I think a good case could be made for the fact that this E-liquid was named after Curious George, a diminutive monkey who was brought to life in a series of books by French couple Margret Rey (writing) and Hans Augusto Rey (illustrations), beginning with "Curious George" in 1941. Curious George became a phenomena with three series of books, two series of telefilms, a handful of feature length films, a computer game and numerous references in other vectors of popular culture. Curious George was Forrest Gump's favourite book. Thanks Wikipedia.
Curious Jorge by The Standard was kindly sent to me by Vape Revolution http://shop.vaperev.com/ who are based in Cerritos, California. This E-liquid is available in a 30ml bottle with nicotine strengths of 0, 6, 12, 18, and 24mg and costs $22.00. PG/VG ratios are unspecified. The Vape Revolution website describes Curious Jorge as "Banana banana banana and then some more Banana!!"
Packaging and presentation of The Standard range is excellent. The bottle is a thick, clear, cuboid glass with a black, plastic screw top cap. The label wraps around two and a quarter sides and the graphic design is considered and very accomplished. The label has a picture of a chimp on it. I'm already won over. The label also contains the name of the liquid, the brand name, nicotine strength and a warning to keep out of the reach of children. In terms of aesthetics, somebody with an artistic bone in their body has done the work and as I mentioned in my review of Cell Block Four, http://vapour-taster.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/cell-block-four-by-standard.html this contributes significantly to my appreciation of this liquid.
The bottle doesn't come with a dripper however, so you'll need to use a syringe, pipette or eye dropper, all of which are cheap and readily available online or at your local pharmacy. The screw top cap isn't childproof either, so if you do have children around, be sure to store it out of harm's way.
The liquid itself is a cloudy, saturated yellow turning slightly towards a peachy hue and is quite viscous, suggesting from the outset that it's probably VG heavy. Opening the bottle releases the potent, sweet aroma of blackened, overripe bananas that are typically kept for mixing into a banana cake.
I'm vaping Curious Jorge in an Igo-L on a mechanical mod with an 18650 battery. As I activate the mod and draw the vapour into my mouth it has a mild, fluffy quality. The sweetness indicated in the aroma of the liquid is significantly less in taste than what I expected, though pulsing the coil seems to amplify it a little. It is recognised however (apparently), that flavour is perceived more during exhalation than it is during inhalation, so this isn't a problem with the liquid at all. It takes a long, hard drag straight into the lungs to get a throat hit but when it does arrive it lingers well after the vapour has left your body. As I exhale, there's the dominant and incomparable banana flavour but I'm fairly certain I'm also tasting the merest hints of vanilla and caramelised sugar. The latter I would attribute to the sweetener in the liquid cooking on the coil, even if it's not an acknowledged ingredient in the recipe. The banana flavour remains on your palate for a decent amount of time after the last vape. The potency and sweetness of the flavour seems finely tuned to straddle the line between all day vaping and dessert vaping. Not too light; not too strong.
Vapour production is very good with thick, opaque plumes billowing out into the room around me and indicative of VG vapour, succumbing immediately to the effects of gravity. Anyone else noticed this? As I mentioned earlier, throat hit is good but seems to vary depending on the inhalation technique used.
I don't particularly like banana in it's raw form but I absolutely adore it when it's part of a dessert; Buttermilk pancakes with caramelised banana, walnuts, maple syrup and a dusting of cinnamon is my favourite. While Curious Jorge offers a straight Banana experience, it seems to me very reminiscent of that caramelised banana I so love. This is a rich, luxurious and somewhat decadent vape. Quality with a capital Q.
