October 13, 2020
Cassandra Stern
e-Liquid Mixology: An Interview with Hi-Drip Labs and eJuice Direct
eJuice Direct recently sat down with mixologist Tony from Hi-Drip e-Liquids, and we got into the details of e-juice creation with an industry frontrunner. As a dedicated creator of delicious e-Liquids, Tony is one of the masterminds behind some of the best-selling vape juices available on eJuice Direct, and he let us in on some secrets as to how these incredible flavors are created from start to finish.
| Believe it or not, Tony is not a chemist or scientist; he is simply a long-time vape enthusiast committed to formulating great tasting e-Liquids for customers all over the world. When asked how he got started mixing e-juice with his business partner Danny, Tony said “ got started early in the vape industry by having a brick and mortar in Orange County… said he had an idea of how to make e-Liquids, and I said ‘let’s try it,’ so we put our heads together and created our first line in 2013.” Having a headstart on the vape industry in its early years set them up for success, but it was not just luck that got them to the top of the charts today. This small team has a keen eye for what is missing in the industry as far as flavors go, and this insight led the team of two to create unique flavors that no one else could. |
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While other brands were mixing tried-and-true flavors, this team started at the top with five-star restaurant foods they loved and turned them into authentic-tasting e-Liquids Tony went on to tell us, “we saw a lot of people making some flavors that were really good and we wanted to do the same… but we’ve had some desserts and had some meals together that were an inspiration for some of the directions we’ve taken with the flavors.” He has always had a passion for food, despite not being a trained chef, but this led into his desire for flavor creation in the lab where his dedication became his biggest strength.
As a mixologist, Tony claims the best attribute one can have is “a lack of ego. Just because I make a flavor, and I think it’s really good, I’m not the only one who is going to buy .” This humility goes a long way in e-Liquid creation; because taste is subjective, Tony’s enjoyment of one flavor is not the only one that matters. Once a flavor is formed and enjoyed by the mixology team, they then branch out their efforts to the rest of the Hi-Drip staff for taste testing to get a more accurate assessment of flavors in the early creation stages. But how do they know if a flavor has all-day vape potential? This is where dedication really takes a toll.
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When it comes to testing flavors out, self-proclaimed ‘lab-rat’ Tony told us, “we taste it, we smell it a bit, then we do it all over again… then we’ll vape it for an extended period of time.” This extensive testing allows the team to discover if a good flavor holds up when vaped nonstop for days on end, and only the best make it to the next stage in production where it is professionally mixed on a larger scale for mass distribution. Now that the flavor is created, there is still no end in sight for the Hi-Drip team. “You got to think about the marketability of the flavor,” Tony says, and thus begins the creation of Hi-Drip’s lines of flavors, including their best-selling fruit blends line at eJuice Direct. From there, the team gives the flavor a name, begins creating a gorgeous bottle design, and the delicious e-juice is on its way to vape shop shelves!
Stay tuned on the Direct Blog for more from Tony of Hi-Drip e-Liquids, where next week we will delve into the mind behind the flavors and learn about his favorite e-juices he has created and his dream flavors of the future.
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