Tobacco e-liquid has always been an awkward category.
Plenty of bottles carry the word tobacco, then taste mainly of caramel, vanilla or something vaguely nutty. There is nothing wrong with that if it is what you enjoy, but it does not do much for an adult smoker who is looking for a familiar, dry cigarette-style flavour.
Montreal Original was created for that person.
Developed in Canada and made in the UK, Montreal Original takes a very different route to most tobacco e-liquids. Its flavours begin with tobacco extract, not with a sweet flavour recipe designed to imitate tobacco. The result is light, smooth and deliberately dry: a range that treats tobacco as a flavour in its own right rather than turning it into a dessert.
A Canadian idea built around a simple problem
Montreal Original was founded in 2018 by Nathan Fréchette-Gagnon and a group of partners with experience in the Canadian vaping industry. They kept seeing the same problem. Vaping had become very good at offering fruit, ice and confectionery flavours, but the category that mattered most to many smokers—tobacco—often felt like an afterthought.
For someone moving away from cigarettes, that missing familiarity can be important. A liquid may be called tobacco, yet the first thing you taste is sugar, cream or caramel. Montreal Original set out to make something more recognisable: not the taste of smoke or combustion, but the dry, straightforward character that a smoker associates with tobacco.
Getting there took three years of research and development and an investment approaching two million dollars. The key was not another flavour formula. It was a new way of working with tobacco itself.
From tobacco leaf to tobacco extract
Montreal Original uses a specialised reverse-osmosis extraction process developed with its technical partners.
In simple terms, industrial tobacco and vegetable glycerine are placed in a controlled extraction system. Pressure and a semi-permeable membrane are then used to separate the desired aromatic compounds from the unwanted solids and residues in the tobacco. This process uses no solvent.
What remains is a refined tobacco extract that can be used in an e-liquid. Because the flavour starts with tobacco, it has a naturally familiar structure: dry rather than syrupy, restrained rather than perfumed, and much closer to the profile many cigarette smokers expect.
That distinction is the heart of Montreal Original. It is not simply a tobacco-inspired flavour. It is an e-liquid made from tobacco extract.
What does it feel like to vape?
The first surprise is how light it is.
'Real tobacco' can sound as though it should be dark, heavy or cigar-like, but Montreal Original is none of those things. The process was developed to carry the recognisable flavour without carrying the unwanted leaf residue with it.
Across the range, three qualities come through:
- Smooth: the profiles are light and easy to vape, without the harsh, smoky heaviness people sometimes expect from a tobacco liquid.
- Dry and sugar-free: there is no sugary coating and no sweetener masking the tobacco. The finish stays clean and cigarette-like.
- Familiar: each recipe has been built around a style that UK smokers are likely to recognise.
The lack of sugar and sweetener is also welcome for anyone tired of heavily sweetened e-liquids and the residue they can leave on a coil.
Developed in Montreal, made in Britain
Although the idea and extraction technology were developed in Canada, the UK range is manufactured in Preston to UK production and quality standards.
That local production matters. It keeps the finished products close to the market they were made for and allows Montreal Original to offer a line-up designed specifically around British smoking preferences.
At Evapo, the range is available as 10ml nicotine salts in 10 and 20 mg/ml strengths. Its balanced 50/50 formulation works particularly well in refillable mouth-to-lung pod kits and other lower-powered devices commonly used by people moving away from cigarettes.
Five familiar tobacco styles, without the familiar names
Montreal Original’s UK collection is based on five cigarette profiles that have long been part of the British market. The names are original, but the references are intentionally easy to spot.
Canyon - American blond tobacco
Canyon has the rounded, lightly toasted character of a classic American blond. It is full enough to feel familiar, but keeps the smooth delivery and dry finish that define the Montreal Original range. If your old packet was red and white and carried the best-known initial in American tobacco, you will understand the reference.
Bridge - light and balanced Virginia tobacco
Bridge is the everyday all-rounder: a clean Virginia profile with a lighter body and an even, uncomplicated finish. It takes its cue from a familiar blue-accented British pack whose name paired two well-known surnames—the sort of dependable choice that never needed to shout for attention.
Goldcrest - refined and mellow Virginia tobacco
Goldcrest is polished, mellow and particularly smooth. Its Virginia tobacco character is present without becoming heavy, making it an easy place to start for anyone drawn to a softer cigarette profile. The unmistakable gold packet that inspired it is hinted at in the name.
Silver - smooth and dry Virginia tobacco
Silver is crisp, understated and distinctly dry. It has a gentle Virginia base with a neat finish and very little weight on the palate. Smokers familiar with the modern silver packet and its cool blue details should recognise where this one is coming from. The colour is one clue; the name itself is another.
Mariner - bold and full-bodied Virginia tobacco
Mariner is the deepest profile in the UK collection. It gives Virginia tobacco a fuller body and a more pronounced finish while remaining smooth and sugar-free. Its dark navy inspiration—and the seafaring emblem found on that famous packet—provide the clue.
Which Montreal Original flavour should you try first?
If you usually favour an American-style cigarette, begin with Canyon. For a lighter everyday British profile, Bridge is the natural starting point. Goldcrest is the softest and most refined of the five, while Silver is a good fit for anyone who wants a particularly clean, dry Virginia. Choose Mariner if you are looking for the fullest tobacco flavour in the range.
The names may be new, but the profiles were designed not to feel that way.
A tobacco range that knows who it is for
Montreal Original is not trying to persuade every vaper to leave fruit, menthol or dessert flavours behind. It is made for adult smokers, dual users and former smokers who still want tobacco to taste like tobacco.
That focus is what makes the range different. The extraction technology is unusual, but the idea behind it is straightforward: begin with tobacco, remove what is not wanted, and preserve the dry, familiar character that brought many people to the category in the first place.
If sweet tobacco e-liquids have never felt quite right, Montreal Original is well worth trying.
Shop the Montreal Original range at Evapo
