Table of Contents
FanceeJuice Review
Spinfuel eLiquid Review Team – Team B – Julia Hartley-Barnes-, Keira Hartley-Barnes, Jason Little, Cynthia Stevens, and Janet Richards
FanceeJuice has become a premium e-Liquid brand at lightening speed. Looking back at our November 2012 review we’re reminded of just how much this brand has grown and has been accepted by Vapers as far away as Australia in a matter of months. Our Interview published at the same time was as enlightening as it could be into what kind of company FanceeJuice wanted to be and what it is not even a year later.
When Spinfuel eMagazine published our first review for FanceeJuice the company was barely 6 weeks old. I believe we were the first publication to offer Vapers a review of this new brand. We vaped and reviewed half or the 24 total flavors they offered at launch and when we began our Spinfuel Choice Award program we went back through all our 2012 e-Liquid reviews and awarded the individual flavors that had earned a perfect 5 Star score from the entire Review Team. FanceeJuice wound up with 7 such Choice Awards. 7 awards out of 12 flavors reviewed. Looking back that was a remarkable achievement for such a young company.
FanceeJuice – The Company
FanceeJuice is a father and son company. Their talent for creating outstanding eLiquids is matched only by their talent for branding, marketing, design, and what I like to call “atmosphere”.
Visiting the FanceeJuice Website gives you the impression that there is a multi-million dollar venture behind it, yet at the same time, a sense of the personal small business as well. The atmosphere is both sophisticated, yet personal; the design is meticulous yet inviting. Visiting fanceejuice.com today makes you want to explore the website. FanceeJuice recently began offering hardware as well, a recent trend for many premium e-Liquid vendors, and one I admit I’m still somewhat unsure about. (Fodder for another time though)
The FanceeJuice e-Liquids
I think its fair to say that their eJuice offerings are extensive, from deeply rich butterscotch to the icy chill of the “subzero”. They do love to use lime and mint/menthol in many of their flavors as well, but the choices are varied nonetheless.
PG/VG – The House Blend is a 70:30 mix, meaning its 70% PG and 30% VG, and while the House Blend is the only blend we will review from any e-Liquid Vendor we are constantly surprised by the amount of vapor production FanceeJuice eJuice are capable of at this ratio.
Options – FanceeJuice also offers a 50:50 and 30:70 PG/VG blends, as well as nicotine levels of 8, 12, 18, and 24mg. Naturally, they also offer a non-nicotine strength which provides all the flavor and vapor you could hope for, and zero throat hit. Still, having a bottle around of MeeseTracks with zero nicotine has given John the opportunity on several occasions to vape away for hours on end without having to worry about taking in too much nicotine.
FanceeJuice offers a Spinfuel Choice Award Sampler Box for just $19.99 – 5x 3.6ML sampler bottles, Spinfuel Choice Award Winners all:
Cloudarita
French Vanilla
Joe’s Java
Peppered Chocomint
Cirrus.
Perhaps a new Spinfuel Choice Award Sampler will be due soon
The FanceeJuice Experience
The FanceeJuice eLiquids come in a beautiful cobalt blue glass bottle with silver foil labels. Each bottle is neckband sealed, and placed in a sturdy cardboard tube.
Each cardboard tube is secured with natural twine and a wax seal stamp affixed to the top of each tube. Two slips of paper containing important information for the customer are included in the sturdy tubes.
The first slip of paper is a warning about the nicotine in the eLiquid. This reminder to the customer that the eJuice they now have in their hands contains a toxic ingredient, nicotine, is a brilliant way of making sure the customer understands the importance of proper handling of any eJuice.
The other slip of paper serves as the ‘Birth Certificate’ for that specific bottle of e-Liquid. A batch number is there for easy tracing, the specific date that the eJuice was mixed and bottled, the nicotine level, vapor production scale, size of the bottle you bought, and a Quality Control signature that informs the customer that the bottle was inspected and found to be of good quality.
Something ALL vendors should do
The birth certificate also includes a “Best used AFTER” and “Best used BEFORE” notice. These two bits of information are vital if you, as a consumer, want to experience the eLiquids at their peak flavor. There is so much confusion out in the vaping marketplace that if all the eJuice vendors practiced this degree of transparency it would help eliminate a lot of misinformation people are constantly passing around to one another. A perfect example of that is Tom’s recent article on Steeping, which is a matter of a few days is on the road to becoming the most read non-review article in Spinfuel eMagazine.
