Crystal Original V2 Nic Salts
SKE have brought out another batch of their superb flavours in Nic Salts form so disposable users aren't the only ones who get to have all the fun
Share on:
VapeClub sent the latest Crystal V2 Nic Salts over for us to test out.
SKE have been making Crystal Bar disposables for a while now. They were one of the first ones I tried when a mate had one a few years ago. Now disposables really aren’t my thing, they’re too sweet and most of them have cooling in them, which doesn’t go down too well with me as I get that first blast but then it fades, but I can appreciate how popular they are, and that other people really enjoy them. My missus is one of those people, so I’ve tried a few of hers over the years as well.
These are the latest vape juices from SKE. There are fifteen new ones in the range, and I’ve managed to have a go at all of them, despite my preference being for less sweet liquids. As usual, I’ve found a few that I really quite like, and a few that I’d rather not try again. It’s all about personal taste and I’ll be honest when I say that I have found my taste broadening a little while trying out the bar salt type juices lately for POTV.
Again, as usual, these juices all have a level of coolness to them, as bar salts tend to, so I won’t go into that much. It does range from cooooold to barely there, and sometimes I’ve wondered if there is any cooling at all despite having that very slight effect. There’s also a lot of sweetness in these, but it’s not always overbearing, and on some it actually enhances the flavours quite a bit. I’ll try to describe the actual flavours but will chip in on the sweetness as well as that really affects the flavours too.
The boxes are big for a 10ml juice. They are reminiscent of actual disposable vape boxes, so I assume SKE have gone down this route to keep things familiar. The bottles also come in a sealed pack once you open the box. I assume again that this is also to keep familiarity for disposable users. I found it all a bit redundant, but then I haven’t come from tooting on disposable vapes. The box tells you the nic content (1.0% or 10mg per ml here for the ones I was sent), the ml (10ml), and the amount of nicotine you get in each puff, which is weird to me as how can they know what kind of coil I’m using and at what wattage? I am being facetious here as I know it’ll probably be for an average puff on a normal MTL device.
I tested these juices on a QP designs Nio RDA, with a 26awg Ni80 coil coming out at about 0.8ohms and fired at 15/16W.
I continue to really enjoy cherry flavours, something I would not have thought when I started doing reviews on juice. This one is quite sherberty so is pretty damn sweet. It has a bright cherry in it as opposed to a deep and complex one, and is a sweetie/maraschino style cherry in my opinion. I do have to say that it smells amazing as well.
This one tastes like a sweet mango to me. It’s a fruity mango, and doesn’t taste like it has any floral or perfumed notes in it, like a lot of mango vapes do. The sweetness lingers a lot with this one, and as you vape it, you get different notes of flavour. I like this one.
You get the watermelon first with this juice but it’s not a watery watermelon, if that makes sense, as the cherry kicks in and gives a bit of dryness. It’s weird tasting a watermelon without the water. I'm not sure this one is for me.
The pineapple is cooooooold. It is probably the one with the most cooling so I thought I’d mention that. It’s a pineapple juice flavour with the usual deeper earthy notes of the actual fruit. The sweetness comes in after and it’s a strong sweetness, but works here with the juice style flavour.
Strooooong flavour, very strong. It has an almost overbearing sweetness but that works for it rather than against it. There’s a good mix of the two flavours here, with the strawberry coming in strong at the end of it. The watermelon is watery this time so it’s quite refreshing.
‘Gummi bears, bouncing here and there and everywhere’. Anyone remember that cartoon? No? Just me? Yep, it’s a gummy bear flavour, and the effect is really good. It does taste exactly like a fruity gummy bear. It’s not overly sweet but it is a candy juice, so you have to expect a certain level. I get a few fruits here as well, a jammy blackcurrant, a bunch of berries, and the missus swears she tasted some apple in there as well.
This is another good one. You can almost taste the fuzz but it’s also like a bright, sweet peach. I used a lot of juicy peach concentrates when I started mixing my own, so I know the flavour quite well, and the finished article here is just like a juicy peach.
Ooooft this is sweet, too sweet for my delicate taste buds if I’m honest. For an ice juice, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of cold, but that might be my overloaded senses from the sugariness. The actual flavour is mainly blueberry with the usual slight blueberry must at the end, with a dollop of peach kicking in as you vape more.
