Drake's N.E.T. Concentrates

2024-12-14T00:00:00+00:00

From Smoking to Vaping

Many years ago, when I finally quit smoking, my plan was to have an occasional roll up as a treat. Yes, I know that’s not recommended but as I enjoyed vaping so much, I knew I’d never go back to being a smoker.

However, when I did try a smoke after about two months (forced upon me by a co-worker), I discovered, to my horror, that they tasted foul! So bad, I couldn’t have more than a couple of drags before throwing the thing away.

I clearly needed another way of treating myself…

Quickly, I came across “naturally extracted tobacco” e-juices as the next best thing to smoking. By this point, I only did DIY vaping, mixing my own juices with nicotine, PG and VG. Building my own coils etc. So whatever supplier I used would have to offer concentrates.

Over the next few years, I tried many different N.E.T. concentrates:

T-Juice (Not making N.E.T.s anymore)
- Primo Verde
- Cubana
Best Cig Liquid (Deceased)
- Pretty much all of their offerings
Nomnomz (Not selling N.E.T.s anymore)
- Pretty much everything by Stixx Mixx

Hunting for a New N.E.T. Supplier

Life was good until November 2024 when I was on the Nomnomz website about to order another batch of Stixx Mixx tobaccos. Something was different. Instead of the usual 20 odd products, they only had one marked as clearance. “Oh no!”, I ~~said~~ thought to myself. This doesn’t look good…

I sent them an email to see what was going on, and they replied saying they were no longer going to be stocking Stixx Mixx, due to low sales.
Yikes!

It was time to trawl the internet again to see what my options were. After a short time, I found Drake’s website. I remembered them from years ago, however the last time our paths crossed, they didn’t offer concentrates. As I wrote earlier, that’s a showstopper for me. No concentrates, no sale. I’d even emailed them years ago, just to see if they were planning on selling them. They replied not.

As of now (but since I don’t know when), they do sell concentrates. I had to give them a go. Spending over £25 gives free two day shipping, so I loaded up the cart and sure enough, two days later they landed. I started off with the Burley, mixing @ 30% as their site recommends.

Very, very happy with that one after a 3 day steep,¹ I decided to put another order in to try the ones I hadn’t ordered first time. Then a funny thing happened.

Going the Extra Mile!

The same day as placing my second order, I got a phone call from John (a very friendly Scottish guy), who is now the sole owner of Drake’s. He remembered my order from a week or so before and was enquiring whether I’d been aware that an offer was on for Black Friday. I told him that I’d decided to order after that event and it was no problem as it was my decision to order after the offer had ended. Very kindly, he told me to select two more concentrates and he’d add them free of charge to my package! It’s been a long time since anything like that has happened! That is how you build customer loyalty, no question.

Now, onto the reviews. I’ll add to this post as I slowly go through the concentrates. But first…

Why Naturally Extracted Tobacco?

I should mention what the big deal is about N.E.T.‘s in case this is all new to you. Until I started using them, I was using RY4, 555, various “Virginia”, or simply “Tobacco” flavourings. All made by combining other flavourings. I’ve no idea what all the ingredients are, but usually caramel and vanilla will be present, along with other synthetic ingredients and additives (and who knows what else).

On the other hand, naturally extracted tobaccos are generally; just tobacco. The extraction process is expensive and time consuming (extraction taking weeks or months)! But the payoff is the unmistakeable flavour. You simply cannot imitate it. For the visually minded, I’d compare it to the difference between black and white vs colour TV (ask your grandparents what on earth a black and white TV is). For the auditorily inclined, think of the difference between a badly encoded MP3 vs FLAC (or cassette vs CD).

I can still remember the first N.E.T. I ever tried: T-Juice Primo Verde. I’d ordered that and their Cubana. Wow! That was my reaction. A damned fine vape, I’ll tell you. As (I seem to remember) it was expensive compared to my day to day juices, it was a only a Christmas treat for a couple of years.

