Blu Cigs Eliquid – A Spinfuel eLiquid Review

The Blu Cigs eLiquid Review – No, really.

When it comes to reviewing eliquids the Spinfuel eLiquid Review Team has never reviewed a cig-a-like product before. In fact, it’s been well over two years since we took on a cig-a-like anything, but today we’ve decided to do something we’ve been wanting to do since Johnson Creek and Blu Cigs parted ways… review the eliquids used in today’s Blu Cigs products.

When Blu Cigs launched, their claim to fame, in our opinion, was the great tasting flavors Blu Cigs offered, especially their Classic Tobacco, and a year later, their Pina Colada. Made exclusively by Johnson Creek, these eliquids set Blu Cigs apart from every other cig-a-like maker in the world. And we were fans.

For the first time, cig-a-like electronic cigarettes actually had real flavor, not some super cheap Chinese PG based eliquid that gave people headaches and tasted like crap. Blu Cigs did the right thing, they put flavor first. They still do.

Four years ago you couldn’t find a Vaper that didn’t “start” vaping without Blu Cigs. The problem, of course, if that if you vape for more than 6 months the Blu Cigs batteries just couldn’t produce enough vapor, or last long enough to use for more than 90 minutes or so. That being the case, people moved on to bigger and better things.

Despite leaving behind the small batteries and the small vapor production, a lot of people, including us, missed the flavor of a Blu Cigs. I can’t remember how many times we told Blu Cigs people that they needed to release their eliquid flavors to the public in bottles, allow us to use their eliquid in our larger batteries and clearomizers. They never did, so soon we walked away from Blu Cigs and on to the thousands of eliquids offered in glass and plastic bottles. But we never forgot the flavor or their Classic Tobacco, Pina Colada, and Peach Schnapps…

Blu Cigs no longer uses Johnson Creek, and we’ve been wondering if the eliquids in use today are as good, or better, as the Johnson Creek formulas. So, we put out the word to Blu Cigs and told them we wanted to do an eLiquid Review of their flavors. We told them we would use their batteries and cartomizers, but not exclusively. We wanted to review the juice, not the batteries.

Today we present that review. Here’s how we did it…

Blu Cigs sent us plenty of their “cartomizer tanks”, and we vaped them with their batteries, and some Innokin iTaste CLK batteries we still had in the stockroom. With these 510 batteries we were able to get long life and a decent amount of vapor, all the while using the Blu Cigs tanks.

Blu Cigs Eliquids – Flavors Reviewed

• Classic Tobacco
• Blueberry
• Peach Schnapps
• Pina Colada
• Carolina Bold
• Vivid Vanilla
• Cherry Crush
• Strawberry Mint

Blu Cigs sells their “tanks” in packs of 3 for $14.95. That is expensive for vapers like ourselves. During the review period we went through at least 7 or 8 tanks a piece, every day for 2 weeks, purely because of the way we vape, and the frequency. Most cig-a-like users won’t vape this much, but no matter how you slice it, using cig-a-likes is a lot more expensive than buying a box mod and a decent tank, and buying eliquid in 60mL bottles.

Blu Cigs eliquid is mostly Propylene Glycol, PG, with some VG, and come in 1.2% or 2.4% nicotine levels. Our review is based on using “1.2%”, or 12mg nicotine tanks. As mostly PG, and MTL (mouth-to-lung) vaping we did okay, otherwise the nicotine levels would have been 4 times higher than we usually use in High VG, low resistance, high wattage vape gear.

Our score could only be based on a single premise… FLAVOR. That was all we were after, “how do they taste now?”. Our findings are below. One thing to keep in mind; where the flavors overlap, when Johnson Creek made them for Blu Cigs, and they are still a part of the available flavors today, we will judge the new formula against the original Johnson Creek flavor. New flavors are judge simply on their own.

Blu Cigs Eliquid – Classic Tobacco

Julia – Very different from the JCVC formula, and much more likable, Classic Tobacco is still much better than other cig-a-like tobaccos. There is a hint of coffee flavor now, and it adds something the old formula was missing and that is an extra layer of “body”.

Tom – As a tobacco aficionado I can at least detect a distinct tobacco flavor, though 99% of tobacco eliquids from brands like Rocket Fuel Vapes and Lunar Rover are vastly superior to this. That said, Blu Cigs offers a tobacco flavor that a cig-a-like user would enjoy over any other brand of cig-a-like.

Kiera – Classic Tobacco from 3 or 4 years ago was actually one of my favorite flavors from Blu Cigs. Today I can’t say that, but of course I now know what premium eliquid brands can create. Blu Cigs tobacco is better than the rest at this level, but as an experienced vaper I would not buy their bottled version when so many other tobacco flavors from the like of Lunar Rover offer genuine tobacco flavors.

Jason – I used to like Classic Tobacco when it was being made by Johnson Creek, and I was hoping that the newly formulated CT would be at least similar, but it isn’t.

