Al Fakher 30K Hypermax Pods – Blackcurrant Mint

Mint and menthol get lumped together constantly, and they shouldn't be. Menthol is a cold sensation. Mint is a taste, herbal, green, closer to something you'd find growing in a garden than something you'd feel in your sinuses. Blackcurrant Mint on the Hypermax 30K pods is built around that second idea, and it changes the whole character of the fruit underneath it.

Following the Flavour Through a Single Draw

The inhale leads with blackcurrant, and it stays audible the entire way through this one rather than getting buried, dark, slightly tart, that familiar cordial quality doing most of the early work. What mint adds isn't cold so much as freshness: a leafy, faintly peppery lift that sits alongside the fruit rather than smothering it, more like fresh mint leaves muddled into a drink than a menthol crystal dropped into it. Mid-vape, the two flavours run genuinely side by side, you can pick out the fruit and the herb as separate threads rather than one flavour cancelling the other out. The exhale stays cleaner and lighter than a straight fruit pod would leave you, but without the sharp chill that an ice variant delivers; it's refreshing in a calmer, more rounded way.

Where This One Fits Into a Day

Blackcurrant Mint suits a slower pace than its Ice sibling, it doesn't reset the palate as aggressively, so it holds up well as an evening flavour, after food, or any time you want something that feels cleansing without being a jolt. It's a strong option for anyone who likes the idea of a cooling fruit flavour but finds proper ice or menthol too harsh on the throat, since the freshness here comes from taste rather than a physical cold sensation. It's also a good entry point for someone moving away from menthol-only vaping who still wants a hint of that green, herbal character alongside a fruit they actually recognise.

• Best for: evenings, after meals, anyone who finds menthol or ice too sharp but still wants freshness
• Less suited to: vapers specifically chasing a strong, sinus-clearing cold hit

Mint Versus Ice, and What to Rotate With

The comparison with Blackcurrant Ice comes down to intensity and register, Ice is colder and more fruit-recessive, letting menthol dominate the back end, while Mint is warmer in comparison and keeps the blackcurrant front and centre throughout. Neither is "better," they just suit different moods: Ice for when you want to feel cooled down, Mint for when you want to feel refreshed without the chill. If you're using this as your regular flavour, rotating in something sweeter and fruit-forward with no herbal element, a berry mix, for instance, gives your palate a genuine break, since mint and menthol flavours both train your taste buds toward "fresh" in a way that a straight fruit doesn't.

Getting the Truest Version of This Flavour

Mint is more delicate than menthol and easier to lose if a pod isn't given time to prime properly, so let a fresh pod settle for a couple of minutes before the first serious draw. Because the herbal note sits alongside the fruit rather than overpowering it, a moderate, steady draw shows off the balance best, pulling too hard tends to push the blackcurrant forward and mute the mint, which flattens the flavour into something closer to plain fruit. This is also one where oral hygiene habits matter more than usual: mint flavours can taste stronger or fresher right after brushing your teeth, and noticeably flatter straight after coffee or a heavy meal, purely because of how your palate is behaving in that moment rather than anything to do with the pod itself.

Because the balance between fruit and herb is fairly fine here, it's also worth being consistent with how you draw across a session rather than switching between short sips and long pulls, a mixed approach can make the flavour seem inconsistent from puff to puff when really it's the technique changing, not the pod.

Why the Balance Is Harder to Get Right

Pairing fruit with mint is a trickier thing to formulate than pairing fruit with menthol, if only because mint has its own distinct taste that can clash with a fruit rather than simply sitting underneath it as a cooling effect does. A flavour where the mint reads as fresh rather than medicinal, and where the blackcurrant still tastes like blackcurrant rather than getting lost behind a wall of toothpaste-adjacent green, is doing something more deliberate than most fruit-and-cool combinations attempt. That's really the whole case for this flavour over a plainer ice variant, it asks a bit more of the blend, and on a well-balanced pod, it shows.

Blackcurrant Mint FAQs

Is Blackcurrant Mint as cold as Blackcurrant Ice?

No, and it isn't trying to be. It's built around mint's herbal taste rather than menthol's cooling effect, so it reads as fresh rather than icy, a much gentler sensation on the throat.

Can you actually taste the blackcurrant, or does the mint take over?

The fruit stays clearly present throughout. Mint sits alongside it rather than dominating, which is the main thing that separates this flavour from the Ice edition.

Is this a good flavour to vape after eating?

It works well in that slot precisely because of the mint, it feels cleansing without the sharper cold hit of a menthol flavour, and it's a comfortable, lower-intensity choice for the end of the day. As with all nicotine vape products, this is intended for over-18s only, sold at nic salt strengths within the UK's 20mg/ml cap.