Pricing
Despite nearing their 1st anniversary (early October 2012) FanceeJuice has not raised their prices. In fact, some of the 15ML “entry level” sizes have decreased in price. Where last year all eLiquids at 15ML were $13.99, the price range now is $11.99, $12.99 and $13.99 (reserved for their signature line). FanceeJuice offers a 30ML size for $7.00 more and a huge 60ML size for $22.00 more.
One way to save a little money is through purchasing their “juice boxes”, which start with a 5-pack of 3.6ML sampler bottles for $19.99, 5-pack of 15ML for $53.99, the 30ML 5-pack for $79.99, a 60ML 5-pack for $148.99 and last but certainly not least is the awesome Spinfuel Award Winning Sampler Pack, which is a 5-pack of 5 Spinfuel Choice Award winners for $19.99.
Point System – Another aspect to their pricing is their point system. It is the easiest to understand. FanceeJuice provides more than one way to earn points, and the points can be redeemed for FREE eJuice. This is the best point system we’ve seen in action.
We recognize that FanceeJuice remains in the upper tier of the pricing scale for most e-Liquid vendors, but like last November we still agree that for these delectable and award-winning eLiquids it is well worth the price.
A Word About 60ML eJuice
FanceeJuice was the first eLiquid vendor we reviewed that offered a 60ML size for their eJuice. Several others have followed suit (but not enough for our liking) and we believe this is a good trend, but it’s happening too slowly. When our staff purchases eJuice from FanceeJuice or other vendors that offer the 60ML size we’ll always opt for the 60ML, if we’ve tried and like the eJuice. We tend to think of 15ML bottles as “sampler” bottles for tasting new flavors on our own, the 30ML size is a good size for your office, and a weekend getaway, but the 60ML is the size we think is the sweet spot for an eLiquid we like. The ‘price per ML’ drops considerably, and you don’t have to place an order once a week to replenish your stock.
As Customers
The Spinfuel Staff vapes FanceeJuice e-Liquids on a regular basis. (as well as a few other brands). We are paying customers just like you. I can think of no greater recommendation than telling our readers that we place at least 2 orders a month for FanceeJuice eLiquids, in 60ML bottles, and have earned enough points that we’ve used them to “gift” e-Liquids to friends and family on numerous occasions.
The Four Flavors For Today’s Review
Only one flavor in this review is new to the team, and that’s LimeBurry (not to be confused with their LimeBerry). We have purchased Butterscotch, Mellow Mango, and Cloud Chocula on several occasions. Despite having paid for these eLiquids over and over, we’ve never reviewed them as a team, so they make excellent choices to present to the readers.
Hardware – Team A
Team A has pretty much settled into using our own vaping hardware now that we’ve been separated by more than 1500 miles from the home office. We still have the home office sending up supplies, but for the most part we now vape our own hardware. We all have a couple of Halo Tritons, John’s wife recently sent me a Triton kit that contained 400mAh Iridescence batteries, so they were definitely used in this review, as well as an assortment of PVs and APVs, and a new Triple 7 Magnum.
Review Particulars
Like the other Spinfuel e-Liquid Review Team (Team A) we also spent 72-hours vaping only the brand we’re reviewing. We received the shipment of FanceeJuice from Spinfuel HQ with 3 days left before the “best used after” date supplied by FanceeJuice so we had enough time to meet and distribute the eJuice and then go back to where we now work and live and fill our cartomizers, clearomizers and tanks. Keira and I headed back to Boston, the rest of the team remained in Concord New Hampshire. Once the 72 hours had expired we arranged a video Skype meeting and talked things out over a period of 3 hours. The next day the team had assembled their notes, and sent them directly to me. I sent the scores down to John, and then followed up with the finished review. I imagine the review was then edited for length sense it wound up being more than 7400 words.
Spinfuel Choice Awards
FanceeJuice has earned several Choice Awards from us in the past, and earned a couple more this time. I would like to make it clear that we do not sit around and discuss who will win a Choice award, or what flavor will win one. The scores are like secret ballets and no one knows how another person scored any e-Liquid until such time as the review is written. When all 5 team members score any e-Liquid 5 Stars (the maximum) the eJuice is awarded the Choice award. It’s as simple as that.
