Are they worth buying?
The Artist Collection from NJOY offers exactly what it claims to: a small range of artisanal e-liquids crafted with care and infused with complex, well-balanced flavors.
They may be lumped with overly pretentious descriptions and priced accordingly, but if you’re looking for high-end e-juice, $23 for a 30 ml bottle isn’t far outside the usual range (and you can save 10% with our NJOY Coupon Code “THANKS” – without quotations). Really, you’re paying for the artistry and flavor-crafting experience of the mixers, and it must be said that the juices are definitely a step above from the standard juices you find.
What’s more, every single juice in the Artist Collection is delicious, but they all carry the unique style and flair of the individual mixers, keeping the flavors consistently interesting too. If you’re looking for some high-end juices, the Artist Collection is a must-try.
Full review
NJOY wanted to put out some awesome e-juices. There’s a hell of a lot of competition, though, and even as the biggest independent e-cig maker on the market – not having been snapped up by Big Tobacco – making some top-quality e-juices is still a challenge. But they had the perfect solution: task some of the most respected mixers in the industry to come up with some high-end juices to put out as a special line. The result is the NJOY Artist Collection: five juices that aim to offer top-end, (genuinely) premium e-juice flavors under the NJOY banner.
The five mixers tasked with creating a juice for Arizona-based NJOY are: Jeremy from Good Life Vapor, Daniel from Flavorz, George from Mr. Good Vape, Anne-Claire of Vaponaute and Randy of P.O.E.T.. The resulting line-up is definitely appealing to experienced vapers – I’m personally a big fan of Mr. Good Vape and P.O.E.T. in particular – and offers a nice introduction to their companies too, but are they really as good as they look?
We’ve vaped through the juices for our NJOY Artist Collection review to find out.
Packaging and Design
One area where NJOY really knocked it out of the park is the packaging and design on the juices. Each comes in an individualized box, featuring a unique, artistic portrait of each of the mixers on the outer, top section along with the core details about the flavor around the side. Under the topper, there’s a plainer black box, which flips open at the front to reveal the bottle, with a description of the flavor on the inside. The juices are presented beautifully, with the boxes making each one feel special as well as containing all of the key information you need.
The bottles themselves are all glass, with high-quality child-proof caps (no sticking or difficulty opening them) and a design that’s right in line with that of the outer box. The image of the mixer is silhouetted on the label, and the name of the flavor and information about the nicotine level, bottle size and batch is all there too. They all come in 30 ml bottles, for $23 each (on sale at time of writing – January 2016 – for $19.99).
Normally I try to avoid going on about the bottles too much, but NJOY has really done a fantastic job with these: easily some of the best presentation I’ve ever seen for e-juice.
Mixing Options
The PG/VG ratios of the juices vary: it’s 50/50 for Sacre Coeur and Paramour, 40/60 for Samba Sun and Hedon’s Bite and 30/70 for Dragonscape. So, in general, the mixes are even or slightly VG-heavy, which is great for most vapers, but you don’t get to choose your desired blend.
The juices are available in 0, 3, 6, 12 and 18 mg/ml, giving a great spread of nicotine levels including a 3 mg/ml option ideal for drippers. The only thing missing is a 24 mg/ml option for just-switching smokers, but most recent smokers wouldn’t be paying for high-end juice (yet) anyway, so it isn’t such a big deal. Plus, the 18 mg/ml option is enough for most smokers anyway.
NJOY Artist Collection Flavors
Para Mour – Rating 4/5
Accuracy: This is a multi-tonal blend of pear and peach, softened with vanilla custard and topped off with some notes of nutty cinnamon. It looks like a tall order for a juice, but the components do generally come through. The pear and peach blend together nicely, with the pear peeking through on top and being supported by the sweeter peach, and although the custard isn’t easy to pick up specifically, there’s a definite silky, vanilla undercurrent to the flavor. The cinnamon is fairly light, but it comes through on the nose and does a good job of rounding the flavor out.
