Full disclaimer: I was given this juice by @Opus_Interlude after I made a funny in their launch thread and after @Stosta suggested that they give me credit. And then I did a stupid thing. Feeling awkward after being given free stuff, I told him I’d do a review. So I was extremely worried that the juice would be crap - because I’d already promised to do a review, and how horrible would a bad review be after getting something for free? And I refuse to shill - that’s just bad form. So I was worried the juice would be crap, and I would just have to put off writing a review until the next civil war, or I would have to write a bad review. Luckily - and this is my super honest opinion - the juice is frikken great. So the full review below is entirely sincere, and is something I would’ve done anyway even if I had bought the juice myself. So thank you very much @Opus_Interlude for sending (and even paying for the courier!) this juice, I really, really appreciate it!
Fuller disclaimer: I didn’t read the website blurb before reviewing. I had read it long ago, but totally forgot about it by the time I got the bottle, and then decided I’ll do the review without being influenced by the blurb. I’ve now (after writing everything else below) read the blurb... and you’ll notice that I only mention apple once. What I identified as blackberry is in fact the apple, which blends in quite a crazy way with the berries to give what I tasted as a combination of tart blackberry with some apple/dragonfruit. Which I guess makes sense - a greenish/tart apple in lower concentrations mixed with strong berries might develop something like a blackberry taste! Who knew! Anyway, I’ve just vaped on it again, and now I can fully taste the apple - the power of suggestion, huh. At least I was spot on with the black currant. Either way, the following review is entirely based on what I tasted at the time, rather than what I think I tasted.
Company: Opus EJuice Co.
Product Name: Sonata
Product Image:
*Box got messed up already in bag today... was perfectly packed and couriered though.
Reviewer: Ezekiel
Tested on the following setups:
Strength: 3 mg/ml
Price: Not sure but available from Lung Candy and Vape Cartel
Website: http://www.opusejuice.co.za/
Website blurb: "A marriage of black currant and apple, sealed with a kiss of menthol",
A smooth blend of blackcurrant and apple, with a light touch of menthol to accentuate the flavour profile without overpowering the delicate notes.
This is not a menthol juice, it's simply a refreshing fruit flavoured juice - a perfect all day vape.
Pairs very well with almost anything.
Presentation:
I think DIY is changing me. I feel these days that, if I’m going to buy a premium juice, I really want to feel that its premium. It’s like buying a bottle of wine, or a bottle of SA brandy. While we all have found cheap, but very drinkable bottles, when you spoil yourself with a decent bottle you want to feel spoiled not just in taste. It has to look good too.
So even though expensive bottles, labels and boxing adds to the overhead of the juice, which will most likely increase the price, I really like having them! Again, I think its because I mostly DIY, so when I buy/get a bottle once in a blue moon, I like to feel spoiled. I like looking at a label and think, “Aah, the good stuff!”. I like receiving my juice in a box, even though the box mostly ends up crushed at the bottom of a bag or car. In a very weird way, these things add to the taste, especially when standing next to my hastily and incomprehensibly scrawled and over-used bottles. Don’t get me wrong though, I have a few local juices which I will always re-buy despite the presentation, so taste in the end is still king, but I’ve noticed that I tend to savour the fancy looking bottles just a tad more.
Anyway, this juice ticks all the boxes. It came in a nice looking box. The label design is sleek but informative. I especially like that they didn’t put the website blurb somewhere on the bottle, and rather opted for two icons indicating the flavour profile (in terms of fruity, minty, etc.). You can see these guys are planning multiple releases, since they indicated the “Range” on the bottle (in this case, labelled as Classic). They also put on the batch number (in my case, batch number 01!) The logo design is fantastic, classily done but keeping to the music notation theme. The bottle is 50ml, which I guess is becoming a slight trend given the speed at which most people vape these days. The bottle is great though. It doesn’t feel particularly large, but it is still clear glass (which means you can actually see how much you have left), and the dripper is long enough for the bottle (small gripe, but I hate it when a dripper cannot reach the last few drops). The dripper also have a small tip, which I appreciate since it allows for finer dripping/refilling. The cap is childproof, but doesn’t seem to pop open if you press too hard on it - something I’ve experienced with some other glass bottles and has become a massive pet peeve of mine. Finally, I really like the name, both on the range and the specific juice. For those who don’t know or don’t care, Opus, roughly meaning a body of work, is used in classical music to refer to a single composition by the composer, and then proceeding chronologically (except for Bach, Mozart and a few others, who have different indexing schemes). The juice name, Sonata, usually refers to a composition for a solo instrument, although usually with accompaniment, in one or more movements. In this regard, I guess I can conclude that the juice is well named, since it so strongly depends on a very specific berry note as a central theme.
