Arkansas eLiquid Interview from 2014 – Unbelievable

Julia Hartley-Barnes Talks to Alex de Brantes of Arkansas e Liquid.

SPINFUEL: Welcome to the pages of Spinfuel eMagazine. We are delighted not only to welcome you to this first, of hopefully many reviews, but also as a brand new Sponsor. Would you like to introduce yourselves to our readers?

Arkansas eLiquid – Alex :  Sure, I’m Alex de Brantes, one of the founding team members of Arkansas e Liquid. I’ve been vaping for a few years now.  I made the switch from tobacco when I met my first variable voltage spinner and never looked back. 

Opened a vape lounge last year and our team really excelled in the e Liquid category so we decided to expand our offering outside of our shop through other shops and direct to consumer on the internet and it’s been received really well. It’s really exciting.

SPINFUEL: What position(s) do you hold in the company?

Arkansas eLiquid – Alex : As with all start-ups, we all wear 5 hats and are doing whatever we need to do.  My specialties are: internet marketing, social media, buying, customer support and web development.

SPINFUEL: How did you decide on the name for your company, Arkansas eLiquid ?

Arkansas eLiquid – Alex :  I did a lot of research on the State of Arkansas when I moved here and really fell in love with the place and its people.  Arkansas pride runs strong and its residents are very loyal and pride themselves on being Arkansans. 

They are extremely supportive and committed to Arkansas and will seek first what is produced and manufactured here – which I found to be a cultural strength for this region.  My initial goal (which still stands) is to capture huge marketshare here in Arkansas, so that’s why we went with Arkansas E liquid.

SPINFUEL: Okay then, getting down to business. Who or what inspired you to get into the business of creating and selling e liquids?

Arkansas eLiquid – Alex : Well, our team was looking for what OUR place was going to be in this industry and we knew we needed to choose which niche we wanted to serve. 

We are playing around with some hardware concepts but truly, our strategist and I sat down and saw the absolutely massive potential for e liquid because it’s the consumable product that will always be needed for every vaper. 

We started reviewing and comparing the available eLiquid here in Arkansas and quality product was hard to come by – so we tried our hand at it and found out quickly we have a higher quality product and give customers a better vape experience than what’s currently being offered on the shelves here in Arkansas.

SPINFUEL: When did you first begin selling e liquids, and when did you open your brick and mortar shop, and your online shop?

Arkansas eLiquid – Alex :  We started selling another company’s e-cig product in 2012 but moved to Vape Products and eLiquid last summer 2013 and opened our Juice Bar, Smoothie Shop & Vape Lounge “The Healthy Hog” in September 2013. 

It’s a light and healthy food and drink menu that we offer to our customers. We decided to expand to the internet and to start wholesaling to other shops in January of this year (2014) to make our products easier to access for our rapidly expanding customer base.

SPINFUEL: What is the local and state situation like in Arkansas with electronic cigarettes?  Is there talk of banning or taxing there, or are they still in the dark about what they want to do?

Arkansas eLiquid – Alex :  There isn’t any current legislation.  We spoke to the Tobacco & Firearms guys and they said it was at least a few years out.  We intend to be extremely proactive on these issues and to build awareness statewide and throughout the region. 

There are smoke-free college campuses that are now also banning e-cig and vapor products, so that is where we’ve seen it most.

SPINFUEL: How popular has vaping become in Arkansas, and in particular, where you are located?

Arkansas eLiquid – Alex :  Vaping is on the rise in Arkansas – but we still have a huge population of smokers. Arkansas is the number one state for tobacco consumption in the US. 

Until most recently, many vapor consumers in Arkansas were forced to buy online due to lack of availability and the majority of gas stations, tobacco shops and convenience stores are selling inferior products that they don’t educate their customers on or know anything about.  That’s where we really shine and come out ahead of the pack.

SPINFUEL: Has it been easy to transition from brick and mortar e liquid sales to online sales?

Arkansas eLiquid – Alex :The hardest part about the transition is in getting the e-commerce site functionality to behave the way you want it to.  It’s tough to treat your customers the same way online as you do in the real world.
There are a ton of variations and choices to make. 

Flavors, bottle sizes, variable pricing for special offers on the products, VG/PG ratios. These questions are easier to ask in a real-world situation over a counter – but getting a machine to do the same thing was a bit of a challenge.

Every day we learn something new and improve our process and we count on the feedback from our customers to make the experience everything they want it to be.

SPINFUEL: Are there any vape festivals or shows in Arkansas? If so, have you attended any?