Blu Cigs Eliquid – Pina Colada

Julia – Although everyone here at Spinfuel adored Pina Colada from the early day of Blu Cigs it’s important to realize that this flavor never truly tasted like a Pina Colada. This was an entirely original flavor, and weirdly wonderful. Today’s Blu Cigs Pina Colada is exactly like the old one, and this is a flavor I would definitely buy in bottle form if it was affordable… which it isn’t. $8.99 for 10mL is 89 cents per mL, more than Kilo eLiquid, Smoque Vapors, Vape Dudes, and all the rest. Still, I enjoyed vaping this one a lot.

Tom – When Johnson Creek was making Pina Colada for Blu Cigs I used to keep a 5-pack in my desk for the occasional cig-a-like vape. It was an unusual flavor, and whoever is making it for Blu Cigs today does a good job duplicating that unusual flavor.

Kiera – Back in the day, as a Blu Cigs customers I was all about this Pina Colada and Peach Schnapps. Of course, neither tasted like their names, but they were still tasty and enjoyable. When we began vaping the new Blu Cigs “tanks” I was amazed that both taste the same as they did then. Imagine this flavor with more VG, at 3mg nicotine, in 60mL bottles… I would like that a lot.

Jason – Back in the Johnson Creek days, and now, Pina Colada didn’t and doesn’t taste anything like a real Pina Colada, or for that matter, a Pina Colada eliquid. It isn’t a bad tasting eliquid, it’s just different. While I have used cig-a-like cartomizers on and off over the years I can say that Blu Cigs seems to be the only brand to actually want to develop good tasting flavors. The rest of them; all they care about is making that first sale, in my humble opinion anyway.

Blu Cigs Eliquid –Peach Schnapps

Julia – Peach Schnapps is a weird flavor. Back when JCVC was making it, and today, the flavor is the same, and it still holds a strange fascination for me. Don’t expect to taste ‘peach’, it isn’t there. Peach Schnapps is one of those eliquids that you either love or hate, and I don’t know why, but I still love it.

Tom – The flavor of Peach Schnapps is the same from Day One until now, and it is an awful flavor. I will give Blu Cigs kudos for creating a flavor that no one else has, and I know Julia and Kiera love this strange thing, but for me, it’s just not my idea of a good flavor.

Kiera – JCVC made this for Blu Cigs a few years back and although it doesn’t actually taste like Peach Schnapps, it is still a wonderful flavor to experience. I would love to try this one in a good tank with a 1.8Ω coil.

Jason – I don’t hate Peach Schnapps and I don’t like it much either. It’s one of those flavors that you can’t pin down, and it seems that I’m the only member of the team that feels indifferent to it. Some like it, some dislike it, but they feel strongly either way. For me, this is a non-starter.

Blu Cigs Eliquid – Cherry Crush

Julia – Cherry Crush had legions of fans back when JCVC was making it for Blu Cigs. I never liked the flavor, too tart for me but definitely had a cherry flavor. Today’s blend I think it’s different though it still has a cherry taste to it.

Tom – I loved Cherry Crush when I was a cig-a-like vaper. Back when Blu used standard 510 cartomizers I would buy Cherry Crush and use them on eGo batteries. Tasting them now, although it reminds me of the old Cherry Crush, it doesn’t bring back a flash to the older ones. That tells me this new Cherry Crush is different. It also tells me I’m not that into cherry flavors anymore.

Kiera – Today’s Cherry Crush is probably the strongest fruit flavor in the 2016 Blu Cigs lineup. Lots of tart cherry flavor, but also more artificial flavor than I’d like. Comparing it to other cig-a-like brands, Cherry Crush wins’ hands down.

Jason – I remember so many people that was using Blu Cigs couldn’t get enough of Cherry Crush. Blu used to sell out all the time, and folks had to back order the stuff. I didn’t much like it then, and I certainly don’t like it now. Way too “cherry” flavored. It like hits you over the head.

Blu Cigs Eliquid – Blueberry

Julia – Blueberry is a new flavor for Blu Cigs Eliquid, and although you can tell there is blueberry in it, it is an artificially flavored eliquid that points out the artificial flavors a little too much. I wanted to like this one because there are a lot of blueberry eliquids I do like, but here, as a mostly-PG eliquid designed as a cig-a-like eliquid, it fails.

Tom – I sought out some Blu Cigs customers for this review and had them try all these flavors too. There was one guy that thought Blueberry was the best tasting Blu Cigs flavor ever made. Another thought it was okay, nothing great. I enjoyed the taste, but it wasn’t as much ‘blueberry’ as it was ‘blueberry-like’. Even so, I did like it. Go figure.

Kiera – I wouldn’t place Blueberry at the top of the Blu Cigs list, but it’s pretty good compared to honest-to-goodness blueberry eliquid you buy in 30mL or 60mL bottles. Keeping in mind that these flavors are designed to taste okay for the majority of cig-a-like users, Blueberry is, I think, a successful product from Blu.

Jason – This Blueberry was god-awful. So fake tasting you could barely tell its blueberry. They didn’t have this flavor back in the day, and I would find it hard to believe that this could be a big seller today.

