Lunar Rover eLiquid Review

A Spinfuel e-Liquid Team Review

The name of the company for which this eliquid review is written about, Lunar Rover, is an uncommon name for an e-liquid brand. As it turns out, the founders of Lunar Rover have a valid (enough) reason for choosing the name for their company…

It is not possible to land on the moon without hard work and attention to detail. At Lunar Rover we use that philosophy to guide our every step. Our mission is simple… enable people to take one small step on a path for a smoke-free life. By creating high quality products and providing exceptional customer service, we will be your vehicle down the road to change.

Makes sense to me…

Lunar Rover makes six (6) flavors of eliquid at the time of this review. We’ll cover all six.

Tobacco Flavors

Lunar Rover uses a natural extraction process for their tobacco flavors. Tobacco flavors are 50:50 PG/VG, and are offered at a higher nicotine ceiling than their non-tobacco line, which are 30:70 PG/VG. The liquids in the three tobacco blends are thin enough for clearomizers and even cartomizers (for the high-end carto-tanks some advanced vapers love to use), and yet can be used in sub-ohm tanks. That said, clearly the tobacco flavors are meant to appeal to vapers that enjoyed smoking.

Common characteristics of the three tobacco blends include a very smooth inhale and an all-day-vape flavor profile. Granted, we vaped them in Kanger Subtank Mini’s equipped with 0.3-ohm OCC’s using different vaping instruments, including a Vaporshark DNA200, a ProVari™ Radius, a Vaporshark Vapor Flask, and a Vea™ Elite and Canteen™ Elite (which is a Kanger Subtank).

50:50 PG/VG blends are thinner than what we use for our personal vaping, but the blends worked well in the Subtanks and low ohm coils. 3mg nicotine strengths allowed for deep lung hits without suffering a hard throat hit, though at 18mg you can bet the throat hit would be a very different story. All in all, the tobacco blends are all excellent, and Tom was especially pleased with BLK and GLD, and even somewhat enjoyed the menthol version of BLK, called GRN. Individual impressions and scores follow.

BLK – Virginia Tobacco Blend – Spinfuel Choice Award Winner

50% VG / 50% PG

Available in 3mg 6mg, 12mg, & 18mg nicotine strengths, as well as 0-nicotine

BLK provides a first-class international experience, combining Virginia and Tennessee tobaccos with aromatic Oriental tobacco. The flavor here is complex, like a full-bodied wine, yet subtle at the same time. At times sweet and fruit-like, but with a hint of tanginess and spice to keep you on your toes. A slight nutty finish completes the package, keeping the edges smooth and clean, just like you.

Julia: 5 Stars – Lunar Rover says BLK is complex and they are not kidding. The first lung hit proved very satisfying as a tobacco blend, but because of the amount of vapor production was more than I expected I didn’t pay a lot of attention to the individual components of flavor. After I got over the abundance of vapor I began to examine each lung hit for the flavors indicated in the enticing description.

I can’t claim to be able to identify the difference of Virginia or Tennessee tobaccos, or an Oriental tobacco. To me it was simply a delicious and authentic tobacco flavor. There is a hint of spice on the tail end of the vape, and at times a nutty finish. BLK is definitely a fine tobacco blend, one that would make an excellent all-day-vape, no matter how much you happen to vape.

Kiera: 5 Stars – I enjoyed BLK more than most tobacco blends I’ve reviewed. I don’t use tobacco e-liquids in my personal vape life, so my opinions about any tobacco are always based on how they compare with previous tobacco e-liquids in any particular review.

BLK is very smooth, never overwhelming, making it an excellent all-day-vape for vapers that enjoy tobacco flavors. I’m sure it is a complex blend, but identifying individual tobacco’s is far above my pay grade. There is a nutty component, a very slight spicy component, and an overall elegant flavor that I would assume expensive tobacco leaves would produce.

Tom: 5 Stars – Oh Long Johnson! BLK is a heavenly blend of some of the best tobacco notes I’ve had in long while. An all-day-vape for sure, and one that won’t disappoint in the later hours of the day.

