Cloud Nurdz names its e-liquids after the pebble candy, and Strawberry Lemon by Cloud Nurdz is plainly modelled on the red and yellow pieces. Those two were always my pick of the candy box, so I came to this bottle with high expectations. It is the second Cloud Nurdz flavor I have reviewed, after Grape Apple.
The short version: it does not taste like candy, but it is a very good light fruit vape. I gave it an 8 out of 10.
Why the pairing makes sense
Strawberry turns up in fruit blends and dessert blends alike and is popular with vapers, though by itself it can be dull. Lemon is a useful partner for it. It keeps a sweet flavor in check without pushing the mix into outright sourness.
How it tastes
I ran three tankfuls through a fresh coil before writing anything down.
- Inhale: warm and smooth, with almost no flavor to speak of.
- Exhale: this is where the fruit shows up, crisp and clean. Lemon arrives first, zesty and light. The strawberry sits behind it, sweet, soft and warm.
- Aftertaste: none. Grape Apple left a lingering taste; this one did not.
- Throat hit: very faint, close to absent.
What I got was fruit, not candy. The closest comparison is a glass of strawberry lemonade: light, sweet and airy. The flavor is not strong, yet it stayed pleasant through a whole day and never went flat on me. Pulling the vapor back in brought out more lemon, which I enjoyed. I do not usually go for lemon e-liquids, so that surprised me.
Because the taste is so light, I was cautious about chain vaping it. It struck me as a juice that could scorch a coil, although mine was still fine when the third tank ran out.
The throat hit is my one real complaint. Other 3mg juices I have used give a smooth hit and a clear nicotine kick from a single puff. This one did not, and I was a little let down. The flavor is so mild that I nearly forgot it had nicotine in it at all.
Bottle and filling
The bottle is clear, and the label leaves a gap wide enough to see how much liquid is left. The childproof cap came off without a fight. The narrow tip made filling tidy, and even when I squeezed too hard the tank did not overflow.
The liquid itself is very clear for a 3mg juice and thin, almost watery; it sloshes freely in the bottle and in the tank. That thinness made me wonder whether it would run through the cotton too fast.
The scent is faint. I had to press the bottle gently to smell anything, and then I picked up tart lemon and sweet strawberry in a mild, fruity mix. Nothing strong.
Packaging and label
- Bottle: 100mL chubby gorilla
- Nicotine: 3mg in the bottle I tested
- VG/PG: 70/30
- Flavorings: listed as food grade extracts
The bottle ships in a thin paper box decorated with red and yellow abstract shapes. The box is big enough to pass for a pair of 60mL bottles, which is slightly misleading. It repeats what the label says: company, flavor, nicotine content and size. Oddly, the label prints the flavor name twice and the nicotine strength twice. There is no web address for the company anywhere, and I would have traded the duplicates for that. I looked the brand up and learned that Cloud Nurdz sells wholesale only. The juice is manufactured by Five Star Juice, the same company that makes Barista Brew.
The batch number and expiry date are stamped in black under the bottle and are easy to read. The back label carries the age and sale restrictions, the manufacturing details and the ingredient list.
Warnings on the label
A wraparound strip along the bottom edge states, twice, that the product contains nicotine and that nicotine is an addictive chemical. The back adds a notice about possible exposure to acetaldehyde, and another saying nicotine can be poisonous if it is ingested or handled directly. Food grade flavoring does not make e-liquid drinkable, so take care when you fill a tank. I wrote separately about what happens when e-juice touches your skin or gets swallowed.
Verdict
Judged as a candy e-liquid, this would be hard to score, because it tastes nothing like the Nerds it imitates. Judged as a fruit juice, the sweet strawberry and tart lemon work very well together. It loses points for being lighter than I expected, for missing the candy note and for the weak throat hit, which is how I arrived at 8 out of 10. It has earned a place among my favorite fruit juices and suits a summer rotation. If you want an airy strawberry and lemon vape with a gentle throat hit, this fits.
Cloud Nurdz has three e-liquids, and the one I have left to try is Peach Blue Raspberry. Blue raspberry is a flavor many juices get wrong, so I am wary, but the peach has my interest. A reader also wrote in to ask what goes into e-liquid flavorings, and we plan to look into that for a later article.