E-Liquid Reviews

Kraken Original Recipe Part 1

A two part review of Kraken Original Recipe E Liquids. In this review we will be looking at 8 juices from the range in 50/50 VG/PG.

by Dan Willis
Sep 7, 2015

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An Introduction to Kraken Original Recipe Eliquid

Kraken Original Recipe Eliquid has been around since Vapefest 2013, where 50 lucky souls were the first to try Squid Ink, and ever since then Kraken Original Recipe E Liquid has grown into one of the largest and most loved UK vendors, specialising in liquids mainly based on British confectionary and biscuit flavours, with some gorgeous absinthe blends thrown in and genius menthol juice such as Crystal Menth.

Mixed by Jim ‘MrKraken’ Maitland, an active member on the POTV community and a very active member in the vaping community as a whole, Kraken Original Recipe E Liquid also are highly committed to providing safe and nasty free e-liquid, only using safe flavourings supplied with full MSDS information sheets, British pharmaceutical grade nicotine, PG and VG, as well as submitting his juices for testing.

This review on Kraken Original Recipe E-Liquid range will be split into two parts, today we will be looking at 8 juices from the range in 50/50 VG/PG and 3mg nic, and in the second part of the review we will look at 7 juices from the range in higher VG and 3mg nic, high VG is an option Jim has recently made available for all of his juices as part of the new Kraken Cloudchaser range...

Red Lady

"Kraken Ecigs original recipe Red Lady e-liquid, some say that the green fairy makes you see things. Well, the Red Lady makes you see evil demon babies, because the night is dark and full of terrorists...or something like that."

Red Lady is Kraken’s take on sweet cherry absinthe, and it's a delightful vape that reminds me of a sumptious cherry bakewell more than a cherry absinthe. The cherry inhale reminds me very much of a glace cherry, the absinthe on the exhale is delightfully subtle and for me, tastes a bit like marzipan, hence why I get cherry bakewell from it! Absinthe based vapes have a tendency to become overpowering, but not so here, the blend is perfect and delightfully smooth.

Candy Cane

"My name is Candy Caine and I am a tasty vapour. Mrs Norris from over at number 23 had her christmas lights on the house in bloody october. I've just put mine up and got the boiled sweets out. Raspberries, cranberries and sweet peppermint will be bouncing around my pallet let me tell you..."

When vaping Candy Caine you could be sucking on a candy cane itself, it’s an amazing juice. The realism is superb, the sweet peppermint holds the raspberry and cranberry together, providing an out of this world vaping experience. The peppermint in particular is the single most realistic peppermint I have experienced in an e-liquid. Candy Caine doesn’t just blow the bloody doors off, it blows you mind as well!

Cockney Herberts

"Cockney herberts is a delicious mix of apples, juicy pear and sweet sherbert! If you're a fan of Mr Krakens sweet mixes, then this one certainly is not to be missed!"

Well it had to have apples and pears, didnt it?! The apples and pears have been mixed to perfection and are both a very real and juicy tasting replication of the real thing, the sherbet fizz is found on the exhale and just ensures the flavours dance around on your tongue. It’s a gorgeous sweet candy vape, truly remarkable. Complete air gunner of a juice!

Hansels Folly

"Do you revel in dunking in chocolate then removing the heads of gingerbread men to get to their delicious biscuity flavour? Well now you can do that without a murder charge! Hansels folly is a warm, gingery, biscuity, chocolatey vape that I personally just can't put down."

Oh I do revel in a good gingerbread biscuit, and a quality gingerbread based vape is what I love, but they unfortunately seem to be pretty rare from experience! Hansels Folly is a very full flavoured, gorgeous and moreish gingerbread biscuit vape with just the merest hint of chocolate in the background. A personal favourite juice of mine, there aren’t many gingerbread vapes that come close to Hansel’s Folly, if gingerbread is your thing you won’t be disappointed with Hansels Folly.

Red Viper

"The Red Viper takes rich summer berries, mashes them together with sharp grape and then finishes off with a sting of absinthe. No charismatic princes were harmed in the making of this e-liquid!"

You would think Red Viper would be a Red Astaire clone, given the name, but it’s something totally different. There is a lovely sharp berry blend on the inhale, I get hints of cranberry and raspberry, with a nice menthol cooling effect in the background, and the absinthe just rounds Red Viper off by providing that little sting on the exhale. Red Viper definitely has some bite!

Dire Wolf Bite

"Winter is coming! Kraken Ecigs brings you the bight of the dire wolf, a great beast found in the cold North. A succulent mix of winter berries with a chilling bite."

Dire Wolf Bite is not just made for winter, it's a juice that can be enjoyed all year round. You find Kraken’s signature berry mix, with blackcurrant being the most predominant flavour for me on the inhale, and an icy blast of menthol on the exhale that just nips at your tongue. This is a tasty cure for vapers tongue, or an ideal palate cleanser. To be honest, its something I could happily vape all day on!

Shade

"Shade (of the evening) is a complex concoction of Icey menthol, sweet fruits and rich hints of liquorice and hot cinnamon."

Shade is a superb blend of menthol, fruit and cinnamon, you get an icy berry blast on the inhale and on the exhale a warming and delightfully rich cinnamon tantalizes your tastebuds. It’s simply gorgeous stuff. I had never tried Shade before getting it for this review, and it’s one I will be coming back to time and time again.

To sum Shade up it is a genius vape, the flavours combine together so well, making a lovely soothing vape!

Squid Ink

"The original recipe flavour that started it all. A sweet mix of berries and secret ingredients..."

Squid Ink is a true enigma of a juice, it’s one of the first ‘gourmet’ juices I ever purchased and one that I still adore to this day. To this day I can also never really fully put my finger on what flavour Squid Ink is supposed to be, all I know is that it is one incredible juice. I definitely get berries, but the berries seem to change every time I vape Squid Ink, and I used to sit firmly in the camp that this was a Jelly Baby style vape, since I have revisited Squid Ink for this review I have been getting an incredible sweet berry rush, with blueberry, blackberry and redcurrant, with what is almost like a hint of coconut in the background but it may be something totally different!

You have to experience this madness in a bottle, it may well be one of the best things you ever vape.

Conclusion

It’s been a bit of a trip down memory lane for me, given that Kraken Squid Ink was one of the first ‘gourmet’ vapes I ever tried a long time ago now, and what a joyous trip down memory lane it was. It bought a real smile to my face to see that Kraken’s juices are still as excellent as they ever were, and are still very much up there with the best juices around to this day. The new additions to the range are top notch, and deserve their place within the stellar Kraken range. Jim also deserves top marks for not only his customer service, I have ordered off him more than a few times previously and never been disappointed, but also for his commitment to providing nasty free juice evidenced by the amount of time and money he is pouring in to having his juices rigorously tested to ensure they are as clean as you can get.

Jim is an absolute master at the top of the game when it comes to producing confectionery e liquids, he pours his genius mixing knowledge into each and every bottle, and shows that he can also step outside the box with superb biscuit flavours such as Dodging Strawberry and Hansel’s Folly, Kingslayer (which I cover in the second part of my Kraken review) is still one of the very best custards available, and Squid Ink is still one of my favourite juices full stop. Shade is just totally sublime. There are some real treats to be found within the Kraken range, something for everyone can be found here!

Dan Willis

Reviewer at POTV

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Dan was an early adopter of vaping as a way to quit smoking and has seen and done pretty much all there is to see and do in the vaping world! From Ego batteries to mechs and from rebuildables to pods there isn't much that Dan hasn't tried.