Source
r/electronic_cigarette•
puckerfish

Humble Beginnings

Hi all,

I hope it's OK to post here, as I understand all things electronic-cigarette is allowed, though with some stipulations. I'm a long time redditor (posting under a different name here) just wanting to announce that I chased a dream and opened a modest brick-and-mortar vape shop in Mansfield, OH called Puckerfish Vape with the help of my son and business partner.

It's been open four days today. I'm scared shitless I'll go broke, but I can't think of a more enjoyable way to do it. :) We really do have a passion for juice and playing with flavors, and hope to share that with others.

We'd love to send a few samples (* read EDIT, please) of our juice to those who would be willing to post their reviews here or on YouTube, and we'll be seeking out a few YouTube personalities for their honest input as well, if they're game. We're really proud of our juices and we put, quite literally, nearly a thousand man-hours in the development of our processes.

We consider ourselves a "micro-brewery" of e-juice, allowing vapers to create their own unique flavors, or choose from the delicious line we put together. Top-shelf extracts and ingredients makes it easier to make great product, of course, yet "perfection" required tedious, tedious experimentation. So if a few folks are up for it, we'd sincerely love to be scrutinized. No fancy names for our juice; just straight up great flavor.

I'd write more, but I sincerely don't want to come off as all spammy. If you're in the area and would like to try out our sample bar and see the shop, we're at 1621 W 4th St in Ontario, OH, right where Mansfield meets Ontario.

I'd be happy to answer any questions anyone has regarding how we create our juice, to how to open a B&M, or anything!

And our web address, to boot: https://www.puckerfishvape.com/

EDIT: OK, quite a number of folks have beat the rest of you to the punch. We're gonna send those samples out and end it here for now (before I do actually go broke!). Thanks so much, random reddit strangers, for being willing to do this for us!

Posted Jun 4, 2014, 3:36 PM UTC · edited

3256
Ttran778SB [email protected], dual 28g 10wrap@2mm•

Send a couple 3mL bottles my way and I'll gladly review them for you. Just shoot me a message with te total cost and I'll send you the dosh and an address.

5
puckerfishOP•

Responded in a pm. Thanks much!

2
ns2680•

Are you guys thinking about doing a small sampler pack or something along those lines?

4
puckerfishOP•

Actually, we are considering that. We have 5ml bottles we were thinking of doing 3 and 6-packs for, at discounted rates.

3
ns2680•

That would be cool. Looks like some great flavors to try as well. Looks like you guys have one of the nicest stores I have seen. Love the build your own flavor option too, really unique idea it seems. Good luck to you in all your ventures with this.

2
PlutokerGus Lord/IPV2 | Magma•

This please! Also, I love everything about your site!

2
sadosmurf•

I'll happily review for you and even write product descriptions if you like.

Yours might be better, but I'm fairly decent at flowery prose.

3
puckerfishOP•

Sounds good. PM me with your address. :)

1
sadosmurf•

I'll definitely post a review on here for you after I try your juice. With any luck I'll even get this stupid dripper figured out.

Everyone told me that if you can rebuild protank coils then an RDA would be a breeze.

People are liars. lol

2
puckerfishOP•

lol - yeah, I'm an old man (42!). The 1100mAh batteries have always satisfied me just fine and blowing vapor bombs isn't really my thing. But Derrick has been interested in playing with gear and he tends to do that on his free time. Have fun with modding. It definitely looks like a cool hobby.

1
sadosmurf•

I'm not a cloud chaser. I want maximum flavor. I forgot to mention in my PM that I like my nicotine on the high side. Send me 24mg samples if you don't mind, or if you already have the samples mixed up in lower nicotine levels I'm cool with that too.

I'm not going to be too difficult if you're sending me something for free. ;)

2
vapemeasongPraxis/Zenith, Petri/Magma•

I'm from Cleveland and I'd love to stop by sometime if I'm ever headed down that way! But I'll definitely check out your site and probably end up putting in an online order next time I need some juice! :)

3
puckerfishOP•

Aw, man. Thank so much! Would love to have you come visit!

