Table of Contents
Phantasm Vapors eLiquid Review
A Spinfuel eLiquid Team Review
Foreword
Phantasm Vapors does not create eliquids. They do not create recipes; it is the customer that does. They present the components and the customer assembles the recipe through a multitude of options. They are a custom-made eliquid brand, and we do not normally review this type of eliquid brand.
Introduction
Phantasm Vapors is a full service online and physical vape shop with a wide variety of products for vapers, new or advanced. They offer mainstream vape gear like eGo batteries and clearomizers and advanced dripping atomizers and mechanical mods. Browsing the website could take hours to look at every product, and the prices are very competitive.
Protocols
If this is your first Spinfuel eLiquid Team Review we urge you to read our official protocols page to understand how deeply we delve into the eliquids we review. Once you’ve read the details of our review procedure come back and read the rest of this review.
Today we look at four of their eliquids. The four eliquids reviewed (out of dozens and dozens sold) are:
Nektar – A nectarine and berry flavor
Purple Haze – A fusion of grape with a minor bubbly taste
Hidden Treasure – Tropical fruits mixed with some smooth rum.
Clear H2O – Tropical notes with melon flavors.
Pricing
Phantasm Vapors line of eliquids are inexpensive, starting at just $4 for a 10ML bottle, $6 for 15ML, $11 for 30ML, $19 for 50ML, $36 for 100ML. They also offer 240ML and 480ML bottles. This level of pricing is below many eliquid brand wholesale pricing, but still higher than Mt Baker Vapor.
Nicotine strengths vary widely as well, running up the ladder in 2mg jumps. Beginning at just 2mg, moving up to 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, and topping out at 24mg. PG/VG runs just as wide, all the way from 100% PG to 100% VG, with many stops along the way. Lastly, the customer has the choice of adding up to 4 extra shots of flavoring and the addition of menthol to every flavor.
While many vapers welcome these vast choices for what is basically custom creating their own eliquids, it could have made it very difficult to review them. With so many choices how in the world can we tell you what you can expect from your eliquid blending options?
The eLiquids
When we review a brand for the first time we ask that they send their “house blend” in PG/VG and flavoring. Other than the nicotine strength stated on the bottle we have no idea what the composition is of the eliquids we reviewed. There is no House Blend.
Inexpensive or Cheap?
There is a huge difference between an inexpensive eliquid and a cheap one. We tasted the difference immediately, and are sad to report that the eliquids in this review are of the ‘cheap’ variety, all tasted artificial, sugary, and muted.
We do not enjoy writing negative reviews, nor do we look to upset or alienate anyone in the industry. But we also have a job to do. That job is to bring you the truth how we see it.
That being the case, we want to make it very clear that there are many, probably thousands, of vapers that look to save as much money as possible and are perfectly content with vaping basic eliquids because they are affordable. There is nothing wrong with that. Every vaper is free to choose whatever eliquid or vape gear they please, without judgment from the likes of us, and any person has the right to create eliquids for the purpose of selling them. If Phantasm Vapors offers basic eliquids with a wide array of options and sells them inexpensively, then who are we to criticize such a thing?
Our job as eliquid reviewers is to review the performance of eliquids, to tell our readers what we think of the eliquids, and nothing more. This review is about the eliquids that were sent to us. But for each “flavor” there are more than 100 combinations that can be made.
Is Phantasm Vapors An eLiquid “Brand” At All?
From the vape experience each member of team had with these four eliquids, and the sheer number of flavors and options for PG/VG and nicotine, not to mention up to 4 extra shots of flavoring and sweeteners, it is easy to see that individual eliquids are not the main concern of Phantasm Vapors and that they have instead relegated their eliquids to the task of creating a revenue stream. Would the owners of Phantasm Vapors disagree with our conclusions? Probably…at least publically. But our experience with the four flavors below overwhelmingly support our conclusion.
Creating excellent eLiquids…
… is no easy task. It can take months and months to nail an eliquid down to its best flavor/vapor/throat hit/vape satisfaction recipe and when the end user, the vaper, is given more than a dozen options to change a house recipe, if there is a house recipe, the ultimate performance of an eliquid must be of little concern to the eliquid brand. As far as Phantasm Vapors goes, we’re not even sure the eliquids we received are possible to replicate since we have no idea of their formulations.
The Review
Nektar – “Nektar Flavor is an all around sweet taste, with nectarine and berry tones.” – Phantasm Vapors Description
Julia: 2.5 Stars – The most disturbing element of Nektar is a distinct taste of mothballs found in the closet in my childhood bedroom. That mothball hit happens on the exhale, and it is hard, yet immediately identifiable. On the inhale is a short fruity note that cannot be counted on to bring a nectarine or berry flavor…sometimes it almost reaches those flavors but most of the time it is an nondescript fruit flavor soon buried by mothballs. Really poor.
Tom: 2 Stars – After vaping, and reviewing, eliquids that are so good they could bring a tear to your eyes, going into this review I was looking forward to yet another positive review. Phantasm Vapors is a big name as a full one-stop vendor, but their eliquids, based on the four in this review, are downright awful. Nektar delivers a basic sweet fruit on the inhale and a distasteful and stark blast of artificiality in the finish. My first flavor of the four and it is truly a disappointment.
Jason: 2.5 Stars – I understand the idea, or appeal, of inexpensive eliquids and custom made eliquids. I don’t ever want to spend $30 for a 30ML bottle, no matter how good it is, so when presented with a price of $11 for a 30ML the urge to try them out is strong. But, I strongly recommend not doing so.