Arkansas eLiquid – Alex :   There’s absolutely nothing in Arkansas yet and we intend to change that.  We are about to roll out initial plans for a Vape Fest for the midwest shortly. Some stores are organizing Vape Meets (Our first Vape Meet is coming up on April 5^th at the Healthy Hog in Clarksville AR – see our site for details).

SPINFUEL: How active are you in the vape community?

Arkansas eLiquid – Alex : We are super active through instagram (ArkansasVapes) in the Vape Community but we’re not forum-dwellers.  I honestly don’t have the time to do it and neither does anyone else on the team. 

We do monitor the forums however, and if the need arises to address an issue, we are happy to do so. With the shop and the eLiquid business taking off the way it is, we have our focus totally on the business and our customers (both wholesale and retail) satisfaction with our product and service.

SPINFUEL: When you came to the decision to launch AR E Liquid how many ‘flavors’ did you have to start with? What were they?

Arkansas eLiquid – Alex :When we started we had only a few flavors that we bought in bulk and white labeled from another company.  Orchard Apple, Georgia Peach, Columbian, Harvest Tobacco, Mixed Berry, Mixed Berry Frost and 555.  Now we have over 50 flavors of our own custom blends.

SPINFUEL:  Is there a common theme running through each of your flavors? In other words, do you have certain traits you wish to instill in every flavor? Boldness perhaps, or sweetness, maybe fruity, or tobacco, or something else entirely… is there a connection between the flavors, or are they all stand-alone recipes.AR ELIQUID :

Arkansas eLiquid – Alex : We are seriously committed to creating a lingering aspect to all of our flavors.  When we began to develop and refine that was one of the most important aspects.  When you chew a piece of Big Red gum – it stays with you…and our flavors do that too.

The perfect throat hit and the clouds are a must.  We want our customers to feel and see and experience our eLiquid and feel fully satisfied with every interaction with our product.  Our flavors are bold and authenticity is what I would say is the connection on all fronts. 

If we name our product “Chicka Cherry Cola” or “Maple Pancake” or “Banana Puddin’” – THAT’s what it’s going to taste like.  If we can’t land on an authentic flavor that gives the vaper a truly fulfilling experience – we ditch it and move on.

SPINFUEL: Are your eLiquids pre-steeped before shipping out to customers? If not, do you recommend to your customers that they might want to steep them for a time? If so, how long, on average, should your liquids steep?

Arkansas eLiquid – Alex :  The majority of our top-flavors are pre-mixed and pre-steeped at zero %.  We do recommend an additional 5-7 days steeping time when your eLiquid contains nicotine.

It tastes even better as it ages and shaking the bottles a few times a day while steeping allows the nicotine to spread evenly throughout the entire bottle and for the flavors to marry with the nicotine for the best vape experience.

SPINFUEL: What’s the best way, in your opinion, to ‘steep’ YOUR eLiquids at home?

Arkansas eLiquid – Alex :  We’ve done it all.  Personally I like to put it on the bathroom counter and leave the lights on for a few days.  It works great!  

I know it’s contrary to popular belief (because it’ll speed up the expiration date) but we like to vape super steeped eLiquid as a personal preference and around this house it doesn’t take any time at all to kill 30 ml’s of eLiquid, so we’re not worried about our liquid expiring before we vape them like other people might.

SPINFUEL: How are your eLiquids packaged? Do they have tamper proof sealed caps? With regard to e liquid labels, how much information should be on each bottle? Ingredients, nicotine strength, flavor, lot number, batch number, and so on. What do your labels contain?

Arkansas eLiquid – Alex :  The majority of our eLiquids are packaged in semi-clear, plastic 5ml, 10ml, 15ml bottles with childproof caps. 

We also offer our in-house customers a refillable 30ml glass bottle and a 30ml plastic bottle but don’t suggest anyone with small children use the glass as they do not have childproof caps, glass is breakable and nicotine is poisonous. 

Our custom batch labels currently contain nicotine strength, flavor, the date and our disclaimer.  Moving into mass production the need for lot and batch numbers become critical.  I feel that whatever goes in the bottle MUST be listed. 

As different variations of “e Liquid” hit the market and with the term “e Liquid” covering any and all types of e Liquid, detailed ingredient listings, stronger warnings and better consumer education become critical.

Up until now we had been fulfilling each order in-house upon request so we had not been mixing in batches nor storing in lots – but as we move into mass production and our demand is growing we have found a fantastic facility to work with that will managing ALL of our bottling, labeling and batch testing. 

We will have batch and lot numbers on all of our mass produced bottles as well as standard ingredients listings, nicotine warnings and known health risks as well as flavor, nicotine strength and product expiration dates.

