Table of Contents

Last Updated on January 9, 2020 by Team Spinfuel

Buku Vapor is both an eliquid brand and a reseller of vape gear. All their products are available for online purchase as well as its physical location in Shreveport Louisiana.

It is always a concern of the team when we review an eliquid from a company that does not focus its attention on their eliquid 100% of the time. Is it impossible to focus solely on your juice when you’re also concerned with choosing the right vape gear that will sell locally and nationally?  Keeping stock of inventory for said vape gear, as well as the hundreds of other concerns that plague local small businesses? It is a balancing act we do not envy.

The Buku Vapor eLiquid Line

We are told that the Buku Vapor Mixing Room is a sterile environment being maintained daily. We are also told that all of the ingredients are USP Grade and GRAS rated by the USDA. Judging by the consistency and overall quality of the ejuice we vaped exclusively for 72 hours, we believe Buku Vapor’s claims.

The ingredients in the eliquid include Propylene Glycol (USP, Kosher Grade), Vegetable Glycerin (USP, Kosher Grade), Extracted Nicotine, Natural and/or Artificial Flavoring (USP Grade).

Pure, No Food Coloring

Buku Vapor does not use food coloring or other additives in their eliquids. Because their plastic bottles were completely opaque we emptied their juice into clear bottles to make sure the color appeared natural and to make sure there was no particulate matter in the liquids. We were satisfied with the results.

Buku Vapor mixes their eliquids every day. Our eLiquid was mixed on September 18, and was consumed by the team from October 13th and the 15th. We applied the usual steeping methods before the review commenced.

Protocols

If this is your first Spinfuel eLiquid Team Review we recommend heading over to our Protocols page before reading any further. It will explain how we conduct these reviews and how we apply our scores to each eliquid.

Buku eLiquid Particulars

The bottles we received were soft 30ML black plastic with snap-cap seals, shrink-wrap, with a built in tip for easy filling of clearomizers, cartomizers, tanks, and glassomizers. The labels are chock full of information including the Buku Vapor logo, name of the juice, nicotine strength, PG/VG ratios, directions for use, warnings, and an ingredients list.

There is nothing more you would want on an eliquid label; in fact, Buku Vapor couldn’t fit any more information on their labels if they wanted to. High praise for both their safety features and their label information.

All the eliquids we received are 50:50 PG/VG. However, Buku offers a variety of ratios to choose from. The 50:50 ratio is their “House Blend”.

Nicotine options are many: 3mg, 6mg, 9mg, 12mg, 15mg, 18mg, 21mg and 24mg. There is also the zero-nic option.

Buku Vapor eLiquids are moderately priced. A 10ML bottle is $6.99, or 69 cents per ML, and their 30ML bottle is $17.99, or 59 cents per ML. Buku offers some 100+ different eliquid ‘flavors’.

The Flavors

RiP iT – A mixture of exotic fruits that creates a complex, citrus blend with notes of papaya and freshly picked berries.

Fruit Scroll Up – Scroll it up, Wick it up, Vape it up! …Fruit inhale …Candy exhale! Think of the fruit candy that comes by the foot.

Me So Honey – A delicious balance of honey and other complimentary flavors that is not “Too Buku” to vape all day long.

Gimme Somoa – No description available

Birthday Suit – No description available

Cinnamon Crunch – A sweet, cinnamon flavor combined with the crunch of toast. If you like the cereal you will love the vape!

Fightin Tiger – A perfect blend of sweet watermelon and ripe strawberries combined with a light, shaved coconut finish.

Dat Breeze – A soothing honeydew melon, berry mix.

Honey Blu Blu – No description available

The Review

RiP iT – A mixture of exotic fruits that creates a complex, citrus blend with notes of papaya and freshly picked berries.

Tom – 4.25 Stars –

Reading the description and actually tasting RiP iT are two very different things. Me, this guys right here, expected a fruity mix with a capital “F” and instead I experienced a rather nice blend of many non-fruity fruit flavors on the sweet side. I did not expect to like it much, but the fact is I did like it. I liked it a lot. RiP iT is a good mix with unexpected flavor, plenty of vapor and, at 18mg nicotine anyway, a truly nice throat hit.

