Disclaimer: This E-liquid was provided to me free of charge for the purpose of conducting a review. This fact notwithstanding, I will, as best I'm able, provide an honest, accurate and unbiased assessment of this product.
Mister-E-Liquid http://www.mister-e-liquid.com/ based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, produce a sub-range of liquids within the wider context of their catalogue, based on Dragons and the various colours associated with them.
Dragons are a subject close to my heart, but not The Hobbit, Skyrim, World of Warcraft or the defanged New Age type of dragon. I live near a small hill that has a ruined, Christian chapel built on its apex. Before this little chapel was built in circa 1317, the site was used by the local Saxons as a centre of worship and they called it Drakhull (Dragon Hill) and was believed by them to be the home of a Dragon. Also, in the Iliad, the ancient Greek epic poem, Agamemnon was said to have had a blue dragon motif on his sword belt. (Thanks Wikipedia) This is the type of Dragon that I'm interested in.
I'm not sure this is what they intended, but as I vape on Mister-E-Liquid's Blue Dragon, this is the stuff that I'm thinking about.
Blue Dragon is available in 6 ($3.75), 18 ($9.95) and 36ml ($15.00) bottles at nicotine strengths of 0, 6, 12, 18, 24 and 32mg and PG/VG ratios of 100/0, 80/20, 67/33, 60/40 and 50/50. The Mister-E-Liquid website describes Blue Dragon as "a multi-flavor blend with a solid throat hit, plumes of vapor and plenty of delicious flavor".
I don't think the bottles sent out to the buying public are the same as the ones I received, which are labelled with the handwritten name of the liquid and nought else. I enjoy a grassroots, thumbing the nose at the "man" attitude and approach, but it does make it difficult for me to relate the quality of the product available to the consumer if I'm not able to assess it myself. That's the pedant in me speaking. The artist and the rebel in me imagines this is how it's going to be, if e-cigarettes and e-liquids as we know them are regulated out of existence. Think Moonshine. Prohibition era black markets. Handwritten labels without ingredients lists, safety warnings or tactile triangle stickers. (Do U.S. laws require these anyway?)
In any case, the bottles are an easily squeezable, clear plastic with a white, screw top cap, which is not childproof. If this is the bottle sold to the public and you have a child nearby, please store it with care.
The liquid is clear and colourless. This is refreshing in an industry that often feels it needs to add colouring to make its liquids more appealing. As I unscrew the cap and hold the bottle to my nose, the first thing I smell is sweetener, closely followed by the aroma of Granny Smith apples.
I'm dripping Blue Dragon into an Igo-L on a mechanical mod with an 18650 battery. As I draw the vapour into my mouth and across my tongue, I'm sensing sweetness and then almost immediately afterwards, an element of sourness. As a result of smelling the aroma of the liquid, I imagined I was tasting apple but there was something else there that I was having trouble identifying. It took me some time, vaping and searching my "flavour memory" before I realised what that "something else" was. As I continued to vape, the apple flavour gave way entirely to the taste of pear. Interestingly, the sour notes on the inhalation disappeared and I found that I was now experiencing sweet, fresh and juicy pear. It's been many years since I've actually eaten a pear but Blue Dragon seems to me, as much as my memory allows, a faithful adaptation of the actual fruit.
Several days later, as I fill the Igo-L and start vaping Blue Dragon again, I find I'm tasting apple. Again. What I thought to be a simple misidentification of flavour causing me confusion appears to be a layering of flavour. So it begins as apple and continues as pear.
I'm not entirely sure what nicotine strength this sample of Blue Dragon is, but I suspect it's in the region of 12mg. This is a pretty mild nicotine content and doesn't usually deliver a particularly strong throat hit, but this is providing a substantial "thump" at the back of the throat. Again, I don't know the PG/VG ratio, but I think it might be quite high in PG and low in VG as the vapour seems a little thin.
This is quite a refreshing E-liquid and I can imagine myself vaping it all day during the height of summer, while I evoke the slumbering beast on top of Drakhull.
Update: Since posting this review, I've had a friendly e-mail from Mister-E-Liquid explaining the handwritten labels. International orders are sent out discreetly, with just the name of the flavour in an effort to avoid difficulties at customs. The normal Mister-E-Liquid labels contain an ingredients list, the nicotine content and the PG/VG ratio. Also, the liquids sent to me for review were 12mg nicotine strength with a PG/VG ratio of 67/33.
Update: Since posting this review, I've had a friendly e-mail from Mister-E-Liquid explaining the handwritten labels. International orders are sent out discreetly, with just the name of the flavour in an effort to avoid difficulties at customs. The normal Mister-E-Liquid labels contain an ingredients list, the nicotine content and the PG/VG ratio. Also, the liquids sent to me for review were 12mg nicotine strength with a PG/VG ratio of 67/33.
