Michelles review of some of out products on Planet of the vapes
It’s a small world sometimes, isn’t it! I was out walking my dog a few weeks ago when I bumped into one of my dog walking friends, and whilst chatting, I pulled out my vape and the conversation drifted away from dogs and growing vegetables to vaping. As we got chatting, he happened to mention that he had a friend who makes the liquids. Now this is not an unusual thing to hear, I often hear of a mate of a mate who mixes his own juices, but as the conversation moved forward, this didn’t sound like some dodgy backroom mixer. He told me how these e-liquids are made with specially imported tobacco leaves and how much work had gone into getting all the correct approvals and certification, all seriously above board and then some. By now, I was really intrigued so I asked what his mate’s business was called, my Potv hat firmly squashed on to my head by now, and he said “Drakes”. I said “what? THE Drakes?, and he said “ I would assume so”. He then went on to tell me what a great bloke John from Drakes was, and that he wondered if there was anything I could do to spread the good word, so I said I could always do a review if that would help. “Leave it with me” he said, and we went our separate ways to take our now exhausted dogs back home. A couple of days later we caught up again, and out of his coat pocket came a bag full of e-liquid for me to try. In the meantime, I have now had a few good chats with John “Mr Drakes” himself, and I can absolutely back up what our mutual friend had said, what a lovely guy, and his passion for what he does just beams out of him.
About Drake’s E-liquids
Drake's has been around for quite a while now, starting out in 2014. They specialise in expertly crafted tobacco blends, and having now tried a selection of their e-liquids, I can see why they have so many fans. Instead of using tobacco flavours to make their juices, they source the finest speciality tobacco from all over the world and legally import them into the UK to process them at their base in Lincolnshire.
Now I won’t even pretend that I understand the ins and outs of NET (naturally extracted tobacco) e-liquids, but the basics are that the tobacco leaves are processed through a method of cold maceration which takes 8-16 weeks to complete. This is a term more usually found in wine making, and it is basically like giving them a controlled soak to extract as much of the flavour and characteristics of the leaves, so you are getting the purest natural leaf flavours that it is possible to extract.
As for the other flavours used in some of the recipes, there are no artificial flavours or any other nasties lurking, and all of the e-liquids have been stringently tested to make sure that the finished product is of the highest possible standard and fully complies with the current legal requirements. So not only do they taste amazing, but they also contain some of the highest levels of purity possible.
Drake’s E-liquids come in both 50VG/50PG and 70VG/30PG so are suitable for both MTL and DTL vapers. I have been using both a traditional mod and tank and a pod kit to put them through their paces, and they worked beautifully in both set ups. I must admit I was surprised how well they worked in my SX Mini PureMax, as traditionally tobacco flavours can be a bit of a coil killer, but vaping technology has come on so far in recent years, and the latest generation of mesh coils seem to be able to handle anything you can throw at them. This is great news as it means that e-liquids like this are no longer the reserve of the elite vapers anymore, anyone can easily enjoy the best juices out there without having to worry about whether their kit can handle it.
I was sent six flavours to try, a nice cross section of the liquids available. There are plenty of other on the Drake’s website, and there is also the choice of shortfills, longfills, and pre-mixed 10ml bottles, so regardless of your vape style, you should find something that works for you.
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