it plain. They have a variety of “fillings” you can order with it, but I figured it would be the most practical to evaluate this one based on how much it actually tastes like a donut.

I really wasn’t impressed with the flavor at all on this juice. It vaped very dry, the flavor was extremely light, and basically it tastes of pure vanilla. Now there’s nothing wrong with a nice mild vanilla vape, but I just simply didn’t think it tasted like a doughnut at all. I’m glad I got it without any extra flavoring added, because I think if you added berries or something, it would probably mix with the vanilla and trick you into thinking this tastes more like a doughnut than it actually does.

Really, I don’t think vanilla is one of the primary flavors that comes to mind when I think of a nice doughnut flavor. I think of fried dough, maybe a hint of cinnamon and or nutmeg, and a nice simple glaze. This vape does not really have any of those elements.

Now that said, I still ended up rating this one at #4 this week, and the reason is, I simply found myself wanting to vape it more than a lot of the other juices I had available. It vapes very well, and it is nice and light while still carrying some flavor. It’s a really nice change of pace from heavy fruits and tobaccos, and as such, I found myself reaching for it quite a bit.

So while this one is a huge fail in the accuracy department, it is still a halfway decent vape all around, and I found it to be quite a bit better than most of the juices ranking below it this week.

#3 Vaporshark: Strawberry Cheesecake

Almost every vendor has a cheesecake flavor, and while I have tried quite a few, I still have yet to find a cheesecake vape that really tastes like cheesecake. Most of them sound amazing on paper, and end up to be fairly inaccurate and sometimes lackluster. I was hoping that Vaporshark would be able to come with a cheesecake that would really impress me.

Here’s what they say about it:

One taste of our Strawberry Cheesecake and you’ll be in a New York state of mind. The decadent flavor of creamy cheesecake topped with sweet strawberries is hard to resist. Try it out, and start spreading the news.

I found that this juice tastes almost exactly like Krunchberry from Vapor Crusader, a juice I reviewed a while back and really liked. The problem is, Krunchberry isn’t a cheesecake vape, it’s supposed to taste like Captain Crunch Crunchberries, and it does taste remarkably accurate.

That is basically what this vape tasted like to me. I am guessing the “crunch” part of the flavor was originally added to the juice to emulate the taste of the crust on a cheesecake. The problem is, it really overpowers the entire vape – making it extremely rich and buttery tasting, which I don’t find is anywhere near the way a slice of cheesecake tastes. Now, if I really stretch, I can taste little hints of the “cheese”, but they are vastly overpowered by the strawberry and crunch components.

So accuracy was not spot on with this one, and I don’t think it’s even close to accurately tasting like cheesecake.

That said, this juice was still pretty darn tasty. It basically tastes almost identical to Krunchberry, which I really liked and I believe even won a Juice Battle a while back if I remember correctly, so in that aspect, this is a pretty good juice.

The biggest thing about it is the flavor is strong to the point of being thick in your mouth. I find that sometimes I can handle vaping a lot of a really thick juice like this, and at other times it can kind of gross me out. Usually it’s more good than bad, but there are days where I just don’t want to mess with something this heavy.

The overall performance is quite good. It has a very strong throat hit and kicks out a ton of vapor. There’s no doubt that this one is about as full-flavored as it gets, so if you’re in the mood for something really strong, this one is the way to go.

#2 Mountain Oak Vapors: Apache

After last week when I said I was finally done with my MOV juices, and the last 4 or so had all been horribly awful, I never expected I would have a new MOV juice landing in the #2 spot this week – and not only is it in the #2 spot, it was a really difficult choice between this one and the ultimate winner.

It was totally random, but I happened to pick up a large lot of tobacco juices which included several new ones from MOV, so right when I thought I was going to be done with them for a while, they are right back in the mix again.

Here’s what they say about Apache:

Apache™ is a full bodied English blend of Flue Cured Virginia, Oriental, and Latika tobacco’s and is sure to put a smile on your face. The tobacco leafs used in this blend were combined to create a balanced experience, without one particular leaf seeking dominance over another. With subtle dark nuances this NET Blend remains smooth yet complex through out the vape. I suppose you can say that Apache has perfect vaping manners!

