Rockstar Vape - Shortfill 6 Flavour Review by KingPin!

[KingPin!]

Hi Folks,

Rockstar Vape is a family run juice company based in the UK. Like many of us in the vaping community; members of their family personally benefited from the switch over to vaping after experiencing health issues smoking. They entered the UK market 18 months ago, finding a niche by offering a large range of affordable 120ml juices.

During that time they were quietly working away mixing complex blends for their new premium range; which is where I come in…to sample 5 of their new flavours. This type of review is a first for me, I’m approaching it in the same vein as my hardware reviews where I don’t like to recommend products, rather I’ll present my findings to help bolster your research should you be interested.



I have been informed by Rockstar their juices are free from Diketone nasties since they don’t agree with using them, their products do list VG/PG, Natural and Artificial flavouring.

Their premium line come in a “short fill” 50ml gorilla bottles, it’s up to you to add a nicotine shot to make it your desired strength. My first call out will be the lack of a manual mixing calculator on their site…Rockstar ideally this should be added, in the meantime either search for a “Nic shot Calculator” in google (most juice companies should now have them) or ask below and I’ll be happy to help…



For our Non-European community base its fairly typical to see larger bottles of nicotine free juice sold across Europe due to the introduction of Tobacco Products Directive (TPD), if we want nicotine pre-mixed juice it will come in small 10ml bottle sizes…yes it really sucks ass….the government are talking about banning plastic straws soon, god knows how many extra 10ml plastic bottles are being chucked away every year…anyway that’s a rant for another day!

So before we get down to it…I’d just like to finish my intro by saying Rockstar juices are only available in the UK at the moment, they are however working on international wholesalers to offer it across the pond, as to an ETA on this you’ll be able to reach them via the contact link on their homepage (https://www.rockstar-vape.co.uk/contact)

My Method for this Review

I wanted to sample each flavour from different vape set ups in order to explore the full range of the flavour profile on offer, and in this endeavour I went with the following:

• High Power (90-100W) Cloud chucker, using my own Enigma 0.14ohm coil, on the Digiflavour Pharaoh Dripper (it’s really an RDTA)
• Mid to High Power (75W), Cloud/Flavour chaser, using my own dual Alien 0.15ohm coils on the Twisted Messes Skill RDA, this was a dripping set up.
• Mid to High Power (75W), I wanted to throw a sub ohm tank into the mix using “pre-made, disposable” Mesh coils 0.17 ohms, my choice was the Smoant Naboo Sub ohm Tank.
• Medium Power (50W), I could have picked from many RTA’s in this class, but in the end I went with the Augvape Intake RTA, using my own Fused Clapton coil at 0.36ohms.
• Low Power (38W), I went with a small single coil RDA for squonking purposes, choosing the Vapefly Pixie RDA, and my own Fused Clapton at 0.42ohms.

With the atomisers picked, there are some other things to note with my approach;

• I mixed each bottle with a 10ml, 18mg Nicotine shot, suspended in Propylene Glycol (PG)…making each juice bottle 3mg in strength. Doing this lowered each’s 70/30 (VG/PG) ratio slightly making them slightly less viscous.

• Each juice comes shipped as 70/30 (VG/PG). Depending on the nicotine shot you use and its suspension base (PG, VG or a mix of both) you might want to adjust this starting ratio up or down. Select a Nicotine shot with a 70/30 suspension if you want to keep it static.
• Just to rule out my cotton interfering with the flavour sampling, I cycled round with a few different cotton brands (Muji, Koh Gen Doh, Cotton Bacon V2, Firebolt, Kendo Gold)

• Taste is very subjective so I will try my best to describe the experience, but much of this will be down to personal preference.
• Each flavour was individually tested across all products before cleaning and moving to the next

Juice Testing & Insights


1 - Dragons Blud (From the Ultimate Collection)

https://www.rockstar-vape.co.uk/dragons-blud-ultimate-collection-50ml-2.html

Described as “An addictive blend of tropical fruits and coconut”

Smell and Taste Test: This juice smells and tastes like a mixed bag of jolly ranchers, with a hint of coconut. To me there is a strong presence of white peach among others which leaves it tasting a little “flowery” on the finger taste test.