All in all, the care which has gone into the label design, range design and bottle choosing - all of which works greatly together and is much appreciated!
Juice Details: 3mg/ml, 60:40 VG. 50 ml.
Tasting Notes:
Menthol comes out dominant at lower (200 to 220 ºC) and higher (260 + ºC). Blackcurrant and mullberry tastes shines between 230 and 260 ºC. Blackberry tastes start to develop from 220 ºC to about 245 ºC. Preferred temperature: 240 - 250 ºC.
Preferred Vape Temperature: Very Mild heat
The light menthol cools down your vape, so it doesn't necessarily feel hot. The blackcurrant needs a little bit of heat to develop nicely, and it lingers more at slightly higher temperatures. However, the tartiness starts to overpower with too much heat and too little indirect airflow. Overall still likes a cooler rather than hot vape.
Layering: Inhale hits tip and side of tongue with some sourness, but exhale is mostly all over. Could use some additional complexity during initial exhale - in the wrong setup, you get mostly tart/citric acid, but with too little fruit before the aftertaste kicks in. Aftertaste is very well-developed though, with nice longevity. Any unwanted notes are well masked and undetectable.
General thoughts:
I haven’t had many berry vapes. The ones which I’ve DIY’ed, or tasted from others, tended to be very red-berry-ish, or very tarty. While that can be very nice, I haven’t experienced the darker berries, specifically black currant, too often in juices which I’ve tasted. And I loooove this specific berry taste. I still haven’t figured out exactly what it reminds me of, which is driving me crazy - in my youth there was a specific berry candy (I keep thinking the purple wine gums, but it isn’t that exactly) which I loved, and has this exact taste. That is the candied part, which forms a big part of the exhale and the lingering aftertaste, and it is great. Secondly, when I thought mullberries (‘moerbeie’), I instantly felt it resonating within me. I haven’t had a mullberry in a very long time though, so I might be mistaken with this note, but either way, I keep thinking mullberry when I vape it. Which is great, since mullberry has such a unique taste, and is quite distinct from a lot of berries in that they are a) not very tart or acidic, and b) has a very deep taste. So for me at least, the dominant note of this juice (black current + mullberry) is something I haven’t encountered before. I like it very, very much. The initial profile during the exhale of this juice, the tarty blackberry, is less berry and more dragonfruit/apple, without necessarily tasting like dragonfruit nor apple. Whatever fruit they added blends nicely with the berry profile to give something which tastes like blackberry without necessarily being blackberry.
Now, I have one or two complaints. The menthol is very nicely layered, supporting the black current without overpowering it. I am not a fan of menthol vapes, but it works very nicely here. I think without it, the black current would be considerbly less smooth. However, in very high surface area builds, or at very high temperatures, the menthol starts to overpower, and it lends itself to a “Black current Fisherman’s Friend”. Which is interesting, I guess, but not my cup of tea. I only experienced this in the ridiculous build I currently have in the Aromamizer.
On the other hand, this juice does not work without some air, IMO. It’s one of the first juices which I didn’t like on my Goblin Mini, nor the Subtank Mini. In these cases, the tartiness started to overpower the very nice aftertaste which I craved, and it became too much tart berry and too little black currant for my liking. So while this juice shined on most of my test setups, I felt like you need some air to really open up the black currant and distinct mullberry notes, but in this case you need a slightly bigger build (or slightly more surface area) so as not to lose flavour. The current Ni build I have in the Hastur, for instance, gives me the airflow but not the surface area, and as a result I couldn’t develop the black currant notes except in the occasional puff.
Overall, a very enjoyable vape! Very distinct, or at least one of the very few people who made a very smooth berry/black currant vape. I would definitely re-order! Lastly, it pairs incredibly well with a Pinotage. I had it with some Kanonkop Kadette (a mostly pinotage/cabernet sauvignon blend) last night... and it was quite amazing! The mullberry fits in right with that profile, and the deeper notes of the wine resonate well with this deeper berry juice.
I’m very excited to give some of their other juices a try as well, as I was extremely impressed with this juice!
Sorry for the long review...
Fuller disclaimer: I didn’t read the website blurb before reviewing. I had read it long ago, but totally forgot about it by the time I got the bottle, and then decided I’ll do the review without being influenced by the blurb. I’ve now (after writing everything else below) read the blurb... and you’ll notice that I only mention apple once. What I identified as blackberry is in fact the apple, which blends in quite a crazy way with the berries to give what I tasted as a combination of tart blackberry with some apple/dragonfruit. Which I guess makes sense - a greenish/tart apple in lower concentrations mixed with strong berries might develop something like a blackberry taste! Who knew! Anyway, I’ve just vaped on it again, and now I can fully taste the apple - the power of suggestion, huh. At least I was spot on with the black currant. Either way, the following review is entirely based on what I tasted at the time, rather than what I think I tasted.
