I’ll start this one by saying that the my-e-liquid journey has provided me with an opportunity to speak with some very kind people, people who are in this business for the right reasons, helping folks to kick the analogs and lessen their chances of becoming sick with any one of the illnesses that smoking cigarettes contributes to. One of those people is the owner and juicer at Vapor 4 life . With that being said, I really wanted to like their product and while the first juice I reviewed from them, Cranberry Pina Colada was quite good with a nice deep pineapple coconut base, it didn’t exactly knock my socks off (I felt the cranberry was under utilized), but these days there is very little out there that does. Since I prefer to let the vendor choose which flavors they will submit for review, it’s not uncommon for me to receive mentholated flavors from vendors that offer that as an added option for their flavors, and that is what happened with this juice, Berry Splash with the optional added menthol.
Vapor 4 life describes this one with the fairly vague “fruity berry mix” on their website, which could mean any number of things, but in this case, it is a fairly standard mixed berry blend with an emphasis on the higher toned red berries, strawberry, red raspberry, and perhaps a light touch of pomegranate as well. It’s good, but again, not extraordinary, and even then, it does have a fairly major flaw, the addition of one flavor that simply doesn’t pass muster,a less than stellar cherry note. With the added menthol (and this is pure menthol, not the chilly flavorless koolada that’s often used in fruity blends), the cherry-like flavor takes on an overwhelming medicinal tone, drowning out the more delicate fruity berry flavors. The end result almost precisely mirrors the taste of a cherry flavored cough syrup.
In my standard reviewing rig (Kanger Mod/ 510 hybrid dripping atty) when kept to a low enough voltage, the medicinal flavor can be kept to a bare minimum, allowing the fruity berry mix to shine though, but even in the best case scenario, the persistent cough syrup flavor can not be completely avoided. I know that there are those vapers out there who really enjoy a mentholated cherry flavor of this nature, and if that’s something you go in for, this should be right up your alley. It’s light, refreshing, with nice mixed berry highlights and clearly made with quality ingredients. Had the label on this bottle read something akin to “mixed berry cough syrup” I’d be writing a very different review, but as it stands, this juice is a far cry from something I would call Berry Splash.
On a VV/VW device, I preferred to keep it at 8.5w or below (4.6v on a 2.5Ω atty) which helped to keep the berry flavors front and center (as much as possible). If you’re after more of a cough drop flavor, considering turning the wattage up to 11, literally. The cherry menthol takes center stage, obliterating the berry notes when it reached 11 watts, accompanied by a big, stiff throat hit and a nice cloud of vapor to boot. With my mech mod/RDA set-up, (modified IGO-W with a pair of twisted 30ga coils, wrapped on 2mm ekowool, clocking in at .7Ω) the cherry menthol is increased to maximum, completely smothering any berry flavor that is present at lower wattage, while delivering a tremendous throat hit (thanks to the menthol) and the large cloud one would expect from that sort of set-up.
