Q&A: Your Questions Answered

You heard it here first! We’re hosting our very own DarkStar Q&A right here on our blog.

You read that right - you ask, and we’ll be here to answer. 

Ever wondered what the DS team’s favourite products are? How our Labs flavours come into being? How we decide which sweets are going into orders today?

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Here we go! Thanks for all of your comments and questions - take a look below to see our answers and for a sneak peek behind the scenes at DarkStar...

Jack Hargrave - 

Can we have a behind the scenes / HQ tour please? 👀

Keep an eye on our socials, and we’ll see what we can do!

There are some sneak peeks on there already - if you check out our DarkStarVapour Instagram reels.

Rosa - 

how long does it take to develop a new flavour and what is the process?

It can take a few months, definitely. Our expert mixologists take their time with perfecting the recipe before our team receives samples to choose between. Sometimes that review process will be a simple approval and other times we send feedback on little tweaks we’d like to make. We don’t even consider putting a flavour into DS Labs unless we have unanimous agreement by the team.

Once the final recipe has been agreed on, we decide if it’s a good fit for DS Labs. If we go ahead, we send the recipe to our in-house lab where they start mixing the liquid on a larger scale. This can take some time as we need to ensure that the Mixed & Steeped Bottle Shots have had the perfect amount of time to steep before release. 

While that mixing and steeping process is happening, we’re choosing a name, designing the labels and getting them printed and ready for production!

Ray - 

does the team all vape? what are your fave flavours?

Not everyone vapes! But our standout faves are definitely Athena (of course), Code Red and the Pod Fog line - Thunderberry is the real crowd pleaser here at HQ. 

Dave - 

how far in advance do you plan labs?

It does vary - sometimes we have the next few months planned ahead, with flavours chosen and named. This is usually when we know we’re coming up to a busy period and want to make sure that we’re covered for Labs. 

Other times, we’ve got a couple of options and there’s a tie-breaking moment a little closer to the launch date. 

Gaz - 

Any plans to add more 1000ml bottle shots? cough Apple and Cherry Nerds cough 😉

Not at the moment - but we’ll definitely announce that right here on our blog and socials if that happens, so keep an eye out! One of the biggest factors in bringing out new products and flavours is customer feedback (which is how we decide which Labs flavours will be in the main range), so thank you!

Ollie M - 

More of a request. That lemon ripple flavour I think two years back or so. Have you thought about re-releasing it in labs since then I think the popularity of labs has grown and the feedback amount has increased. It’s a flavour that should’ve made a comeback.

Actual question: Do you plan to add more flavours to the nic salt line up? (10ml bottles)

Thanks for your feedback! We’ll definitely take a look at Lemon Ripple; maybe it deserves a Labs re-release…

We wanted to take our time with these 10ml salts and make sure they’re packing as much of a punch as their Long Fill counterparts. After the popularity of the line so far we would love to add more - so keep an eye out for sure!

Donna Blakeley - 

Will you be adding any more Juice Cabin flavours?

We love the range that is available at the moment - The range that Les created really speaks for itself. NETs do take a little longer to develop than our DarkStar flavours because of a really long steep time, and we want to make sure that anything we release lives up to the standards that Les set.

Watch this space, though!

Liz - 

What do you think will happen with the vape laws?

It’s hard to say, particularly with the change in government over the summer. If we had to guess, since the original Tobacco & Vapes Bill had a lot of cross-party support in Parliament, it will likely be an iteration of that that is brought into effect.

However, we don’t think that will be anytime soon - it takes a long time to have a bill signed into law and at the moment, the topic is likely low on the Parliamentary agenda. 

Steve M - 

who chooses the lab flavours?!

There’s usually a consensus on which flavours will make it through to Labs and several members of the team will try them out and weigh in, but of course, Rob our Managing Director has final say on that.

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And there you have it! We hope you enjoyed finding out a little more about our process, and if you have any more questions, feel free to keep commenting :)