Company: Opus EJuice Co.
Product Name: Sonata
Product Image:
*Box got messed up already in bag today... was perfectly packed and couriered though.
Reviewer: Ezekiel
Tested on the following setups:
- DNA200, with empirically adjusted TFR values to give the same general heat scale on different wires and atomizers as well as buffer adjusted.
- Evic VTC mini, with custom TCRs:
- Titanium 1: 3796 x 10^-6
- Stainless Steel 316L: 927 x 10^-6
- Hastur v2 RDA, 2 x Ni200 30 AWG, 2.5 mm ID, 14 wraps, spaced, 0.145 ohm, wicked normally with Cotton Bacon v2
- Stroh Mini RDA, 2 x Kanthal Clapton (32 over 28 AWG), 2.5 mm ID, 4 wraps, mildly spaced, 0.33 ohm, wicked Scottish with Cotton Bacon v2
- Aromamizer v1 RDTA, 2 x Ni200 28 AWG twisted with Kanthal AWG, 3.0 mm ID, 13 wraps, compressed, vertical, 0.122 ohm, wicked normally with Cotton Bacon v2
- Goblin Mini v2 RTA, 2 x SS316L 26 AWG, 2.0 mm ID, 10 wraps, compressed, 0.23 ohm, wicked normally with Cotton Bacon v2
- Subtank Mini v2 RTA, 1 x Titanium 1 26 AWG, 2.5 mm ID, 10 wraps, compressed, vertical, 0.42 ohm, wicked Dragon with Cotton Bacon v2
- TFV4 RTA, 1 x Clapton (Ni200 core, 28AWG, wrapped with Kanthal 32 AWG, 2.5 mm ID, 5 wraps, compressed, 0.21 ohm, wicked normally with Cotton Bacon v2
Strength: 3 mg/ml
Price: Not sure but available from Lung Candy and Vape Cartel
Website: http://www.opusejuice.co.za/
Website blurb: "A marriage of black currant and apple, sealed with a kiss of menthol",
A smooth blend of blackcurrant and apple, with a light touch of menthol to accentuate the flavour profile without overpowering the delicate notes.
This is not a menthol juice, it's simply a refreshing fruit flavoured juice - a perfect all day vape.
Pairs very well with almost anything.
Presentation:
I think DIY is changing me. I feel these days that, if I’m going to buy a premium juice, I really want to feel that its premium. It’s like buying a bottle of wine, or a bottle of SA brandy. While we all have found cheap, but very drinkable bottles, when you spoil yourself with a decent bottle you want to feel spoiled not just in taste. It has to look good too.
So even though expensive bottles, labels and boxing adds to the overhead of the juice, which will most likely increase the price, I really like having them! Again, I think its because I mostly DIY, so when I buy/get a bottle once in a blue moon, I like to feel spoiled. I like looking at a label and think, “Aah, the good stuff!”. I like receiving my juice in a box, even though the box mostly ends up crushed at the bottom of a bag or car. In a very weird way, these things add to the taste, especially when standing next to my hastily and incomprehensibly scrawled and over-used bottles. Don’t get me wrong though, I have a few local juices which I will always re-buy despite the presentation, so taste in the end is still king, but I’ve noticed that I tend to savour the fancy looking bottles just a tad more.
Anyway, this juice ticks all the boxes. It came in a nice looking box. The label design is sleek but informative. I especially like that they didn’t put the website blurb somewhere on the bottle, and rather opted for two icons indicating the flavour profile (in terms of fruity, minty, etc.). You can see these guys are planning multiple releases, since they indicated the “Range” on the bottle (in this case, labelled as Classic). They also put on the batch number (in my case, batch number 01!) The logo design is fantastic, classily done but keeping to the music notation theme. The bottle is 50ml, which I guess is becoming a slight trend given the speed at which most people vape these days. The bottle is great though. It doesn’t feel particularly large, but it is still clear glass (which means you can actually see how much you have left), and the dripper is long enough for the bottle (small gripe, but I hate it when a dripper cannot reach the last few drops). The dripper also have a small tip, which I appreciate since it allows for finer dripping/refilling. The cap is childproof, but doesn’t seem to pop open if you press too hard on it - something I’ve experienced with some other glass bottles and has become a massive pet peeve of mine. Finally, I really like the name, both on the range and the specific juice. For those who don’t know or don’t care, Opus, roughly meaning a body of work, is used in classical music to refer to a single composition by the composer, and then proceeding chronologically (except for Bach, Mozart and a few others, who have different indexing schemes). The juice name, Sonata, usually refers to a composition for a solo instrument, although usually with accompaniment, in one or more movements. In this regard, I guess I can conclude that the juice is well named, since it so strongly depends on a very specific berry note as a central theme.
