Worth buying?
Not sure how to finish this off except to say that pretty much every flavor in the C9 Collection is a homerun for Cloudride. Every single blend is extremely unique and you can tell immediately that a lot of thought went into creating something this special. I’m recommending it to all of my friends and to all gourmet vapers out there.
If you’re looking for new flavors to explore and you want to surprise your palate make sure to give C9 Collection a shot. You will be blown away. Overall, I think this line deserves full marks – packaging, ingredients, flavors; the whole shebang.
Full review
I finally got to review some of the most talked about vape juices in the past couple of months – the C9 Collection from Cloudride. I went all out so I’ll be talking about all 6 flavors that come in the line: Tale of Taro, Smokey Oakey, Perfect Pina, Tabac Elope, Share a Moya, and Lovin’ Ylang. If you want to find out what everyone is fussing about so much, you’re in the right place. Uniqueness to the nth power – the Cloudride C9 Collection e-liquid review.
I'm super excited about this write-up. It's been a long time coming (well, 2 months but they felt like an eternity, really) and I've finally managed to get my hands on the new collection by Cloudride called the C9 Collection. If you’ve never heard of Cloudride you’re in for a surprise – they are a dedicated team of vapers mixing up new, premium tastes and vapes for all of us to enjoy. ‘Created by Chefs – Tested by Scientists’ is their catchy tagline and, after tasting what they have to offer, I have to say that I totally believe them. So without further ado, let’s dig into the review.
Packaging and Design
Dress to impress. I’m pretty sure you’ve all heard that one before. Well, marketing wizards at Cloudride have taken it to a whole new level with their packaging. All vapers need to focus on using products that are safe, I don’t need to remind you about that. But, packaging comes into play as well. Cloudride’s new C9 collection comes packed in a cylindrical cardboard box that’s extremely sturdy – it survived a very long trip indeed without a single dent in it.
I really loved the branding – that happy, bikini-clad (but miraculously, still demure!) 40ies girl riding a cloud and loving it speaks to me on several levels. Get your head out of the gutter – I meant that Cloudride has managed to find a great marketing tactic that’s going to appeal to both sexes without being overtly sexual in nature. Trust me, I’ve seen some horrible blunders on that front (I won’t name any names), especially when manufacturers assume that all vapers are truckers with a crotch itch.
After opening the box (and struggling with it for a couple of minutes as I did – that lid really sits tight on there!) you will find a card with short descriptions of all 6 flavors. The bottles themselves are neatly tucked under the card and protected by Styrofoam cut-outs. Each bottle is in its own small box.
Bottles and Warnings
I love the fact that Cloudride has a very serious commitment to safety and transparency. Individual juice boxes have warnings printed on them that pertain to reproductive hazard and underage use as well as a list of ingredients.
It’s also great that they are using quality glass bottles with a child-proof cap. Regardless, always keep your juices in a safe place where children can’t reach them! I prefer glass bottles over plastic – they are much safer. Also, glass just looks nicer and I believe that companies that go for that (slightly) more expensive option are caring for their customers just a tiny bit more.
Every bottle has a sticker clearly repeating health warnings and information about the ingredients. Nicotine strength is clearly marked under the name of the flavor and PG/VG ratio is printed in the back. As per usual these days, Cloudride’s bottles come with a convenient dropper that makes it easy to quickly fill your tank in a pinch.
Sizes and Prices
At the moment that I’m writing this, C9 Collection vape juice flavors are only available in one bottle size: 30 milliliters, which is roughly 1 ounce (well, 29.57 if you want to be really, really exact). I’m not sure if Cloudride is planning on expanding on that in the future – they didn’t announce it so I’m guessing they are waiting to see people’s reactions. If that’s all they are doing I’m pretty sure we will be seeing C9 Collection in various sizes very soon.
I believe that C9 is reasonably priced at $20 per bottle. It might seem a bit much but keep in mind that you’re paying for premium e-liquids that taste spectacularly (I’ll get to that in a minute). Also, Cloudride vape juices are made from premium ingredients and are manufactured locally, in the US, which inevitably leads to a slightly pricier product.
