e-Juice Review: Mum Bee from Secret Bunker Vapour

As you know I’ve been looking at Secret Bunker Vapour’s energy drink range over the last week or so, well, not the entire line (I’ve reviewed a couple before), more-so their latest flavours that have been added to the line-up.

Originally releasing their version of a Red Bull flavour (Red Bee, Aqua Bee), Secret Bunker Vapour made quite an entry onto the vape scene, a few years back. The feedback for the original flavours was really positive, which drove Secret Bunker back to their mixing stations, to work on even more energy drink variants.

Three more flavours were released not long after, each focusing on a different brand of energy drink, SBV took care to replicate the original flavour and flair of each one.

This is the last of the series that I’ll be looking at today, but if you’re interested in seeing my thoughts on the rest of the range, you can access all previous reviews on this link.

Today I’ll be reviewing “Mum Bee” from Secret Bunker Vapour’s energy drink range.

(This e-liquid was supplied by Secret Bunker Vapour for review. )

Flavour Description

[From the website]
Motherly mix of unique berries and fruits to help wind up your day. Starting with a balanced serving of Pomegranate and Cherry to then smooth things out with smooth tones of Acai. As always Taurine hints come through to give you that true motherly infused package. We asked our Mother for this yummy recipe !

The Review

The original “Mother energy drink” isn’t far off the “Monster” and “Red Bull” original flavours, all of them have Apple or an apple derivative, as the main flavour, done so, to help in covering up the taurine, which can be quite bitter. An acidic and bright fruit like apple, does a great job masking that bitterness and providing a kind of sour/sweetness to the profile.

Secret Bunker Vapour’s “Mum Bee” is actually a blend between the Original “Mother” energy drink before they reformulated it, and what “Mother” energy drink is today.

When you really examine Secret Bunker Vapour’s version, you’ll notice that not only does it contain the “Pomegranate” and “Acai”, that you’ll find in the description, but there is also quite a strong base note of apple, almost as though they started with the original energy drink flavour, and added the extra fruits to it. Very sneaky!…. But also quite clever.

Individual Notes

There’s a few things going on with this e-liquid. While the main flavours in the description are present, there is also that rich and tart green apple flavour of the original Mother energy drink. It’s tart, yet sweet, mimicking the real thing quite well, with that very sharp nuanced energy drink hit.

Along with the energy drink base, you’ll notice a couple of other fruits in here too. You might just have to look for them though, because Secret Bunker have dialed them in to blend “oh so well” with the original flavour, offering up highlights rather than full on bolstered flavours that might dominate and override the energy drink.

Pomegranate is one of these, and as a light note it carries really well, it has a hint of floral, and in levelling this off so low, none of the usual bitterness comes through that you’d often get with other Pomegranate flavours.

You’ll also find Acai Berry in here. Acai blends really well with apple based flavours, and often has been described as being quite bitter, and not quite as sweet as it’s raspberry or blackberry counterparts. Because of it’s bitterness, it really works here, alongside the pomegranate, and blends with it almost seamlessly. To me it seems to not only blend really well with the apple also, but even gives the flavour more of a berry vibe, but also adding a bubblegum hint to the base as well.

Last but not least, you’ll find some cherry, not a candy cherry, and not overly strong, but it washes over the acai and pomegranate, grounding them and evening them out with a little richness.

Inhale & Exhale

Straight away on the inhale, you’ll notice that familiar energy drink vibe, that apple based acidic feel that you get with most energy drinks, a little bitter, but more sweet and tart. It starts off as quite a full flavour which gives you that energy drink feel really early on. This energy drink vibe sticks around throughout the entire vape, an underlying background profile if you will. As other flavours wash over it.

As you inhale, you’ll begin to pick up on a few additional notes that breeze in. You’ll likely notice the Acai first, a little bitter, but also a slightly acidic fruit, so it blends in quite well with the apple, helping to bolster that energy drink flavour, but also bridge between it and the other flavours included.

At the top of the inhale, after you’ve been hit with all of that apple cider and acai profile, you’ll notice a hint of floral, it’s a complex floral, not flowery at all, but lighter, almost dancing across the tongue, bouncing above the apple just enough for you to recognise it as pomegranate.
It’s juicy, and also has the smallest bitterness to it, being that it is such a light addition. It’s an important part of this flavour however, as it helps give a little mid-range away from the apple, creating some richness, and vibrancy.

As you exhale, the two additional fruits really come together to create some dimension to this energy drink and with just these two additions, this would have been wonderful as it was, but Secret Bunker, as always, have something else up their sleeve.

From the beginning of the exhale, right through to the end of it, you’ll notice something else going on. Not only do the pomegranate and acai really drive a different profile home, but there is something else here that knocks a lot of the bitterness off, and finishes this flavour off really nicely.

It’s dark cherry. I didn’t notice it at first, but after feeling it, and even with the smallest mark that it makes, it really does affect the final flavour. Killing a little of the bitterness off, and offering up an almost chocolate note, rich and dominating, as light as it is, it caps the acai and pomegranate off wonderfully, and rounds out this flavour right to the very end of the exhale.

Final thoughts

Secret Bunker Vapour really pay attention to the smallest details in their flavours, and testiment to this is the “cherry on the top” of this mix.
While the Acai berry/Apple/Pomegranate blend was already fantastic, the Cherry really brought it home, levelling off and creating a more dynamic flavour to enjoy.

This blend is really intricate, and I’ll be honest, I’m impressed, the light washes and small amounts of complimentary flavourings here are well done, purposefully added, and very much welcomed.

Is it the same as a “Mother” energy drink? Not quite, I think using the energy drink base was a master move, but Secret Bunker have made it even better with these additional flavours.

If you’re an energy drink lover, you really do have to try this one. Throw it on a high wattage device with some big flavour coils, and this flavour will sing!

Great work guys!

Where to Buy:

The entire Secret Bunker Vapour range can be purchased directly from the Secret Bunker Vapour online store or through any of their other stockists around the country.

Colour:

Clear

Aroma:

Acai/Apple

Coil and wick damage:

Not a lot of damage to wicks or coils here, I’m getting minimal gunking which I’m surprised about, I expected more, considering how sweet these flavours are.

PG/VG Ratio:

70VG/30PG

Texture:

Sharp and sweet flipping to richer complimentary flavours

Steeping:

No need to steep this one.

Presentation:

Wonderful presentation from Secret Bunker Vapour. Their new branding is eye-catching and very professional.

I received 60ml tinted chubby gorilla bottles with light blue caps. They have the usual child-proof caps and tamper proof seals, with a needle dispenser to drip your liquid.

The labels are wonderful, with shiny text and artifacts, the general feel of the design is very cool, with patterned background, large blue coloured shapes with the flavour name and bar at the bottom colour coded to the flavour.

All of the information you might need is here, including the brand, and name of the flavour front and centre, Bottle size, warnings, Ingredients, PG/VG ratio, website url, and social media icons.

Secret Bunker Vapour also put ‘authentication’ stickers on their bottles too, with batch number, so if ever you get a bad batch (you probably never will), they can trace it back to a specific mix. It’s a really nice touch!

Test rigs:

Original Haku Cruiser running a single 0.17 framed staple coil on a mech mod/variable wattage mod.
Haku Xeta, in Billet Box, 0.3 stainless single coil, running about 30Watts on temperature mode.

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.