Product Notes:

Pharaoh RDTA - Moist Vape and smooth on the inhale. Very subtle notes coming through to the point it’s difficult to pick out one from the other. I would say it’s too floral at the high wattage of the Pharaoh. I was getting a sherbet texture on the tongue during the inhale with a sweet candy on the exhale.

Skill RDA – Moist vape and smooth on the inhale. I started to identify some of the flavours, picking out lemon, strawberry, “perhaps” cactus and/or dragon fruit, peach was at the forefront with hints of banana and coconut in the background. Again it’s all subtle though and it took me time to pick through some of these. Finally I was losing some of those floral notes found with the Pharaoh.

Naboo Sub ohm – Flowery tasting, leaving it too much like perfume for my palette. Mesh coils did not play well with this flavour, leaving it tangy on the tongue, I’m getting some of the fruits coming through with peach being prominent.

Intake RTA – Quite the throat hit with this tank, getting a cool sweet tang on the exhale. I found it hard to pick out the flavours except lemon and banana standing out during the inhale, but it’s all a very subtle affair. Again that flowery “rose” taste was back for me using the intake

Pixie RDA – Pretty much the same as the intake in terms of flavour detection, although it was a smoother vape this time round.

Conclusion

There’s a lot going on with Dragons Blud. The best way I can sum up my thoughts on it are:

You know sometimes when you mix 10 flavours together it confuses the senses, that to me is exactly what’s going on here. I’m either getting peach or Pineapple as the prominent flavour, with notes of lemon, strawberry, lemon, coconut, apple, coconut, perhaps even dragon fruit, and cactus. Of course I could be wrong with some of these as everything was subtle. I imagine it’s going to be one of those you’ll either like or you won’t, out of my gear it suited the 75W Skill RDA the most as I wasn’t getting so much of the floral taste from it.




2- Purple Fizz (Fizz Collection)

https://www.rockstar-vape.co.uk/purple-fizz-collection-50ml-2.html

Described as “A delicious blend of red and green grapes, mixed perfectly with orchard fruits”

Smell and Taste Test: Smells and tastes a little like grape concord, green apple and sweetener on the finger taste test

Product Notes:

Pharaoh RDTA - Powdery tasting, just sweet with not much going on, this wattage and coil type kills it completely.

Skill RDA – Getting a fair bit of coolness to the vape on the exhale, to the point it’s pushing the other flavours to the back, I’m not picking up much of the grape flavour from this, and again it’s mainly just a sweet taste.

Naboo Sub ohm – Tastes uncannily like Parma Violets. There’s a hint of coolness on the exhale and it’s almost creamy but without being too sweet. It’s a subtle taste and pulls it off without being too soapy.

Intake RTA – This particular juice removes the natural dryness of the Intake on the draw, I’m detecting a slight fizz on top of the slightly cool exhale, which I didn’t get with the Naboo. I’m detecting more of a grape concord flavour this time, although its heading towards the Parma Violet sweet taste even mimicking its sherbet chalky texture on the tongue, although perhaps crossed with a love heart.

Pixie RDA – Sweet grape, almost red wine tasting on the exhale. Where the Naboo manages to balance out the green and red grapes, this RDA focusses on that sweet red spectrum. I wasn’t a fan of the after taste with the Pixie.

Conclusion

Grape juice is a really tricky one to pull off. Companies in my opinion should do a better job of describing this type of flavour. I love grape, but I like the soda variety rather than the classic Welch’s grape concord.

Purple fizz is neither one of these it’s more like the Parma Violets sweet, you even get that chalky texture when vaping it on some atomisers, so if you like those sweets you might very well get on with this flavour. I found it suited the mesh coils of the Naboo at 75Watts the most.

 

[KingPin!]

Juice Testing & Insights Continued....


3- Pink Lemon Ice (Ice Collection)

https://www.rockstar-vape.co.uk/pink-lemon-ice-collection-50ml-5.html

Described as “A mouth-watering blend of ripe strawberries and sweet lemonade with citrus undertones and a slice of ice”

Smell and Taste Test: on the finger taste test it’s a lot like a lemon sherbet sweet, perhaps with hint of lime with either koolada or WS-23 to aid its coolness.