Cheap doesn’t have to taste bad. You need no more proof than to look at Mt. Baker Vapor for that. Their eliquids are, for the most part, very likeable, fully flavored, and always consistent. Mt. Baker Vapor is one of the most appreciated brands available, and is even less expensive than Phantasm Vapors. 30ML from Mt Baker is an unbelievable $5.49, half the price of Phantasm and 20 times better. “Disappointed” doesn’t begin to cover it.
Keira: 2.25 Stars – I disliked this eliquid quite a bit. After Julia mentioned mothballs I knew exactly what she was talking about. This Nektar starts out with a sweet but diminished fruit of some kind and finishes with a very unpleasant and sharp artificial blast that can absolutely be identified as mothballs.
Recommended? – No
Julia: 3.25 Stars – Hidden Treasure screams of an artificial flavoring, but in the end it’s not all that bad. The description is a little overblown, but there are tropical flavor notes and a hint of a sweet rum. The problem is, Hidden Treasure is no better, and no worse, than a beginner DIY eliquid maker mixing basic flavorings together with some PG and VG.
Tom: 3 Stars – Definitely reveals the artificial flavoring, Hidden Treasure is the epitome of “average”. However, for the price, well, who am I kidding, let’s just call it this an average, basic eliquid that doesn’t add anything distinctive to the art of eliquids.
Jason: 3.5 Stars – Hidden Treasure tastes like a mild, sweet tropical fruit vape and nothing more. If this was the only bottle of eliquid I had access to I would certainly vape it, but only until I could replace it with something else. I’m just a worker bee on this team, but I have no idea why we’re reviewing an eliquid brand that has nothing to offer but mediocre ejuice.
Keira: 3 Stars – Keeping in mind that Hidden Treasure isn’t trying to be anything more than a basic eliquid sold at an affordable price, I can honestly say that it achieves the level of average easily. A much more pleasant vape than Nektar, for vapers on a budget I could understand vaping it. However, Hidden Treasure began to burn the inside of my mouth after 15 minutes, so I had to take many breaks during the 72-hours, giving me the opportunity to experience it at every point in the day. Average, but expected.
Recommended? No.
Julia: 3.25 Stars – Once again we’re presented with a completely average eliquid, but at least here we can definitely taste the grape flavoring. Purple Haze delivered an average amount of vapor, and an average throat hit, but left little in the way of a ‘satisfying vape’. There are hundreds of grape flavored eliquids, some better, some worse, so if you happen to love grape vapes and don’t want to spend a lot of money for one I would not try to dissuade you from buying this one.
Tom: 3 Stars – Unfortunately there is nothing special about Purple Haze. It is a simple one-note grape flavored eliquid that delivers an average tasting grape flavor with an “okay” amount of vapor. At 18mg nicotine however, I expected a stronger throat hit, at least.
Jason: 3 Stars – I think we were all in agreement while discussing Purple Haze. This is a grape eliquid, plain and simple. It has that artificial taste that all four have, but you can taste the grape flavor without trying. The problem is there is nothing to get excited about. It is what it is, an average grape eliquid.
Keira: 3 Stars – This review was difficult for one reason… 72 hours vaping Phantasm Vapors eliquid and nothing but their eliquid. This is the promise that we make to our readers and one we cannot break, so when presented with Purple Haze as the last of the four flavors I pleasantly surprised that the review could come to end on a high note. Purple Haze is a simple grape eliquid that won’t win awards but it is a vapable eliquid.
Recommended? No.
Julia: 2 Stars – The overwhelming flavor in Clear H2O is the artificial flavor of artificial. I mean that exactly as written. It doesn’t taste like anything but artificial chemicals. No tropical flavor, no melon flavor, just PG/VG.
Tom: 1 Star – Clear H2O will go down as the least likeable eliquid I have vaped in the past year. If you can get past the massive artificial flavor you might taste a glimpse of tropical something and an ever so slight melon. But, getting over the artificial taste is like climbing a mountain.
Jason: 1.5 Stars – I literally had to force myself to vape Clear H2O longer than 60 seconds. But I did it. In fact, I was determined to get past the artificial flavoring that I took this 18mg nicotine juice and vaped it in a dripper just to see if I could peel back that artificial chemical taste and get to the tropical fruit and melon. The best I could do was catch a hint of the melon, but that nicotine level kept me from dripping it more than 3 hits.
Keira: 1 Star – A huge disappointment with Clear H2O. There is nothing here but the taste of something like petroleum jelly, pure artificial nothingness.
Recommended? No.
Conclusion
Whether your experience with Phantasm Vapor will, in any way, be identical to our own is impossible to say. What will be your choices? How will you assemble your eliquids? Those decisions will play at least some part in the outcome of your experience. Having said that, if the basic flavorings are of poor quality it doesn’t matter how many extra shots you give it, the end result is likely to be disappointing.
We hope that you can keep in mind that despite these four eliquids being at most average, and at its worst unvapeable, Phantasm Vapors does offer something positive to the vape community. Their online store, and we imagine, their physical store, offers a wide array of vape gear at competitive prices. That’s not nothing.
However, when it comes to eliquids, we urge Phantasm Vapors to switch to selling third party eliquids from brands that actually create great ejuice and drop the custom made line up.
Does Phantasm Vapors offer eliquids at an affordable price? Yes. Yet they are still considerably more expensive than Mt. Baker Vapor, an eliquid brand that produces excellent individual, House Blend eliquids at an even better price point.
Creating a good eliquid takes more than mixing a few chemicals. It takes more than learning a good recipe. Creating excellent eliquids takes patience, subtle taste buds, and the talent to recognize flavor, not to mention the utmost quality ingredients. Almost anyone can mix the chemicals necessary to create eliquid, only a handful can create great ones. Phantasm Vapors leaves the work of building an eliquid to others, but they begin with poor quality ingredients. What good can come from that?
Julia, Tom, Jason, and Keira