SPINFUEL: Could you describe your facility? (It would be ideal to show a few photos of your facility?

Arkansas eLiquid – Alex ::  Sure.  We have a vape lounge and restaurant/juice and smoothie bar with cool, global community cultural clothing and merch for sale intermingled with our vape supplies. 

We have floor seating and e-hookah’s and a super chill eclectic/bohemian environment where vapers, community members and students can come and relax and enjoy the atmosphere.

We offer healthy food and drink options in our vape lounge so the customer-side of “the Hog “(www.thehealthyhog.com / www.facebook.com/TheHealthyHog)  has a really great vibe and our focus is on the customer experience, nurturing relationships, education and service.

The back is a pure stainless steel environment and is a fully up to code kitchen restaurant.  We are down-sizing what we originally intended as a full-service kitchen and are shifting gears down to a single, small pizza oven and deli station to accompany our smoothies and juices. 

So, refrigerators and freezers contain all of the food and ice cream products with a huge ice-maker and a dishwasher toward the front of the kitchen and we are currently in the process of dismantling the rest and moving things around to expand our small clean room into a larger one for our custom eliquid mixing for our B&M clientele.

SPINFUEL: How do you make sure your mixing tools and containers are kept clean and sterile?

Arkansas eLiquid – Alex :  As a restaurant, we are equipped with an NSF certified dishwasher that cleans, disinfects and sterilizes all of our equipment.

SPINFUEL: How many people do you have mixing e liquids, and how do they transition going from one flavor/recipe to another?

Arkansas eLiquid – Alex : We have one primary mixer and our fulfillment team consists of 2 other team members that can mix and assist when necessary.  They transition from one flavor to the next

We use new equipment with every new flavor and type. We have designated equipment for any flavors containing nicotine and they make all one strength to the next from weakest to strongest nic %.

SPINFUEL: Do you have an “opening” and “closing” procedure every day? Are there steps taken each morning to get the place open and ready for mixing?

Arkansas eLiquid – Alex :  Closing procedures for the entire place (not only the mixing room) are that all open containers are closed and wiped down with bleach solution and put back into ingredient and dry good storage.  All tables and surfaces are wiped down with bleach solution.

All food prep areas are treated the same.  All garbage is taken out, bathrooms are cleaned, mats shaken, floors swept and mopped and the place is deep-cleaned professionally once a week.

SPINFUEL: Can you take us through a typical e liquid online order? Tell us, what happens from the moment a customer purchases 3 bottles of e liquid from your online store, all are 3 different flavors and nicotine strengths. From the moment the order hits your “Inbox” to the moment it is placed in the US Postal Service, what steps are taken to create the liquids, bottle them, package them and send them off to the customer..

Arkansas eLiquid – Alex : Sure, it’s:

1. Order is received via email
2. It is forwarded to:
3. Our mixologist
4. Our fulfillment team.
5. Both myself and my partner
6. Our mixologist mixes all 3 flavors independently with sterile equipment and the team:
7.  Bottles
8. Caps
9. Labels each flavor and strength before moving on to the next.
10. The bubble mailer is filled out with customer name.
11. An invoice is printed
12. The bottles are double-checked against the invoice
13. The order is taken to USPS and shipped (same day whenever possible).

SPINFUEL: Restaurants use what they call the FIFO Rules in the kitchen, for their raw food products. Do you use a similar rule for your ingredients? If you do, could you describe it? (FIFO = First In, First Out)

Arkansas eLiquid – Alex :  We keep all of our flavors and ingredients organized in their spaces in rows with any open ingredient containers out in front. 

It’s no different than the way a grocery store rotates their dairy or veggies whatever needs to be used first – is the first thing your hand touches and the newer and unopened containers are behind them sequentially with the newest at the back.

SPINFUEL: Let’s talk about nicotine. Tell us about the nicotine you use in your juice. How does an e liquid company such as yourself learn to trust their source for nicotine? How do they trust the nicotine’s purity?

Arkansas eLiquid – Alex :  We initially did a great deal of research on providers and chose the one that we found the best ratings on across the board.  Then we requested their MSDS sheets to verify the purity of the product.

SPINFUEL: What is the most effective way to determine the nicotine level in your individual batch/bottle? Do you test nicotine solution for accuracy, or is it a matter of trusting the company you purchased it from? If the bottle says it is a 72mg nicotine solution, do you take it at face value or do you test it to be sure?

Arkansas eLiquid – Alex : We have been searching for a product that would allow us to test our nicotine in-house but couldn’t locate one, so we have had to trust our providers based on our initial research, customer reviews and their MSDS sheets as there is seemingly no “in-house” nicotine test strip (although it’s been promised since 2011).

