When embarking on the "relaunch" of our Handcrafted Salts, I decided to kick things off by reworking a couple of our early favorites, Blueberry Muffin and Monkey Juice, which hadn't received the best feedback. After perfecting those, I realized we needed something more excitingānew flavors for everyone to try! So, I set out to craft a few new offerings that would enable us to compete head-to-head with JUUL, the company that had nearly driven us out of business. For my own personal interest, I had already been experimenting with a tantalizing new mango flavor. Then, inspiration struck: why not try to recreate JUUL's popular Cucumber flavor?
Well, that summer in 2019 turned into a whirlwind of flavor exploration! I dove deep into the offerings from Vape Train and Wonder Flavours, and before I knew it, we had a whole lineup of 10 new flavors ready to go (with the exception of Cinnamon Red HotsāRIP ā ļø). And just like that, we launched them all at once, bringing a burst of excitement and variety to our brand-new Handcrafted Salts collection!
As you can see, I was quite busy with everything I was working on around that time, so I asked my best friend Tom to help by working on a cucumber-based flavor. He wanted to be creative with it, just as I was with my various recipes, and wasn't initially keen on my vision of making something simple to compete with JUULās straightforward cucumber flavor. I shared with him that we needed to develop flavors that could "fade into the background of your life"ānot too sweet or flavorful, just on the edge so that you always wanted a little bit more.
Tom took my idea and added his own creative twist, turning it into something that could compete with my Mango flavor. It was a stressful time at our small shop, with just the three of us working there. I was trying to push us in a new direction to stay competitive, while Tom was concerned about maintaining the loyalty of our long-time customers and preserving our unique identity. I believed that in 2019, we had a unique opportunity to create a product that was better than JUULās at a much better price.
Tomās vision transformed our simple cucumber flavor into "Cucumber Melongo"āa delightful blend of cucumber, melon, and mango that could rival my Mango flavor. It even incorporated elements from my Mango, Melon Smoothie, and Sprite recipes that I was experimenting with at the time.
Cucumber Melongo Recipe
I have to say, this is actually a really good recipe. It tasted great, but I was conflicted. We were using Wild Melon as the star of Melon Smoothie, and FLV Mango was a big part of TBD Mango. I didn't want us to release a flavor that would overshadow our other offerings, so I asked Tom to bring it back to the initial vision of a "Cucumber Water"āsomething simple that could directly compete with JUUL's Cucumber.
He wasnāt thrilled with this idea, as I was now playing the role of the overseer, directing him on what to do and how to do it. However, Tom always trusted me, which was a big part of why we worked so well together for ten years. We collaborated to bring it back to basics and worked on it together to create Cucumber Breeze, a crisp and refreshing Cucumber Water. Not too fruity, just simple enough to fade into the background of your life.
Cucumber Breeze Recipe
Cucumber (FA): 5.5%
Ripe Pear (WF): 3.5%
WS-23 (Any 30% Dilution): 0.5%
Polar Blast (FA): 0.25%
After we finished perfecting the recipe, I started working on the labels.
Being big fans of Rick and Morty, I thought it would be really fun to use "Pickle Rick" as the artwork for the labels.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gRnvDRFYN4
Tom overruled me on that idea, and looking back, Iām really glad he did because it would have been a supremely silly idea š. This experience shows that well-functioning partnerships are all about give and take.