Nicotine and VG/PG Ratio
A bit more variety is offered in the nicotine department. C9 Collection is available in 0, 3, 6, and 12-milligram nicotine strengths. No 18 or 24 mg, unfortunately, so all you heavy nicotine addicts might not get the kick you’re looking for. The batch that I’ve tried is 3 mg, which is more than enough in my case.
While some manufacturers decide to make different PG/VG ratio batches for most of their flavors, Cloudride didn’t take that route with C9 Collection. Tale of Taro, Share a Moya, Perfect Pina, Smokey Oakey, and Lovin’ Ylang are exclusively available as 20/80 PG/VG blends. The last flavor, Tabac Elope, is a 30/70 PG/VG blend.
While this doesn’t provide you with a lot of variety to choose from, I do believe that 20/80 PG/VG blends are predominant for a reason these days. The level of PG in there is low enough not to trigger allergic reactions in people (this holds true for me, even though I do have a slight PG allergy) but it’s high enough to keep the e-juice from gunking up your coils prematurely (which pure VG juices do regularly).
Cloudride's Dedication to Safety (and Perfection)
Cloudride employs not only chefs (who are responsible for dreaming up their great flavors) but also scientists that are committed to keeping customers safe. These guys have been in related industries for a long time (Dow Chemical and Procter & Gamble) and know all there is to know about quality control that meets FDA standards.
All Cloudride e-liquid flavors are made from USP certified PG, VG, and nicotine (USP stands for United States Pharmacopeia, a nonprofit organization that sets standards for dietary supplements and food ingredients). You won’t find any of those shady ingredients in Cloudride products, such as diacetyl, acetoin, acetyl propionyl. Read more on basic e-liquid safety here.
Judging the Juices
It’s time for the fun part! Now that we’ve covered all the basics I want to take you on a delicious ride through all C9 Collection vape juice flavors. There are six – Share a Moya, Tabac Elope, Perfect Pina, Smokey Oakey, Lovin’ Ylang, and Tale of Tare. They are all widely unique and flavorful so strap your seatbelts – we’re heading in.
Per usual, I vaped this on a couple of different setups (tanks are important – Eleaf Melo 2, Innokin iSub S, and Uwell Rafale). The vape juice flavors are great in all but I did find that I prefer the iSub S and 0.5ohm coils with a completely open airflow. What can I say, I’m a cloud chaser but it’s also my subjective opinion that the flavors are more distinct with that particular setup.
Cloudride C9 Collection Review – The Flavors
Tabac Elope – Rating 4.2/5
The only tobacco-flavored e-juice blend in the C9 Collection is very unique. It’s also the only one that’s mixed 30/70 PG/VG. It’s essentially cured Virginia and graham tobacco with a cantaloupe twist. The description reads that it has a touch of butterscotch in but I couldn’t really detect it.
Smell it and you’ll get a faintly sweet odor with tobacco just barely coming through (taste is a whole different story). Tabac Elope is slightly brownish in color, with a hint of yellow thrown in for fun.
Tobacco really gets through in the flavor. It’s a bit too sweet for my liking – the sweetness is not something that you would expect from a tobacco-flavored juice but there you have it. I’ve never vaped cantaloupe before and it’s a huge surprise for me. It acts as a counter balance to the tobacco. It’s fruity, refreshing, and sweet at the same time.
There’s a note of something in there that’s probably butterscotch but I would never identify it as such if it didn’t say so on the box. The tobacco puts me in mind of somebody smoking a pipe – a very old-school taste and smell that really goes well with cantaloupe. This isn’t my favorite C9 Collection flavor but it still gets very high marks.
Share a Moya – Rating 5/5
This one is simply otherworldly in my book. It’s made from cherimoya, a fruit that grows in South America and it’s also known as custard apple because it has a very creamy texture. Share a Moya blends this delicious fruit with Vienna cream and cookie crumble. It’s like this one has been tailor-made for my sweet tooth!
Share a Moya has a harsh-y sweet smell to it when you open the bottle. Nose inspection wasn’t promising because I don’t generally go for over-the-top sweet vapes, but this one was spot on. The color of this e-juice has a very yellow hue, almost golden.
