Is it worth buying?
Vista Vapors’ huge selection of e-juice is full of absolute gems. This is true for the premium blends you’ll pay a little more for, but most surprisingly, the “standard” juices on offer are actually really well executed too.
While not every flavor I tried was too my taste, there wasn’t one bad flavor in the bunch, and many of them I tried were potential all-day-vapes. With the great prices on many of the juices, plenty of choices for nicotine level, the option to make them max-VG and a huge selection of flavors, Vista Vapors might not have the pretentious, “premium e-juice” trappings, but the selection and execution are hard to fault.
Full review
Vista Vapors is like an e-juice company with multiple personality disorder. Most companies either offer a huge range of fairly low-priced, “everyday” e-juice or a much smaller selection of high-end, complex blends. Vista Vapors does both, with a pretty big selection of simpler blends and then tons of different premium lines of juice under its belt as well. You can pick up the basic blends for $4.99 for a 17 ml bottle, and most of the premium ones costing $14.99 for a 30 ml bottle. There’s a lot to explore, so let’s dive into our Vista Vapors review.
We’re trying out the entire Happy Tongue range, along with several of the more affordable blends and Atlantic from the Vista Select range.
Packaging and Design
In line with the two tiers of e-juice from Vista Vapors, there are two tiers when it comes to the bottles and design too.
On the simpler end, you have the standard line of e-juice. These come in plastic bottles with standard dripper tops and have a straightforward design. There’s an image to represent the specific flavor on the front of the label, for example, a strawberry cheesecake for the flavor of the same name. The labels also show the nicotine strength, the size of the bottle, the PG/VG ratio, and a customized “this bottle is made for…” followed by your name.
The design of the other lines depends on the theme for the line. The Happy Tongue line has a kind of vibrant, candy-like style, with big, soft letters and garish colors. The Vista Select line has a nautical theme, with the Ocean Series having an anchor logo and the Cloud Series having an octopus logo. Others range from the rustic-looking Tobacco Barn line to the heavy metal-ish Denial to the “hangry” panda on the Hangry line. The actual bottles are glass and they have the usual child-proof dripper tops.
Overall, they’ve done a great job with the design on the premium lines, and the cheaper juices get the job done but aren’t really in the same league.
Mixing Options
All of the e-liquids from Vista Vapors offer a good selection of nicotine strengths. The basic blends come in seven strengths, from 0 to 18 mg/ml, with 1.5, 3 and 9 mg/ml in addition to the usual 6, 12 and 18 mg/ml options. The premium blends have all the strengths up to 9 mg/ml. This is OK, because these are really for longer-term vapers, who don’t usually vape high-nicotine liquids.
The PG/VG ratio on the basic juices is 50/50, but with the option of changing to max VG if you prefer. Again this is great – most vapers with a preference lean towards VG, but 50/50 will work on any atomizer. The premium lines are max VG blends, and so you’ll need a modern tank to get the most out of them. Any sub ohm tank, rebuildable atomizer and most clearomizers will work without issues, but some older or simpler designs will need the 50/50 blend.
For the standard juices, you can also opt to add a flavor boost to your mix. This is a great option if you’ve tried a flavor before and it doesn’t quite have enough punch for your tastes, or if you generally wish all e-juice flavors were more robust. You can also mix your own custom blend if you want more control over what you vape.
The Flavors
Vista Vapors Review – Happy Tongue Series
Scoopernova – Rating 4/5
Accuracy: This is advertised as a cream, yoghurt, strawberry and peach blend. The flavors work well together, with the cream in particular forming the bulk of the flavor. The fruit mixture hits you on the nose, with the strawberry and peach coming through at different points through your draw. Overall, it does what’s advertised – although the yoghurt seems a bit lost in the mix.
Overall: Scoopernova is a really pleasant juice to vape. The combination of a creamy base and fruit is usually great, but the fact that the cream is prominent means everything goes down nicely. The strawberry is especially good, but the peach is still delicious and livens up the flavor when it comes through. It’s not the most exciting e-liquid in the world, but it’s one you’ll love none-the-less.