The Reviews

Note: All of the concentrates below, I have bought. The ones marked pending will be updated once I’ve mixed and tried them. All mixes are given a minimum of a three day steep¹ (generally seven days or more). I mix at 50/50 PG to VG with 10mg nicotine. My coils come out at between 1.2 and 1.7 ohm’s (28 gauge kanthal) and I use 14 watts in my mod. My RTA of choice is a Kayfun Prime clone (RIP fasttech).

Burley @ 30%

My first experience with a Drake N.E.T. forced me to spend over £50 across two orders! As I wrote in my review on Drake’s website, I’m not good at all at separating the flavours into notes. Or, breaking down what’s in the inhale
vs. the exhale. What I do know, is this is a very good Burley. Full bodied, smooth, delicious. One thing I found surprising was the colour. Usually, N.E.T.‘s are light brown all the way to nearly black. This Burley is nearly transparent. Photo below shows the last bit I’ve got left (luckily I’ve got another full bottle, phew!).

I’m going to mix the next pure Burley batch at 15% and see how much that affects the taste.

Anne’s Apple @ 30%

I don’t vape anything other than tobacco, but I got this one for the other half. She loves it. I’ve sampled it too, and to be honest, I could happily vape this all day. Very smooth, and the apple flavour is subtle but noticeable. I suspect that the majority of the tobacco flavour is from the Burley. Highly recommended, especially for people not used to naturally extracted tobacco flavours. As you can see below, this concentrate is a nice golden colour.

Caesar’s Cherry @ 30%

Another one for the missus. Sadly, we were both disappointed with this one. We’ve both given it a fair chance, but it seems to leave a rather unpleasant after taste. The cherry doesn’t really come through. You can taste something, but in a blind test, neither of us would think cherry. You can’t win them all and this one just wasn’t for us.²

Kentucky @ 15%

Three day steep. Drake’s recommend between 15% and 25% for this one so I went with 15% thinking it might be on the strong side. Whenever I try a new tobacco concentrate, I always pay attention to the first word that comes to mind. With this Kentucky, that word was tangy. Cambridge Dictionary defines tangy as:

A tangy flavour is pleasantly strong and sharp

Yep, definitely tangy. It has quite a complex flavour, hard to pick anything in particular out. I can notice a smokiness and almost a chocolateyness. Very different to the Burley.

If you inhale it, but leave it in your mouth before blowing it out and shoving your head into the cloud, you can smell the smokyness (not surprising as it’s fire cured)! I like it. Out of the pure tobaccos (no cherry or apple), this one is the darkest so far. Quite rich even at 15%. I’ll definitely be ordering more, but I think it’ll be a blender with either Burley or Virginia. You’ll find that review further down the page in a few weeks / months.

William’s Whiskey @ 30%

Decided to try this one in a dripper. Fresh coil, fresh cotton. Eight day steep. Well. When I first tried this, I thought “my gosh, you can taste the whiskey!” Very strong. Not in a bad way, but much more noticeable than my previous goto tobacco / whiskey N.E.T. (Stixx Mixx Whiskey Cavendish). I can detect a small spicy note from the tobacco. It leaves a pleasant after taste too.

My initial reaction was that at 30%, this was a tad on the strong side for me. I like my flavours subtle. As anyone who does DIY juices will know, it can take quite a few attempts to get a juice just so. However, in all honesty, I did find myself chain vaping this one! Somewhere between 15 and 20% should calm things down a bit and this might end up a regular order. As with the Burley, very light in colour.

American

Pending

Cavendish @ 15%

Ten day steep. I’ve not had a lot of Cavendish concentrates but according to Wikipedia the main profile is sweet and moist. I’m not really getting much in the way of sweet with this one. I’ve been trying to formulate a way of describing this flavour and I’m struggling!

I would say that this Cavendish is an acquired taste. It’s not immediately likeable like the Burley (or the Burley / Virginia blend). It’s quite rich and strong, somewhat tangy as with the Kentucky. I think there’s a bit of a grassy note and a mild spicy after taste. I’ll probably have a better idea whether this will be a regular order once I’ve finished the 100ml I’ve got mixed.