The Spinfuel e-Liquid Review for FanceeJuice Begins
Butterscotch – A Spinfuel Choice Award – “If you keep a bowl of butterscotch candies around your house or office, this juice is for you! Tastes strikingly similar to the pictured candies. This juice leans towards the sweet side, which is perfect for when you’re looking for something to keep you from running back to the candy jar. Again.” – FanceeJuice
Julia: 5 Stars – If I had to describe FanceeJuice Butterscotch in one word that word would be; scrumptious. This eJuice supplies a real, sweet, and satisfying taste of actual butterscotch candy. With ample plumes of vapor it felt like every applicable taste bud was being flooded with the deeply satisfying sweetness of butterscotch. The 8MG nicotine delivered a light throat hit, but at 18mg or 24mg the throat hit is excellent. For this review, 8MG was used. I’ve vaped this flavor quite a bit, so 5 Stars indeed.
Keira: 5 Stars – This might not be the first butterscotch flavor I’ve vaped before but it is the first one that actually delivered a full butterscotch experience. To me, the butterscotch flavor was more like the butterscotch syrup that we pour over a Sundae, rich, caramel-y, sweet, and buttery. This is the kind of eJuice that causes me to take deep drags and allow the vapor to sort of rest in my mouth while my taste buds soak in as much butterscotch flavor as it can. A winning e-Liquid.
Jason: 5 Stars – I once vaped a 3ML Tuff Tank full of FanceeJuice Butterscotch non-stop, that’s how deliciously sweet and satisfying it its. A real butterscotch flavor is one made brown sugar and butter, with a bit of corn syrup, vanilla, and salt, believe it or not. And this butterscotch flavor is about as authentic as can be. With tons of thick vapor being produced, (the house blend), it has become one of my favorite “sweet” vapes. I must confess that I had a 24mg nicotine bottle of this on hand so that is what I vaped for this review. At 24mg it hits like a power tool.
Cynthia: 5 Stars – Some flavors make better tasting vapor than others, and butterscotch is one of those that makes an excellent tasting vapor when it’s done correctly. I don’t know which flavor concentrate company FanceeJuice uses, but it must be one of the best because I too have vaped butterscotch eLiquids before and they couldn’t hold a candle to the FanceeJuice version. A light throat hit, but plenty of vapor.
Janet: 5 Stars – Most of the time when I am vaping I don’t take more than a 3 or 4 second drag. I think I basically vape like I smoked, and I sure as hell never smoked by taking giant drags from a cigarette. But, after a couple of drags of butterscotch I found myself taking longer, deeper drags because I was craving the taste of butterscotch. This is the real deal, a very deep, rich, and delicious butterscotch flavor that couldn’t possibly get any better. I am a huge fan of this one.
LimeBurry – “A tasty mix of lime and blueberry. With a twist: Menthol.” – FanceeJuice
Julia: 4 Stars – I think FanceeJuice would be better served if they changed their tagline for LimeBurry from “With a Twist: Menthol” to something like “With a Twist: A Cool Breeze”, because LimeBurry didn’t hit me like a regular menthol would.
This is a delicious lime vape with a nice minty touch at the end, but as far a blueberry goes, I can’t taste any. I’m giving this one 4 Stars because I enjoyed it a lot, but I’m afraid their customers are going to expect more blueberry then I could detect.
Keira: 5 Stars – I really, really enjoyed LimeBurry. The mellow lime flavor, which I think comes from that ghost “blueberry” flavoring you can’t quite taste but is on the sweet side with less “tang” than I expected. Love that cool taste at the end, more mint-like than menthol if you ask me. LimeBurry is a great daytime vape, but it’s not something I would normally vape in the evening. It’s clean, fresh, minty, daytime-y eJuice. Loved it with a capital “L”.
Jason: 4.5 Stars All of the FanceeJuice house blend’s are dynamite vapor makers, and I don’t have any complaints about the vapor in LimeBurry either, but you might want to know that there is about 10% (an educated guess) less vapor than the others in the review. Still plenty of vapor though and full of the great tasting lime flavor. I haven’t vaped FanceeJuice’s similarly named LimeBerry, but it’s supposed to be the same blend or recipe, without that bit of menthol. I can’t say for sure, but I might just prefer this one rather than one that doesn’t have the coolness that this one has. Some day I’ll have to compare, but for now, I’m adding this to my daytime vapes.
Cynthia: 5 Stars – Lime is such a great flavor for eJuice! I wish someone could make a sweet orange flavor in the same vein as lime. The lime flavor is spot on and delicious, yet the blueberry has to be the flavor that eliminates a lot of that lemon/lime tartness you normally get in a lime or a lemon flavored vape. For me this was all lime without any real mouth puckering tarty taste. That little hit of menthol hits perfectly. LOVED this one.
