eJuice Review 357: Sour Blackberry by Hunting Cloudz

As always, time seems to fly when I’m reviewing full lines of flavours. One minute I am just getting stuck into the first flavour of the range, the next, the last drop is gone!

And so it is, that I am onto the last of the Hunting Cloudz range. I’ve purposely left this one to last, as I knew that it would be a polarizing flavour, something that not everybody will love, but something that will grab the attention of most vapers, when they see it on the shelves. Above all, I left it to last, as I tend to leave juices that I think will rock my world, to the very end!

So how did this one fare?

This time I’ll be reviewing “Sour Blackberry” from Hunting Cloudz.

(This eliquid was supplied by the vendor.)

Flavour Description:

Wild blackberries scatter the New Zealand countryside. A mix of hazard and sustenance for the weary wanderer.

The Review:

I’m going to get straight to the point with this one. It’s a really lovely flavour, until my wick turns to syrup, and my coils get a fine layer of black gunk on them. Think back to my Mandarin Harvest review, remember what I mentioned about that one? Times the coil and wick damage by about 10!

I’m not kidding here either, it literally takes about 1 hour of vaping for my wicks to discolour to the point where any juice in the well of my RDA is taking on a medium brown colour, and after about 2-3 hours begins developing gunking on the coils.

Because of this, the flavour suffers, and in turn so does the quality of the vape.

On the flip-side, it is initially a really tasty blackberry, with a real sour warheads feel going on.

Individual Notes

The blackberry is not as tart as many others, this may be a little deceiving however, as any sourness or tartness is immediately attributed to the sour additive that is in here, and this leaves you noticing nuances in the blackberry that you might not normally pick up on.

In contrast to the sourness, the blackberry seems sweet, with a slight powdery texture. It’s absolutely noticeable through the sourness, more-so on the exhale than the inhale.

I don’t notice any other fruits here, suffice to say, there may be others added in here as supporting notes for the blackberry, but I’m not picking them up.

The sour note that is in this, I suspect is something like Citric Acid, or Malic Acid and I’m hazarding a guess as to say that this is what is causing my issues with coil and wick damage. It does add a mouth puckering sourness, which is both interesting and a little unexpected.

Inhale & Exhale

The inhale is dominated by the instant sour hit, it isn’t nasty, or unbearable, it’s a feeling that you’ll notice mostly at this point, while the inhale is continuing, it’s also not something that will stop you in your tracks, and make you stop vaping it straight away either, quite strong, but quite bearable.

At the turn of the inhale and onto the exhale, the sourness subsides a little as I notice the blackberry kick in. It’s a full rounded note that seems to carry a little sweetness with it, and a tiny bit of a powdery texture. The blackberry works really well with the sourness, and the flavour shifts from one to the other seamlessly, and really smoothly.

The end of the exhale is met with even more blackberry, and finally a sourness on the lips after it’s all said and done.

Final thoughts

I’m a little disappointed with this one. I suppose I did build it up a little in my mind, it didn’t just ‘not’ meet my expectations, the added kick of damaged coils and wicks, tipped it over the edge.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a really tasty flavour, and the sour aspect of it is done really really well, but I just can’t look past the instant damage that I’m getting. This is a bit of a gimmick that is just not practical for me, but if you’re an advanced vaper, that changes wicks multiple times per day, this might just be something that you can appreciate.

Where to Buy:

You can check out the Hunting Cloudz range of eliquids from their website (https://www.huntingcloudz.co.nz/), and they can be purchased through VapourEyes AU (http://vapoureyes.com.au) and NZ (http://vapoureyes.co.nz) as well as a few other stockists around Australia, and New Zealand.

Colour:

Clear

Aroma:

Blackberry

Coil and wick damage:

Unfortunately this one will gunk your coils and discolour your wicks. You’ve been warned

PG/VG Ratio:

70%VG / 30%PG

Texture:

Bright, sour and sharp.

Steeping:

Steeping is not necessary, but it may benefit.

Presentation:

Fantastic presentation here, Hunting Cloudz have paid attention to their labels with some snazzy bright graphics. These are sure to stand out when up on the shelf! I received 60ml Semi Transparent Chubby gorilla bottles with nozzle and child-proof caps.
They were already nic’d up as they were sent from NZ, and contained appropriate warnings, as well as all of the other good stuff, a label should have.

In fact Hunting Cloudz have gone above and beyond with the official side of their labels, not only listing a more extensive ingredient list than most, but also outlining nicotine warnings as well as poison information and contact details for poison information hot-lines.

The “born on” or “manufacture” date is also here, which I think is really important, it’s something that many do not display on their labels.

Kudos for this labelling guys.

Test rigs:

Haku with slam cap running a single 0.17 ET coil from “Bombers Coils” on a mech mod.
OBS Engine RTA with a 0.2ohm Stainless coil running @ approx 50-80 watts.

Shane Presser

Shane Presser has been vaping since 2013, and has extensive experience with advanced equipment, coil builds and DIY mixing. He is the man behind VapersGarage, and also more recently Aussie Vape Stores, a resource to help vapers find their nearest Vape Shops, and eLiquid Vendors.