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. Parts of this review are quoted from my review of G2 Vapor's Shocker. http://vapour-taster.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/shocker-by-g2-vapor.html Quoted passages are in italics.
"(168317) 1988 RY4 is a main-belt minor planet. It was discovered by Henri Debehogne at the La Silla Observatory in Chile on September 2, 1988." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/(168317)_1988_RY4
RY4 is a main-belt minor planet but it is also an e-liquid whose origin and subsequent history is decidedly murky. I was able however, to find this thread on the ECF forum: http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/general-e-liquid-reviews/162984-dekang-ry4-11mg-chasing-dragon.html which goes some way to explaining the who, the what and the wherefore. In short, it appears that RY4, short for Ruyan4 was invented in China, is a combination of at least three primary flavours (tobacco, caramel and vanilla), is a staple in the vaping world and that it appears in many varied guises.
caRnY4 is G2 Vapor's http://g2vapor.com/ version of this highly esteemed flavour combination and is the subject of this review.
G2 Vapor offer a total of six e-liquids, each of which seems a considered, refined and finely tuned balance of full-bodied flavour. They are, in no particular order, G2 (Absinthe, apple and seven other undisclosed flavours), El Blacco ("A blackberry cobbler with hints of vanilla ice cream blended with a variety of smooth black tobaccos"), Shocker (Absinthe and raspberry), Deshocker (raspberry without the Absinthe), Purple Nurple ("beta testers describe it best: grape koolaid, grape soda, grape icee pops, grape fun dip, grape candy bottle caps") and caRnY4.
G2 Vapor make their entire range of e-liquids available through ElectronicStix who are based in Utah, USA. They have a number of brick and mortar stores in addition to their online store. http://www.electronicstix.com/
Each of the E-liquids are available in 30ml ($17.95) bottles at nicotine strengths of 6, 12 and 24mg and are mixed at PG/VG ratios of 50/50.
The actual bottles sent to me are samples (10 or 15ml) and not the 30ml bottles made available to paying customers, so any information I provide about the bottle and label may or may not apply to the bottle you purchase and receive. When the bottle arrived the cap was sealed in a tamper evident plastic. The bottle in front of me is a tall, elegant, clear glass with a black, plastic screw top cap. The cap isn't childproof and there's no dropper attached or provided, though ElectronicStix do sell screw on dropper tips (suitable for 30ml bottles) at $0.75 each. The label includes the following: the brand name, the name of the liquid, nicotine strength in mg, an ingredients list and a warning to "keep away from children and pets".
The liquid is a clear, slightly darker than Gamboge brown hue http://www.workwithcolor.com/hsl-color-picker-01.htm?cp=E49B0F. When I open the bottle to smell the liquid the first thing I notice is a rich, saturated caramel with supporting notes of vanilla and somewhat surprisingly, popcorn.
The G2 Vapor website describes the flavour of caRnY4 as "caramel tobacco with a funnel cake / kettle corn taste". http://g2vapor.com/About.html I've tasted caramel and tobacco but I've never had the pleasure of eating funnel cake or kettle corn, so I can't attest to the authenticity of these flavours, but I'll do my best to describe my experience of caRnY4 nevertheless.
My reviewing hardware is the Igo-L dripping atomiser on a mechanical mod powered by an 18650 battery.
I begin to draw the vapour into my mouth and the sensation is of a mounting intensity of the sweetness of caramel. At a certain point I open my throat and allow the vapour to course down into my lungs at which time, I feel that familiar pressure at the back of the throat, which builds until I need to stop inhaling. The caramel has reached it's peak in intensity but I can now taste a subtle undercurrent of vanilla and as I begin to very slowly exhale, in order to savour the experience, other flavours emerge. I can only describe these as a gentle merging of deep fried, sweetened batter and popcorn, which I assume are the funnel cake and kettle corn referenced on the G2 Vapor website. These are immediately apparent as I exhale and they overtake the caramel and vanilla that I tasted as I inhaled, to become the primary flavours. At no particular point in the vape am I particularly aware of any tobacco notes, but I assume that if it wasn't there, the vapour would taste quite different. I suspect that the tobacco notes serve to lay a foundation upon which which everything else is built. So in a sense, it acts as a type of flavorous binding agent. I could be wrong.
As with many of the juices I've tried caRnY4 has that familiar sensation of building pressure at the back of the throat, but it also has a significant throat hit for a 12mg juice. Vapour production is very good.
As in recently reviewed liquids, we have here a vaping experience that delivers varying degrees of intensity of flavour, delivered to the palate and the conscious mind at different points in time. Is it the skill of the mixer or is it the inherent qualities of the flavouring that allows for this? I suspect it's both. It takes a refined and experienced palate to judge the correct proportions of ingredients needed to deliver a particular suite of sensations. By the same token, some flavours and aromas may, by their very nature be apprehended by the human nervous system at different stages in the breath cycle. But again, it takes an experienced mixer to know this and to utilise this knowledge in achieving the desired effect.
This could be a serious contender for my all day vape. It's good. It's very good.