Julia – 4 Stars –

I was hoping to taste at least some of the different fruit flavors here but the truth is this is a fusion of flavors that combine into a singular taste of sweet something. Most definitely an all-day-vape for me, and one that I would add to my rotation.

Keira – 4.5 Stars –

Looking over my eliquid collection I learned that I do not have many all day vapes. I tend to buy eliquids that have a lot of flavor, and as such they usually don’t make great all day vapes. RiP iT is an all day vape of some kind of fruity blend that defies an accurate description. But I liked it enough to add to my rotation, to become one of my few all-day-vapes.

Jason – 4 Stars –

RiP iT is a name I would associate with a hard citrus or energy drink, and I think a lot of people would think the same way. RiP iT is not an energy or high citrus flavor, is way better than that. It isn’t an eliquid you would vape and say, “Oh WOW, I’ve died and gone to heaven”, but it is a good flavor that stays with you for as long as you’re vaping it, producing a lot of vapor and providing a good throat hit. Not a heavy flavored vape, but an enjoyable one.

Honey Blu Blu – No description available online.

Tom: 4 Stars –

While one would certainly expect this to be a honey and blueberry vape I can tell you that I do not taste any blueberry. What I do taste is a good, solid honey with another flavor that seems to get lost in the honey. That’s not a bad thing though. I really enjoyed that honey flavor. It’s authentic as honey in a jar, with an almost outdoorsy note to it. I like these types of eliquids that put out a nice vape but somehow defy description.

Julia – 4 Stars –

I tried this flavor early, about a day or so after it arrived and I knew that for it to have any hope it would have to steep a while. Honey Blu Blu lacks a well-defined flavor, and I can’t understand why Buku would use the word Blu twice and not deliver a heavy blueberry flavor.

I do taste honey though, and it provides a sweet, heavy vapor vape experience that I found really enjoyable. But, if you’re looking for an eliquid that gives you big flavor you won’t find it here.

Keira – 3 Stars –

Honey Blu Blu was the last eliquid in this lineup for me so when I tell you that none of them offered up a lot of flavor I tell you from experience with all of them. However, it should also be noted that there are more all day vapes in this lineup than I’ve ever seen in an eliquid review.

Honey Blu Blu lacks bulk, lacks blueberry, but delivers a sweet honey flavor with lots of vapor. So, it’s an all day vape if you like the taste of honey, but that flavor isn’t a strong one.

Jason – 3 Stars –

Without a description I cannot deduct points on missing the description in the actual flavor. We all expected Blueberry, anyone would, and there isn’t any. This one is an adequate eliquid, but nothing more. I was disappointed in the lack of flavor.

Birthday Suit – No description available

Tom: 3.5 Stars –

Although we allowed plenty of steeping time (or so I thought) on the first go-round with Birthday Suit I thought I knew what to expect, a cake vape. But almost a month later there was very little cake in the flavor. I couldn’t tell what it was supposed to be. So, I sat it aside and went on to others in this review with the intent of coming back to it.

I left a full Nautilus Mini of Birthday Suit sitting in my desk drawer for about 30 hours before I returned. When I picked it back up and began vaping it the hidden birthday cake (or just cake really) showed up in spades.

It’s a decent cake vape, but I’ve had better. The vapor was excellent, the throat hit was very good, and had the plain cake flavor appeared sooner, and a bit stronger, I would have enjoyed it more than I did.

Julia – 4 Stars –

Birthday Cake sounded to me as though this was going to be a vanilla cake with frosting flavor, which I would have really liked. In actuality its plain cake, so that was a letdown. After a bit of disappointment I started to enjoy it for what it really was, a cake batter flavor. I like cake vapes, so I liked this one. Not enough to add to my rotation because my cake vape openings are occupied, but it’s a good cake flavor.

Keira – 3 Stars –

In order to obtain a higher score than 3 stars it has to be better than an average eliquid. Unfortunately Birthday Cake isn’t better than average, and I think it could have been. Had Buku Vapor come out and said that their eliquids are designed to be all day vapes, which means no heavy flavors, then they would have scored really well on most of these, but they didn’t do that. Birthday Cake has the flavor of mixing a yellow cake batter, baking it, and then eating it, without frosting, without any fanfare at all. That is the very definition of ‘average’ for a cake vape.

