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Tempted by a mystery box but not quite sure what you’ll get? Let us put your mind at rest!
Mystery boxes are a great way to sample a diverse range of e-liquid flavours at a really attractive price.
What is a mystery box?
A mystery box is a lucky-dip collection of e-liquids, usually sold at a lower price per-millilitre than single shortfill bottles. With mystery boxes, you don't pick the flavours you get, and the e-liquid tends to have passed its best-before date. Boxes always contain a broad range of unusual flavours, so it's a great way to discover new e-liquid brands.
You never know what flavours you’re getting until you open a mystery box, but that's why new vapers like mystery boxes. Anyone looking for a bit of variety and novelty can get it at a very tasty price.
Even if you don’t like a few of the flavours contained in your mystery box, it’s usually still worth the gamble. The e-liquids in the box are much cheaper, per-millilitre, than they would be if you had to buy bottles individually.
Why are mystery boxes so much cheaper?
Mystery boxes are cheaper because the e-liquid included in the box has passed its sell-by or display-until date. The e-liquid you buy in a mystery box is still safe to use, and it should still taste good.
The Gourmet E-Liquid mystery box
Mystery boxes aren’t always for sale on our site. We only run mystery box offers when we can get an eclectic mix of high-quality e-juices. You can check what’s available now by going to our Mystery Box Department.
Is cheap e-liquid safe?
Any e-liquid sold in the United Kingdom, at any price, has to meet certain safety standards. Every new e-liquid has to pass a six month notification period with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) before it can be put on the market, and the UK government keeps a public register of authorised e-liquid products (you can see the full list here on the Gov.uk site).
Cheap vs Premium E-Liquids
Cheap e-liquids might be safe, but they usually don’t taste great. You might have noticed how cheaper e-liquids will often taste blunt, raw or uneven. This is usually because the manufacturer has used very basic, cost-effective flavourings designed to deliver an ‘approximate taste’, and they haven’t spent much time fine-tuning the recipe.
Most premium e-liquid manufacturers will spend months of effort just on the Research & Development phase before a new flavour moves on to the 6-month MHRA registration phase.
We recently developed our own line of e-liquid (if you like fruity imported flavours, you’ll love Fog Addicts!), so we know a lot about the work that goes into making a premium e-liquid. There are hundreds of different flavourings that can be added to a base VG/PG e-liquid, and it takes weeks and weeks of trial and error to find the right blend that delivers the ideal taste.
Does vape juice degrade over time?
When it has been stored correctly (in a cool, dry, dark environment), shortfill e-liquid can remain in perfect condition for up to two years. If your e-liquid has been exposed to heat or light, then reactions in the e-liquid bottle can cause the vape juice to spoil or change colour. The same goes for e-liquid with nicotine; the nicotine within e-liquid will start to break up over time. If your e-liquid looks like it has separated, you can often ‘rescue’ it by giving it a good shake for a couple of minutes and giving it time to settle.
Safety note: If you want your vape juice to last for as long as possible, our advice is to keep your e-liquid in a cold, dark, dry environment, out of reach of children or pets (a locked desk drawer, for example). You should dispose of any old e-liquid that gives off a suspicious smell, colour or consistency. If in doubt, throw it out.
What do the different expiry dates mean?
E-liquid is not classed as a food, so it doesn’t have to comply with food labelling laws. The UK’s version of the TPD (Tobacco Products Directive), also known as the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016, doesn’t mention minimum dates at all (source: legislation.gov.uk).
On e-liquids, the two most likely expiry date types you’ll see are ‘sell by’ and ‘display until’. ‘Sell By’ and ‘Display Until’ dates are not required by law, and they don’t relate to quality, health or safety. They’re simply there to help retailers to manage their stock (source: nhs.uk). Customers rightly expect the e-liquid they buy to be as fresh as possible, which is why stock that has gone past its ‘sell by’ or ‘display until’ dates usually ends up in a mystery box.
You’ll probably never see ‘Use By’ on an e-liquid bottle. By law, a ‘use by’ date is only needed on foods, which could make you very ill if you eat them after the date has passed (source: food.gov.uk).
How to get the best deal on an e-liquid mystery box
If you want to get a really good mystery box, there are two things you should always try to do…
- Only buy from a premium e-liquid retailer (like Gourmet E-Liquid!). You don’t want to get any cheap juices in the box.
- Only buy limited-stock mystery box offers. If a retailer's mystery box is frequently out of stock, that is actually a good sign, because it means they’re curating their selection carefully. They're not packing cheap or inferior products into their mystery boxes. At Gourmet E-Liquid, we would rather show you an ‘out of stock’ message than send out a sub-par mystery box.
We’re really proud of our mystery boxes, and we love it when we have an opportunity to put something special together. Our customers appreciate them, too, which is fantastic:
We live for this kind of feedback! It’s great to know that our hard work in picking and preparing mystery box liquids doesn’t go unnoticed.
If you have any questions about mystery boxes, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. We’re vapers ourselves, and we’re always happy to help customers to find their perfect flavour.
Stay safe and happy vaping!
John Boughey