The biggest thing to note about this juice is that it is one of their Gold Label tobaccos, which are the NETs. The previous 4 tobaccos from them that I thought were all disgusting were all silver label, or not naturally extracted tobaccos.

And what a difference it makes.

Where the previous 4 sliver label tobaccos all had the horrid funk – a terrible perfume overtone just like Strix Elixers this week, Apache tastes 100% natural and has no unwanted flavors. There is no question the minute you take a drag that it is a NET.

I found that this juice is almost identical in flavor to Ahlusion’s Bluegrass Burley, another NET that did very well in a Tobacco juice battle a while back.

Even if you’ve tried a ton of NETs already, you may not have had one that tastes like this. I find that this particular type of net is extremely dry and bitter and the flavor is incredibly strong. A typical NET, in my opinion is usually dry, earthy and either a little nutty or grassy. This type of NET totally blows the lid off that, and the flavor is extremely in-your-face. It’s one of those vapes that is really an acquired taste. It is a lot more akin to a really fancy pipe tobacco than a plain old cigarette.

So I started out not really liking this flavor at all – originally with Bluegrass Burley. When I tried this one, it had been quite a while since I had vaped any Bluegrass, and I was a little put off by this one too – but after vaping it for about a day, I really started to develop a nice appreciation for it.

It is simply one of the most complex tobacco vapes out there right now that I have tried. It has a TON of character to it and there are all kinds of subtle notes running through it on both the front and back end.

Now one of the reasons I didn’t put this in first place is that I just don’t think it’s going to be for everyone. It really has a very strong flavor to it, and unless you are already well versed in various tobaccos, you will probably not be ready for this flavor right out of the bottle. It will take a little time to warm up to it, and honestly a lot of people probably never will because it is just that strong.

Personally, it still isn’t necessarily my favorite tobacco flavor, but the more I vape it, the more I like it and I could see myself growing to like it more and more as time goes on.

I think this would be great to try out if you are a fan of NETs already and want to try something that really has a ton of flavor and character. If you are newer to tobacco vapes, this one might be a little extreme to start out with.

#1 Alternatecig: Classic Coke

With the diverse group of juices I had this week, it might strike you as odd that such a simple flavor would end up being my favorite. The fact of the matter is, I just could not put this one down. In fact, I am still vaping it right now.

Sometimes, doing something simple and doing it very well is the best way to go, and that is definitely true of this juice.

Over the past couple years I have tried quite a few cola vapes, and while I generally think it is a great flavor for vaping, it can be hard to perfect. For example, many of the cola vapes I’ve tried have come off as very flat. One of the biggest challenges is getting that fizz component to keep the vape tasting light and fresh.

This particular cola flavor I wouldn’t say has the perfect level of fizz, but it has a crispness to it that makes it taste perfectly fresh, and the flavor is otherwise spot on with a can of Coke.

Another thing I have found, particularly with soft drink vapes, is they tend to vape very dry. This one is extremely full flavored, and easily the least dry cola vape I’ve tried and one of the least dry soft drink vapes I have tried.

It really makes for a perfect all around experience. The taste is there, and it’s wonderfully accurate, but it has a crisp lightness about it that has kept me wanting to vape it every day for the past week.

It also vapes amazingly well – I vaped this one for about 4-5 days before reviewing it, and I actually thought it was 24mg the entire time until I finally read the bottle before doing a review and realized it was only 18.

Basically, this is a pretty much perfect cola rendition, and a great juice to have in your lineup. It’s not as interesting as some of the other juices, and it doesn’t come from a super fancy vendor. It’s just plain good – and I vaped this one probably more than all the other juices I reviewed last week combined.

The Bottom Line

I have to apologize for not sticking to my normal Monday routine and getting this published on time. It can be difficult for me to find the time to get all 10 juices reviewed and a near 5000 word juice battle published while dealing with all the other things I have going on. So better late than never!

Last week I did have a chance to put out a couple of new hardware reviews, and a VERY important guide to parallel coils. If you do any kind of rebuilding at all and haven’t tried your hand at a parallel coil yet, I strongly recommend you check that out. I have had a hard time enjoying anything that isn’t a parallel coil since I started using them a couple weeks ago.

This week I have a bunch of new stuff planned, and I will be trying my hardest to get next week’s Juice Battle pushed out on time.

Vape on!