Blu Cigs Eliquid –Vivid Vanilla

Julia – Vivid Vanilla Eliquid was another favorite of mine. I went through so many cartomizers it wasn’t funny. I think it was also the first, or one of the first, vanilla eliquids I’ve ever vaped. Today there is so much you can do with vanilla, that it surprised me that Vivid Vanilla had the exact same flavor profile it did 4 years ago. I would buy this in bottle form, I really would.

Tom – Vivid Vanilla made a name for itself a few years back, everybody I knew liked it a lot. But again, this vanilla, from back then and now, is nothing like vanilla we see and taste in hundreds of eliquids. None of these flavors compares to premium eliquid we use in our tanks, but as a cig-a-like eliquid flavor you would be hard pressed to find one that tasted as good as Vivid Flavor.

Kiera – Considering there is only like 1mL of eliquid in these new tanks, maybe 1.5mL, Vivid Flavor doesn’t last me longer than an hour or so. I love the flavor, but I kept going through tank after tank that I told myself the only way I would use this after the review is if I could buy it in a bottle and use a plus-ohm tank with it. The best vanilla flavor of any cig-a-like brand.

Jason – Vivid Vanilla was a fun flavor a few years back… sweet with a wicked throat hit. Today it tastes just like I remembered, but I didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as I remember. Probably because there are so many wonderful eliquids using a premium level vanilla flavoring, but if I was still using a cig-a-like I would buy these tanks. If Blu Cigs made Vivid Vanilla today with more VG, and priced it lower than $8.99 per 10mL, I might even keep a bottle around. Definitely a decent flavor for Blu customers.

Blu Cigs Eliquid – Carolina Bold 

Julia – This Carolina Bold Eliquid is another new flavor from Blu Cigs, and unfortunately it’s a really strong artificial tobacco. Some cig-a-like users will love it, some will hate it, but no one should expect it to taste anything like Classic Tobacco.

Tom – My immediate thoughts about Carolina Bold was that it was Classic Tobacco, concentrated. But the longer I stayed with it, which was more than 10 days, the more nuanced the tobacco characteristics became. The last couple of days I started to really enjoy it. As a cig-a-like tobacco eliquid this is good stuff.

Kiera – I think Carolina Bold was created for Blu Cigs users that thought Classic Tobacco wasn’t as strong as it should be for a tobacco flavor. They were probably right, but I didn’t vape Classic Tobacco because it tasted like tobacco. Carolina Bold is a strong, heavy throat hit cig-a-like tobacco, one in which cig-a-like vapers would probably love.

Jason – I didn’t care for Carolina Bold very much, but then again based on the tobacco flavors I vape there is no fair comparison. Too strong, too much PG, and a throat hit that I no longer crave.

Blu Cigs Eliquid – Strawberry Mint

Julia – The name alone tells you everything you need to know. Strawberry and Mint. A terrible combination. I couldn’t vape more than a 5 pack of this one for the entire 2-week review period. Why didn’t they just go with Strawberry?

Tom – I don’t understand this strawberry and mint blend. First, the strawberry is barely strawberry, and the mint overwhelms what strawberry there is. A new flavor for Blu Cigs, and one I would, believe it or not, buy as an eliquid. I loved that strawberry flavor, and the mint gave it a nice punch.

Kiera – Of the new flavors from Blu this was definitely one of the good ones. A unique blend of semi-sweet strawberry and a glacial mint blend, something you won’t forget. I would buy this one in eliquid form, I think it would be perfect for the new Kanger Aerotank.

Jason – The strawberry flavor in this one is excellent, but then it is nearly ruined by this menthol, or at least artificial mint. Butttttt….. vaping it with an iTaste CLK at 4.2v I really got into the flavor and whole cool/mint/menthol mix with a sweet strawberry mix.

Blu Cigs Eliquid – The Wrap Up

Blu Cigs has done a surprisingly good job in getting their eliquids close to what they were while Johnson Creek made them. Naturally, there are now more flavors, but the new flavors do, at least, fit the same Blu Cigs flavor profile; which is a hundred times better than any other cig-a-like product.

We loved the fact that Pina Colada Blu Cigs Eliquid and Peach Schnapps Blu Cigs Eliquid takes almost exactly like they did when Johnson Creek made them, but some were disappointed in the Classic Tobacco, which is still better than other cig-a-like tobaccos, but not as good as the older blend.

All in all, if you like the idea of using a cig-a-like battery than Blu Cigs is the way to go every time. This company may have changed hands a couple of times, but with each new infusion of cash they improve.

Blu Cigs has just released their new Pro models, which are basically ego-sized batteries with refillable clearomizers. Not all flavors are available as we go to press, but we’re hoping that soon we will able to buy bottles of our favorites to use with today’s modern vape gear. In fact, perhaps the new Blu Cigs Pro might just be good enough for old timers like us. We’ll let you know!

Blu Cigs can be purchased in hundreds of stores across the country, or HERE on their website.

Julia Hartley-Barnes, Kiera Hartley-Barnes, Tom McBride and Jason Little, the Spinfuel eLiquid Review Team