Now that we are going into mass production with a lab that owns a chromatography machine, we will have the peace-of-mind to be sure because we are able to test to see if what our providers are saying is n fact true.

We searched tirelessly to locate a test strip that does not read nicotine levels only in saliva but gives an accurate reading as to nicotine %  in any fluid it is suspended in. We’ve had our hopes up high since we saw the “nic-strip” reviews in ’11 but still haven’t located them. If anyone has the solution – we would LOVE to know about it.

SPINFUEL: Do nicotine suppliers give you any information about the particular nicotine bottles you’ve purchased? Is there ‘batch’ information, ‘date it was bottled’ or any other way to track the source of the nicotine?

Arkansas eLiquid – Alex ::  Yes. On their MSDS sheets.

SPINFUEL: Does the AR E Liquid crew wear any type of special clothing when they are handling nicotine and other ingredients?

Arkansas eLiquid – Alex : As stated earlier, our team wears nitrile gloves, face masks, hair cover and chef shirts over their street clothes when mixing and/or handling nicotine or any eLiquid ingredients.

SPINFUEL: Do you mix e liquids everyday? Are your orders mixed bottle by bottle, “to order” as they come in, or do you have certain days where orders are mixed and bottled?

Arkansas eLiquid – Alex : As stated earlier – we have been mixing and bottle to order until now and are in the process of moving to a mass production manufacturing facility. 

I don’t think we will ever stop making custom eLiquid for our B&M customers though.  We love catering to our clients and making them feel special.  Because they are special to us.

SPINFUEL: When coming up with new flavors, how do you determine what flavor to work on next? Is it pre-planned, do you follow your customers purchasing trends, do you keep an eye out on message boards to see what kinds of flavors are being talked about, both positively and negatively? Or is it something else?

Arkansas eLiquid – Alex :  It’s a combination of everything.  We are a team of creatives and a few of us are really into the culinary arts as well.  We fell in love with eLiquid as a whole so we are all always smelling, tasting, reading, reviewing, looking at trends and thinking of what’s going to be next.

SPINFUEL: What types of hardware (mods, tanks, cartos, etc.) do you use when testing your liquids?

Is there a setup you favor for testing? For instance, if you were to test a new flavor’s vapor production, throat hit, and the cleanliness of the flavor/taste, or it’s authenticity to the flavor you’re creating, is there something like an iTaste VTR and iClear30s (off the top of my head, truly).

That you will use as a ‘medium’ for judging a new recipe and how it will perform across the various hardware setups?

Arkansas eLiquid – Alex : We use a Kanger eVod with a fresh coil and cotton on a Vision Spinner to test all of our new eLiquid flavors.  We even have eVods on every sample bar we produce for our shops and have them on every board in the hands of our sales team as well for consistency.

SPINFUEL: How do you handle the demands for various PG/VG ratios with your customers?

Arkansas eLiquid – Alex : We believe we have landed on a really strong vape experience with our signature blend and it seems many of our customers agree because the majority of them purchase our house-blend and very few requests ever come in for a different PG/VG ratio variation unless there’s a special situation like an allergy.

When someone does request variation however (as we have it available on the site and in the shop) we simply fulfill – We do try to  strike up a conversation as to what a customer’s preference is and why – so that we can serve them best in the future.

SPINFUEL: Is there a lot of recipe adjustments when creating new flavors that will work successfully with various PG/VG ratios?

For example, since PG is a flavor carrier, a 100% PG recipe might require 11% flavoring extract, but 100% VG might require a 27% flavoring extract, how difficult is it to make sure the flavor is consistent from one ratio to another? Is it done by testing ratios or simply by the math?

Arkansas eLiquid :  It’s done by testing ratios in-house. It’s a real challenge to land on the head of the pin with radically different ratios – but because we started at a totally different house-blend ratio when we launched, than what we have today – we have a strong idea of what it takes for our flavor to come through at different ratios.

SPINFUEL: Once you do have the recipes down pat, how do you assure your customers that bottle after bottle the e liquid will taste, and perform, the same?

Arkansas eLiquid – Alex : We have a recipe book and we know how to use it.  As long we follow our recipes and the raw ingredients are consistent (and are always from the same providers), we have no issues. 

Our customers know that if we cannot get the core ingredient and produce the flavor experience we pull the product until we can do so.

SPINFUEL: How long will YOUR eJuice last if properly stored? And what does ‘properly stored’ mean to you?

Arkansas eLiquid – Alex :  A year or so easy.  Properly stored means minimal sunlight and heat exposure.  If you keep them in a cool, dry, dark place they’ll hang in really well.