Tropical Snowman – Rating 4.5/5
Accuracy: This is a sweet and sour fruit and cream combination, but with the emphasis on mangos and mixed fruits, and a “gentle creamy finish.” The concept is like Scoopernova, but the fruits are the star of the show here. The sourness comes from the mixed fruit, which has a sharp, berry-like flavor to it, and the sweetness of the mango backs the whole thing up. The cream comes through too, but it really is a finish rather than a major component.
Overall: This is a really great juice. It might not be easy to pick individual fruits out of the mix, but the blend has a vibrant, exotic taste and is nicely softened by the touches of cream. If you’re a fan of fruity e-juices, this will be among your favorites from the line-up. Shifting the balance towards the fruit gives it more character than Scoopernova, but it still enjoys the benefits of the cream.
Perfect Peel – Rating 4/5
Accuracy: This is a blend of berries, vanilla and “freshly peeled” bananas. The banana hits you straight away, with a realistic enough flavor but slightly alcohol-like tones. The berry is sharp and well-executed, but takes a back seat in the mix. The vanilla doesn’t have much of an impact compared to the much more flavorsome fruits.
Overall: This is another solid fruity mix from Vista Vapors, and one it’s hard to see many people disliking. It isn’t perfect, though. The harsher notes from the banana are the main issue, adding a slightly unpleasant edge to the taste that means the juice benefits from a brief steep with the cap off. The berries add some depth to the overall flavor, and blend well with the overall taste, but this is another flavor that you’ll enjoy but won’t exactly blow you away.
Fiz Whiz – Rating 4/5
Accuracy: This is a combination of blueberry and citrus fruit, aiming to evoke memories of the type of cheap sodas you drank as a kid. The result is pretty good, with a definite lemonade-like taste hitting you right away. This is quickly followed by a fairly subtle aroma of blueberry, which is just strong enough to color the flavor, but not so much that it overpowers it. It tastes just like a cheap, fizzy blueberry drink you’d pick up with your pocket money, so it does just what it sets out to.
Overall: This is great as a nostalgic treat, but it manages to be tasty enough to enjoy even without that. The flavor is another one where the well-executed fruit makes it hard to dislike. The focus on the more lemonade-like elements of the flavor gives it a really broad appeal, but like many of the juices in the Happy Tongue line, it’s not one you’ll get hugely excited by. The flavor is tasty, but not “Oh-my-god-you-have-to-try-this” tasty.
Circus Ring – Rating 5/5
Accuracy: This is described as a “variety of melon flavors with a sweet candy finish,” and right off the bat it hits on the key points. The melon flavor is easy to pick up, with a fairly generic but pleasantly sweet taste that’s reminiscent of honeydew. The candy elements come through well too, enhancing the natural sweetness of the fruit but stopping short of becoming sickly.
Overall: This is my favorite juice from the Happy Tongue lineup. It has the same authentic, well-captured fruity flavor as many of the juices in the collection, but the candy elements pair perfectly with the melon. It manages to have a robust taste without pushing the sweetness too far. The candy elements don’t detract from the melon’s natural deliciousness, either. It’s an all-day vape for me.
Vista Vapors Review – Vista Select Series
Atlantic – Rating 5/5
Accuracy: This juice is described as a “sweet wave of caramel deliciousness.” That isn’t a lot to go on, but the juice still does what it sets out to. With a pleasantly sweet, rich, caramel flavor hitting you right away, you definitely get what you’re looking for. The flavor is more than just caramel, though, with elements of nuttiness and banana coming through alongside the caramel.
Overall: Atlantic is an excellent juice for anybody who loves sweeter flavors. The sweet caramel dominates the flavor, but the complexity added by the other components is what really brings it to life. It might not be to everyone’s taste – especially if you aren’t big on sweeter juices – but it has a lot to offer for sweet-toothed vapers like me.
