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 Mr. Good Vape's Karma Cream. http://vapour-taster.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/karma-cream-by-mr-good-vape.html Quoted passages are in italics.
Imagine for a moment that you walk the same route each day to wherever it is you go. You've been walking that route for months, if not years. One very fine day, you notice a couple of pistachio shells on the sidewalk, but you think nothing of it. It's just litter. The next day, you see more pistachio shells in the same spot. The next day, even more shells. It's not just litter anymore, because you've begun to wonder who's been dropping them. The pistachio shells keep appearing for a couple of days and now you've begun looking for patterns in their appearance. A few more days go by and the shells seem to appear along the same stretch of your route, and you recognise that there may indeed be a pattern... and that this pattern is a trail which has been building and crystallising over time. The next day, you follow this spatio-temporal trail and it leads from the corner store near your home, two blocks down and one across, through the small park with a statue of Ghandi in it, across the road and down an alley, as far as you can see into the gloom. Imagining the worst but mustering the courage nonetheless, you tentatively creep down the alley, being careful to take the centre-most line. You begin to hear muttering... as you approach what seems to be a small courtyard filled with sodden cardboard and rusted soda cans, you lean ever so slightly around the corner towards the direction of the muttering. There in the corner, is a young man, cleanly shaven, wearing what looks to be an expensive suit, sitting on an upturned milk crate with rats and pigeons and a couple of foxes arrayed around him. He's sharing his meal of pistachios with this abject, urban menagerie. There, before you, is Pistachio Man.
The Mr. Good Vape website page for Pistachio Man! has this to say about the e-liquid: "Another Connoisseur's blend by the Godfather of Vaping, Mr. Good Vape. It is a delightful combination of Chocolate Mint Pistachio with an undertone of french vanilla ice cream and a slight hint of dark burley Tobacco imported from Italy. This blend is perfect any time, day or night and will have you longing for each and every draw you take. Pistachio Man is Mr. Good Vape's right hand man and is (as) solid a character as the family has ever known, he is sure to leave a lasting impression from the second you first get a chance to meet him." https://www.mrgoodvape.com/shop/our-juices/pistachio-man/
Mr. Good Vape (The Godfather of Vaping) is based in Southern California and is the brainchild and joint venture of business partners and long-time friends, Gary Riddle and Chris Davis. Mr. Good Vape was set up to be a fun, approachable company with an emphasis on "sweet fruit and candy like flavors. Similar to Jelly Belly Candy company or Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream company." https://www.mrgoodvape.com/about-us/
Mr. Good Vape e-liquids are available from their own online store https://www.mrgoodvape.com, Vape Revolution http://shop.vaperev.com and fifty brick and mortar stores scattered throughout the US (with one in Kuala Lumpur, another in Ireland and another opening soon in England). https://www.mrgoodvape.com/contact/ Amusingly, each outlet is characterised as an Under Boss, Soldier or Capo, furthering the Godfather theme of the company.
The company offers a selection of eleven flavoured e-liquids. These are Bahama Mama ("Banana, Pineapple, Coconut Candy Colada and Cream"), Sweet Lovin ("...strawberries, watermelon and bubblegum..."), Karma Cream ("...juicy peaches, vanilla bean ice cream and two types of creams..."), Dreamsicle ("...(a) vape that mimics the old ice cream 50/50 bars. Loaded with Tangerines and Bavarian Cream and more..."), Melon Head ("...Cantaloupe, Mango, and Papaya..."), Moon Sugar ("...warm and bready with tones of Butterscotch and some graham cracker pie crust..."), Sunshine Daydream ("...Pineapple, Banana, Orange and two other excellent extracts. People say it tastes like Juicy Fruit Gum!"), Pistachio Man ("...Chocolate Mint Pistachio with an undertone of french vanilla ice cream and a slight hint of dark burley Tobacco imported from Italy..."), Heaven's Candy ("...Apple Candy, Sweet Plums and two types of sugary grapes with a hint of cotton candy..."), Sundae Fundae ("...Caramel Candy, Brown Sugar, French Vanilla, Butter Pecan, Cookies and Cream drizzled in butterscotch.") and Dabble Dooyah ("warm, Dutch, apple pie melted into two types of exotic, slow churned vanillas with a dabble doo of cinnamon drizzled in caramel").
The PG/VG ratio in each juice in the range differs from the next. For example, Sweet Lovin is a 50/50 liquid while Melon Head is an 80/20 (VG/PG) liquid. Check the juice you're interested in for it's specific PG/VG ratio. Each juice is available in a 15 (US$12.00) or 30ml (US$20.00) bottle at nicotine strengths of 0, 6, 12, 18 and 24mg.
The (15ml) bottles used by Mr. Good Vape are a clear glass with a black, plastic, screw top cap with an inbuilt eye dropper which makes transferring the liquid from the bottle to your favourite device very easy. Every label in the range features the cartoon portrait of the "Godfather of Vaping". Information on the label includes the following: the company name, the name of the liquid, nicotine strength in mg, a "born on" date, an ingredients list, a warning that the contents of the bottle may contain traces of nuts and an admonition to "keep out of reach of children and pets". Every bottle arrives with a tamper evident plastic film around the cap and neck of the bottle.
The tone of the liquid is dark. The colour is a clear, Burnt Umber (brown). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnt_umber_(color)#Burnt_umber Given that this is a PG60%/VG40% liquid, it's somewhat more aqueous than recent Mr. Good Vape e-liquids I've reviewed. Giving the bottle a brief, vigorous shake disperses tiny bubbles of air throughout the liquid, which rise to the top of the bottle, defying gravity and the viscosity of the juice, at a moderate rate. With the bottle opened below my nose the liquid releases an aroma with an earthy, nutty top note below which resides a middle note that closely approximates that of chocolate chip ice-cream. I'm also sensing an abiding trace of alcohol. Ethyl Alcohol perhaps? (Often used as a suspension for organic flavour compounds.)
I'm vaping Pistachio Man! in an Igo-L on a Provari running on an 18650 battery. There's five wraps of 0.2 (32AWG) Kanthal wire around three strands of 2mm Silica wick, the atomiser is reading 2.3ohms and I've set voltage output to 4.2.
Firing the device and inhaling, my mouth fills with what I imagine to be a rich, plummy flavour. There's a medial sweetness about the vapour that builds in intensity, ever so slightly, the longer I inhale. At the point when I've inhaled as much vapour as I can and chase it into my lungs with a short breath of fresh air, the flavour that I imagined to be fruity in character, transforms and adopts the distinctive quality of cocoa. Alongside this, but sitting lower in the overall mix are the flavours of mint and the gentle creaminess of vanilla. Exhaling seems to subdue the flavour of cocoa slightly while the mint moves to the fore in conscious awareness. The pistachio and tobacco are ever-present but I never find them intrusive or overwhelming; they sit politely at the feet of the accompanying flavours and serve to lend an earthy dimension to what otherwise might be a conventional (but no less delicious) dessert vape. The aftertaste is a gentle medley of the primary flavours of mint and cocoa, with the latter predominating slightly. Although the Mr. Good Vape website describes the flavour in this juice as chocolate, I'd like to suggest it more closely approximates the drier, less buttery-rich cocoa.
In vaping Pistachio Man!, I don't experience a crisp, solid throat hit. With sweetened e-liquids I usually experience a certain escalation of pressure at the back of my throat as I inhale. This is very much the case, in this instance. Vapour production is very generous with opaque volumes of the stuff pouring from my mouth into the room around me.
Did you catch the words muttered by Pistachio Man as he fed his companions?
"Yum, yum... Oh, yum, yum... Yes indeed, yum, yum..."