Product Notes:

Pharaoh RDTA - Very moist on the tongue. It’s full on clear your head menthol, fizzy on the exhale with a lemon taste. I felt the Pharaoh left this flavour with a citrusy tart aftertaste, even making my lips tingle with it.

Skill RDA – Much like the Pharaoh, it’s full on menthol with a fizzy sweet exhale. I would describe the flavour as a mix between a lemon sherbet and a chocolate lime. I know it’s bizarre… where’s that chocolate coming from? This RDA seems to give a very slight hint of chocolate lime sweet to me…although nowhere near as much as the lemon.

Naboo Sub ohm – Lemon comes through really strong with less of a sweet taste, instead I found it to have more of a citrus tang to it. There’s still a menthol fizz on the exhale, but I imagine to some they might detect this flavour as heading towards the soapy tasting territory.

Intake RTA – This tank is a more extreme variant of the Naboo with more lemon and sweetness coming through, however there’s less fizz, but it’s still cool on the exhale. This is definitely heading towards soapy territory now, I’d almost say I could be vaping a Lemsip.

Pixie RDA – Not getting any fizz now but it’s still sweet tasting. I’d say this RDA blends the flavour profile taming it across almost all camps mentioned above.

Conclusion

Depending on the set up; it just goes to show you can go from it tasting like a Sherbet Lemon boiled sweet, to a Lemsip cold and flu medicine. I happen to like both so I got on really well with this flavour, and particularly enjoyed it using the Skill RDA, with the Naboo and Intake coming up behind.



4 – Appleberry (Fruitilicious Collection)

https://www.rockstar-vape.co.uk/appleberry-fruitilicious-collection-50ml-5.html

Described as “A mix of sweet and tangy apples finished with juicy berries

Smell and Taste Test: Smell wise it’s a tart blend of apples with Green Fuji coming through strongly, tasting on the finger however reveals the sweet red apple and strawberry element.

Product Notes:

Pharaoh RDTA - Not much of anything going on at this wattage, even sweet/citrus was hard to detect.

Skill RDA – Much like the Pharaoh, considering its smell I was expecting the flavours to really pop on this RDA, but somehow they weren’t.

Naboo Sub ohm – Really smooth blend of flavours with the mesh coil. I get a hit of tart green apple and strawberry on the inhale with sweet red apple on the exhale, a nice well balanced vape.

Intake RTA – Sweet mix of apples and strawberry on the inhale, however there’s something strong on the exhale which leaves a strange aftertaste, I can’t put my finger on what it is? The only thing that comes to mind is “Joy” from flavourart (which is a meringue caramel biscuit flavour) to some it can taste like hopps/alcohol (including me), wasn’t a fan of the juice on this tank.

Pixie RDA – pretty much the same as the Intake but more of a moist vape on the tongue.

Conclusion

To me this flavour seems to play nicely with mesh coils, but none of my other set ups. I couldn’t get my head around the extremes I was getting with this flavour, and even vaped through pretty much a whole bottle of it before landing on my final notes, but there you go it suits the Naboo the most, and on that tank it’s a well-balanced fruity vape.



5 – Banana and Caramel Ice Cream (Ice Cream Collection)

https://www.rockstar-vape.co.uk/banana-and-caramel-ice-cream-collection-50ml-8.html

Described as “The Classic banana split dessert with vanilla ice cream, smothered in a rich caramel sauce”

Smell and Taste Test: Banoffee Pie and Banana ice cream sundae is how this one smells, and I must say it smells absolutely delicious. On the finger taste test I’d say the banana is not the natural flavour found with flavour art, rather it’s the soft yellow “banana penny sweet” variety from Inawera.

Product Notes:

Pharaoh RDTA - It’s way too hot for this flavour, I found it just burns the caramel

Skill RDA – Very sweet on the tongue, lots of vanilla and caramel coming through which leaves the banana somewhat a background afterthought. I found it gunked the coil up pretty quick in comparison to the other flavours in this review.

Naboo Sub ohm – Getting a sweet caramel and vanilla flavour on the inhale with a hint of banana on the exhale. The caramel using the mesh coil left it a little drier on the tongue compared with other flavours listed.

Intake RTA – Nice blend of flavours on this RTA, leaving it tasting much like I described on the finger taste test above. The caramel does leave it on the drier side of the vape spectrum which is difficult to avoid using caramel, especially on the intake which tends to be a drier tasting vape anyway.

