Gothic Vapor Motherload and Campfire Song Review

Gothic Vapor is one of the few remaining, and successful, hand crafted ejuice companies left in the United States. While most eliquid companies outsource their manufacture to ISO 7 and higher labs, Gothic Vapor maintains full control of their products in their own hi-tech sophisticated lab. And that is a very good thing indeed. We’ll explain why down below, but first…

You may have noticed that for the past 18 months many of your favorite USA eliquid brands have disappeared. Simply vanished overnight. Some without even fulfilling their last orders to their customers. The reason, of course, is the FDA mandate that requires eliquid brands to register each and every eliquid a company sells to customers with the FDA by 9/30/17.

Rather than comply, several dozen at least, just gave up. Those that didn’t give up, those that had a healthy business and a sincere commitment to continue that business, complied with the FDA and are still standing. Gothic Vapor is one such company.

Gothic Vapor is now in full compliance with the FDA and you can read all about it right here –

When an eliquid company switches over to a remote ISO lab they give up their ability to provide their customers with tremendous choice. Because the owners of Gothic Vapor maintained full control and went through the long, drawn out process of submitted every combination of their ejuice to the FDA, they still offer choices that seem a bit “unreal” in 2018.

For instance; unlike the vast majority of eliquid brands, Gothic Vapor offers several VG/PG blends for every flavor (with recommendations for the best blend), and nicotine strengths, from zero-nicotine all the way to 36mg, in 25 different levels.

Because Gothic Vapor bottles their eliquids on site, they offer many choices in bottle size as well; 30mL, 50mL, 100mL, 125mL, 250mL, and 500mL.

Lastly, every customer has the choice to add additional sweetener to their flavors, and even some menthol.  How many ejuice brands do you know today that still offer their customers this amount of choice?

Gothic Vapor recently sent us two flavors for review, Campfire Song, and The Motherload. The parameters we set up for this review are as follows:

Campfire Song was 70% VG and 3mg Nicotine. The Motherload was the suggested 65% VG and 3mg Nicotine. We vaped these eliquids exclusively for 4 days using various sub-ohm tanks/coils and mods.

SMOK STICK Prince w/M4 Coil

iJOY Elite PS2170 Kit w/iJOY Mini Captain tank and its 0.3ohm CA-M2 Coil Head

WISMEC Ravage230 with GNONE EVO

Aspire SkyStar Revvo Kit w/Revvo Tank and 0.10 coil

SMOK G PRIV 2 Luxe w/Prince Tank

We chose the above mods and tanks for both flavor and cloud production. While the review below helped in determining the quality of some of the tanks and coils we are reviewing, they were, for the most part, spot on in the flavor profiles.

$14.00 per 30mL –$148.99 per 500mL

“Blend of Graham Crackers, Toasted Marshmallows and White Chocolate with the slightest hint of tobacco”

Julia: 5 Stars – It would be easy to add a star or two simply because Gothic Vapor has gone through extraordinary lengths to comply with the FDA, rather than outsource their recipes. But, with Campfire Song and Motherload, adding points, or stars, wasn’t necessary.

Campfire Song leans in on the vape with a delicious burst of toasted marshmallows followed by a sweet hit of graham crackers. Only on the last seconds of the exhale do I detect a gentle (white) chocolate followed by a super smooth ‘hint’ of tobacco. (Do not purchase this for the tobacco flavor, you almost miss it). This is a marvelous juice for sub-ohm users looking for a well-rounded, sweet, flavorful vape experience.

Start with a 50mL bottle for just $19.99 so you don’t kick yourself the minute you try it in your sub-ohm tank and regret you purchased a 30mL bottle.

Tom: 5 Stars – The winning flavors in this blend is the combination of graham crackers and toasty marshmallows. These are the key flavor components and the only ones most Vapers will detect. A marvelous blend where I could shut my eyes and feel the campfire around me (sort of). Cloud production is huge, with thick, aromatic, and flavorful vapor. Definitely in my rotation.

Kiera: 5 Stars – I loved the flavor, and the vapor production, in Campfire Song. But, what really drove me to award the full 5 stars is the complexity of the flavors and how they each served the other. Campfire Song is a blend of exacting flavors that, frankly, I don’t think can be mass produced by large labs. A superior and warm vape, especially for sub-ohm users.

