Is it worth the money?
Vaponaute is unashamedly pretentious. The juice descriptions give Five Pawns a run for their money, and the price puts them firmly into the premium e-juice category. But, crucially, the flavors really are amazing.
The flowery descriptions are backed up by the complex, multi-tonal and delicately balanced flavors you get from the e-juice. The price might be a bit of a sticking-point for some, but if you want some unique flavor combinations that have been artfully captured and beautifully presented, it’s well worth every cent.
Full review
When you’re looking for high-end e-juice flavors, it starts to seem like every company wants to slap the word “premium” on their bottles, toss some gourmet-style descriptions onto their website and jack up the price. The upshot is that it’s difficult to tell the difference between a cleverly-branded e-liquid company and one that really is a step above.
Vaponaute definitely positions itself as a high-class e-juice brand, with complex flavor combination, exquisite branding and design, flowery descriptions and prices that make you think twice before hitting purchase. At €12.50 for a 20 ml (about $13.90) bottle of the five Vaponaute 24 juices and €20 per 30 ml (around $22.30) for the E-Journeys collection, the juice will have to do something special to justify the expense. So is the juice worth it? We’ve tried out both collections for our Vaponaute e-liquid review to find out.
Bottling and Design
The design and bottling of Vaponaute’s vape juices varies depending on which line-up you’re buying from.
Vaponaute 24
For the Vaponaute 24 e-liquid line, there are five flavors in tinted plastic bottles, each with a unique design on the label in washed out, pastel colors. They’re mini works of art on each bottle that reflect the name of the flavor. The line-up looks excellent, and the bottles work just as they should.
E-Journeys
The E-Journeys bottles are glass, and the branding is a lot more refined, minimalistic and high-class than that for the 24 line. The labels are all white, with the Vaponaute logo at the bottom, the name of the flavor above and some gold detail on the label unique to the flavor. They might not sound as exciting, but the impact is just as excellent as the 24 line-up’s bottles.
Mixing Options
The e-juices from Vaponaute come in a 40/60 PG/VG ratio. This makes a great mix for the juices, offering enough VG to give substantial vapor production while not going so far that the throat hit, flavor or wicking ability suffers. For nicotine, you have the choice of 0, 3, 6 or 12 mg/ml. This is lacking an 18 mg/ml option, but since the brand is premium and not the sort of thing you’d pick up as a just-switching smoker, the omission isn’t too big a deal.
The E-Liquid Flavors
Vaponaute Review: 24 Line
Night Flight – Rating 5/5
Accuracy: This is a mixture of black coffee, cream, whisky and almond biscuits, and the execution is top notch. The well-captured coffee takes center-stage, and the creamy notes take the edge off the flavor nicely. The almond and particularly the whisky are subtle but do come through, adding some depth to the flavor.
Overall: This is a beautiful e-juice. The robust coffee is perfectly balanced out by gentler, sweeter elements, and I’d probably rank it as the best coffee e-juice I’ve ever tried. It’s an all-day vape for me, but in any case it’s definitely one to pick up from Vaponaute.
Pure Morning – Rating 4.5/5
Accuracy: This is described as a powerful peppermint with fresh apple and kiwi. The peppermint definitely packs a solid, cooling throat hit and supported by the lighter, fruity notes. The apple is easier to pick up than the kiwi, but both do come through as a pleasant undercurrent the flavor.
Overall: This is one of those e-liquids where the flavor combination didn’t appeal to me that much but the execution is so impeccable that I loved it anyway. The peppermint is unashamedly bold, but the fruits add depth to the flavor and lighten the punchy mint with a gentle sweetness.
Crescent Noon – Rating 4.5/5
Accuracy: This is a pear-flavored e-juice with French gingerbread and a touch of caramel. The pear is subtle, but easy to pick up in the mix, with the slightly fragrant fruitiness pleasantly underpinning the flavor of the juice. The gingerbread and caramel come through as a soft, sweet and comforting bakery-like tone to the flavor.
Overall: This is another great e-juice from Vaponaute, boasting a well-captured fruit base cushioned by a bakery-sweetness. The flavors here blend beautifully, and have been carefully balanced so you get touches of each component throughout your draw. I’d prefer a touch more caramel sweetness, but this juice is delicious anyway.
Blue Moon – Rating 4/5
Accuracy: This is described as intensely aniseed-y and with “unexpected hints” of pineapple and citrus. The anis is unavoidably intense, but very well rounded and realistic. The pineapple and citrus form a fruity backdrop, though it’s hard to pick out the individual fruits because of the powerful anise.
