The following is my experience of navigating the "blackmarket" vape juice scene from the last 3 weeks.
The majority of cloned juice seems to originate in China as evidenced by the barcodes in the pics below.
China's code is from 650 to 698, America runs from 010 to 200, so if a USA juice has a 698 barcode it is almost certainly fake. When considering barcodes, its the 1st 3 digits that describe the country of origin.
However its the country that registered the barcode use, not necessarily the country of manufacture, so its not a categorical rule.
The source list of barcodes here http://www.adams1.com/upccode.html#countrycode
Heres an example of an authentic CBD usa Brutal juice with the 060 code.
Lets start with an obvious fake, note the poor spelling of "paneakes" and the G in MG which appears as a C. Barcode 698 is China.
Flavour was very muted, no nicotine to speak of.
Next up is Juul juice, this is not a clone per se, but more like trying to capitalize on the ubiquitous Juul device use of a year or 2 ago. Once again 698 code for China.
The grammar and spelling on the back of the box seems to indicate a non English speaking country, front label says juice vape, and back of the box talks about a poo instead of a pod.
The 5mg was quite strong, the 3mg had virtually zero nic.
Creme Brulee tasted like a over ripe tobacco, very disgusting.
The Cool Mint wasnt too bad.
Next up is Cutwood Unicorn Milk which has a barcode for Cuba, 850. Very possibly a fake as there was no nic or flavour to speak of.
This one required more thought, Dinner Lady rice pudding with the correct barcode for the UK, 506.
Also no nic with a supposed 3mg, but I could taste the jam and rice pudding.
However, the batch number seems to be identical over a period of 3 weeks and the chances of that happening is quite remote.
I think that the label was scanned from an original and used for the entire fake production.
Lastly we have Nasty Juice who are based in Malaysia, so the juice should have a 955 barcode.
Instead it has a 692 code for China, the 2D barcode is also rubbish, upside down and seems to be a poor resolution jpeg, my scanner app on my cell didnt see it as being a conforming code.
This was sold to me as a 3mg product and upon opening it, the bottle showed a zero nic.
However, being a black current mint flavour, it was quite pronounced and still vape able.
In one China mall shop they had bottles of Jam Monster (blueberry) that had the date cut out of the sticker with a razor blade, definitely a no go.
I'd suggest that the desperate vaper steer clear of bakery and dessert flavours and stick to the mint, menthol fruits if you have to.
The majority of cloned juice seems to originate in China as evidenced by the barcodes in the pics below.
China's code is from 650 to 698, America runs from 010 to 200, so if a USA juice has a 698 barcode it is almost certainly fake. When considering barcodes, its the 1st 3 digits that describe the country of origin.
However its the country that registered the barcode use, not necessarily the country of manufacture, so its not a categorical rule.
The source list of barcodes here http://www.adams1.com/upccode.html#countrycode
Heres an example of an authentic CBD usa Brutal juice with the 060 code.
Lets start with an obvious fake, note the poor spelling of "paneakes" and the G in MG which appears as a C. Barcode 698 is China.
Flavour was very muted, no nicotine to speak of.
Next up is Juul juice, this is not a clone per se, but more like trying to capitalize on the ubiquitous Juul device use of a year or 2 ago. Once again 698 code for China.
The grammar and spelling on the back of the box seems to indicate a non English speaking country, front label says juice vape, and back of the box talks about a poo instead of a pod.
The 5mg was quite strong, the 3mg had virtually zero nic.
Creme Brulee tasted like a over ripe tobacco, very disgusting.
The Cool Mint wasnt too bad.
Next up is Cutwood Unicorn Milk which has a barcode for Cuba, 850. Very possibly a fake as there was no nic or flavour to speak of.
This one required more thought, Dinner Lady rice pudding with the correct barcode for the UK, 506.
Also no nic with a supposed 3mg, but I could taste the jam and rice pudding.
However, the batch number seems to be identical over a period of 3 weeks and the chances of that happening is quite remote.
I think that the label was scanned from an original and used for the entire fake production.
Lastly we have Nasty Juice who are based in Malaysia, so the juice should have a 955 barcode.
Instead it has a 692 code for China, the 2D barcode is also rubbish, upside down and seems to be a poor resolution jpeg, my scanner app on my cell didnt see it as being a conforming code.
This was sold to me as a 3mg product and upon opening it, the bottle showed a zero nic.
However, being a black current mint flavour, it was quite pronounced and still vape able.
In one China mall shop they had bottles of Jam Monster (blueberry) that had the date cut out of the sticker with a razor blade, definitely a no go.
I'd suggest that the desperate vaper steer clear of bakery and dessert flavours and stick to the mint, menthol fruits if you have to.