2
vapemeasongPraxis/Zenith, Petri/Magma•

Yeah man, for sure!! Also, I like how you emphasize education and classes on your site. Best of luck, and welcome to reddit!

2
puckerfishOP•

Thanks. We really do wish to inform those seeking an alternative. Just spoke to two people a few minutes ago about it.

Btw, this account is new, but I've been on reddit almost since conception. Yeah, I'm getting up in the years. Anyway, I just don't want people going through thousands of my old messages discovering what a socialist I am. :/ lol

1
vapemeasongPraxis/Zenith, Petri/Magma•

Haha, I made a new account because I spend most of my time on this sub!

2
Smittyn804•

WOW! What an awesome website you have. Your store is very nice as well. Looks clean, inviting and well thought out. I really like the name as it is memorable and the simple design is just creative enough to stand out. Wish something remotely close was here in VA. We have some good B&Ms just not this caliber. I can't wait to try out your juice . I will be ordering come payday. Good luck, I am sure the obvious hard work will pay off.

3
puckerfishOP•

Man, that is awesome. Thanks for the kind words of support. As I sit here in this rather empty store, I'm crossing my fingers that it will catch on. lol

I promise you'll love the juice; not remotely kidding. Of course I am biased, but I'm also really a stickler about it. Feel free to let me know what you faves currently are and I'll be sure to hook you up.

2
owllady9/2013•

I would be happy to write reviews for you. I have tried about 200 different juices in my vaping career. I have written reviews on all the juices.com and juicedb.com. I have not written much on reddit though I would be happy to! I would be glad to help you flesh out your website.

2
puckerfishOP•

Thanks! Send me a pm with your address ad we'll get some fine juice out to you.

1
thirdeye730Vaporshark rDNA/Atlantis & iPV3/Doge v2•

I may not be a professional but if you wanted to send a small sample I'd be more then happy to do a review here on ECR. Website looks good and I think you have some interesting sounding juices. Best of luck to you!

2
puckerfishOP•

Awesome! Same as the others. Send me a pm with your address and we'll get everything out the door tonight or tomorrow morning first thing.

1
mingot•

I'm definitely down to help out!

2
puckerfishOP•

PM'd ya :)

1
bieberholeRanger OKR w/ Mephisto•

Awesome prices on your juice. Too bad I live in california or I would visit your establishment today. Hopefully your business flourishes and the community responds positively. Looks like you're on the way to a healthy online presence. I'll definitely be trying you guys out next. Planning on any custard flavors?

2
puckerfishOP•

As a matter of fact, Derrick has been working on that for quite some time now. That said, I think you would probably like the Fruit Yogurt Smoothie. It's fruity (not overbearing, though), but quite creamy.

1
bieberholeRanger OKR w/ Mephisto•

I'll have to order that one then! I'll keep an eye out for a custard flavor though.

2
puckerfishOP•

Thanks so much! Hope to hear from you soon.

1
Petrova322SmokSiD & Aerotank Mega•

I'm no professional reviewer, but I wish you the best. There's nothing more frightening than chasing a dream - except maybe regretting you never did. Kudos to you, best of luck and I hope I can try some of your stuff in the future!

2
puckerfishOP•

"... maybe regretting you never did."

Good words, man. Thanks much. It actually hits home to me. If we can spur some more sales soon, I'll keep sending samples out for review in the near future.

1
Enyouk•

Have to ask, PG/VG ratio? And after looking at your Ingredients list....Distilled water in your juice?

2
puckerfishOP•

Only in one, actually, to be completely honest (the coffee, which we use real coffee grounds, too). But because it's in the one, we listed it. And we may use that formula for others in the future, so better to keep it listed than not.

Straight up, MOST of our juices are near a 70/30 mix. It really was a call on taste for that, based on our processes and specific goals. There are certainly other shops that put out VG-heavy blends that probably taste phenomenal. We certainly may be be experimenting with that in the future, but for now, we do what we are exceptionally good at. I want people to love our flavors and we're damn scrutinizing and would rather not carry a blend than offer a "meh" one.

That said, we actually are looking for other vendors to supply their juices and we are looking for a good VG-only line and VG-heavy line to suit the gearheads and those others that prefer it.