On my first draw I got the kiwi with a greenness from the strawberry, but after a couple more, it seemed to lead with a sweet berry and the kiwi in the aftertaste. Strawberry and kiwi always mix very well, and it’s no different here. A nice vape in the end.
There’s something weird as hell here and I don’t like it at all. I think this is a tropical type juice with berries in it, but I couldn’t discern anything in particular as I was getting a strange sensation in my nose when I took a big draw. I’ve had it before with citrusy/tropical vapes and I wish I knew what concentrate was causing it so I can avoid it in future. To be more positive, the wife really likes it, she loved the sweetness and the fruity mix; she also claimed she tasted grape, but I couldn’t taste that at all.
Vimto, this is definitely Vimto! I can taste it, and it’s pretty good. It’s a sweet blackcurrant soda with a good kick of ice as well. The sweetness lingers afterwards for ages but does compliment the flavour that’s in there.
Wow, this one is lovely, the surprise of the range for me personally. I’m getting peach as the main flavour with the tropical mango melting into the tartness of the pineapple. It’s not too sweet, letting the fruits shine through, but of course there is still a ton of sweetener in it. The fruits mix so well on this one, definitely my favourite, and I’ll be vaping on this often in my MTL tanks and pods.
A lot of the cola vape juices taste like the juice at the end of an ice pole (ice pop, insert regional variation here), and this one is no different. I don’t get a lot of fizz, but the flavour has just the right amount of sweetness for a cola vape. There is also ice in there, but not too much. It's just the right amount, I’d reckon.
This is the first one I’ve had to go look at what the flavour is meant to be. I mean, I know what a mojito tastes like, but there’s something fruity and initially unidentifiable in there as well. The menthol is a nice level, and the mint is very sweet with a super sweet aftertaste. Now that I’m looking at the description, I can see the fruitiness is lime. Maybe I don’t know what a good mojito tastes like. I did not get that right away, but knew there was something else in there, so it has done its job.
A classic fresh menthol. There’s a mint in there too that tastes almost like spearmint but is not so pronounced. It’s not an overly cold juice either, but has a nice level in there to compliment the menthol.
Conclusion
Well, that was a long one, whew! That was a lot of flavours to get through. Having tried the disposable versions of a couple of these, I think SKE have done well to translate it to a bottle, and when the inevitable ban comes, they’ll be in a good place to keep going. While the bar salt juices aren’t my usual type of vape, I did find a couple I’d be happy to vape on again, especially the peach, mango and pineapple, that one’s superb. I don’t get the packaging and think it’s unnecessary, but then I’m not the one who’s being targeted in this case. Familiarity might win out for those of a disposable disposition.
Many thanks to VapeClub for sending in the SKE Crystal V2 flavours for review.
- Very like the current disposable versions
- Some nice flavours, mixed well
- A big range to try out
- Packaging. I just can’t get past the waste
Stephen Gitsham
Reviewer at POTVI was a very militant smoker for many years…why would I stop doing the only thing I had left that I liked doing? Then I fell into vaping in 2017. My wife bought a cheap kit off from Amazon that stopped working and I took it to a local vape shop to see what they could do with it. An hour later and full of new knowledge about watts, ohms, and juice strength, I headed home with a new nautilus mini tank for her and raved to her about the helpful guy in the shop. I must have bored her with all my new found information. I tried her vape that night, and a week later bought my own kit. Then I found POTV and the amazingly helpful and generous people on it. A month later I was making my own (disgusting) vape juice, and a month after that I was winding coils for my new RDA. Six years on and I'm much better at making juice, and I now have no money but lots of shiny mods and tanks
Join the discussion
Ferocious A-Salt Bar Juice by Vapoholic
Vapoholic bring some of their best flavours over to their new Ferocious A-Salts Bar Juice Range, and Stephen got to try them out
NIXER X Unreal Raspberry
We get to revisit an old friend with a new twist as we get to try the NIXER X Unreal Raspberry long fills range
NIXER X Wick Liquor Longfills
When great minds come together, magic can happen, and that is perfectly illustrated here with the NIXER X Wick Liquor long fill range
NIXER X Unreal 2
We look at a new take on a classic with the NIXER X Unreal 2 longfills range
