Table of Contents
Last Updated on March 28, 2016 by
I Love Cookies – Can Lightening Strike Twice?
Introduction
I Love Cookies Review – Last year Mad Hatter eJuice released an eliquid that became so popular, so fast, that it was a record-breaking phenomenon, unlikely to happen ever again. For months it was an eliquid we could not stop vaping or stop talking about.
That eliquid is I Love Donuts, an honest-to-goodness, totally authentic, blueberry glazed donut flavor. What made this eliquid so special was that for the first time, a donut eliquid actually tasted like a glazed donut with a generous helping of blueberries.
I Love Donuts was indeed an almost divine occurrence, a ‘lightening strike’ that rarely hits the bullseye. “Could Mad Hatter do it again? Should they dare even try? Was I Love Donuts a fluke?” These are just some of the questions we struggled with when we received a package of several bottles of Mad Hatter’s latest; I Love Cookies, back in mid-December.
Although I Love Cookies had been on our review shelf for several weeks, we held back our official review process in order to truly measure a) how it stacked up to I Love Donuts, and b) to allow a bit of extra steeping, and c) to find the answers to our questions. Was it worth the wait? Only you can answer that.
The 40% PG 60% VG Factor
For many months our preference for eliquid blends has leaned totally toward High VG, or MaxVG. You’ll see in previous reviews how the team has described a High/Max VG eliquid as having a smooth taste, with no hard edges to the flavor box (taste buds).
Taking a Lung Hit of a good High/Max VG blend will not cause irritation of the lungs, and the density, the sheer volume of vapor produced by the lung hit engulfs the vaper completely, giving an extraordinary sense of satisfaction. When you discover a great tasting High/Max VG eliquid chances are it qualifies as an all-day-vape. Privately, our collections of eliquids is entirely made up of High/Max VG blends now.
Faced with an eliquid blend of 40% PG we knew that there was a very good chance that I Love Cookies was going to hit hard as a flavor. It might very well be one of the finest cookie flavors in the world, but it was still going to hit us hard if all we’ve been vaping was eliquid that was 80%, 90%, or 100% VG, and we were not sure that this level of Propylene Glycol would taint our review.
Extra Care and Preparation
In order to give I Love Cookies the best possible vape experience we made the decision to shake, then open our bottles every day for 3 weeks before conducting our review. This decision turned out to be the best decision could make, for reasons you will discover below.
By allowing this new, higher-PG eliquid to actively steep we were able to maintain the full flavor, but shaved off much of the edge that a 40% PG blend produces “for us”.
Note* – Keep in mind that many vapers prefer a 40% PG blend, or even a 50% PG blend, not to mention the mouth-to-lung vaping style that befits a higher level of PG.
To vape, and review, this blend without aging it would have been a disservice to Mad Hatter, and the readers of this review. Our desire is to tell you as much about the multi-layered flavor components in this blend, and to be able to spend the appropriate amount of time with it. That could only be achieved by attempting to calm down the PG to our personal preference.
Lastly, for this team to vape and review any 40% PG blend today would be much like asking someone that has been a wine drinker for ages to take a shot glass of Bourbon, throw it back, and tell the people around him what it was like. It might taste great, but that shock of 80 proof whiskey isn’t going to go down as smoothly as nice Merlot.
Now, Let’s do this review…
I Love Donuts by Mad Hatter eJuice – A Spinfuel Choice Award Winner
- A 40/60 PG/VG Blend (60% VG)
- Available in a 30mL glass bottle for $20.00
- Nicotine: 3mg, 6mg, 12mg, and Zero-Nic.
Official Description
“I Love Cookies – Layered Cookies dipped in Ice Cold Milk with a Hint of Creamy Strawberry and Drizzle of Caramel!”
Note* – For this review the Spinfuel eLiquid Review Team used two different Ohms levels, 0.5-ohm and under for Sub-Ohm and 1.0-ohm/1.5-Ohm for mouth-to-lung, non-sub-ohm vaping.