Overall: Para Mour is a great juice, overall: it might overdo the description a little – the Artist Collection is all about the prestige, after all – but the result really is delicious. The sweetness from the fruits and the softness of the vanilla help it go down smoothly, and the touches of cinnamon take the whole thing to the next level. The only downside is that the balance of the flavors stops one element from really being dominant, and it could have been a little if something had been given just a touch more prominence. That said, it’s ideal all-day vape material, and although it isn’t the best of the line-up for me, it’s definitely one to try.
Samba Sun – Rating 4.5/5
Accuracy: Samba Sun is a light, fruity juice, described as starting out with sweet clementine and continuing with a creamy marshmallow, before closing with some bright peach with a touch of apricot. The clementine is the most prominent component here, hitting you right away with a sharp, citrusy bite, and the marshmallow does genuinely follow it up as described, taking the edge off the clementine nicely. The peach comes through on the exhale, sweet, fruity and smooth, with the apricot hard to pick out of the general mix.
Overall: This is another knockout from the Artist Collection, with a delicious, bright, sharp fruitiness throughout your draw making it a very pleasant vape. The elements are all wonderfully captured, producing a very flavorful and realistic fruity e-liquid, with the marshmallow layered in to soften it out a little and the whole thing coming together excellently. It’s a little too robust a flavor to be a good all day vape, but it’s still a very enjoyable juice.
Hedon’s Bite – 5/5
Accuracy: This is an apple e-juice, with both tart and sweet blends, topped off with caramel and honeydew melon. The apple is pretty hard to miss, with a very realistic flavor coming through strongly all the way through you draw. The melon is the next most notable element, which takes center-stage on the exhale and makes the juice pretty mouthwatering. The caramel is hard to pick up individually, though, seemingly serving as more of a background element in the already sweet mix. It’s another one with a fairly accurate description despite how flowery and over-the-top it seems.
Overall: Although it’s hard to pick one, this is a potential favorite from the Artist Collection for me. The apple firmly takes center stage in the juice, and it’s done so well that the juice would have been delicious even without the additional components. The melon is excellently captured too, working really well with the apple and coming into its own at the end of your draw. The result is a fantastic juice, probably another one that’s a bit too robust for an all day vape, but very enjoyable regardless.
Sacre Coeur – Rating 4/5
Accuracy: This is another complex flavor from the Artist Collection, starting with a buttery almond torte, with wild berries and rhubarb backing it up, and finished with European custard, vanilla and a hint of earthy bourbon. There’s a lot of different components here, but most do come through: there’s a rich, buttery taste to start off, with the rhubarb closely following and a definite taste of almond on the exhale. The wild berries, vanilla and bourbon are harder to pick out, but the berries may be coming through alongside the rhubarb. The vanilla and bourbon are supposed to be subtle, but I’m not really picking them up in the mix.
Overall: Despite possibly falling short on the accuracy front, Sacre Coeur is still a very enjoyable juice. The buttery undercurrent coupled with the almond and rhubarb elements that come through most strongly work beautifully together, producing a multi-tonal flavor with well-balanced components. It’s definitely an interesting blend, but it isn’t as enjoyable as many of the others in the line-up, mainly due to the butter and custardy elements carrying the bulk of the flavor. However, if it’s to your tastes, it could easily be an all day vape.
Dragonscape – Rating 4.5/5
Accuracy: Dragonscape is an Indian spice and Asian tea blend, with Belgian café, English Custard and Madagascar vanilla. The juice has been executed wonderfully, with the spices and tea both coming through at the start of your draw with an exotic, complex flavor, and the custard and vanilla backing it all up as you continue. The specific spices and variety of tea aren’t easy to pin down, but the e-liquid generally delivers on its promises (even if I’m not exactly sure what “Belgian café” is supposed to be).
Overall: This is a really delicious juice, with the blend of soothing, creamy and warming flavors and the tastebud-challenging complexity of the spices and tea balancing each other out very nicely indeed. If you’re a fan of P.O.E.T. juices, you’ll undoubtedly love this: the flavor is right in line with what you’d expect, and the juice would fit in perfectly as a member of the core line-up. It does have a slightly unpleasant room note, and the teas and spices might not be to everybody’s tastes, but it’s an all day vape for me, and another great juice from the Artist Collection.