Monday 2 September 2013

710 by Mad Murdock

Disclaimer: I purchased this E-liquid with my own money for the purpose of conducting a review. I will, as best I'm able, provide an honest, accurate and unbiased assessment of this product. Pertinent portions of this review have been quoted from my review of Mad Murdock's Radiator Pluid. http://vapour-taster.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/radiator-pluid-by-mad-murdock.html Quoted passages are in italics.


If you spin the numbers "710" 180 degrees you'll see the word "OIL". 

710 is an E-Liquid by Murdock Ruml or Mad Murdock as he is more commonly known, who is the man responsible for the Radiator Pluid so many of us love and can't get enough of. Mad Murdock is an artisan juice maker, which means that he has a small range of juices, which he's undoubtedly spent a great deal of time developing and fine tuning to a high level of sophistication. I imagine he will have deliberated over each of his liquids to an exquisite degree to ensure they delivered a very particular flavour with the appropriate amount of throat hit and vapour production. He might have agonised over the density and texture of the vapour; adjusting PG/VG ratios so that the vapour felt a particular way in the mouth. How much sweetener should be used? Would the addition of Vodka produce a sparkle at the back of the throat? How does that feel and is it desirable within the context of the flavour? Would the addition of a few drops of Menthol brighten the flavour at all? How much Menthol can be added to a juice before it intrudes and/or begins to dominate? Mixing juice requires patience, a finely tuned palate, a working knowledge of flavour pairing, the delivery of flavour in vaporous form and how the human gustatory and olfactory systems apprehend it. Beyond this lies the world of branding and marketing which requires another range of skills altogether. The artisan juice maker is an artist who delivers a particular type of experience via vapour to his or her audience. Next time you take a vape, give yourself a moment or two to really pay attention to the vapour being drawn into and through your mouth and reflect on the sensations occurring there and the deliberations the juice maker made in order to deliver that particular experience to you.

710 is distributed by Liberty Flights UK http://www.liberty-flights.co.uk/ in 10ml bottles which retail at £6.49 each. 710 is available as a 9mg juice.

The bottle is a clear, firm plastic that is easily squeezed and has an attached dropper insert. The white plastic, screw top cap is childproof. The label includes the following information: the name of the liquid, liquid contents in ml, nicotine content in mg and as a percentage, the name, address, website address, telephone and mobile numbers of the distributor, a batch number, Mad Murdock's 710 graphic (1cm x 1cm), a toxicity graphic (skull and crossbones within an orange square), a textual toxicity warning,  storage instructions, first aid instructions, a tactile, triangle warning sticker (which complies with EU laws regarding the storage of toxic substances), a warning that the liquid may contain traces of nuts and the declaration, "Made in America".

For my thoughts on the bottle and labels for the Mad Murdock range as distributed by Liberty Flights, see my review of Radiator Pluid. http://vapour-taster.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/radiator-pluid-by-mad-murdock.html

The colour of the liquid is a clear, Aureolin Yellow http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aureolin but when held up to the light is a Stil de Grain Yellow http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stil_de_grain_yellow and has the viscosity of a light cooking oil. It's quite lubricious, resisting to a small degree, absorption into my skin, when a droplet is rubbed between my thumb and forefinger. It takes between three and four minutes before (almost) complete absorption into my skin occurs. The aroma is an unmistakable fusion of coffee and chocolate with a hint of vanilla and perhaps, even a smidgen of coconut. During a sustained, shallow, nasal inhalation, the accent seems to shift backwards and forwards between the chocolate and coffee.

I'm vaping 710 in an Igo-L on a Poldiac running on an 18650 battery. I don't have the means to check the ohms of the coil, but I can tell you that there's five wraps of 0.2mm (32 AWG) Kanthal wire around three strands of 2mm Silica wick. The wick is saturated with 710 following two days of consecutive use.

I fire the device and begin by drawing the vapour into my mouth. I register a mild sweetness alongside what I imagine is the flavour of chocolate and Graham Crackers. This is odd considering that Mad Murdock reputedly denied the presence of chocolate in this liquid. Unless he was speaking of actual chocolate and trusting that people would assume he meant chocolate flavour, we can probably rule this flavour out, which means I believe I'm apprehending the flavour of Graham Crackers. A gentle, measured inhalation gives the vapour time to lazily wash throughout my mouth and I'm sure I'm also tasting a mild quotient of peach on the tip of my tongue and the subtlest whisper of anise throughout, both of which would be missed in an inattentive vape. As the breath turns the crackers flavour is amplified slightly and sustained through to the aftertaste. I begin to concentrate on the sensations occurring in my mouth during the aftertaste; my salivary glands are activated and my mouth waters. There's a subtle residue on the insides of my cheeks and a slight increase in the sensitivity of the tip of my tongue. There's a diminishing sensation of the flavour of crackers with a slender impression of acidity which I'd associate with what I imagine is peach. Despite my olfactory perception of chocolate and coffee in the aroma of the liquid, I don't taste it at any stage in the vapour. Which leads me to an interesting question: is it possible to load a liquid with a different aroma to the payload of flavour. For example, an orange flavoured liquid that smells like chocolate would taste like an orange/chocolate mélange. If this is the case, then Murdock is playing clever games with our taste buds.

As an aside to further confuse matters, my wife tastes Espresso Coffee!

As this is a 9mg liquid I don't expect any sort of significant throat hit. There isn't, but vapour production is substantial with great volumes of the stuff pouring from my mouth and nose.

At first glance, Mad Murdock's 710 appears to be a chocolate flavoured liquid, but attentive vaping begins to unravel complexities and apparent deceptions, with certain flavours masquerading as other flavours and flying buttresses composed of lesser flavours lending support. This is a deeply intriguing vape that could be likened to Clive Barker's Lemarchand puzzle boxes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemarchand's_box 

Lemarchand's Box
The clue that things are not quite as they seem is in the name of the liquid itself; inversions and hidden meaning. Murdock Ruml is an artist but instead of working with paint or marble or music, he's working with aroma, flavour and your mind. What makes an artist really interesting is when he or she tips your perceptions inside out and upside down, revealing new ways and means to perceive the world around us. Attentive and inquisitive vapers should spend some time with Murdock's art. A little investigation is rewarded handsomely.