True story time:
Imagine living in a rural area right up in the Drakensberg mountains. 25km from the nearest village and 150km from the closest hospital...............
21:00 my wife "thinks" she is in labour..... great timing.
We call the hospital as we are a couple weeks early and she gives her symptoms etc to the nurse. She calls our Dr and calls me back saying you better start driving - only problem is we are full. At a pace only the flash could keep up with I pack some bags and load the bags and my wife in the car not exactly knowing where I am driving to, but a city isn't a bad option. On the way there we find out all the hospitals we suggested are full, but another hospital in a slightly more dangerous side of town has a bed. I arrived just over an hour later with my wife in full blown labour tellimng me how I did this to her...
Hospital confirmed we where in labor - I would have been mighty gloomy if she wasn't and my choice of speed was questioned the whole way..
Just after midnight my little one joined the family fold. The hospital was awesome and made me some tea while I waited for my wife to come back from theatre.
at 3am being awake now for 20 hours I sat in the hospital parking lot thinking I need some Champagne or something to celebrate with.
I reached over to my vape bag and saw maybe 3mls of XXX that I hadn't vaped purely because I feared finishing the bottle.
So yes, I toasted my daughters arrival at 3am with some XXX (the juice).
Bit of a longer introduction than usual, but todays intervew is with the makers of XXX - Vapour Mountain
1. Hey Vapour Mountain, thanks for taking the time to chat, apart from being the makers of XXX I don’t know too much about you. Can you tell us a little about yourselve(s)?
I am Benji Wright, better known on ECIGSSA as @Oupa . Together with my wife, Chrystel, we founded and own Vapour Mountain. What started out as a personal quit smoking crusade in 2009 ended up as a hobby and small part time business more than 5 years ago. This developed into the company you know today, with Vapour Mountain e-liquids on the shelves of the top vape stores in SA. We have a 4yo son and 11mo daughter, so balancing business and personal life is quite tricky. I am the mixologist, with my lab assistants Trevor and Jessica… experts at sterilising, filling and labeling bottles. Chrystel takes care of finances and our wholesale customers. Chanel takes care of retail sales and admin. We also have Damian as a part time lab assistant and Hanli as cleaner/general admin/tea girl.
2. So where did it all start? Are you former DIYers who followed a passion or is VM formed as a company?
When Chrystel and I quit smoking in 2009 and started vaping full-time, device and flavour options were extremely limited. When refillable tanks became available it sparked an idea of mixing my own e-liquid. There were very little info available and of course no DIY ingredients in South Africa at that time. After MANY hours of research, emails and phone calls trying to source all the components, my first juice was born and tested. What a revelation it was that I could actually make my own e-liquid and the fact that it was totally vapeable blew my mind at that time. From there we started mixing and selling our own creations by word of mouth around 2011/2012 and could not keep up with demand. As far as we know, Vapour Mountain e-liquid was the first commercially available locally produced e-liquid in SA. The few brands available locally at that time were either imported or rebottled/rebranded e-liquid from China. We soon started selling DIY mixing ingredients as well, which got more than a few people into DIY for the first time. Many of our DIY customers grew into some of SA’s biggest e-liquid companies everyone knows and loves today.
3. In your opinion, what put VM on the map?
I would have to say the fact that we were pioneers in the local e-liquid industry when it all started. Also XXX and VM4 might have something to do with it…
4. We all know XXX and the Oak aged VM4 Special reserve, but can you tell us about your other juices? I have never tried it, but Cyclone has caught my eye.
Apart from VM4, most of our juices are fruits, menthols or a combination of the two. Some of our menthols are very strong and bold, of which Cyclone is one. Use with caution
5. On the subject of juice, how do you go about designing a new juice. How long does it take to go from concept to the market?
For me it has always been quite personal. I have always only released juices that I enjoy and could vape all day. This will change in 2018 with a few releases that I do not necessarily vape all day, but enjoy as a treat. These have been in development for over a year, with lots of steeping, revisions and late nights. Sometimes you nail a recipe very quickly within a couple of days/weeks and sometimes it takes months/years.
6. I am an avid DIYer and like to experiment by making my own recipes. In the 4 months I have been mixing I only have 2 juices I would pursue further and the rest are either chuck away or end of month vapes. Do you have any tips for the DIYers out there?
Don’t do it! Just buy ready to vape juices! Lol…. Just kidding… No, I would say keep researching and reading and follow as many of the well known DIYers out there, local and international, of which there are plenty now!