All in all, the care which has gone into the label design, range design and bottle choosing - all of which works greatly together and is much appreciated!
Juice Details: 3mg/ml, 60:40 VG. 50 ml.
Tasting Notes:
- Inhale: Menthol, slightly sour notes
- Mouth Exhale: Menthol, slight note of tarty blackberry, followed by a strong, smooth and non-tart blackcurrant and mullberry
- Nose Exhale: Stronger blackberry, hints of dragonfruit, light hints of blackcurrant.
- Aftertaste: Blackcurrant candy and lingering mullberry
- Mouthfeel: Cooled, slight acidity. On the heavier side without becoming creamy/bakery. Very slight tingle/fizz.
- Throat hit: Mild to medium.
Menthol comes out dominant at lower (200 to 220 ºC) and higher (260 + ºC). Blackcurrant and mullberry tastes shines between 230 and 260 ºC. Blackberry tastes start to develop from 220 ºC to about 245 ºC. Preferred temperature: 240 - 250 ºC.
Preferred Vape Temperature: Very Mild heat
The light menthol cools down your vape, so it doesn't necessarily feel hot. The blackcurrant needs a little bit of heat to develop nicely, and it lingers more at slightly higher temperatures. However, the tartiness starts to overpower with too much heat and too little indirect airflow. Overall still likes a cooler rather than hot vape.
Layering: Inhale hits tip and side of tongue with some sourness, but exhale is mostly all over. Could use some additional complexity during initial exhale - in the wrong setup, you get mostly tart/citric acid, but with too little fruit before the aftertaste kicks in. Aftertaste is very well-developed though, with nice longevity. Any unwanted notes are well masked and undetectable.
General thoughts:
I haven’t had many berry vapes. The ones which I’ve DIY’ed, or tasted from others, tended to be very red-berry-ish, or very tarty. While that can be very nice, I haven’t experienced the darker berries, specifically black currant, too often in juices which I’ve tasted. And I loooove this specific berry taste. I still haven’t figured out exactly what it reminds me of, which is driving me crazy - in my youth there was a specific berry candy (I keep thinking the purple wine gums, but it isn’t that exactly) which I loved, and has this exact taste. That is the candied part, which forms a big part of the exhale and the lingering aftertaste, and it is great. Secondly, when I thought mullberries (‘moerbeie’), I instantly felt it resonating within me. I haven’t had a mullberry in a very long time though, so I might be mistaken with this note, but either way, I keep thinking mullberry when I vape it. Which is great, since mullberry has such a unique taste, and is quite distinct from a lot of berries in that they are a) not very tart or acidic, and b) has a very deep taste. So for me at least, the dominant note of this juice (black current + mullberry) is something I haven’t encountered before. I like it very, very much. The initial profile during the exhale of this juice, the tarty blackberry, is less berry and more dragonfruit/apple, without necessarily tasting like dragonfruit nor apple. Whatever fruit they added blends nicely with the berry profile to give something which tastes like blackberry without necessarily being blackberry.
Now, I have one or two complaints. The menthol is very nicely layered, supporting the black current without overpowering it. I am not a fan of menthol vapes, but it works very nicely here. I think without it, the black current would be considerbly less smooth. However, in very high surface area builds, or at very high temperatures, the menthol starts to overpower, and it lends itself to a “Black current Fisherman’s Friend”. Which is interesting, I guess, but not my cup of tea. I only experienced this in the ridiculous build I currently have in the Aromamizer.
On the other hand, this juice does not work without some air, IMO. It’s one of the first juices which I didn’t like on my Goblin Mini, nor the Subtank Mini. In these cases, the tartiness started to overpower the very nice aftertaste which I craved, and it became too much tart berry and too little black currant for my liking. So while this juice shined on most of my test setups, I felt like you need some air to really open up the black currant and distinct mullberry notes, but in this case you need a slightly bigger build (or slightly more surface area) so as not to lose flavour. The current Ni build I have in the Hastur, for instance, gives me the airflow but not the surface area, and as a result I couldn’t develop the black currant notes except in the occasional puff.
Overall, a very enjoyable vape! Very distinct, or at least one of the very few people who made a very smooth berry/black currant vape. I would definitely re-order! Lastly, it pairs incredibly well with a Pinotage. I had it with some Kanonkop Kadette (a mostly pinotage/cabernet sauvignon blend) last night... and it was quite amazing! The mullberry fits in right with that profile, and the deeper notes of the wine resonate well with this deeper berry juice.
I’m very excited to give some of their other juices a try as well, as I was extremely impressed with this juice!
Sorry for the long review...
Last edited:
. They just take so long if the juice is so good!
