Transcript:
If you don’t know what Ry4 is, it’s a tobacco, vanilla, and caramel blend. It’s an old-school flavor but it’s still around, it’s just not really mentioned much anymore. But it used to be really popular!
It’s not really a tobacco flavor, it just has a hint of tobacco to it. Some variations are sweet and some aren’t. Some have more vanilla than others and some have more caramel.
RY4 is one of those blends that has always reminded me of craft beer. There are many versions, all with their own subtle differences. There are so many amazing tobacco blends out there today and any DIY mixer will tell you that just a little tweak to a mix can change the entire taste. You can choose from hundreds of different tobacco flavors and vanilla flavors, you can use a higher or lower ratio of each flavor, you can use sweeteners, and so on. And then in addition to the base, you can add a twist to it, like blueberry, bourbon, or butterscotch, or whatever else.
My first intro to an RY4s was with an e-juice from Vintage E-Liquids called The Legend. It came in a zippo-style bottle and was just a simple RY4. I loved it. I even still have the bottle so that I would never forget about it.
There’s actually an old interview on GuideToVaping.com that Blake did with a man named Ludo, who is the creator of RY4 and founder of the company Janty, who has been making vapes since 2006.
Janty, by the way, claims to be the original creator of the eGo vape pen, the first ever e-liquid tank system. This was way back in 2009. Most people think it was created by Joyetech, but supposedly the original model was developed in partnership with someone named Alan who worked with Joyetech.
Anyway, back to the RY4. So Ludo Timmermans, while working with Dekang (who is another famous part of vaping history), developed the formula for RY4. He originally named it Ruyan nr4, Ruyan being inspired by the company who created the first commercial cigalike product. When Ludo got to the fourth formula, he felt like he found the perfect flavor that people would love. He shortened the name to RY4 and the rest is history.
You might have seen different variations of the RY series, anywhere from 1-10, but versions 1-3 were never released and Ludo didn’t make anything beyond version 4. But what eventually happened was that Dekang and other flavor manufacturers made their own versions of the RY series and decided to make each number in the series more and more sweeter. So RY1 would have no sweetness at all and RY10 would be very sweet.
If you’re an RY4 purist, the real one comes from Dekang. Although some people say the original formula was lost and Dekang did their best to recreate it. Some people have also said that the original formula has gone through changes over the years and isn’t like it used to be. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but either way, Dekang is probably the best chance you have of trying the original. But in my opinion, it doesn’t matter. Someone will always come along and make an old thing better. RY4 has come a long way and there’s a variation of it out there for all of us.
There’s also a video interview Ludo did in 2013 with RPAd.TV. I definitely recommend watching it to learn a little bit about vaping history!