Pixie RDA – I found it slightly cool on the exhale as if the ice cream element is active, it’s a mix of that soft chew penny sweet banana goodness, and I found the vanilla and caramel complimented the experience better than any of the others listed above.

Conclusion

The Banana caramel ice cream works best at the low to mid wattage ranges, above that you aren’t going to access that bloody awesome smell when you crack open the top of the bottle. I found the Pixie RDA worked best with this one followed by the Intake RTA.

If you are after a natural tasting banana you won’t find it here, however if you're like me and you prefer the soft chew penny sweet it caters well.



Edit: one new one to the list i got through based on my feedback...

6 – Citrus Mix (Fruitilicious Collection)

https://www.rockstar-vape.co.uk/citrus-mix-fruitilicious-collection-50ml-7.html

Described as “A delicious mix of tangy citrus fruits.”

Smell and Taste Test: Smells of Oranges, tangerine and mandarin with a very subtle biscuit base. Tasting in on the finger reveals its zingy sweet & citrus profile except i reckon theres blood orange in there as well.

Product Notes:

Pharaoh RDTA – Big citrus hit coming through leaving it a little less sweet on the tongue compared with some of the other atomisers in the testing. I’d describe this as explosion of oranges going off inside my mouth although it’s tricky to pick out too much individually, it’s just delicious.

Skill RDA – Great citrus hit on the inhale, yet on the exhale the vape is sweet and balances perfectly. I was picking out the bold orange element mainly, with a hint of lemon, and I was getting that very subtle hint of the biscuit base. Finally just to round it all off a slight sherbet fizz to it. Perhaps this experience is less of a sherbet element, but rather testament to the flavours blending so well together to create this effect.

Naboo Sub ohm – Similar citrus throat hit on the inhale as was found with the Skill RDA. However the mesh coil merges the flavour profiles together a lot more than any of the others atomiser. It's a very bright citrus flavour with hints of orange, tangerine, mandarin on the tongue.

Intake RTA – The Citrus mix removes the natural dry sensation normally experienced with the intake, instead I’m left with a moist, fizzy tongue tingling vape. I found this atomiser made the flavour sweeter than any of the others on test, although there’s still a citrus tang to it as well. In particular it’s the aftertaste I like on the Intake, it’s like a bunch or oranges were left on the back of my tongue leaving my mouth feeling refreshed.

Pixie RDA – The pixie presents the sweet tangerine/mandarin element of the flavour the most, its mainly sweet tasting with a hint of citrus in the background. I don’t get so much of that bold orange flavour experienced with some of the others, although it could be the lower wattage doing that…on this RDA i'd say it’s like sucking on an orange sherbet sweet.

Conclusion

I remember I mixed a DIY flavour while ago called “Fantasia Remix” (in fact I still have it mixed up to this day), I’m getting a lot of those same flavours coming through, except this is a much brighter version with changes and additional flavours in the mix to make it something new entirely.

Rockstar assessed my initial review feedback and said to me before sending it through, ok now we can see which of our flavours stand out for you….have a go on this one...well right you were Rockstar!...This is one of nicest citrus mixes I’ve tasted, and it catered to everything I threw at it…for my personal taste it’s a perfect blend of sweet and citrus and I love the way you present the oranges in here. The flavours are bold without being too in your face, cover all the wattage ranges and coil types, my mouth feels refreshed, and not left with an overly sweet aftertaste it's just a great vape.


My Personal Rankings

If I were to rank these flavours based on my personal tastes id rank them in the following order.

1. Citrus Mix
   
2. Banana Caramel Ice Cream
3. Pink Lemon Ice
4. Appleberry
5. Purple Fizz
6. Dragons Blud

Thanks for taking the time to read my review, I hope the information serves you well…. until next time KingPin!

 

[Huckleberried]

Awesome approach to a juice review. Well done, Sir.

 

[KingPin!]

Awesome approach to a juice review. Well done, Sir.

Thanks very much Huck was apprehensive for sure being a first ...appreciate that especially coming from you

 

[KingPin!]

Added one new flavour to the review

6. Citrus Mix - Rockstar sent it through after reading my feedback...