Vista Vapors E-Juice Review
American Tobacco – Rating 4.5/5
Accuracy: This is a self-explanatory e-juice flavor, but unlike most affordable tobacco e-liquids you’ll find, it genuinely does a good job for accuracy. Many basic tobacco e-liquids are an odd mixture of unpleasant mustiness and faint sweetness, and miss the mark by a long way. While this does use that simplistic base, the overriding flavor is a realistic smokiness, which makes the whole thing work as a combination.
Overall: American Tobacco might have the blandest name you could come up with, but the vape juice itself is a pleasant surprise. They've captured the tobacco impressively well, and there are hints of sweetness along the way to keep the whole thing enjoyable. It might not be able to compete with NET mixers like Black Note, but it’s pretty damn good. If you’re just switching from smoking, this could easily be one of your favorites in the selection.
New Menthol – Rating 4/5
Accuracy: This is another self-explanatory flavor, and from the first puff it’s impossible to miss the menthol here. The icy cool mintiness hits you with all the nuance of a sledgehammer, creating a sharp throat hit but settling down a little on the exhale. There’s nothing else to the flavor, though – it’s in-your-face menthol and that’s it.
Overall: If you smoke menthol cigarettes, this juice will probably be right up your alley. The flavor is punchy and robust, and the menthol is pretty well-captured overall. The only downside is that it’s likely too heavy on the menthol for many vapers. I used to smoke menthol cigarettes, but after years of vaping, this much menthol is a little hard to cope with. Overall, it’s a fantastic option if you’re a new vaper, but if you’ve been vaping for a while, only true menthol-lovers will enjoy it.
Honeydew – Rating 4.5/5
Accuracy: As the name suggests, this liquid offers a honeydew melon flavor, but it’s combined with a tart green apple to make it more interesting than a standard blend. Both fruits come through really well. The honeydew takes center-stage, with a realistic sweetness and an authentic melon flavor. The apple blends nicely with the characteristic flavor of the melon, adding some bite to the overall package but still being distinct enough to pick out individually.
Overall: Honeydew is a delicious fruity combination. It keeps things simple enough that you can enjoy the individual flavors, but the two components complement each other perfectly. The only real downside is that this isn’t the most exciting flavor in the world, but when something simple is pulled off this well, you don’t need complexity or novelty. If you like fruity e-juice, you’ll love this.
Shamrock – Rating 5/5
Accuracy: This is a juice modeled after McDonald’s Shamrock Shakes, which is a vanilla and mint combination, dyed green for some Irish flair. The juice does a pretty impressive job of capturing the flavor. It’s minty, but a much more subtle mint than New Menthol, and the vanilla is pronounced, further taking the edge off the menthol-like components.
Overall: This is another awesome flavor from Vista Vapors e-liquid, and one that it seems like most vapers would enjoy. The mint is well-replicated and pleasantly gentle on your tastebuds, softened considerably by the sweet, soothing vanilla that backs it up. The combination produces a soft, all-day-vape friendly flavor, with plenty of character from the mint but an overriding gentle sweetness that keeps you coming back for more.
Ice Cream – Rating 3/5
Accuracy: This juice is a vanilla ice cream blend, and on the whole, it does just what it needs to. Vanilla is an inherently subtle flavor, so what really carries the taste of this juice is the creamy notes than underpin the whole thing. The vanilla is still easy to pick up, but it’s mainly there to add color to the smooth, velvety cream that really characterizes the juice.
Overall: This is a tasty e-liquid, but it doesn’t quite do enough to keep you coming back. You’ll fill up a tank and enjoy the subtle-but-pleasant flavor, but probably switch to something else after it’s gone. The problem isn’t with the execution of the flavor, but more that the flavor combination itself doesn’t offer much of interest. It’s a combination of two things that are slightly sweet, smooth and generally enjoyable, but ultimately fairly bland. Mixing this liquid with something else would make it awesome, but by itself it’s nothing special.