the grumpy vaper
Postman
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2014
- Messages
- 352
Ritchie Oliver is a very busy bloke.
He holds down a full time job in London and somehow still has time to run one of the UK’s leading e-liquid companies, Gourmet Vapes – a boutique manufacturer of gourmet flavoured e-liquids. Hand mixed and steeped in the UK, Gourmet Vapes only use USPS/EP grade nicotine, pharmaceutical grade glycerine and polypropylene glycol and flavourings from trusted suppliers. Their range is small and growing and they are firm believers in not allowing liquids to leave the mixing room unless they are sure that they are ready for you the customer.
Ritchie and Gourmet Vapes are also getting ready for 2016’s EU restrictions in whatever shape they arrive, working with an independent laboratory on Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry batch analysis of their liquids, so their customers can be absolutely sure that they are adhering to future British standards.
Not only that, but Gourmet Vapes are leading the British vanguard of companies about to move across the Atlantic.
TGV will be reviewing Gourmet Vapes e-liquids at a later date.
Best of British and best foot forward then – over to Ritchie!
TGV: Hey Ritchie! Many thanks for taking the time out to spend some time with The Grumpy Vaper. How are you? What juice are you vaping today?
Ritchie: I’m very well thanks, hanging out for the weekend but we are nearly there! Today I’m vaping Gourmet Vapes Hunters Dew.
TGV: So, give me an introduction to Gourmet Vapes, what are you all about? What influences you?
Ritchie: I started Gourmet Vapes back in 2013, we spent a lot of time in research and development before we launched our site in early 2014. We are about great tasting thirty day steeped e–liquid and we strive to achieve exceptional customer service.
TGV: Ah thirty day steeped. That’s music to my ears!
Can you tell me about your business ethos?
Ritchie: Our business ethos is to always better the standard that we set ourselves, to be a trustworthy vendor and a safe manufacturer and to move forward as the industry progresses whilst listening to our customers and delivering what they want.
TGV: Could you take us through how you develop your juice line and the flavours?
Ritchie: The line of juices we offer has a little something for everyone, there are desert types, beverage types and some unusual ones like Neuro-Toxin and Hunters Dew the only thing we don’t do is tobacco and that’s because I feel I want to keep people away from the thing they have worked hard to give up. We use a range of techniques deliver the flavour we aim for and these techniques differ for certain flavour profiles but the most common technique we use is a layering method during the mixing and then we have our steeping method which is a closely guarded secret.
TGV: So, how do you come up with ideas your flavours?
Ritchie: The ideas can range from tasting a drink or a desert, to even just sporadically popping in to my head an example of that is Hunters Dew and Forest Child I was on the M25 when I had the idea for both, I drove straight to my wholesalers to pick up some concentrates as they were flavours I hadn’t used before and headed for the mixing room.
TGV: How do you know when a flavour is perfect, when it’s time to stop research and development?
Ritchie: For me, personally as a mixer I just feel I know when. With the Forest Child and Hunters Dew the recipe has not changed since day one as I felt I had hit the nail on the head straight away. Whereas Boston Cream Doughnut (which we just released) started out in development back in May 2014 and we tried it out at Vapefest in August it sold out extremely quickly, but when it came to going back preparing the next batch for the internet launch I felt that the flavour could be more rounded and decided to hold off releasing it until just two weeks ago. We do not use added sweeteners, PH balancers, masking agents or any witchcraft like that. We play with flavour percentages until we are happy with flavour, tones and sweetness or we will go on the hunt for a flavour to add that will bring the dynamic that we are looking to deliver.
TGV: So, you’re invading the USA I hear! What’s happening there then?
Ritchie: Yes! I’m really pleased to be able to say we are working with the Triumph Vaping Company in Norfolk, Virginia. We are working closely on a few things at the moment. Our Juice is on the way to them now so should hit their shelves in the next week or so. There is a lot of paperwork to do and hurdles to jump, BUT fingers crossed Gourmet Vapes will be opening a full mixing facility and production line in Virginia in early to mid-2016. I’m going to be cheeky here… If you’re a high end mod maker based in the UK and would like to get your products in to shops in the US please get in touch with me through my website or hunt me down on Facebook as the Triumph Vaping Company would love to stock your products.
TGV: It’s good to hear about a UK e-liquid company making the journey overseas, many congrats on that! UK mod makers – let’s see what you can bring to the USA!
Ok, safety is a huge and contentious issue at the moment in the world of vaping and e-cigarettes; there’s a 280w device out there to buy now. How many watts is too many watts? Is the vaping arms race necessary? How about diacetyl and other nasties?
Ritchie: Personally I think 280w is overkill there is increasing evidence that increased power may lead to the breakdown of the PG/VG into some quite nasty substances, so I personally err on the side of caution and stick to around the 40w mark I find that’s my sweet spot.
TGV: Yep, temperature control devices are the future – we can do without the aldehydes.
Ritchie: Diacetyl and the other nasties… that’s a big kettle of fish and is a separate question in itself but I know that EL-Science are currently working with a toxicological company to do a study in to what is an acceptable amount of parts per million for diacetyl as no current study exists.
TGV: Again, staying on the subject of safety, what would you say are the minimum safety standards for making an e-liquid line commercially?