Jason – 4.5 Stars –

Unlike the rest of the team I enjoyed Birthday Suit for the same reason they found it to be average. They are correct when they said it was a plain yellow cake flavor, but some people like that flavor a lot, including me. I don’t know why, but I liked my time with this one. I just may add it to my rotation.

Dat Breeze – A soothing honeydew melon, berry mix.

Tom: 4 Stars –

I don’t know about “soothing”, but this flavor is definitely a honeydew melon vape. There is supposed to be a berry note or two somewhere here but it eludes my taste buds completely. But that’s okay. If you like honeydew vapes there are some out there that are better, one in particular, but this one isn’t bad at all.

Julia – 4.25 Stars –

Honeydew is becoming a popular flavor this year, and Dat Breeze (not a good name for a honeydew, Dat Breeze sounds like a menthol or minty vape) is a good honeydew vape. Lots of flavor with this one after steeping it, and when you combine a good honeydew flavor with plenty of vapor and a decent throat hit it becomes an eliquid deserving of your attention. I enjoyed it.

Keira – 4 Stars –

If I didn’t already have a great honeydew eliquid in my rotation this one might have earned that spot. The honeydew melon flavor is authentic and plentiful, the vapor is thick and full of flavor, and the throat hit is solid. If you haven’t found your honeydew vape yet, check this out.

Jason – 4.5 Stars –

Dat Breeze is one of the stronger flavored eliquids in this lineup. If you like honeydew melon this is an eliquid you will definitely like. Get the 50:50 blends if you want flavor and vapor in equal abundance. Yea, I liked this one, and I didn’t expect to..

Me So Honey – A delicious balance of honey and other complimentary flavors that is not “Too Buku” to vape all day long.

Tom – 4.5 Stars –

Me So Honey is the strongest flavored eliquid in the lineup. However, it won’t be when you first get it, it has to steep. Strangely, honey is not the dominant flavor here. Me So Honey is more of a nutty, woodsy vape with light honey notes. Its good though, so I would recommend it highly for anyone that likes that kind of flavor in your vapor.

Julia – 3.75 Stars –

Very strong flavor in this juice, but it’s not the honey. The dominant flavor is kind of a hazelnut flavor, with a honey note to it. Not honey as the finishing note, just honey ‘notes’. This one needs more tweaking to make it as good as it can be, it has a solid foundation but it needs more complexity, not to mention more honey. I would use the same honey flavoring in the Honey Blu Blu, only more of it.

Keira – 3 Stars –

Me So Honey isn’t nearly as good as the others make it out to be. It’s not a bad flavor, if you like that dull nutty tobacco flavor, but I just don’t like it much at all. I give it 3 stars because while its not something I would vape it’s not all that disagreeable. It’s just kind of ‘meh’.

Jason – 3 Stars –

I’m not sure why it’s called Me So Honey because the honey flavor is dulled out over a kind of nutty tobacco type flavor, at least to me anyway. If it is honey then it is a completely different honey flavorings than they used in Honey Blu Blu

Gimme Somoa – No description available

Tom – 4.0 Stars –

Okay, I really liked this Somoa eliquid. However, once again I have to warn you that it will take time to deliver the intended flavor. Like most of us do I too checked out a couple of eliquids in this review early on, and this was one of them. I did it because I’ve had other “somoa” like flavors that I loved.

Early on this was nearly absent of any flavor, and that was hugely disappointing. But once it was allowed to steep for almost a month it came alive. I think it can be better with the inclusion of maybe a hint of chocolate or even a touch of vanilla, but it was good nonetheless.

Julia – 3.5 Stars –

I wanted to love this one because what I expected was the Girl Scout cookie with the similar name. But that’s not what this is. In fact, I’m not sure what this is. I can taste a bit of vanilla and something else that I cannot identify, but that’s it. A little above average.

Keira – 3 Stars –

There is little I can say about Gimme Somoa other than after a long steep it’s an okay flavor delivering okay vapor with a light throat hit. Disappointing.

Jason – 3 Stars –

Man, I hate to say this, but despite being an average vape, neither delicious or awful, its completely non-descript. There is flavor to be had, but what flavor? I have no idea. I’m giving it 3 stars not because I think it’s an average tasting juice, but because it is an average, mysterious juice. There is no power behind it, no strong flavors; it’s just there.