7. I am a massive oak aged fan, especially oak aged beer. What can somebody expect from an oak aged juice compared to a standard steeped juice?
Well the most important difference with wood aged e-liquid is the addition of tannins from steeping in oak barrels. It will give a slight bitterness but pleasant complexity to e-liquid. Similar to a good red wine, whisky or brandy. Oak aging e-liquid is somewhat controversial, but could deliver a product which is very enjoyable if done right.
8. My favourite question: What gear do you roll with? Do you have separate gear for testing?
I mainly use Billet Boxes with Excocet bridges these days. Just can’t beat it for an all rounder when it comes to flavour and easy maintenance! I also use Skyline and Beserker tanks, enjoying restricted lung hits or the occasional MTL session for tobaccos flavours. Chrystel also mainly uses a Billet Box. Trevor uses a REO with RM2(old school) and Beserker on an iStick. Jessica uses a Vaporesso Swag kit and Chanel uses various mods and tanks (too many to keep up with J). We use a variety of drippers and tanks for juice testing.
9. In all honesty, how much juice do you guys vape in a day?
I’d say I go through about 10 - 15ml per day, excluding testing. Chrystel does 18mg MTL, so she goes through less. The rest also about 10 - 20ml a day.
10. One would assume VM http://www.vapourmountain.co.za is mainly a juice website, but I see you have a nice collection of spares and hard to find accessories such as billetbox condensation plugs and REO spares. Are you planning to keep expanding your hardware offering?
We have always been a juice manufacturer/supplier as our main line of business, so I doubt that we will be expanding too much on the hardware front.
11. Thanks for taking the time out of your day to let us get to know you all a bit better, lastly, can we expect anything new or exciting from VM in the near future?
We have a couple of new releases that will be ready to launch in the next few months. We also have some very exciting announcements to share soon. The first being that we started doing contract manufacturing and bottling for other e-liquid brands recently. More news to follow soon…
Thank you for having us! And a big thank you to all our loyal customers, retail and wholesale, for all the love and support over the years!
So there we have it from @Oupa himself.
Being a new vaper it's nice to get some insight as to what is was like in the days when vaping was still a new concept in South Africa.
Head on over to http://www.vapourmountain.co.za to stock up on your favourite juices or make use of any of their distributors.
Once again, thanks to the VM crew for giving us some insight into their company.
Imagine living in a rural area right up in the Drakensberg mountains. 25km from the nearest village and 150km from the closest hospital...............
21:00 my wife "thinks" she is in labour..... great timing.
We call the hospital as we are a couple weeks early and she gives her symptoms etc to the nurse. She calls our Dr and calls me back saying you better start driving - only problem is we are full. At a pace only the flash could keep up with I pack some bags and load the bags and my wife in the car not exactly knowing where I am driving to, but a city isn't a bad option. On the way there we find out all the hospitals we suggested are full, but another hospital in a slightly more dangerous side of town has a bed. I arrived just over an hour later with my wife in full blown labour tellimng me how I did this to her...
Hospital confirmed we where in labor - I would have been mighty gloomy if she wasn't and my choice of speed was questioned the whole way..
Just after midnight my little one joined the family fold. The hospital was awesome and made me some tea while I waited for my wife to come back from theatre.
at 3am being awake now for 20 hours I sat in the hospital parking lot thinking I need some Champagne or something to celebrate with.
I reached over to my vape bag and saw maybe 3mls of XXX that I hadn't vaped purely because I feared finishing the bottle.
So yes, I toasted my daughters arrival at 3am with some XXX (the juice).
Bit of a longer introduction than usual, but todays intervew is with the makers of XXX - Vapour Mountain
1. Hey Vapour Mountain, thanks for taking the time to chat, apart from being the makers of XXX I don’t know too much about you. Can you tell us a little about yourselve(s)?
I am Benji Wright, better known on ECIGSSA as @Oupa . Together with my wife, Chrystel, we founded and own Vapour Mountain. What started out as a personal quit smoking crusade in 2009 ended up as a hobby and small part time business more than 5 years ago. This developed into the company you know today, with Vapour Mountain e-liquids on the shelves of the top vape stores in SA. We have a 4yo son and 11mo daughter, so balancing business and personal life is quite tricky. I am the mixologist, with my lab assistants Trevor and Jessica… experts at sterilising, filling and labeling bottles. Chrystel takes care of finances and our wholesale customers. Chanel takes care of retail sales and admin. We also have Damian as a part time lab assistant and Hanli as cleaner/general admin/tea girl.