It’s very creamy and rich on the intake. I almost get a hint of vanilla here too but don’t take my word for it – I’ve never tasted cherimoya before so I’m not sure how it’s supposed to taste. This is definitely a dessert-flavored vape because you’re almost overpowered by sweetness and richness. I said almost – it’s right there on the border but my taste buds didn’t object much. On the exhale you get that very creamy-doughy taste. It’s almost as if you’re eating a whipped cream with cookie crumbs in it. Also, I believe there is some banana and peach thrown in the mix for good measure.
Share a Moya is a 20/80 PG/VG vape so it can be enjoyed by most vapers. As for me, I’ve definitely found my new all day vape e-juice (although every other C9 flavor is cutting it really, really close, too)!
Perfect Pina – Rating 4/5
I’m not big on pineapple; I’ll be honest with you. I don’t like it as a fruit and it’s definitely not my first flavor choice for vaping either. However, Perfect Pina’s 20/80 PG/VG blend is starting to change my mind a bit. It’s close to perfection – ripe pineapple melted with orange, tangerine, and a hint of vanilla shisha.
Perfect Pina smells like pure sugar – a very high sugary smell that makes your mouth water and instantaneously creates cavities in your teeth. It’s the same color as Share a Moya, rich golden.
The taste of pineapple is really strong with this one – to paraphrase Yoda. The flavor doesn’t feel artificial as most pineapple flavors do and you can definitively taste that zesty kick contributed by orange and tangerine.
Vanilla comes through subtly in the back. It’s more expressed in the aftertaste, which is good otherwise it would make the whole blend a roller coaster of flavors. Perfect Pina is not my choice for an all-day vape but it’s a very pleasant surprise I will be returning to from time to time.
Smokey Oakey – Rating 4.5/5
I wasn’t too sure about Smokey Oakey hitting my sweet spot. Aged oak smell and brown sugar don’t mix well in my book and I was afraid it was going to taste too woody and, well, smokey. However, this 20/80 PG/VG blend juice turned out to be a pleasant surprise after all.
Smokey Oakey is sweet to smell but it’s not overpowering. The sweetness is held in perfect balance with the faint burnt smell of wood (very expensive wood if I might add). The e-juice is darkish brown in color.
The brown sugar is the predominant force in this one. It’s very tastefully done and sugar comes in first. I mostly love Smokey Oakey because it’s so simple yet very powerful. It’s just brown sugar with a slight hint of smoke in the background. There’s a bit of that aftertaste that lingers for a moment but no throat hit.
Smokey Oakey is an oasis of tranquility and simplicity in a storm of some very wild flavors that we get from other C9 Collection blends. It can definitely be an all-day vape if that is your cup of tea.
Lovin’ Ylang – Rating 4.5/5
Another exotic, ylang-ylang, is not a flavor or a tree – it’s actually a scent that is extracted from the Cananga tree that grows in Indonesia. I definitely love this ylang, especially when it’s mixed with just a hint of coconut and sweetness.
This flavor is both sweet and creamy when you open the bottle. The liquid is transparent, slightly brighter than Smokey Oakey, but still brown and whiskey-like in appearance.
Lovin’ Ylang is a great creamy 20/80 PG/VG flavor with a serious coconut aftertaste. It’s somewhat subdued, meaning that it doesn’t wreak havoc in your mouth straight away. It’s a subtle flavor that won’t wow you at first but it’s definitely something you might consider as an all-day vape, especially if you’re into sweet, but not too sweet flavors.
Vanilla lovers will be overjoyed with Lovin’ Ylang – vanilla comes through in all stages and the fact that it’s wrapped in delicious and creamy ylang-ylang just makes it that much better.
Tale of Taro – Rating 4/5
The richest of the e-liquid flavors in this collection – and definitely the oddest too! Taro is a sweet root thingy that grows in Asia and I’ve never, ever tasted it so I don’t really have a reference. It’s a 20/80 PG/VG blend that smells oddly like strawberries when you first open the bottle. Tale of Taro is completely translucent and the only blend in this collection that isn’t colored.
It’s difficult to describe how Tale of Taro tastes actually. It’s very earthy and starchy once you vape on it for a period of time but the first inhale is very sweet and creamy. Strawberry really comes through big time here.
This flavor doesn’t describe easily as you can see. That’s a great thing – it’s unique and new! I would definitely recommend it to vapers who like to explore things but have a penchant for creamy, rich, and delicious juices!