SPINFUEL:  Many e liquid brands tweak the recipes of their e liquids from time to time. If you ever need to do that how do you notify your customers of a change?

Arkansas eLiquid – Alex :  With a “flavor enhancement” or “flavor improvement” or “New” tag on the site and a note in the comment section.  We also email any major changes.

SPINFUEL: Our position on regulating e liquids includes spot inspections by the same people that perform restaurant inspections, to insure a certain level of cleanliness and proper storage of ingredients and materials. If a food inspector were to walk in to your facility today, how well do you think that inspection would go?

Arkansas eLiquid – Alex :   Since we already ARE a restaurant and subject to spot inspection on any given day – we are committed to passing a health inspection at all times.  So we believe we would pass with flying colors.

SPINFUEL: While we’re on the topic of ingredients and inspections, in the food service industry a restaurant owner is required to post their most recent inspection results on a wall that can be easily seen by all the customers. We (Spinfuel eMagazine) believe that e Liquid companies should be required to do the same thing.

We believe that the company should be required to photograph the official report and post the photo on their website. Is that going too far in your opinion? Would you object to such a rule?

Arkansas eLiquid – Alex :   Not at all.

SPINFUEL: In your opinion, what makes a good eliquid? In other words, what order of importance are flavor, vapor, and throat hit in A R E Liquid’s juice?

Arkansas eLiquid – Alex : I speak for the entire team when I say that it’s a full combination of all 3 – but as long as you’ve got all 3, the main difference in our eLiquid that makes it really stand out against the competition is that AreLiquid flavors linger long after you’ve vaped them.  It’s a flavor experience that literally sticks with you.

SPINFUEL: Where do you think the eCigarette industry is headed? Are eCigarettes the future of smoking?

Arkansas eLiquid – Alex : The eCig industry rapidly became the alternative for tobacco for a slew of extremely obvious reasons.  People are too conscious today and they simply don’t want to harm themselves or others – they are hyper aware of their odor and with all of the anti-tobacco smoking campaigns it is clear that an alternative was necessary.

Ecig’s are the solution for people who don’t choose to give up the act of “smoking” but want to lessen the harmful effects of smoking tobacco.  So, to answer your question in a word: Yes.

Spinfuel: Are you concerned about the FDA ruling coming soon? Do you have any gut feelings about which way the FDA is leaning; toward more taxation or banning?

Arkansas eLiquid – Alex :  We believe that without a doubt the people of this nation are definitely at risk of being taxed to the hilt due to it’s extreme popularity and  but I can’t see how something this widespread could be banned at this point.  It seems a bit too late for that doesn’t it?

SPINFUEL: Do you think most companies in this industry can stand the heavy tax burdens that some politicians are calling for? Some say that if the New Jersey governor is successful with his 2015 budget plan, that a 30ML bottle of e Liquid could cost $100, or more. Will this kill the industry in your opinion?

Arkansas eLiquid – Alex : I think that if the eCig industry bans together and fights against such ridiculous tax burdens that we can prevent something that extreme from occurring.  But that’s going to be up to both the industry professionals and the customers themselves.  We live in America. 

The people here have a right to speak up if they don’t like what’s happening. It would be refreshing to see everyone do so in this situation. But honestly, I don’t see it killing our industry.

It will hurt the new small business, but the reality is – $7-$11 a pack hasn’t killed the tobacco industry with all of the health warnings and tobacco related deaths we see every year.  So a tax hike won’t kill eCigs – it will just gouge the American consumer again.

SPINFUEL: Lastly, why should our readers try AR E Liquids?

Arkansas eLiquid – Alex : Because AReLiquids are absolutely fantastic, true-to-life, authentic flavors accompanying a superior vape experience that we’ve worked long and hard to create…and we’d like to hear what y’all think!

SPINFUEL: Is there anything else you’d like to say to our readers while you have their complete attention?

Arkansas eLiquid – Alex :  Please vape responsibly.  There are SO MANY little eliquid shops popping up every day that don’t do their homework before they put a product on a shelf and so many people picking up vape pens that don’t read the ingredients or the warnings. 

People don’t treat their bottle of eLiquid the same way they treat a pack of cigarettes and that can get kids hurt.  If you choose to vape instead of smoke, please do so responsibly and care for the industry, the kids and help us keep this industry strong. 

If you see legislation going on in your area – VOTE!  Don’t just LET things happen to this industry.  It’s yours.  Do something about it!

SPINFUEL: Thank for taking the time to talk to us today, and to allowing us to review your liquids. We truly enjoyed your e juice and we look forward to doing a sequel soon.

Julia Hartley-Barnes

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