To accompany our review of MyFreedomSmokes eJuice we talked with the company owner, Chris Yelton, about the eJuice portion of his company.
SPIN: Tell our readers why you decided to get into the e-juice business.
MFS: Electronic cigarettes helped me quit smoking. It was such an easy, painless way to quit that I wanted to give everyone the opportunity to try electronic cigarettes. I feel that finding the right E-Liquid is the key to being able to stick with it, so I decided to carry the largest inventory of flavors possible in order to attempt to appeal to everyone’s tastes.
SPIN: Who inspired you to get into the e-Juice business?
MFS: My inspiration was the ability to give people freedom from analog cigarettes. That’s why I named it MyFreedomSmokes.
SPIN: How many resellers stock your e-juice?
MFS: There are many small retailers that stock our juice under our name, but much of our wholesale business consists of selling bulk quantities of Flavored E-Liquid, Unflavored Nicotine E-Liquid, and Concentrated Flavorings to other E-Liquid retailers both small and large so that they can re-package it or use it to mix their own flavors. We even have several international wholesale customers that purchase from us because they trust our liquids more than what they could get elsewhere.
SPIN: Why is American Made e-Juice so important today?
MFS: American Made E-Liquid is important because of the strict regulations and testing that occurs here to ensure the high quality of the end product. Many other countries do not have these high standards and therefore lack the same consistency and safety found in American Made E-Liquids.
SPIN: How do you concoct such amazing flavors?
MFS: Usually blindly throwing darts at a board full of flavors. We’ll throw two or three darts and then try to make something up with the flavors we hit. Not seriously, but it does require A LOT of trial and error. We get ideas from everywhere such as new products in grocery stores or even from our customers. We will try to replicate a certain flavor, but it almost never comes out perfect the first try. Small adjustments are made until we feel it meets our standards and can be replicated easily since all of our liquids are made to order.
SPIN: How long does it take to go from an idea to the final product?
MFS: The fastest we’ve ever done it is about 2 weeks, but that was with a really simple flavor. Most of the time it’s closer to a month or more because we often make the new flavor, test it immediately and then test it several days later after it has had a chance to properly ‘steep’. We then make adjustments and go through the whole process again. Once it meets our standards we make and test a second and sometimes a third batch to ensure that the flavor can be consistently replicated as needed.
SPIN: Can you tell us a little about your background?
MFS: I’ve always been an entrepreneur. I’ve done everything from selling cars to marketing consulting. Once I found electronic cigarettes and the industry was still in the infancy stages, I knew I wanted to give this business a try. My colleagues all thought I was a bit crazy at first because they never thought that e-cigs would catch on, but after seeing the growth we have achieved over the past several years, they don’t think it is so crazy anymore.
SPIN: Safety is a huge factor today. Tell our readers what kind of measures you take to make sure that your e-juice is safe to consume?
MFS: Testing and quality control are two of our biggest focuses. All products received from an outside source are tested before made available for sale. We also ‘spot’ test products randomly to ensure that they still meet our standards. Testing methods include GC/MS, Titration, NMR spectroscopy, and infrared spectroscopy.
SPIN: How important is it to use pharmaceutical grade PG, VG? Do you use distilled water? Are there any “filler liquids” in your juice?
MFS: PG and VG make up the majority of any E-Liquid, so it is critical that it is of the utmost quality. USP Grade PG and VG ensure that the base of our E-Liquids meets the same high quality standards we expect from all of our ingredients. We don’t add any distilled water or “filler liquids” when mixing, the only thing we add is flavor and nicotine (if needed).
SPIN: Is your flavoring organic? Are they also “American Made”?
MFS: Many of our flavorings are not 100% organic. We focus on the best quality that promotes consistency, and organic flavorings cannot always provide this. We source the vast majority of our flavorings here in the US, but we also source from select international companies such as FlavourArt for flavorings that we can’t find here in the US.
SPIN: How can you make sure that your flavors are always consistent, that each batch delivers the same flavor and nicotine levels?
MFS: A very careful process was put in place so that each E-Liquid purchased could be made to order, but it requires strong math skills and precise measurements by our mixers. They are tested and trained so that each bottle comes out exactly the same. Precise measurements are made using syringes or graduated cylinders to ensure the nicotine levels are accurate and precise.
SPIN: How many flavors do you offer today? Which are your favorites?
MFS: The number is constantly growing, especially now that we have started adding to our MFS Signature Series line of E-Liquids, but currently there are around 250+ flavors that we sell on a regular basis. Vanilla Cream Caramel Coffee, Soldier’s Blend, and Apple Crumble are a few of the more complex flavors that you won’t find anywhere else
SPIN: Why should our readers buy their e-Juice from you?
MFS: We are extremely customer focused, so everything we do is designed to make the customer experience top notch. We mix every liquid to order, which means that we are able to customize our liquids to our customers’ individual tastes. We also offer an insane variety of flavors (250+ total flavors, 45+ of which are tobacco flavors), as well as all the ingredients and tools a customer needs to mix up their own E-Liquids.
SPIN: Lastly, What are your plans for the rest of 2012 and beyond?
MFS: We are constantly expanding, so sometimes it can be a little tough to keep up with everything that is going on, but we always keep customer service as our top priority. We plan to continue offering the latest and greatest products, while consistently adding new flavors to our line of Flavored E-Liquids. We will also begin offering lots of new and exciting services such as cartomizers pre-filled with our custom E-Liquids along with many new Wholesale options.