I wasn’t sure that a smooth, almost delicate, tobacco flavor in an e-liquid could be as satisfying as BLK (and GLD), as I usually require something bolder. GLD, which I’ll discuss in a bit, is definitely bolder than BLK, but BLK is a blend that just doesn’t make sense to my tobacco senses. By that I mean that while the flavors are smooth and satisfying without being heavy, I was still sated by its flavor and vapor production. Lastly, a 50:50 PG/VG blend in a tobacco flavor is pretty much standard issue, but here the natural extraction process is obvious, and adds a layer of quality I don’t experience that often. I tip my hat to Lunar Rover for producing some serious tobacco blends that double as all-day-vapes for heavy vapers.

Jason: 5 Stars – While I have introduced many non-tobacco flavors into my weekly rotation and have embraced several fruity, bakery, and even minty flavors this year, my heart still beats for great tobacco and coffee flavors. BLK is one such tobacco e-liquid I would vape a lot if I could afford to, because this is a tobacco blend that sets the bar for an all-day-vape tobacco e-liquid. Smooth as silk, full of flavor that is both strong… and not, where the natural extraction process seems to have been perfected by Lunar Rover.

I can’t say to you that I am able to tell the difference between tobacco from Virginia or Tennessee, but what I can say is the the result is as pleasing as it can be. If there is a better all-day-tobacco blend I haven’t found it. I was content to vape tobacco flavors for a couple of hours at a time, any more than that would always produce a wicked headache. BLK is the first I’ve enjoyed for many hours without a problem. I just wish it was affordable.

GLD – Oriental and Latakia Blend

50% VG / 50% PG

Available in 3mg, 6mg, 12mg, & 18mg nicotine strengths, as well as 0-nicotine

GLD masterfully combines cube and leaf burley with Oriental and Latakia tobaccos. GLD knows exactly what it does and what it is capable of accomplishing with its light, air-cured characteristics combined with an intense smoky-pepper flavor and a distinctive smoky aroma. At the end of the day GLD works as hard as you do.

Julia: 4.5 Stars – GLD has more ‘body’ than BLK, but, it is a very smooth tobacco blend. What smoky-pepper flavor there is comes in at the tail end of the lung hit, but its not something that overwhelms the flavor or the vapor. Personally, I like the BLK better, but I don’t think every one on the team will agree.

Kiera: 4.5 Stars – As far as tobacco flavors go, all three from Lunar Rover are excellent. I’m not so sure that vapers who enjoy strong, bold, rich tobacco blends will like them as much though. I’ve had some tobacco’s where the longest I’ve been able to vape them was maybe 30 minutes. BLK and GLD make fine tobacco vaping easier, and I can stay with them both longer. Except for the smoky-peppery component I can’t tell much of a difference between the two.

Tom: 5 Stars – Another terrific tobacco blend with GLD. This one definitely has that richer tones over BLK, and more body to it. I could still vape it all day, so for me this is another fine example of tobacco flavors done right. GLD is almost a pipe tobacco profile, that burley leaf does give it that extra richer flavors with just a touch of the peppery tone described in the official flavor description.

Jason: 5 Stars – In my opinion, all 6 flavors would qualify as all-day-vapes, including of course this one, despite it being a slightly bolder blend. As a tobacco vaper I can recognize the burley leaf tobacco as having a less sweet tone then the blend in the BLK. Out of the two, I know that Tom would prefer the BLK blend, but for an all-day-vape with a smooth but not overly sweet vape, for me I think I would rather vape GLD than BLK ‘most’ of the time. Most, but not always.

GRN – GLD Blend with Menthol

50% VG / 50% PG

Available in 3mg, 6mg, 12mg, & 18mg nicotine strengths, as well as 0-nicotine

 GRN gets its verdigris patina from enhancing our signature GLD flavor with our in-house menthol blend for a minty kick. The blend of the pepper from the GLD base and the mint from the menthol won’t make peppermint, but adventurous types will appreciate this juxtaposition of flavors that dance across your tongue and through your nostrils doing steps only you can conceive.