The rest of the interview is here >>>>
He holds down a full time job in London and somehow still has time to run one of the UK’s leading e-liquid companies, Gourmet Vapes – a boutique manufacturer of gourmet flavoured e-liquids. Hand mixed and steeped in the UK, Gourmet Vapes only use USPS/EP grade nicotine, pharmaceutical grade glycerine and polypropylene glycol and flavourings from trusted suppliers. Their range is small and growing and they are firm believers in not allowing liquids to leave the mixing room unless they are sure that they are ready for you the customer.
Ritchie and Gourmet Vapes are also getting ready for 2016’s EU restrictions in whatever shape they arrive, working with an independent laboratory on Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry batch analysis of their liquids, so their customers can be absolutely sure that they are adhering to future British standards.
Not only that, but Gourmet Vapes are leading the British vanguard of companies about to move across the Atlantic.
TGV will be reviewing Gourmet Vapes e-liquids at a later date.
Best of British and best foot forward then – over to Ritchie!
TGV: Hey Ritchie! Many thanks for taking the time out to spend some time with The Grumpy Vaper. How are you? What juice are you vaping today?
Ritchie: I’m very well thanks, hanging out for the weekend but we are nearly there! Today I’m vaping Gourmet Vapes Hunters Dew.
TGV: So, give me an introduction to Gourmet Vapes, what are you all about? What influences you?
Ritchie: I started Gourmet Vapes back in 2013, we spent a lot of time in research and development before we launched our site in early 2014. We are about great tasting thirty day steeped e–liquid and we strive to achieve exceptional customer service.
TGV: Ah thirty day steeped. That’s music to my ears!
Can you tell me about your business ethos?
Ritchie: Our business ethos is to always better the standard that we set ourselves, to be a trustworthy vendor and a safe manufacturer and to move forward as the industry progresses whilst listening to our customers and delivering what they want.
TGV: Could you take us through how you develop your juice line and the flavours?
Ritchie: The line of juices we offer has a little something for everyone, there are desert types, beverage types and some unusual ones like Neuro-Toxin and Hunters Dew the only thing we don’t do is tobacco and that’s because I feel I want to keep people away from the thing they have worked hard to give up. We use a range of techniques deliver the flavour we aim for and these techniques differ for certain flavour profiles but the most common technique we use is a layering method during the mixing and then we have our steeping method which is a closely guarded secret.
TGV: So, how do you come up with ideas your flavours?
Ritchie: The ideas can range from tasting a drink or a desert, to even just sporadically popping in to my head an example of that is Hunters Dew and Forest Child I was on the M25 when I had the idea for both, I drove straight to my wholesalers to pick up some concentrates as they were flavours I hadn’t used before and headed for the mixing room.
TGV: How do you know when a flavour is perfect, when it’s time to stop research and development?
Ritchie: For me, personally as a mixer I just feel I know when. With the Forest Child and Hunters Dew the recipe has not changed since day one as I felt I had hit the nail on the head straight away. Whereas Boston Cream Doughnut (which we just released) started out in development back in May 2014 and we tried it out at Vapefest in August it sold out extremely quickly, but when it came to going back preparing the next batch for the internet launch I felt that the flavour could be more rounded and decided to hold off releasing it until just two weeks ago. We do not use added sweeteners, PH balancers, masking agents or any witchcraft like that. We play with flavour percentages until we are happy with flavour, tones and sweetness or we will go on the hunt for a flavour to add that will bring the dynamic that we are looking to deliver.
TGV: So, you’re invading the USA I hear! What’s happening there then?
Ritchie: Yes! I’m really pleased to be able to say we are working with the Triumph Vaping Company in Norfolk, Virginia. We are working closely on a few things at the moment. Our Juice is on the way to them now so should hit their shelves in the next week or so. There is a lot of paperwork to do and hurdles to jump, BUT fingers crossed Gourmet Vapes will be opening a full mixing facility and production line in Virginia in early to mid-2016. I’m going to be cheeky here… If you’re a high end mod maker based in the UK and would like to get your products in to shops in the US please get in touch with me through my website or hunt me down on Facebook as the Triumph Vaping Company would love to stock your products.
TGV: It’s good to hear about a UK e-liquid company making the journey overseas, many congrats on that! UK mod makers – let’s see what you can bring to the USA!
Ok, safety is a huge and contentious issue at the moment in the world of vaping and e-cigarettes; there’s a 280w device out there to buy now. How many watts is too many watts? Is the vaping arms race necessary? How about diacetyl and other nasties?
Ritchie: Personally I think 280w is overkill there is increasing evidence that increased power may lead to the breakdown of the PG/VG into some quite nasty substances, so I personally err on the side of caution and stick to around the 40w mark I find that’s my sweet spot.
TGV: Yep, temperature control devices are the future – we can do without the aldehydes.
Ritchie: Diacetyl and the other nasties… that’s a big kettle of fish and is a separate question in itself but I know that EL-Science are currently working with a toxicological company to do a study in to what is an acceptable amount of parts per million for diacetyl as no current study exists.
TGV: Again, staying on the subject of safety, what would you say are the minimum safety standards for making an e-liquid line commercially?
The rest of the interview is here >>>>