Julia: 5.00 – With the understanding that I, and the rest of the team, vape higher VG blends, I am totally committed to awarding I Love Cookies with a score of 5.00.
Vaping I Love Cookies as I would a sub-ohm eliquid (0.5-ohm Kanthal, Freemax Scylla tank set to a tight draw) I vaped this eliquid at nearly 60-watts. The Samoa Girl Scout cookie flavor, i.e., bits of caramel, coconut, and crème, was super intense. Absolutely delicious flavor, though I could not detect the strawberry described in by Mad Hatter with the sub-ohm tank, but the vapor production was plentiful and aromatic.
Using the new Joyetech Cubis Tank with its 1.5-ohm Clapton coil head and my Cuboid mod, the flavor was over the moon glorious, almost to the point of being heavenly.
Vaping mouth-to-lung style at 1.5-ohm proved to be my winning method for I Love Cookies vaping. The creamy strawberry flavor notes, the drizzled caramel, it was all there, and that coconut experienced with the sub-ohm coil was kept to a minimum.
While it is true that I Love Donuts is also a 40% PG, 60% VG blend, the flavor profile there produces a smoother flavor overall, even in the sub-ohm world. But a blueberry glazed donut flavor is the polar opposite of a strawberry/caramel cookie flavor profile. Apples and Oranges folks.
Bottom Line for me is that I Love Cookies is worthy of the “I Love…” moniker of the Mad Hatter line
when vaped above the 1.00-ohm level, and particularly as a mouth-to-lung eliquid. I wouldn’t rule out sub-ohm vaping, it would depend on your experience with higher PG formula’s in sub-ohm tanks.
Kiera: 5.00 – While I Love Cookies is its own flavor, there are some similarities to I Love Donuts. Both have plenty of ‘flavor carrying’ Propylene Glycol, but the majority is still Vegetable Glycerin. This makes both eliquids abundantly flavorful with a thicker than average vapor production.
Vaped for a total of 24 hours with a sub-ohm coil head (0.3-ohm Kanger Subtank Mini), the extraordinary cookie flavor lasted the entire time without giving out, or giving me vapers tongue. Vaping it in the sub-ohm environment was almost decadent, but wonderfully so.
Switching to a 1.00-ohm Stainless Steel coil head in a Joyetech Cubis Tank atop the Cuboid mod the vape experience was dramatically different… better.
In the 1.00-ohm mouth-to-lung coil head you’ll get a smoother, softer vape, but with plenty of vapor in each “puff”. The flavor changes as well, proving to be a richer cookie flavor with nice strawberry tones and a trickle of soft, sweet caramel and almost no coconut to speak of.
I don’t use the mouth-to-lung vape style much anymore, but I Love Cookies is plenty of reason to vape that way. My ultimate I Love Cookies would be a MaxVG (90% VG 10% PG) so that I could explore this multi-layered flavor in deep lung hits in the sub-ohm territory. Until a MaxVG version comes out, I will definitely add this to my rotation, it gives me a reason to use the two above-sub-ohm coils that come with the Cubis tank.
Tom: 5.00 – I have to get this out of the way before I tell you my full impression of I Love Cookies. I’ve been using two sub-ohm tanks, for review purposes as well as my personal vape tanks, that I do not recommend for I Love Cookies. The two tanks are a) the Youde Goliath V2 and b) the Uwell Crown, both tanks perform best with very high VG eliquids.
Vaping I Love Cookies in such a powerful tank as the Youde Goliath 2 with my favorite coil head, the 0.2-ohm Kanthal, or the Ni200 coil head (my alternate for temperature sensing mods) forces too much flavor from this blend.
It’s like vaping super concentrated Samoa cookies, although I have to admit that in Variable Wattage mode I could take this juice up to 60w, which is hard to believe with a 40% PG blend.
