Skip to content

Meet the North's own e-juice mixologist

Greg Steele's Rugged North brand counts 28 flavours that sell across Canada.
 
Some of the city's most renowned recipes are being concocted in a downstairs unit in an office complex on Regent Street, in a space no bigger than most basement apartments.
 
Aromas of honey, strawberry, Irish cream, and many more blend in the air. It might have the odour of a corner bake shop, but good luck finding anything you can actually sink your teeth into.
 
The “chef” in question is Greg Steele. The owner of Crystal Fog Vapes, Steele is a hunting and fishing guide by trade, but his specialty (and his passion) is the creation of new flavours of e-juice, the flavoured liquid used by e-cigarette "vapers."
 
Vaping has exploded in popularity in the past year or two, as reformed smokers and others flock to what many consider a safer alternative to cigarettes.
 
Originally from Dryden, and now residing in Sudbury, Steele is the the owner of Crystal Fog Vapes on Regent Street. But he isn't just a store owner — Steele is the mind behind what might be the only Northern Ontario-made line of e-juice: Rugged North.
 
With Steele as its flavour designer and mixologist, the two-year-old company produces and bottles its wares at an ISO-12 rated lab. And those products can be found on store shelves across Canada, the United States and parts of Europe.
 
So far, Steele has patented 28 unique flavours of e-juice, including Maple Morning, a distinctly Canadian flavour and a favourite among Sudbury vapers, with a taste that resembles a cinnamon roll with maple inside.
 
“I wouldn't say there's a lot of chemistry involved, you don't have to be a scientist to make juice,” said Steele. “I think you have to be more of a chef than anything, because at the end of the day it's just a recipe and you're combining flavours.”
 
There is, however, a lot of trial and error and Steele started out like many in the industry, reading as much as he could online.
 
“There's lots of do-it-yourself websites for making juices,” said Steele. “It's like that across the vaping community, and I think that's how most of us start out, just by looking things up online. It's the same with people who build their own coils or do modifications, you start out by just reading as much as you can.”
 
Now that's he an experienced builder of e-juice flavours and the owner of a popular brand, Steele offers his mixology skills to customers, bartender-style, whipping up custom flavours in as little as 10 minutes. 
 
“I wouldn't feel comfortable doing this if I didn't have a solid reputation with Rugged North,” said Steele. “We don't allow anyone else who works here to mix the juices.”
 
He does share his knowledge with customers, running make-your-own juice nights every two weeks to guide vapers through the process of flavour mixing.
 
“It's purely to show people who are looking to get off cigarettes another aspect of vaping,” said Steele. “Anything I can do to help facilitate someone quitting smoking, I'm happy to do it.”
 
For more on Crystal Fog Vapes, check out their Facebook page.
 
For more on Rugged North check our their website ruggednorthvapes.com.

Comments

Verified reader

If you would like to apply to become a verified commenter, please fill out this form.