Cinnamon Crunch – A sweet, cinnamon flavor combined with the crunch of toast. If you like the cereal you will love the vape!

Tom: 4.75 Stars –

French Toast with cinnamon notes, and it is delicious. This is the eliquid I wanted to spend most of my time with, but that would have been unfair to the other eliquids in this review. It is a sweet French toast flavor, with maple syrup, topped with a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar. Good vapor, good throat hit, and a perfect morning vape if you like French toast. I wouldn’t worry about plastic tanks either; the cinnamon isn’t nearly strong enough to damage a plastic tank.

Julia – 4.5 Stars –

Cinnamon Toast was the eliquid I was looking forward to the most, so of course that meant hitting it early. That was a big mistake, and an even bigger disappointment. But, because I wanted to give this one the benefit of doubt I kept it for last and left a Council of Vapor ‘Stratos’ glassomizer full of this juice in my nightstand drawer.

When I came back to it the flavor sprang to life and it became my favorite flavor of the lineup. So why not 5 Stars? To be completely open about it, as good as it is I think the mixologist could have made the flavor about 20% stronger and the end result would have been a masterpiece.

Keira – 4.75 Stars –

I love French toast, and even though the description doesn’t mention French toast specifically, it is indeed a French toast flavor with just a tiny speck of cinnamon. I love it, but I really think something is preventing Buku Vapor to fully committing to the flavors in their juice.

They seem to be holding back, perhaps hoping to create nothing but all day vapes, but I think that’s a mistake (if its true).

They had an opportunity here to create a great French toast with cinnamon but they didn’t pull the trigger. Don’t get me wrong, after some steeping this is a fantastic eliquid, but it could have been even better.

Jason – 4 Stars –

While I did like Cinnamon Crunch I think their choice in cinnamon was the wrong choice. This is not a strong cinnamon people expect in an eliquid. It is a subdued flavor, a cinnamon without pizazz, without sparkle. It lacks that powerful cinnamon toast flavor it could be in favor of being a slice of Pepperidge Farm Cinnamon Swirl toast…without butter.

I wanted a maple syrup drenched French toast with an ample helping of cinnamon sugar on top. A sweet mess of French toast that would make you want to go to Denny’s and order French toast.

Fruit Scroll Up – Scroll it up, Wick it up, Vape it up! …Fruit inhale …Candy exhale! Think of the fruit candy that comes by the foot.

Tom – 4.75 Stars –

I’ll be damned if Buku Vapor didn’t actually create an eliquid that did exactly as the description says. A fruit inhale followed by a sweet candy-like exhale. I’ve never had a Fruit Rollup before but I’ve heard of them and its probably close to what a Fruit Rollup would be. I liked this one quite a bit. In fact, I plan on adding this one to my rotation. It’s sweet, flavorful, and fun, and I don’t have many of those in my collection.

Julia – 4.5 Stars –

Fruit Scroll Up is not a unique flavor, but it’s a perfectly fine eliquid. This one will be enjoyed by many. Nice fruity flavors going in, a sweeter fruity flavor going out. I’d recommend it to anyone looking for a good Fruit Rollup vapor maker.

Keira – 4 Stars –

I enjoyed Fruit Scroll Up. It is sweet and fruity, like a lot of people enjoy but there is something about this recipe that prevents you from vaping it above 3.7v. I mean, you can’t push this one at all without tasting a burnt fruit flavor. As a cool vape its very good, and I know there are plenty of vapers out there in the vape community who would love this one.

Jason – 3 Stars –

Flavors like this are fun to vape. They taste good, the deliver the flavor and the vapor, and they isn’t much to argue about. Having said that, it is very ordinary. More like a flavor that was chosen to fill a gap in the menu. Others, like Gimme Samoa, try to be more than that, and succeed, but this one is not ambitious enough. That doesn’t take away the likeable flavor and the ample vapor, but it doesn’t interest me much.

Fightin Tiger – A perfect blend of sweet watermelon and ripe strawberries combined with a light, shaved coconut finish.

Tom – 4 Stars –

The description sounds really unique, interesting, and surprising. I like the idea of a watermelon flavor finished off with shaved coconut. So, does it work? Yes, for the most part it certainly does.