If you’ll looking for a vape similar to I Love Donuts, with a warm cookie flavor of caramel and light strawberry notes you’ll need to vape at higher ohms’. Not necessarily above 1.00-ohm. While I was reviewing the Aspire Cleito tank I filled a tank with I Love Cookies and used one of the 0.4-ohm Clapton coil (Kanthal), and found a fantastic vape at just 31-watts. Still provided plenty of vapor, yet the nuances of the flavor, buried in the 40% PG, I was able to taste those strawberry notes on the exhale, while tasting plenty of sweet caramel on the inhale and exhale.
So maybe this certain PG/VG blend, shared with I Love Donuts, can’t handle extreme low-ohms, but it sure as hell shines with a bit higher ohms’ tanks with ‘average’ wattage. Definitely not a drippers eliquid, but its not supposed to be. I Love Cookies earns the “I Love” signature easily.
Jason: 5.00 – I Love Cookies satisfies in totally different way than its sister flavor, I Love Donuts. Whereas I Love Donuts provided a blend of blueberry and glazed donuts that faired well with any tank or coil you threw at it, I Love Cookies becomes too intense with high heat in Temperature Control, or very low ohms’ of a Kanthal build.
The Cookie flavor can change radically depending on the ohms’ of the coil head and the wattage thrown at it. In a good sub-ohm tank it has a wide latitude of wattage settings you can use without scorching the flavor, but the flavor is almost too forceful. Let me see if I can describe it, referencing some science (oh no!)…
The tip of your tongue is where the taste buds are for sweet and salty. On the sides of your tongue are the taste buds for “sour”, and in the back are taste buds for bitter flavors.
Vaping a sweet cookie flavor like I Love Cookies you should taste the vapor on the front part of your tongue, the sweetness of the flavor. But, for some reason, using a very low ohm coil head, say 0.2-ohms or 0.3-ohms, and wattage of 40-55w, the “sour” taste buds don’t light up, but I “felt” those taste buds react anyway. I didn’t taste anything sour, not at all, but they lit up, nonetheless. That’s what I mean by “too intense”. Just about every High VG eliquid I’ve reviewed, and use personally, provides flavor that is seldom too intense, and barely ever touches those ‘side’ taste buds.
Here’s the really strange part; when I changed the coil out of a Joyetech Cubis to the 1.5-ohm Clapton and vaped it at a nice 20w those side taste buds stayed silent. All the incredible cookie flavor (caramel/strawberry/coconut) stayed front and center, right in the sweet/salty taste buds.
I have to agree with my other team members; I Love Cookies is an amazingly delicious flavor with ample vapor production… when vaped above the very low ohms. And with less wattage (or temperature?) the flavors stay within the defined description to create a very satisfying vape for vapers that enjoy sweet cookie flavors.
Conclusion
During our lengthy discussions over I Love Cookies we all agreed that both I Love Donuts and I Love Cookies are super premium, very satisfying, delicious eliquids worthy of the Spinfuel Choice Award. We agreed that after many months of MaxVG vaping we were not used to such intense flavor from an eliquid. Finally, we all agreed that if these two eliquids, especially I Love Cookies, was reformulated into a MaxVG blend we would find the time to vape a tank full every day.
Did lightening strike twice?
In a word; No. To this 4-person team I Love Donuts reigns supreme. However, our verdict is very subjective. There will be plenty of vapers that will say I Love Cookies is way better than I Love Donuts. Everything about I Love Cookies rings true, except for the intensity of the flavor that can overwhelm. But with twice as much PG as we are used to, how can it be otherwise?
Recommendation: Every vaper that enjoys sweet cookie flavors can be very happy with I Love Cookies. If you normally vape 50:50 or 40:60 blends this is going to win your heart upon the very first hit.
Julia Hartley-Barnes and the Spinfuel eLiquid Review Team – Tom McBride, Jason Little, and Kiera Hartley-Barnes