Julia: 4.5 Stars – Ah, you know me and menthol, this was certainly a pleasant menthol tobacco blend, and for menthol lovers GRN is certainly one to try, but menthol is not my thing. With so many brands trying to deliver minty, peppermint, spearmint, and other ‘mints’ with varying degrees of success, GRN does more than a decent job creating a cool-breeze inhale without an overwhelming kick, but there is a kick. For me it’s not really a valid choice for a good e-liquid, for menthol smokers switching to vaping though, this could do the trick.

Kiera: 4 Stars – Maybe it’s me, and not Lunar Rover when it comes to adding a minty kick (their words) to the GLD tobacco blend, but it doesn’t work for me as minty or menthol. I think this might be the first blend that confuses my taste buds in such a fashion that I can’t honestly tell you if this is a mint blend or a straight up menthol. Maybe that’s a good thing. Lunar Rover says their menthol is developed “in-house”, I have to wonder if it is a crystallized menthol that is added, or a mint base liquid. It is a quality blend, one that will appeal to vapers looking for a buzz from a tobacco blend. GRN just doesn’t work for me, but that is hardly a criticism knowing what I like to vape.

Tom: 4.75 Stars – I’m not a menthol vaper, but I enjoyed GRN far longer than I thought I would. There will be many vapers that will love this blend, and many that won’t, but if you’re looking for a delicious tobacco blend with a cool inhale and exhale, you might do well trying GRN. The 15mL bottles are wicked expensive, but the 30mL is only “expensive”, on the price per mL, the 30mL will buy you more e-liquid, and if you like GRN it is money well spent; if you don’t then it’s an extra $8 or so that won’t be spent well.

I must say something about GRN that can give you a proper sense of what to expect if you decide to try it, so what I feel comfortable saying is that the blend GLD is a rich tobacco blend with a little bite to it, add in some in-house menthol for a little kick and the combination creates a powerful flavor profile, yet as powerful as that flavor may be, it goes down easier than my words can describe. If you like a good tobacco flavor with “zing”, try GRN.

Jason: 5 Stars – There is but a single menthol flavor in my collection, and it hasn’t been used in more than 4 months, so when it comes to menthol I’m not a big fan. However, when it comes to ‘cool and breezy’ I am. GRN combines that burly and Oriental tobacco blends in GLD and throws in a pinch of menthol/mint, and the end result is an extraordinary vaping experience. I love it, couldn’t get enough of it, and will add it to my rotation immediately. The weirdest thing about my experience with GRN is I’ve never said that about a menthol blend before. It’s different than what you probably expect from the official description. I don’t think I can improve on that description however.

If Lunar Rover can keep the flavor profile of GRN exactly the same month after month, in various nicotine strengths, I can see a whole lot of menthol smokers, and menthol vapers, switching their current favorite blend to GRN.

BAX – Brandy and Crème de Cacao

70:30 VG/PG – 3mg, 6mg, 12mg nicotine, and 0mg as well.

 This classic cocktail mixes up chocolaty crème de cacao with indulgently smooth brandy. It is finished with the richness of sweet cream, for a taste you won’t soon forget.

Julia: 4.75 Stars – Of the three non-tobacco flavors from Lunar Rover, this is my least liked. But, when you see my score, 4.75 Stars, that tells you just as much about the other two as well as BAX.

BAX is like nothing I have ever tasted before. For the first time in a long time I have nothing to compare it to. Crème de Cacao and Brandy? With a healthy creamy blend of rich cream? Oh my!

BAX can be an all-day-vape for many vapers, but it doesn’t quite make it there for these taste buds. The reason this blend can’t work for me as an all-day-vape is the very same reason I love the flavor profile of this incredible blend; the Brandy. The blend of rich flavors is able to squeeze out the real taste of Brandy and leave the alcohol sharpness behind. I call it the essence of Brandy, or the soul of a Brandy. Now take that soul, mix in the very decadent Crème de Cacao, stir well, and pour rich cream on top…. Vaporize it into a thick aromatic and flavorful vapor and breathe it straight into your lungs as warm vapor…then exhale slowly to experience the totality of these elements.

