Big Bottle Co. builds its range around creamy desserts and crisp lemonades, sold in large 120mL bottles. This review covers one of the brand’s better-known flavors, Good Ole’ Custard, a sweet dessert blend. We have already written up the same company’s Electric Lemonade in an earlier review; the rest of the line is in the Big Bottle Co. collection.
Our verdict up front
We scored Good Ole’ Custard 6 out of 10. The packaging is carefully done and the opening puffs are very good, but the custard fades quickly and leaves mostly cinnamon behind. It did not earn a place as an all-day vape for us. Anyone after a lighter, mildly sweet break from heavy dessert juices may see it differently.
How it tastes
The maker describes the flavor as creamy vanilla custard with a little cinnamon sugar and nut. Our opening puff matched most of that: sweet, creamy, with smooth vanilla and a rich, full custard. The cinnamon was sharp and spicy, and a pleasant surprise. We never picked out the nut, though it may sit quietly underneath the custard.
Vanilla custard shows up lightly as you inhale and much more clearly when you breathe out. The cinnamon arrives in the final seconds of the exhale, and for us it was the highlight of the blend.
The problems came later. After roughly five or ten pulls the vanilla and custard dropped away, and what remained was a bland cloud with cinnamon at the tail. We suspect the 85/15 VG/PG ratio plays a part: VG is there for cloud production and PG carries flavor intensity. The clouds were certainly big and dense, but the taste did not last. We also noticed a dry mouth feeling as each exhale finished. A sip of water fixed it, yet it took some shine off an otherwise tasty cloud.
The label
The label is colorful and packs in several fonts while staying easy to read. Big Bottle Co. sits in bold block letters in the middle, the flavor name is printed above it in a playful typeface whose letters grow as they go, and the palette runs from light tan to chocolate brown, which suits a creamy dessert juice.
- Front: nicotine strength and bottle size (4 fl. oz./120mL) under the brand name. Our bottle was 3mg; 0mg and 6mg are also made.
- Left side: warnings that nicotine is an addictive chemical, cautions for people with certain medical conditions, and instructions not to swallow the liquid or put it on skin. We cover that last point in a separate article. The ingredient list is here too, and it notes Kosher grade VG and PG.
- Right side: the company crest, the nicotine strength again, manufacturing and distribution details showing the juice is made in the USA, and the company’s web address.
In all, two separate nicotine warnings appear, each stating that the product contains nicotine and that nicotine is addictive. Big Bottle Co. is sold only within the United States.
What the label leaves out
Nicotine strength and the web address are both printed twice, yet the VG/PG ratio is missing. We had to look up the 85/15 figure on the maker’s site, which is odd given how much care went into the design. No expiration date is printed either; that is a minor point, but more companies have started adding one.
One detail puzzled us: the letters I.C.E appear beside the nicotine strength on the front. That usually signals menthol, but neither the description nor the ingredient list mentions any. We do not know why it is there.
Bottle, color and aroma
The bottle is clear, with a child-proof cap that twists off without a fight and a slim tip that keeps refills quick and tidy. The label stops short of wrapping all the way round, so you can see the liquid through the gap.
- Color: dark amber with a reddish tint, a lot like iced tea.
- Consistency: thin enough in the bottle that we stopped worrying about clogged coils, despite the dessert profile. It looked slightly thicker once in the tank.
- Aroma: thick, syrupy vanilla and custard straight from the open bottle.
The dark color is worth a note. Darker juices tend to cling to the cotton in a coil, so if you move to another flavor afterward, expect to taste leftover custard for a while before the new juice comes through.
Who it suits
The strong first hits made us want to like this one, and the packaging shows a company that cares about details. Cinnamon is present on every exhale, and some of our favorite dessert juices use it, but a juice sold as vanilla custard should deliver more custard for longer. Do not expect a thick spoonful of custard in every puff. If you want a big bottle of something light with a cinnamon finish, it may be what you are after. Taste is personal, and you may well disagree with our score.