2. So where did it all start? Are you former DIYers who followed a passion or is VM formed as a company?
When Chrystel and I quit smoking in 2009 and started vaping full-time, device and flavour options were extremely limited. When refillable tanks became available it sparked an idea of mixing my own e-liquid. There were very little info available and of course no DIY ingredients in South Africa at that time. After MANY hours of research, emails and phone calls trying to source all the components, my first juice was born and tested. What a revelation it was that I could actually make my own e-liquid and the fact that it was totally vapeable blew my mind at that time. From there we started mixing and selling our own creations by word of mouth around 2011/2012 and could not keep up with demand. As far as we know, Vapour Mountain e-liquid was the first commercially available locally produced e-liquid in SA. The few brands available locally at that time were either imported or rebottled/rebranded e-liquid from China. We soon started selling DIY mixing ingredients as well, which got more than a few people into DIY for the first time. Many of our DIY customers grew into some of SA’s biggest e-liquid companies everyone knows and loves today.
3. In your opinion, what put VM on the map?
I would have to say the fact that we were pioneers in the local e-liquid industry when it all started. Also XXX and VM4 might have something to do with it…
4. We all know XXX and the Oak aged VM4 Special reserve, but can you tell us about your other juices? I have never tried it, but Cyclone has caught my eye.
Apart from VM4, most of our juices are fruits, menthols or a combination of the two. Some of our menthols are very strong and bold, of which Cyclone is one. Use with caution
5. On the subject of juice, how do you go about designing a new juice. How long does it take to go from concept to the market?
For me it has always been quite personal. I have always only released juices that I enjoy and could vape all day. This will change in 2018 with a few releases that I do not necessarily vape all day, but enjoy as a treat. These have been in development for over a year, with lots of steeping, revisions and late nights. Sometimes you nail a recipe very quickly within a couple of days/weeks and sometimes it takes months/years.
6. I am an avid DIYer and like to experiment by making my own recipes. In the 4 months I have been mixing I only have 2 juices I would pursue further and the rest are either chuck away or end of month vapes. Do you have any tips for the DIYers out there?
Don’t do it! Just buy ready to vape juices! Lol…. Just kidding… No, I would say keep researching and reading and follow as many of the well known DIYers out there, local and international, of which there are plenty now!
7. I am a massive oak aged fan, especially oak aged beer. What can somebody expect from an oak aged juice compared to a standard steeped juice?
Well the most important difference with wood aged e-liquid is the addition of tannins from steeping in oak barrels. It will give a slight bitterness but pleasant complexity to e-liquid. Similar to a good red wine, whisky or brandy. Oak aging e-liquid is somewhat controversial, but could deliver a product which is very enjoyable if done right.
8. My favourite question: What gear do you roll with? Do you have separate gear for testing?
I mainly use Billet Boxes with Excocet bridges these days. Just can’t beat it for an all rounder when it comes to flavour and easy maintenance! I also use Skyline and Beserker tanks, enjoying restricted lung hits or the occasional MTL session for tobaccos flavours. Chrystel also mainly uses a Billet Box. Trevor uses a REO with RM2(old school) and Beserker on an iStick. Jessica uses a Vaporesso Swag kit and Chanel uses various mods and tanks (too many to keep up with J). We use a variety of drippers and tanks for juice testing.
9. In all honesty, how much juice do you guys vape in a day?
I’d say I go through about 10 - 15ml per day, excluding testing. Chrystel does 18mg MTL, so she goes through less. The rest also about 10 - 20ml a day.
10. One would assume VM http://www.vapourmountain.co.za is mainly a juice website, but I see you have a nice collection of spares and hard to find accessories such as billetbox condensation plugs and REO spares. Are you planning to keep expanding your hardware offering?
We have always been a juice manufacturer/supplier as our main line of business, so I doubt that we will be expanding too much on the hardware front.
11. Thanks for taking the time out of your day to let us get to know you all a bit better, lastly, can we expect anything new or exciting from VM in the near future?
We have a couple of new releases that will be ready to launch in the next few months. We also have some very exciting announcements to share soon. The first being that we started doing contract manufacturing and bottling for other e-liquid brands recently. More news to follow soon…
Thank you for having us! And a big thank you to all our loyal customers, retail and wholesale, for all the love and support over the years!
So there we have it from @Oupa himself.
Being a new vaper it's nice to get some insight as to what is was like in the days when vaping was still a new concept in South Africa.
Head on over to http://www.vapourmountain.co.za to stock up on your favourite juices or make use of any of their distributors.
Once again, thanks to the VM crew for giving us some insight into their company.