Overall: A powerful anise liquid might not sound particularly appealing, but it really does do a much better job than you’d expect. The complexity and extra sweetness from the fruity undertones helps, but the credit really goes to the excellently-captures aniseed flavor. It’s hard-hitting, but it’s three-dimensional and realistic enough to be actually enjoyable.
Perfect Day – Rating 4/5
Accuracy: This is a macaroon, rose, lychee, coconut and raspberry e-juice. The mixture blends together smoothly, but the lychee and rose really come through in particular, giving the flavor a sweet, fruity and floral taste. The raspberry and macaroon back the whole thing up, particularly the raspberry notes. The coconut blends into the background a little, though.
Overall: This is a delicate flavor, with the mixture of fruity sweetness and the prominent rose notes producing something with well-rounded flavor but still gentle on the tastebuds. It’s definitely unique, and although the rose in particular might sound odd, it really settles into the mix nicely. It isn’t an all-day vape for me, but it’s enjoyable as an occasional treat.
Vaponaute Review: E-Journeys Collection
On the Storm – Rating 5/5
Accuracy: This is described as a pear poached in cognac, with light tobacco and hints of cocoa, honey, cinnamon and star anise. The pear and cognac mix is backed by a complex undercurrent with notes of cinnamon and honey, and faint touches of anise and tobacco too. The cocoa is there, but I pick it up as a room note more than when I’m vaping.
Overall: This is a beautifully-crafted e-juice. It offers a delicate, multi-tonal mix of tastes backed by the comforting sweetness from the cocoa, honey and cinnamon. The juice is rich, but everything blends together so well it goes down very easily. Definitely one to pick up.
Over the Rainbow – Rating 4/5
Accuracy: This is a French cantaloupe, ginger, lime, green fig and citrus-enhanced verbena e-juice. The cantaloupe and ginger are the stars of the show, but the flavor is nuanced and layered, with sharper hints of lime and citrus, an interesting sweet yet aromatic and slightly floral element from the fig and some additional touches that must be from the verbena (though I’ve never tried the real thing).
Overall: This is a challenging but enjoyable flavor. The cantaloupe, ginger and fig provide plenty of character, but the citrus notes in particular add another dimension to the taste. The only downside is that the result is quite a full experience, with almost overpowering flavor that makes it difficult to vape for too long. It’s still well-worth trying out, though.
Into the Wild – Rating 5/5
Accuracy: This is a Virgnia tobacco e-juice, with praline and toffee notes backing it up, along with hazelnuts, almonds, walnuts and a candied cherry finish. The tobacco is surprisingly realistic in taste, but is quickly absorbed into the equally well-captured praline and toffee notes. Through your puff, you get touches of nuttiness, and there is a faint hint of sweet cherry on the exhale too.
Overall: Another exceptional e-liquid from Vaponaute. It brings enough of the robust and complex flavor of tobacco, but it’s all enveloped in the blanket of deliciousness from the nutty and sweeter components. Although it’s not from the 24 line, it’s an all-day vape for me. I’d rank it as one of the best sweet tobacco e-liquid flavors I’ve ever tried.
Under the Sea – Rating 4/5
Accuracy: This is described as a mixture of four mint extracts, gin, juniper, cucumber, watermelon, lavender and coriander. The well-executed mint really dominates here. The gin and juniper are detectable as a backdrop, and the cucumber and watermelon rise to prominence through your draw and really come through on the exhale. The lavender adds a faint floral note, but the coriander is lost in the mix for me.
Overall: If you love menthol e-juice, this is a fantastic offering. The mint is perfect, perhaps a little gentle for menthol smokers, but ideal for longer-term vapers. The only downside to the juice is that you have to strain your tastebuds a little to pick out the other elements. It’s still enjoyable, but it’s probably my least favorite from the E-Journeys collection for this reason.
Cherry Blossom – Rating 5/5
Accuracy: This vape juice features Morello cherries aged in kirsch, with raspberry, pistachio biscuit, light almond cream and a touch of violet. The cherries are very well captured, with an instantly-recognizable flavor that’s prominent but pleasingly soft, and notes of raspberry topping it all off. The pistachio and almond produce a periodic nuttiness to the flavor, and the violet is faintly detectable throughout your draw.
Overall: This is an amazing e-juice. The cherry carries the flavor, but is taken to the next level by the raspberry, creaminess and nuttiness from the other components. The result is a refined flavor, expertly balanced and complex enough to keep you coming back for more. It’s perfect as an all-day vape and one of my favorites from Vaponaute.