We got an chance to get in touch with one of the founders of Ben Jonson’s Quality E-Liquid, Ben Cox. Based out of Orange County, California, Ben co-founded Ben Jonson’s in 2012 , and released his second line, Classified E-Liquids, in 2013. We here at The Vape Snob have been huge supporters of Ben and his e-liquid and had the pleasure of talking to him about how he got started, cracked some jokes, and he even gave us some insight on his future plans.
Vape Snob: Please introduce yourself Ben and tell us a little bit about what you do. What motivated you to start your Company?
Ben: As you’ve astutely pointed out, my name is Ben, I’m the Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer here at Ben Jonson’s and Classified E-Liquids. My job is pretty awesome, I am in charge of all the products we make here. I ensure that quality standards are upheld, that our labeling language is as forward thinking as it can be, and that new products in development are as good as we can possibly make them.
I am really proud of the approach we take to creating new products. We spend a lot of time with the development process and will not release anything to the public until everyone here is 100% satisfied with the final version. I believe our drive and commitment to making the best products possible is evident in the overall quality and taste of our juice.
Making juice started as a hobby for me and as a way to save money on juice. Thanks to Sam, who is our other Co-Founder, this hobby transformed into a business and we were able to start publicly selling juice. As a result of Sam’s vision, our products are now available throughout the United States and in several countries around the world. This reality remains to be something I have a hard time wrapping my head around to this day.
Vape Snob: Are you Ben Jonson? meaning you’re the guy on the Label of Ben Jonson’s E-Liquids?
Ben: Haha, well yes and no. Ben Jonson was a nickname my roommate used to have for me. Am I the person on the bottle? No. That is Ben Jonson. Ben Jonson is an idea, a feeling of greatness and quality, he gets it.
Vape Snob: We get it too Ben 😉
Vape Snob: Tell us a little bit about your position and the people involved. How have you built your brand? Where can we get a hold more about your company and where to get it?
Ben: Well, I’ve already told you a little bit about what I do. I’d love to go into details about each of the incredible people we have who make up our team, but this would be a really long answer since we have quite a few nowadays. But I can give you a brief snapshot of the great people who make up our company.
From upper management to marketing, on our sales floor and in our shipping warehouse, we have some of the most talented and amazing individuals who I have ever had the pleasure of working with. These people have become more than just employees, they are my friends. Their tireless work is what makes our company run and I couldn’t be more grateful for having the opportunity to work with them each and every day. These people are Ben Jonson’s and Classified E-liquids, without them our brands would be nothing more than ideas.
If anyone wants to meet our team or learn about our products they can check out our Facebook and Instagram pages. We have a lot of awesome content there thanks to our marketing team.
https://www.facebook.com/bjsawesomesauce
https://www.facebook.com/ClassifiedELiquids
https://instagram.com/benjonsons/
https://instagram.com/classified_eliquids
wholesale@classifiedeliquids.com
wholesale@benjonsonjuice.com
http://site.benjonsons.com/
Vape Snob: Who are some of your biggest influences in vaping?
Ben: There are countless wonderful, talented, and innovative people in our industry who inspire me everyday. But back when we started out, one of my biggest influences was CJ the Vaping Monkey. Seeing him start out when the industry was in its infancy and having the chance to taste his incredible flavors definitely made starting an e-liquid company seem possible to me. I’m very grateful for him and people like him who paved the way for other e-liquid companies in the vaping industry.
Vape Snob: What are some of your inspirations when creating a flavor?
Ben: Well, our inspiration varies from flavor to flavor. Some of the conceptual flavor profiles come from me, but many come from Sam also, he has a great mind for creating flavors. But it doesn’t end with just us two, some of our flavor ideas come from friends and coworkers as well.
When I’m developing a new flavor, most of the time I draw inspiration from some of my favorite beverages or food items. Sometimes they will turn out great as an e-lqiuid and other times they don’t exactly translate well. Regardless of where the inspiration comes from for a new flavor, it requires a lot of trial and error to end up with a final version that is ready for sale. I would say that at least half of the new flavors we’ve experimented with will never end up being a product we sell. This happens for any number of reasons, but mainly because our standards are high and each flavor has to perform well in a variety of different areas, which is something that is not easily to achieved.
Vape Snob: Do you know what’s a VGOD?
Ben: Shut up Thomas.
Thomas McCool: Love you Ben 😉
Vape Snob: Why did you guys change the name of your flavor “Or3o” to “Cr3am”? (I’m personally a big fan of the old Or3o labels!)