The only, and I mean only, area where BAX doesn’t hit the 5 stars is in the rich cream; the richness is there, I just could have used a tiny bit more to take a sliver of the Crème de Cacao off. Other than that, BAX is classy, rich, and… wow…

Kiera: 5 Stars – BAX might make a wonderful dessert vape for a lot of vapes looking for a flavor that is very different from the usual fare, and for me it is that and more. BAX is just an incredible mixture of three richly rewarding flavors blended together to perfection. The Brandy flavor is wonderful, all Brandy without the bite of actual Brandy, the Crème de Cacao is so decadent you’ll feel a bit sinful tasting it, and the rich cream binds it all together into a cohesive blend of a French dessert that gives you the feeling that your body has just released a huge amount of oxytocin… you take in a large hit, exhale slowly, and you feel like you want to reach out and hug the person next to you. Weird? Yea, I know, but for me this was what it was like.

The only negative thing about BAX is its not a flavor profile I could deal with all day, or even every day.  BAX is a weekend night vape, after a wonderful dinner.

Tom: 4 Stars – When I learned how much Kiera loved this blend I called her up and discussed it, at length. I wanted to understand how she and Julia were captivated by this strong dessert flavor blend when after a day of vaping it on and off I felt like I had all I could every taste. Kiera told me, jokingly or not (I still don’t know) that BAX was the perfect dessert vape for females and that for all the tobacco and coffee flavors I vape everyday that I wouldn’t be able to recognize the layers of richness that BAX has to offer. I’m not so sure.

BAX is sweet with cream, stark with Brandy, and deep with chocolate liquor, and together they deliver a flavor that is incredibly deep and complex. Yet, at the same time it does so without the ‘hammer of flavor’ I would expect. Lunar Rover has perfected the art of mixing resilient flavors and then deliver them in a way that shears the hardness off them, creating something that might not be palatable if blended together by another. BAX has all the components to deliver a knock out blow of hard hitting flavors but instead of doing that, it seeps inside, sweeps over your tongue, and lays the flavors down without pushing them down. If you find that hard to understand imagine what it was like to write them. How to you describe a locomotive speeding ahead to crush you and when it arrives instead of crushing you it pushes through you leaving behind the essence of ‘train’.

Jason: 5 Stars – BAX is a wonderful blend of rich flavors combined in a way that will allow you to vape them far longer than you might believe. Three strong flavors in their own right, BAX combines them into something that can enjoyed as a unit of flavor, but allows for each individual component to shine through at various points of the actual vaping.

The first flavor not to hit me was the Crème de Cacao, or ‘strong chocolate’ made permeable and pliable, and on the exhale I’m hit with two flavors, first the cream, a sweet creamy component that can’t be missed, and then finally the rich flavor of Brandy. Brandy is, to me, like a condensed red wine, only sweeter, and the flavor is powerful in the actual product, but here Lunar Rover seems to have distilled the alcohol part out of it leaving behind an almost dense fruity mist. It is definitely the last note of flavor you’ll taste in each inhale.

Lastly, BAX is easily the most complicated of the six flavors. If vaped slowly, perhaps like drinking Brandy, you could vape BAX all evening long, some intense vapers might make it an all-day-vape, I thought I could. In the end, however, I was not able to vape BAX all day, but I surely wanted to.

BNP- Bourbon and Peach Blend – A Spinfuel Choice Award Winner

70:30 VG/PG – 3mg, 6mg, 12mg nicotine, and 0mg as well.

 A simple yet refined combination that marries the oak and caramel notes from bourbon with the delicate sweetness of a juicy, ripe peach. A flavor that will have you wanting more.

Julia: 5 Stars – Easily my favorite of the six, this deep peach and Bourbon mix is stunning. The peach flavor is absolutely wonderful, authentic, deep and sweet, and the Bourbon flavor is like a sweet, smoky-caramel. Somehow you know its bourbon, but without an alcohol kick.  I could vape BNP till the end of time. That is an exaggeration of course, but once I start vaping a tank of BNP I don’t let up until the level in the tank is lower than empty.