1
Enyouk•

It's not a gearhead thing by any means, they just come with the territory. Anything over 30pg and it gives me quite a bit of irritation. Same with my SO and shes reacts worse than I do.

Thanks for the info. G'luck.

2
puckerfishOP•

Thanks for the feedback. Seriously! I wouldn't want anyone vaping our product if they couldn't have a great experience.

1
Enyouk•

Not a problem. PG allergies affect a number of people, albeit a small percentage. Listing that would help :)

1
yawgmothvapePlume veil on custom MOSFET box mod•

Man i want to do that in my area but i have no idea how to do it. there isn't a vape shop or a smoke shop (there is one but everything they have they try and say its the real thngand charge double what the real thing would cost even a pro tank coil is 5 dollars for a single coil) within 50miles of me. i always wanted to have my own shop or something. well shit good luck man i hope you are successful.

2
puckerfishOP•

Yeah, it wasn't easy to get this started, but we just barely hit our opening goal date. As for retail costs of coils, etc, yeah, it's always a bit more than online. Brick and mortar stores have to cover their overhead and labor and to boot, you're paying for the convenience, I suppose.

Our shop doesn't focus too much on hardware. I'm sending those interested in serious gear down the road to someone that does it better than we could offer. We do, however, understand flavors and are committed to continuously learning and designing better ones and better methods.

1
yawgmothvapePlume veil on custom MOSFET box mod•

i live in arizona and there doesn't seem to be much here. all the shops i've been to are just smoke shops that are carrying e-cigs and using the "it safer so lets make it cost more" method. i have never been or seen a B&M store here so it makes me sad. Good on you sending on the customers to a shop that can handle the hardware part intill you can. makes you look good.

2
katzenjammer_Zephyrus RTA, IPV Mini2•

I couldn't find a mention of the PG/VG ratio of your juices, even on the "Flavor-Making Wizard".

2
puckerfishOP•

Oh, I mentioned it in another thread and it brings to mind we should make a note of it the website. Thanks for reminding me!

Most of our stuff is around the 70/30 mix, some as low as 60/40. It was simply a matter of taste to us and all the feedback we received from our samplers. We did LOADS of blind tests as we developed our process and the mix played a heavy role in the end result, believe it or not.

If you're more keen on VG-heavy blends, I'm sure there are some great suppliers out there for that. On the other hand, we'll be happy to custom create VG-heavy blends, but give us time to make that happen on the website as it would actually go through a different process.

2
katzenjammer_Zephyrus RTA, IPV Mini2•

:-)

2
TheMiddleEastBeastAugust 10th, 2013•

I've always wanted to review juices for a company. If all the spots have been taken that's understandable but I'd love to help you guys out! Thanks!

2
puckerfishOP•

Yeah, unfortunately we had to end it for now. I'll keep your name on file for when we do another round. Thanks so much

1
TheMiddleEastBeastAugust 10th, 2013•

No problem, great way to get your guys name known! Good luck in the vaping industry you guys!

2
Mad_Casper•

GoodLuck

2
[deleted]•

[deleted]

2
puckerfishOP•

Awesome, deathtoferenginar! Your words of support of very welcome, too. So much appreciated. Let me know what flavors you favor and I'll try to direct you to the best ones to suit you when you decide to order.

2
[deleted]•

[deleted]

2
ChesterHiggenbothum•

I read your edit and am commenting anyway. I was born in Ohio and know by the rules of the midwest that you can't refuse me samples if I ask politely. May I please sample and review some of your juices?

2
puckerfishOP•

well, can you at least wait until I get all these other samples out the door? lol :)

2
ChesterHiggenbothum•

I suppose :)

P.S. Good luck with your store! I'll come visit next time I'm back in Ohio to see my parents.

2
DasUberSpud•

Best of luck with the new store!

2
puckerfishOP•

Thanks! Much appreciated!

1
PhantomcruiserHeimdall Mech / Black Stillare•

Nice looking logo, I like it.

2
Twitchy993•

Good post. I actually read the whole thing. Good luck in your ventures and hope to see some reviews soon.

2