Janet: 3.75 Stars – I don’t know, I don’t disagree with what anyone’s said about LimeBurry, other than the fact that I don’t enjoy lime enough to say it was delicious and wonderful. I liked it okay, and I had a good time with it, but I know I couldn’t vape it every day. Maybe once a month? For lime lovers, LimeBurry is calling you out by name. An authentic lime flavor permeates through and through. The bit of menthol was a good idea. It’s getting the 3.75 stars mainly because the description leads one to believe there is a good helping of blueberry, which I did not taste. That could be because lime is overwhelming, and if FanceeJuice had used a word like “hints of blueberry” or “a touch of blueberry to mellow out the lime” than I would be more apt to award a higher score.
Mellow Mango – A Spinfuel Choice Award – “A delicious blend brought back to FanceeJuice from the shores of Costa Rica. A natural taste, and a clean finish.” – FanceeJuice
Julia: 5 Stars – Mellow Mango is famous around the Florida Spinfuel office. I know we’ve all been waiting for an opportunity to vape it in a review setting so that we could award it the Choice Award. It is, without a doubt, a fantastic and authentic mango eJuice without a single fault. We vape it all the time, and it was one of the flavors I made sure to have available with me when we moved up here. It was also the first one I ordered when we moved in. If you like a mango juice this is one you’d love.
Keira: 5 Stars – This is one flavor that Julia and I agree on completely. It is the most popular flavor in the office, with one from MOV a close second. Flying up here a couple of months ago in Ronnie’s plane I remember sitting back with a tank of Mellow Mango and just closing my eyes and relaxing with the deep rich flavor of mango, which made the flight even better than I hoped it would be. Mellow Mango is a great flavor in every way.
Jason: 5 Stars – I think it was John that turned us on to Mellow Mango, and I’m glad he did because otherwise I don’t think I would have ever tried it. I don’t like mangoes as a fruit; it has a musky, earthy texture. I like the flavor, but I don’t like the texture, so I was in no hurry to try this juice. After I did though, it became a favorite of mine. This is a real vapor monster too, with a nice throat hit when you get above 8MG. Sometimes when I’m having a hard time finding a suitable eJuice for the day I often reach out for Mellow Mango and it turns out to be the one that I stick with.
Cynthia: 5 Stars – For me, Mellow Mango is all about flavor, real honest-to-goodness mango flavor. It does produce a ton of vapor and that’s great and all, but the highlight of this great juice is how close it is to eating a real mango. There has been a couple of great mango eLiquids lately, and if I put the side by side I’m afraid that Mellow Mango would edge the others out. It would be close, but there’s just something about it that keeps me coming back for more. It also seems like a new mango concentrate has been created as well because a year ago the first mango juice I vaped tasted nothing like mango. These days several do, so improvements are big made all the time.
Janet: 5 Stars – Not that this has anything to do with anything, but John’s wife is here in town and I remember going over to their house the other day and hanging out with her. She was vaping something that was just pouring out huge clouds of vapor. I asked her what it was and she told me it was Mellow Mango and asked me if I wanted to try it. I happen to be the only one that hadn’t tried it and it was so good that I wanted to buy some right then and there. Lisa was kind enough to pour some into a 10ML needle bottle and she gave it to me “to hold you over” and I think I went through the whole 10ML bottle in two days. Fortunately the 60ML bottle from FanceeJuice showed up the next day (three day turnaround is excellent for FanceeJuice – ed.) Mellow Mango tastes like a sweet, ripe mango and produces really thick clouds of vapor. I vape other juices, but when I take out the Mellow Mango I become a pacifier Vaper. There are just a small handful of eJuices that do that to me, and this is one of them.
Cloud Chocula – “Creamy milk chocolate. Sweet, but not overpowering. It makes for a great evening vape, or for those times during the day when you’re craving something indulgent.” – FanceeJuice
Julia: 4 Stars – I don’t know for sure, but after vaping Cloud Chocula I’m pretty sure this is the chocolate flavoring in MeeseTracks. That alone makes it a very interesting flavor. (The other half of MeeseTracks is, I believe, FanceeJuice Hazelnut). Cloud Chocula is decadently delicious desert vape with a rich, fulfilling and wonderful milk chocolate vapor.
I had no idea how well chocolate flavorings have improved. It has finally matured into an eJuice that gives you the sweet smooth chocolate flavor without giving you a harsh, edgy flavor most chocolate vapes did just a little more than a year ago. Chocolate vapes are no longer niche flavors, they are surprisingly smooth and chocolaty without being harsh, and so more vendors are experimenting with it. If I’m out of MeeseTracks Cloud Chocula is the official stand-in.