Kiera: 5 Stars – There is something about BNP that makes this a 100% original flavor that will please any vaper looking for something delicious, but different. There is a definite peach flavor to it, but more than that its as though Lunar Rover marinated the peaches in a Bourbon syrup until the molecules of both became… not one, but deeply related. The end result is a peach based flavor with an unending and unfathomable bourbon piquancy…

Tom: 5 Stars – Now, I have heard Julia and Kiera rave about BNP all week long, and I know that they believe every word they say when they talk about e-liquid. Their words tend to give some e-liquids over the years a ‘transcendent’ nature. I can understand that, but while BNP may indeed deserve a Spinfuel Choice Award I believe that it is necessary to point out that BNP is not a combination of flavors that should be considered conventional. In fact, none of the Lunar Rover e-liquids are conventional.

BNP delivers on their official description, except for saying that BNP is ‘simple’. It is far from simple, if you allow your taste buds, and a new coil, to grab and deliver every possible note to your senses. Do that and you will witness how non-simple it is. The bourbon in BNP is both delicate and deep, and the peach is both authentic and sweet, yet when combined they produce a sum greater than its parts. A whole new way to taste peach, a whole new way to taste bourbon, a whole new way to taste something new.

Jason: 5 Stars – BNP it a completely satisfying all day vape that take the flavor of peach in a new direction than what I am used to. It also provides a new vehicle for a bourbon flavoring that I never thought could actually work as a vapor. Yet it does work, and the vape experience is something you shouldn’t miss out on.

To me there is two varieties of peach flavoring, one is unsweet and meaty, the other is sweet and “peachy but not”. If I had to guess, I would say that the peach flavoring lacks sweetener but this bourdon flavoring provides the sweetness this blend needs. To work as an all-day-vape, and it surely does, BNP needs to be sweet enough to do the job of keeping you interested, but not too sweet to bring on vapers tongue. BNP provides a delicious e-liquid for vapers wanting to experience a bourbon blend, and gives peach lovers a new twist on an old fav.

SMO – A Spinfuel Choice Award Winner

70:30 VG/PG – 3mg, 6mg, 12mg nicotine, and 0mg as well.

 Light and refreshing strawberry with a perfect sweet/tart balance.  Combining fresh muddled mint (which brings out its true essence) with a rum-like kick… it becomes the perfect libation.

Julia: 5 Stars – Brandy, Bourbon, and now Rum. I am beginning to see a pattern. Seriously though, I’m giving SMO a 5-star score for reasons that might not seem obvious at first. In addition, I’m not a fan of rum in any form. Let’s see how well I can describe how I taste SMO.

SMO has a backbone of strawberry, a fresh strawberry flavor, not frozen strawberries laced with sugar. For vaping purposes I’m a fan of frozen and sweetened strawberries because it makes for a richer strawberry flavor. There is also a mint component to the layered flavors, and it is all wrapped around a rum flavor. Separately the three flavors just don’t work for me, but together they combine to deliver a cool strawberry cocktail with a rum base. That having been said, it is vital to add that this combination creates an all-day-vape where none of the separate flavors overwhelm the others. In fact, SMO works for me because of that all-day-vape profile, even though I would seldom, if ever, vape SMO all day.

The fresh strawberry, not sweetened strawberry, with a dash of mint and shot of rum is a combination that is to light to satisfy me when I am in the mood for something ‘bigger’, but as a “fill the tank and go” flavor it would be hard to find something better. SMO could never be my foundation flavor, or a pillar, but as a fun fresh vape it deserves the 5 Stars.

Kiera: 5 Stars – After some intense flavors in this review and recent reviews I was surprised by SMO. SMO is light and refreshing, but in a way that allows you to stay with it for as long as you want. Light strawberry flavorings, a mint flavoring and a rum flavoring, all light, all bright, yet smooth and easy on the lungs. I can describe my impression of SMO precisely: An e-liquid that is equally impressive and unimpressive. A non-pretentious, slightly tasty e-liquid that is perfect for times when you just want to shut the brain off and not think.

Tom: 5 Stars – I went around and around with this one, SMO. A part of me wanted to give this a 3-star score and call it a day, and another part of me wanted to give it the full 5 stars for being an elegant all-day-vape. Guess which one it received?

