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. Pertinent portions of this review are quoted from my review of Crave Gourmet's Green Apple. http://vapour-taster.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/green-apple-by-crave-gourmet-ejuice.html Quoted passages are in italics.
“My dear young fellow,' the Old-Green-Grasshopper said gently, 'there are a whole lot of things in this world of ours you haven't started wondering about yet.”
-Roald Dahl, James and the Giant Peach http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/2379261-james-and-the-giant-peach
When I was an eight year old lad, James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl was one of my favourite stories. James Henry Trotter, the protagonist of the story loses his parents to a rampaging rhinoceros and is forced to live with his abusive aunt, Spiker and Sponge. A mysterious man gives the weeping boy a bag of crocodile tongues which he assures him are magical. On his way home, James trips and spills the tongues on a peach tree. One of the peaches grows to an enormous size and when James crawls through a tunnel in the giant peach he discovers a group of giant, sentient insects whom he befriends. A marvellous adventure ensues. "Because of the story's occasional macabre and potentially frightening content, it has become a regular target of the censors and is No. 56 on the American Library Association's top 100 list of most frequently challenged books." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_and_the_Giant_Peach
What child wouldn't identify with James's plight and yearn for an adventure like his? I certainly did.
You learn something every day! Peaches, as well as Plums, Cherries, Apricots and Almonds are part of the Rosaceae (Rose) family. The peach, Prunus Persica is native to, and was first cultivated in North West China (circa 2000BCE). China is still, to this day, the largest producer of Peaches. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peach
From China to Canada...
Crave Gourmet EJuice http://www.craveejuice.com/ are based in Vancouver, Canada and is run by Matt Faucher, who "...has been working in the hospitality industry for over a decade in a variety of kitchens, from high-end hotels to fine dining restaurants and home-style gastro pubs. His gastronomic journey has taken him from coast to coast in Canada and several places around the world. Chef Matty obtained his Red Seal Chef Certification in Halifax, Nova Scotia before moving to the West Coast of Canada and settling in Vancouver, British Columbia. His years of experience in the Culinary Arts help give (their) flavours the strength they need to stand apart from the rest!" http://www.craveejuice.com/pages/about
Chef Matt's a Red Seal Chef? What does that mean? See this for a brief explanation: https://www.go2hr.ca/training/professional-cook-program/what-red-seal-cook The fact that the head of Crave Gourmet is firstly, a Chef and secondly, a Red Seal Chef inspires confidence in me. I'm always intrigued by the e-liquids formulated by chefs because they generally have an intuitive and/or educated palate. They understand flavour and flavour pairing. The best chefs understand the journey flavour takes through the gustatory system and how and when certain flavours register in conscious awareness. They also know that the simplest things are often the most difficult to get right.
Crave Gourmet EJuice offer several ranges of product including Gourmet EJuice, divided into four categories; Crave Pure EJuice, Chef's Premium Brew, Gourmet EJuice and Tobacco EJuice (48 flavours), Flavour Shots (8 flavours) and DIY, divided into three categories (Organic flavours (57 flavours), Tobacco flavours (6 flavours) and Double Strength EJuice (64 flavours). Crave Gourmet's liquids are made entirely with organic ingredients and the Vegetable Glycerin is derived from sweet Potatoes. Not only is there no nicotine content in these juices and extracts, but there's also no Propylene glycol, Acetone, Alcohol, Acetyl Propionyl or Diacetyl.
Peach is available as a regular e-liquid (albeit sans nicotine; the sale and supply of nicotine e-liquids in Canada is illegal), a Double Strength solution for mixing with your own base and as an extract for use by the DIY mixers amongst you. The bottle of Peach under consideration in this instance is from the Double Strength range. These bottles come in sizes of 30ml ($17.95), 120ml (4oz) ($30.95), 240ml (8oz) ($50.95), 480ml (16oz) ($89.95), 960ml (32oz) ($144.95) and 3.7l (1 gallon) ($299.95). NB. I assume these figures are in Canadian currency. As of the date of the writing of this review one Canadian dollar is equivalent to US$0.97 and GBP£0.60.
The 10ml sample bottle I have in front of me is a semi-opaque, easily squeezed plastic that arrived in a tamper evident plastic film which covered it from top to bottom. The cap, which was also tamper evident (with a plastic ring around the neck of the bottle attached to the cap), is a white plastic, non-childproof screw top. The bottle has an attached dropper insert for easy dripping, which is easily removed if you want to decant the liquid into a larger bottle and add your own nicotine/PG/VG base. The label includes the following information in English and in French: the company name, the name of the liquid, an ingredients list, the company website address and the phrase "Double strength".
The liquid is clear and without colour. Gently rocking the bottle moves the liquid about and it appears quite aqueous, despite it's apparent 100% vegetable glycerin content. It's very lubricious; it takes two and a half minutes to be a absorbed into my skin but remains very slippery for almost two minutes. Opening the bottle and holding it below my nose, I discern the unmistakable fragrance of a fresh peach.
As per usual, I'm vaping Peach in an Igo-L on a Poldiac running on an 18650 battery. There are five wraps of 0.2mm (32AWG) Kanthal wire around three strands of 2mm silica wick. The coil is measuring 2.7ohms on the Provari. As this is a double strength juice, I've diluted it by adding an equal part of PG/VG/Nicotine base, rendering an 18mg nicotine strength liquid.
I begin to draw the vapour into my mouth and as with most fruit flavoured vapes, there's a wash of sweetness, though mild, throughout. Progressive firing of the device, heating the coil seems to intensify the sweetness. I continue firing the device and proceed to inhale and as I do so I recognise the general profile of a stone fruit (peach, apricot, nectarine, plum, cherry). Having taken my fill of vapour I draw a little fresh air into my lungs and somewhat appropriately, the flavour blossoms. Peach floods my gustatory system and continues to do so, even as I begin to exhale. This is fresh, "juice running between your fingers as you bite into it" peach. The level of sweetness is slightly less than an actual peach but otherwise it's an excellent approximation of the real thing. There's even the slight acidity one finds in the fruit. The aftertaste consists of a simple, refreshing, mouth cleansing echo that lingers and slowly fades. The vapour is dense and velvety smooth.
Given that I've altered the VG/PG ratio and added nicotine, it would be somewhat meaningless to discuss throat hit or vapour production.
Crave Gourmet's Peach, Double Strength is simple, unadorned fare and makes no pretence of being anything other than what it suggests. Having said this, it does it exceedingly well. The flavour, as mentioned previously, is utterly authentic with nary a trace of artificiality about it. If you're a fan of fruit flavoured e-liquids, I'd suggest you try this particular juice. It's exceptionally good.
NB. For those of you in the Australasian and South-East Asian regions who'd like to purchase Crave products, I'd suggest you look at Crave Gourmet resellers, Ecig Life, http://www.electroniccigarettelife.com.au based in Melbourne, Australia.
“The walls were wet and sticky, and peach juice was dripping from the ceiling. James opened his mouth and caught some of it on his tongue. It tasted delicious.”
-Roald Dahl, James and the Giant Peach http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/2379261-james-and-the-giant-peach