Ben: Cr3am is 100% identical to Or3o. It’s the same exact juice, but the name was indeed changed. We switched it from Or3o to Cr3am the name before we implemented widespread distribution. It was purely a precautionary measure on our part so that Nabisco wouldn’t come knocking on our door claiming a trademark violation or anything silly like that.
Vape Snob: What upcoming releases, projects, or events are you working on?
Ben: Well, this hasn’t been officially announced yet, but I’ll spill the beans just for you. We are releasing a new juice line at Vape Summit in Las Vegas at the end of this month. It is called “Scrimshaw Vapors” and if you ask me it’s pretty kick ass.
Scrimshaw Vapors will consist of three new flavors and all will feature a new 70/30 VG/PG blend. Each of these three flavors are great all day vapes and they kill in a dripper. I crush the 3mg in a dripper at 50-80 watts no problem. They rock out of any of the new Atlantis style tanks and perform really well in all other atty types also. I have “Kraken”, which is a very tasty tropical punch, in my In’ax MkIIr right now.
Now that I’ve mentioned Kraken, I’ll tell you about the other flavors. “Moby” is the most savory of the bunch, it’s a blueberry lemon crumble and I have to say that it is delicious. The Last flavor in the lineup is “Siren”, which is a hard one to describe in words. It’s a little bit like a strawberry cream flavor, but it has this light and airy fruit medley thing going on too. It almost tastes like a strawberry cream soda to me. All the flavors in the Scrimshaw Vapors line are definitely worth trying. Once I start vaping one of them I have a really hard time stopping, they’re just so tasty. Zack, who is our Chief of Operations, cant stop vaping them. He keeps ripping through 30mL bottles almost faster than I can whip them up.
Overall Scrimshaw Vapors is a killer new line and I’m really excited for everyone to get a chance to try it. Its been a long time since we’ve released anything new, but if I can say so myself, these three flavors were worth the wait.
Vape Snob: What are some of your favorite personal vaping setups?
Ben: Well, I have quite a few favorite setups that I rotate through depending on the situation and my mood. They change over time, atomizers get put onto different mods and vise-versa. Currently, I have a couple of beater setups and a couple of high end in rotation. Starting with the beaters… I have a HexOhm with a Royal Hunter rocking 60-80 watts. Then I have an IPv3 with a Herakles at about 50 watts. My in between setup is an In’ax MkIIr on the new Vapor Shark rDNA 40. Then my go-to high-end rig is a Gepetto Elite v2 with an Origen Genesis v2. I have also just started vaping my Billet Box again thanks to Urq’s new Siluro and so far I’m loving it.
Vape Snob: How bout them Lakers?
Ben: I’m not a huge NBA fan. I like college ball, but really if you could call me a fan of anything it would be the MLB. Tampa Bay is my team, mainly because I’m from Durham, North Carolina. Durham is the home of the Durham Bulls, which is the farm team for Tampa Bay. So I’ve been able to see a lot of Tampa Bay’s players back home in Durham crushing some AAA ball before they went pro.
Vape Snob: I don’t even watch sports, but next time “I’ll ask how bout Tampa?” 
Vape Snob: What are some of your favorite E-Liquids brands and flavors besides your E-Liquid?
Ben: Lets see, I don’t vape a lot of other juice besides what we make, but there are a couple that come to mind right off the bat. Smoked Custard from Nick’s Blissful Brews has been a long time favorite of mine. Also, Dolce Nero Te by P.O.E.T is another one of my favorites. I know there are a ton of other great flavors out there I love, but those are the two the jump to the front of my mind when someone asks me that question.
Vape Snob: What are your plans for the future?
Ben: Vape.
Vape Snob: 
Vape Snob: Vape and hobbies are often tied together…what hobbies are grabbing your attention right now?
Ben: Well, I’ve always been into R/C gadgets. Lately I’ve been getting out and flying R/C copters and planes at the park. I’m also building a mini racing quadcopter at the moment. I never have time to explore hobbies in the way I would like to though.
Vape Snob: Whats your brand of denim jeans? True Religion? Ed Hardy?
Ben: Right now my favorite pair of jeans are made by MacKeen. They are a small company that I found at a random little shop in my area and I love them. They’re super comfy and I like their look.
Vape Snob: Thanks for taking the time to speak with us Ben. Do you have any last words or shout-outs?
Ben: I would just like to thank you Peter. You’re always showing a lot of love for us and our products. Myself and all of us at the company greatly appreciate your support. Also, I’m looking forward to meeting a lot of new people and seeing old friends at Vape Summit this year. I can’t wait for people to try out the flavors in our new Scrimshaw Vapors line because I’m super stoked on it
