eLiquid Review 499: Vibe – Hip Hop from VapeCraft

I’ve got another flavour from Vapecraft’s VIBE range for you today. The second of the five that I have here is another fruity flavour. Actually one of those fruit combinations that you might not think would work very well.

Does it work? It does, and it doesn’t, I suppose thats pretty subjective and it really does matter what your expectations are. Read on for more.

Today, I’ll be reviewing “Hip Hop” from VapeCraft’s VIBE range.
(This eliquid was supplied by the vendor for review.)

Flavour Description

[From the website]
” Never miss a beat with this grape and strawberry fusion”

Flavor: Grape & Strawberry

The Review

That’s right, the description says you’ll never miss a beat with this grape and strawberry fusion. That all depends on what you’re looking for.

If you like interesting flavour combinations and the various effects you can get from blending unlikely fruits, then this one will be right up your alley.

“Hip Hop” is a very organic, and earthy grape, quite a bottom end flavour, not quite as vibrant or sharp as you might imagine, with a strawberry blend, a little ripe, also earthy, and a sharper, sweeter candy strawberry that punches through the centre.

Individual Notes

The grape here is not your candy grape. You might be expecting one, but this isn’t it. It’s more a green grape, with those light earthy skin notes, light and acting more as a background note than a dominant feature.

The strawberry takes a two pronged approach. There is a raw and organic feel to it, as it blends with the grape, more a strawberry ripe than a candy, consisting of an almost roasted strawberry feel.
The other side of the strawberry is actually a sweet candy, bright and sharp, with some tartness, and a sharp syrupy nature to it. This is where most of the sweetness comes in, which punches through the other flavours.

Inhale & Exhale

The inhale is a sweet grape to start with, as mentioned earlier, it’s green earthy tones, set the stage for something a little different. The grape very quickly gives way to the ripe strawberry, also with a very realistic, organic feel, rich with flavour, and taking shape with the grape to produce quite a robust and interesting blend. The top of the inhale is the height of it’s flavour intensity, showing you it’s full sweet natural fruit feel, earthy, organic, almost a little bitter, it’s definitely not what you might be expecting from a grape and strawberry combination.

Over to the exhale, the realistic and organic grape/strawberry blend continues at the same intensity, but quickly joining it, is a sharp and tart strawberry candy begins to work its way in. It feels as though it punches through the more earthy notes accenting the contrast between realistic and candy strawberries with quite a sweet and syrupy feel.

Once that candy strawberry hits it’s peak, everything comes together to create quite a unique, sweet yet rounded and robust profile.

Final thoughts

I’ve quite enjoyed this one, it’s a little different, not what you might expect. I do love something different!

Using green grapes was an interesting choice, as was blending the two different types of strawberries.

I love the contrast between the two strawberries and the layering that has been achieved with it, however, Im not so pleased with the grape. It’s an enjoyable and interesting blend, I just feel like a more conventional candy grape may have worked a little better here.

All in all, “Hip Hop” is a very interesting flavour, definitely different. So if you love alternative flavours, and strawberry is your thing, you’re going to want to try this one. And even if you don’t like it so much, you’ll still be taking another puff to try and figure out exactly what is going on with this profile!

Well done guys.

Where to Buy:

All of VapeCraft’s eliquid ranges are available from the VapeCraft Website, or through their many stockists. At $16.99 USD per 60mls, the Vibe range is on par with many Australian eliquids in price, and is available with 0mg, 3mg, or 6mg nicotine.

Colour:

Almost clear

Aroma:

Strawberry

Coil and wick damage:

You’ll get a little damage here purely due to the sweeteners used, but it’s minimal and you’ll get a few days worth of vaping without having any issues with gunking coils or wicks.

PG/VG Ratio:

70VG/30PG

Texture:

Sweet Fruits

Steeping:

This one is great straight away

Presentation:

Vapecraft always have quite good presentation, and this range is no different. I received 60ml Chubby Gorilla bottles, with child-proof and tamper proof seal, needle tip dispenser. The labels are vibrant, and colourful, with the addition of the vibe logo being in metallic print. Each label has flavour specific colouring, the vibe logo, nicotine warning, bottle size, and the rest is just really quite hard to read.

All of the information is here, it’s just not readable. After taking a photo with my camera phone, I enlarged the text and could read it without issue, but to the human eye? Nada. The unreadable text is mainly ingredients list and general warnings, so not a big deal to general users, but it might be something they should look at to ensure everything can be read.

Otherwise, these are some fairly well designed labels.

Test rigs:

Original Haku Cruiser running a single 0.17 framed staple coil on a mech mod.
Augvape Intake 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.