Jason: 5 Stars – The biggest flavor moment for me is the toasted marshmallows. I recently vaped another eliquid that described their flavor as toasted coconut, and for the first time, I was able to taste the toasted part of the flavor.

Same with Campfire Song, the toasted marshmallow flavor is very different from a simple and sweet marshmallow. It has an edgy, sweet hit that give it depth. Following the toasted marshmallow, the unmistakable graham cracker permeates throughout my tastebuds, and the clouds are as thick and flavorful as you would expect.

$14.00 per 30mL –$148.99 per 500mL

If you like creams, custards, caramels and butterscotch then you’ll love Motherload! (Deliberately not spelled Motherlode) The maximum VG for this eliquid is 70%, but we’ve found it best at 65% for full flavor…

Note* – In December of 2016 Kiera and I received the Motherload for review. If you read that review you’ll find some similar thoughts on this flavor, and some big changes from what we experienced then. We don’t believe the recipe has changed, but perhaps over the past 13 months our taste has changed, or the way we interpret these flavors. Instead of skipping this one, or rewriting what we thought back then, Kiera and I decided to give an honest account of what we get from Motherload today, in 2018.  

Julia: 5 Stars – I remember a few years back when John was trying to create his own unique eliquids. While it was mostly a disaster (creating excellent ‘flavor’ blends are a lot harder than most people think), John wanted to create a flavor that incorporated all of his favorite, sweet, flavors. Instead, what he created was abysmal.

But the list of flavorings in the official Gothic Vapor description for Motherload reminds me of what John was trying to do. Only Gothic Vapor got it right…very right.

When I vape Motherload the flavors come at me as a base of sweet custard, and swimming on top is a rich sweet caramel and an equal amount of butterscotch. And I love butterscotch!

The Motherload is a heavy flavor, not my kind of all-day-vape, but as a cold night vape, this juice is better than curling up with a cup of hot cocoa in front of the fireplace.

Tom: 5 Stars – Motherload absolutely deserves to be awarded the Choice Award for 2018, but as a flavor that I would add to my own rotation? It’s too much of a good thing.

Campfire will be in my rotation, but Motherload is made for people like Jason, people that enjoy tremendous flavors thrown together in a big way. Fantastic cloud production though, and in small ‘sessions’ a fantastic vape, but I needed it to be a tad more ‘subtle’.

Kiera: 5 Stars – As Julia and I were vaping Motherload at the same time I was amazed that for Julia, the biggest flavor was now the butterscotch. I guess it goes to show that not everyone’s tastebuds register the same flavors at the same time.

For me, the biggest flavor, or the base flavor, as Tom would say, is exactly the flavor I get in the soft-centered candy “creams” in a box of assorted chocolates. In the morning, I taste an orange cream candy, afternoons its more of a lemon cream flavor.

As for the other flavor components, on the exhales I catch the caramels and the butterscotch, but never a true custard flavor. During the review period, I sometimes thought that the ‘creams’ of the soft-center chocolates was being influenced by the butterscotch. In the end, The Motherload will definitely become a part of my rotation.

Jason: 5 Stars – Someone told me before the review of the Motherload that I should look for a banana flavor component. So, when I began my 4 days with this one I actually did taste a banana bread component. What surprised me was when the team got together to talk about the two flavors, not a single one mentioned banana in any form. I wondered if I had imagined it, or because I was told to expect it, I found it. This group discussion shook my confidence as a reviewer.

Whatever the rest of the group tasted in the Motherload is up to them, and what my experience was has to stand. Vaping the Motherload eliquid in the iJOY Elite PS2170’s Mini Captain tank, at 66W I get a blast of sweet banana bread on the immediate exhale, followed by a big hit of butterscotch. The result is one fantastic vape experience. And while I am not the reviewer of the iJOY Elite Kit, I will say that without a doubt that this tank produces a huge amount of clouds, and the flavor fidelity is as accurate as I’ve seen.

The Motherload is definitely going into my rotation.

After gathering up all the notes from the rest of the team, and taking notes from the group discussion, I was delighted to see how differently some of us experienced these two Gothic Vapor eliquids. Kudos to Gothic Vapor for these complex blends of flavorings.

Both Campfire Song and Motherload are awarded the Spinfuel Choice Award for 2018, and we recommend this brand to any Vaper looking for big flavor and bigger clouds.

Gothic Vapor eliquids can be purchased online at gothicvapor.com.

The Spinfuel Eliquid Review Team