Keira: 4 Stars – Although Cloud Chocula does remind you of MeeseTracks, or the other way around if you vaped Cloud Chocula first, it does stand on it’s own if you vape them at the same time. That’s what I did after hearing Julia talk about the similarities one night. I took two new Triton Clearomizers and filled one with Meese and the other with Chocula. Then I switched back and forth all evening long. Without a doubt there is the taste of the same chocolate flavor in Chocula that you taste in Meese, but in my own side by side tests it is my opinion that the Chocula is satisfying as a genuine chocolate vape, with less complexity then MeeseTracks, but just as satisfying. I also think that there are plenty of people who would prefer a smooth chocolate vape to a chocolate/hazelnut vape.
Jason: 5 Stars – I think you would be amazed at how many times I’ve heard people say that MeeseTracks taste like old chocolate, or “stale” chocolate because for a while there John was shouting from the rooftops about how great it is. Some of the complainers I contacted by email and after talking with them over the phone decided to send them a small bottle of Cloud Chocula as a replacement but also an experiment.
Three out the four people I did that for wrote back and told me the Chocula was a much better chocolate flavor, and that it didn’t taste “stale”. So, if FanceeJuice is using the same flavorings (which I think it is) with a mysterious amount of hazelnut and maybe a another flavor thrown in for good measure, perhaps these people were expecting something different than what MeeseTracks is. In any case, I love MeeseTracks too, but I think I would be one of those Vapers who would choose to vape Count Chocula over MeeseTracks. Count Chocula is a sweeter, more rounded. An extra-satisfying vape.
Cynthia: 4 Stars – I haven’t been a big fan of chocolate flavored eLiquids, and even though I enjoy MeeseTracks I don’t think of it as being a chocolate flavored vape. Count Chocula though is a chocolate vape and it’s one that I really like. It’s a much smoother vape than most every other chocolate eJuice I’ve had and very satisfying as well. If you’re looking for excellently smooth milk chocolate then count on Count Chocula to come save you.
Janet: 5 Stars – I’ve been searching for a good chocolate vape for a year now and have tried a couple of dozen, none of them were near good enough for an all day vape, and some were downright awful for any kind of vape. Then, because of this review, several millimeters of Cloud Chocula were dropped into my lap. When I tried it I knew I had finally found the right one. Smooth, silky, and pure milk chocolate goodness.
And in Conclusion….
As you can see, the team is very familiar with FanceeJuice on a personal level. I find it hard to believe that we’ve only done one other “team” review for FanceeJuice e-Liquids. The thing is, there are still flavors we haven’t tried yet, and that review should come sooner rather than later.
FanceeJuice is an impressive company. From the branding to the presentation, and most importantly the delicious and consistent tasting eLiquids makes FanceeJuice a prime candidate for becoming a major manufacturer down the road. FanceeJuice as grown so quickly that there was one occasion where they had to close their ordering system for a few days to catch up, and what impressed all of us was that they did just once, and came back stronger than ever. We used to have to wait 5 or 6 days for our orders to even ship out and now they are back to 24 hours, most of the time, and just occasionally up to 48 hours. They are problem-solvers, professional, and dedicated to growing a viable and successful company.
Buying Advice…
Buying advice for FanceeJuice is easy; look over their website and read the descriptions for each flavor. If you think you’re going to like it by the way it is described, then chances are you’re going to like it more than you think. The only flavor that seems to cause some differences of opinion is the famous, and much beloved MeeseTracks. With MeeseTracks it’s a “love it or hate it” proposition. The rest? Well, if you like lime flavors FanceeJuice won’t disappoint. The same can be said for butterscotch, peppermint, caramel, apple, and others.
Please keep in mind that FanceeJuice doesn’t include a “Best Used AFTER” date just for fun. If you vape one of the eLiquids when you get it from the mailbox and you don’t like it, let it sit for a week (after shaking the bottle) in a dark room or closet and have another go. It is worth the wait, every time.
If you’ve never tried a single FanceeJuice flavor opt for a Spinfuel Choice Award sampler for $19.99. This sampler will allow you to get a good look at their flavor profile. We think you’ll love every flavor in the sampler, and if you do you can expect to become a regular customer. Just like we are.
Until next time,
Julia Hartley-Barnes, Keira Hartley-Barnes, Jason Little, Cynthia Stevens, Janet Richards AKA Team B