What was Lunar Rover trying to develop with SMO? Did they create exactly what they wanted, or was it a happy accident? Do Lunar Rover see what I see? What the team sees? I don’t know, I’ll never know, but regardless of the answers, SMO is just the right amount of ‘refreshing’, the right amount of ‘light’, to be what I believe it was supposed to be; an all-day-vape for vapers looking to repair vapers tongue.

Jason: 5 Stars – Tom had an interesting take on SMO when I spoke to him about it. He said that SMO resets the tongue if you are experiencing vapers tongue. And he’s right, it does. But Tom goes on to speculate that SMO might have been developed for this reason, and it is there that our positions differ. I think it’s a happy accident that it can repair vapers tongue.

SMO is, to me, the equivalent of a wine spritzer at brunch. A light, spirited strawberry affair that does nothing more than deliver a refreshing flavor with a bit of a spark. On that level, on being the wine spritzer of the bunch, I think it delivers in spades.

Fresh strawberries, a mint-leaf, and a bit of a light rum and you have a cocktail vape that scores a Spinfuel Choice Award for its simplicity and execution, not to mention what Kiera would call a “delightful” strawberry flavor.

Particulars For Lunar Rover e-Liquids

Lunar Rover e-liquids are available in 15mL and 30mL sizes.

Lunar Rover has built themselves an awesome website. Infinite scroll, high quality graphics, plenty of information, and even Certified Lab Reports for each of the six blends. You can tell in seconds that Lunar Rover is serious about their product and are making every effort to make the best possible e-liquids they can. However, the website does not sell the e-liquids, all Lunar Rover e-liquids are sold elsewhere, on some vendor websites and in more than 75 vape shops around the country.

One such website is called “Local Vapor Store”, and they carry three (3) of Lunar Rover blends, BLK, GLD, and SMO. The price at this vendor is $14.99 per 15mL bottle, a $1.00 per mL price tag.

Another online vendor that stocks the Lunar Rover line is Charm City Vape, and the prices there are slightly more affordable than Local Vapor Store, just $12.99 per 15mL bottle, however even at $12.99 per 15mL bottle they are very expensive at 86-cents per mL. We would never pay this amount for any e-liquid. Thankfully, the 30mL bottles, where available, seems to be about $22, or 73-cents per mL, still on the expensive side but at least lower than brands that attempt to sell 30mL bottles for $27.50-$30.00

Other vendors, including Café Vape, Vape Vine, and Vapor Fever and Vape On The Square, are also sites where you can purchase Lunar Rover, though some websites you can order but you have to pick them up. Lunar Rover truly is in the Vape Shop segment of the community, where availability is all about local markets.

The Last Word

The owners of Lunar Rover have visited more than 300 Vape Shops in their travels. Meeting with shop owners, sharing their product, they are making remarkable strides in landing outlets for their product line.

Each of the six e-liquids in this review definitely deliver high-quality flavor and vapor production. The men on my team lean more toward the tobacco flavors, but that is not some gender thing, it’s just the flavors Tom and Jason have always preferred. The girls, Kiera and I, enjoyed the tobacco’s, but we were especially taken with the BNP and BAX blends.

Recommendations?

As far as recommendations go, we can only go so far as to say that you might just want to add Lunar Rover to your rotation or collection, in the 30mL bottles, not the 15mL. Whether its 86 cents per mL or $1 per mL, they are way too expensive in that size.

The 30mL price of $22 or 73 cents per mL is also high, and like recent reviews where the pricing of the 30mL were the same $22, is just too rich for our blood.

Perhaps if we did not vape High VG e-liquids in low resistance atomizers we could better afford the price, but 30mL of any High VG blend do not last nearly as long as 50:50 blends. In the end though, it’s your decision of course. If you’re looking for smooth flavors, very high quality ingredients, then by all means, Lunar Rover meets and exceeds those requirements.

If your local vape shop doesn’t carry Lunar Rover, ask them to get some in. We’re betting the customers will enjoy them, and once and a while an expensive bottle of e-liquid is a nice splurge.

Julia Hartley-Barnes, Kiera Hartley-Barnes, Tom McBride, and Jason Little