Fighten Tiger starts off with a sweet watermelon flavor and finishes with coconut notes that give the juice its body. At ‘first vape’ you expect this to be a watermelon-only vape and when that coconut kicks in on the exhale it takes you by surprise. That’s the kind of thing that tells me Buku can get creative enough to be excellent eliquid creators, and it makes me want to set up a sequel review.

I would recommend this one to any watermelon vaper that wants a little something extra in their watermelon experience.

Julia – 4.25 Stars –

Fighten Tiger is unexpectedly good. Now, I’m not a big watermelon fan, at least not in vapor form, so that wasn’t what made me score it as high as I did. What did impress me was the fine delivery of a real coconut finish. Unexpected and delightful. Fighten Tiger delivers a bit less vapor than the others, but it has the same PG/VG ratio so I put that down to the watermelon flavoring chosen for the recipe. Still, all things considered, this is a good juice.

Keira – 3.75 Stars –

Had Fighten Tiger not offered up a twist at the end with the coconut surprise it would have been a plain, simple watermelon vape with average appeal. During our discussion there was no mentioned the strawberry flavor because there wasn’t any. At least I didn’t taste it. Better than the average watermelon eliquid, but only because you’ll like that coconut kick at the end.

Jason – 4 Stars –

Watermelon doesn’t do much for me, so I approached this flavor as objectively as I could. Does it deliver a watermelon flavor? Yes. Does the strawberry make an appearance? Despite what the other team members say, yes it does, but ever so slightly. But my kudos goes out to Buku for taking the risk with coconut on the exhale. That makes it a better eliquid and one I would recommend to watermelon fans.

Conclusion

There is an inherent problem with all eliquid brands that offers so many variations of their flavors. With more nicotine choices than I’ve ever seen before, and with several PG/VG ratios, it is impossible to mix in large batches and pre-steep them before shipping. This, I believe, is a mistake these eliquid vendors should avoid.

No one wants to wait on his or her vapemail, yet with Buku Vapor it is a must. Vaping them out of the mailbox is a setup for disappointment.

If you were sitting in our seats reviewing these eliquids I truly believe you would come to the same conclusion we did; there just isn’t enough flavor in some of these eliquids to cause anyone to jump up and down when the mailman appears.

Some of the eliquids in this review were good eliquids, most of them were, and some we even recommend highly, but by and large more than a few seemed to hold back from committing to their flavors. I want to be blown away when I vape a new flavor. The team wants to be able to get excited about writing the review.

That can’t happen when most of the time you’re waiting for the flavor to kick in. We waited almost a month to begin our review, yet the flavors still seemed too young to explode like they should.

Recommendations For Buku Vapor

Our recommendation on this review is directed at Buku Vapor more than our readers. We recommend that they seek out more unbiased reviews like ours, to get real feedback from people who don’t have a vested interest in the outcome of the review. Friends, families, and even loyal customers may be too nice to tell you that your eliquids need more flavor, more kick to them.

Some of the eliquids in this review are certainly good enough to show they have the talent; we just think they need the willingness to pull the trigger on some of the eliquids that won’t produce.

Nicotine Levels

We would also recommend that they cut back on so many nicotine levels, and even consider a single PG/VG ratio. Nicotine strengths for eliquid not meant for drippers should be 6, 12, 18 and that’s it. PG/VG should be 50:50, no more and no less. They also don’t need 100  flavors with more in the pipeline.

Focus on the winners, drop the mediocre flavors, and produce a smaller line of excellent eliquids. No one can’t master 100 flavors, and if any brand says they can they are kidding themselves.

Maybe our readers will disagree, but when we shop for eliquid, and we often do, we focus on labels with 25 or fewer flavors if the brand is less than 3 years.

By reducing the number of choices in PG/VG, nicotine, and flavors they allow yourself the opportunity to steep their eliquids to full maturity before shipping to customers. Freshly made eliquids might have worked in 2012, but in 2014 people expect to vape their latest eliquids right out of the mailbox.

Buying Advice For Our Readers

There are some eliquids in this review that we can and do recommend. The price scale is in line with moderate brands, so it wouldn’t be a mistake to choose a few to try. And, this is most important, taste is subjective and you might love the lighter flavors, or you could love the watermelon flavor or the fruity ones, and Buku Vapor is affordable enough to give them a go.

Until next time,

Tom McBride, head writer, with Julia and Keira Hartley-Barnes and Jason Little.