Havana @ 15%

Seven day steep. Really like this one. I don’t gravitate towards cigar flavours, only really bought it to try it and I’m glad I did. I won’t attempt to break down the flavour, I’ll just say it tastes amazing! Leaves a really nice after taste too. This one will definitely be a regular order.

Maduro @ 15%

I usually like to steep for at least three days, but as I like the Havana so much I had to try this one after only two days. I’m finding the Maduro quite subtle. That’s not a complaint, I prefer milder flavours. Unlike the Kentucky and the Whiskey, which are quite strong, this one could end up as a regular order.

Turkish

Pending

English @ 10%

Five day steep.

Burley and Virginia @ 10% each

My favourite all day vape until somebody decided to stop selling them was a combination of 3% Aged Burley with 3% Sweet Brightleaf (Virginia) by Stixx Mixx (low percentages as their concentrates are very strong). So, of course I had to blend Drake’s to see how close a substitute it would be. Mixed at 10% of each, it didn’t quite hit the spot for me. It’s nice, but I prefer the Burley on it’s own. In a few weeks, when I’ve started to shift some of the ten plus bottles I’ve now got made up, I’ll try 10% Burley and only 5% Virginia to see if that is more to my liking.

Update two days later: I’m getting the impression that Drake’s concentrates benefit from a longer steep. This blend has grown on me a lot. I think I’ll do the next batch at the same ratios. No need for less, I don’t think.

Burley and Virginia @ 10% + Turkish @ 5%

Four day steep. Fresh coil, fresh cotton. This is nice. The Turkish at only 5% definitely alters the flavour compared to just Burley and Virginia. I haven’t had a lot of Turkish, but it reminds of whatever Turkish N.E.T. bestcigliquid used to sell. I asked the other half to try it. Bear in mind, until I got her a bottle of Anne’s Apple, she hated all of my juices. I passed her my chuffer (that’s what we call them!) and she tried it. Then she had another puff, then another. Most unusual! “Ooh. I like that” she said. Looks like that’s her sorted now. I’ve made 3 × 30ml bottles, so I’ll donate one to her. I’m nice like that.

Afterword

For many years I’ve only vaped N.E.T.‘s (unless I’ve run out). As these are quite niche, there aren’t many companies making / selling them. So now, I’m trying to get my missus to like them, partly so I’ll spend a bit more at places like Drake’s in the hopes they’ll be able to make enough money to keep doing what they do.

For the men out there who chuckle at their girlfriends / wifes bubblegums, candy etc. flavourings, maybe treat them to a bottle of Anne’s Apple. I’d be very surprised if they don’t love it.

Footnotes

¹ Many years ago I became curious what was the generally accepted minimum time to allow an ejuice to steep for. The answer is 3 days with a vigorous shake at least once, but preferably twice, per day.

² Had a chat with John from Drake’s and it’s possible that my new batch of nicotine might have affected this mix. Will update if it was an error on my part.

Updates

This is an ongoing post. I’ll update it with relevant info as time goes on.

2025-05-11: Add review of Maduro @ 15%

2025-02-09: Add review of Havana @ 15%

2025-01-31: Mixed Havana @ 15%

2025-01-19: Add review of Cavendish @ 15%

2025-01-09: Mixed Cavendish @ 15%

2024-12-31: Add comments about Burley, Virginia, Turkish blend.

2024-12-29: Rearranged the last section of the page. Got rid of Conclusion(s) and used the better worded Updates.

2024-12-16: It’s clear to me that Drake’s know what they’re doing. The Burley and Anne’s Apple are outstanding. Immediately likeable. Some of the others may take a bit of experimenting to decide if they’re for me, or not. I’ve been vaping naturally extracted tobacco’s for years and know what I like™. Therefore, I’m happy to spend a few months faffing about, adjusting ratios and creating blends to hopefully end up with a small handful of juices that’ll be my daily juices. I’m very happy that after all these years, I’m finally trying out what Drake’s have to offer.

simonh.uk - vaping