Aromes et Liquides, the A&L ranges explained

Type aromes et liquides into a search bar from Britain and the first page is mostly the maker’s own English-language site, a review page and a handful of continental shops. The French house behind the name, better known by the three characters on its bottles, A&L, sells dozens of recipes under names that say nothing about their range, and its website stocks plenty of other brands besides. Working out what actually belongs to the house takes some digging.

Arômes et Liquides in brief, a French house born from DIY

Arômes et Liquides, shortened to A&L, is a French maker of flavour concentrates and e-liquids based near Saint-Étienne, in the Loire. Its own catalogue is split into nine collections, some sold only as concentrates for home mixing, others also as ready-to-vape liquids.

According to the history on its website, the venture began in September 2012, started by Julien Argaud, an enthusiast of do-it-yourself mixing, or DIY. The long name later gave way to the initials, at the point where the brand began creating its own recipes.

Its first in-house success was a classic, Ryan USA, followed by Tork 65 and the Panda range. Les Créations and Ultimate came afterwards, the latter now home to Ragnarok, the recipe the house is best known for.

The official shop sells far more than its own brand

The first trap for anyone looking up the brand is the website itself. It does not only showcase A&L products, it also sells those of many other manufacturers.

The company says so openly. At the start of 2015 it broadened its catalogue into a general vape shop, with hardware, bases, nicotine boosters and e-liquids from other houses. It also runs a network of physical shops where flavours can be tried on the spot.

In practice, a bottle found on that site is not necessarily an A&L recipe. The page listing the A&L brands separates the house’s own collections, and it is the one to check before assuming anything.

The nine Arômes et Liquides collections at a glance

Each collection has its own flavour territory and formats. The table uses the descriptions and formats shown on the manufacturer’s website and leaves out the third-party brands it distributes.

Collection	Flavour territory, as described by A&L	Concentrate	Ready to vape
Ultimate	the benchmark range, red berries, fresh lemon, pineapple or caramel popcorn	yes, 10 or 30 ml	50 ml shortfill, nicotine 10 ml for some recipes
Hidden Potion	melon, cactus, lemon, cool red berries, banana and kiwi	yes, 10 and 30 ml	50 ml
Les Créations	varied recipes, a collection launched in 2015	yes	since 2022, shortfill or 10 ml
Panda	a mixed bag, from classics to fresh profiles	yes	no
Ryan	one classic recipe, reworked with other flavours	yes	Ryan USA in 50 ml
Classic DIY	simple or complex classics, coffee, speculoos, banana, coconut	yes, 10 ml	no
Shaker	fruity, chilled drink flavours	yes	no
A&L	simple flavours, mostly a single fruit or ingredient (strawberry, yuzu, mango, coffee, hazelnut)	yes	no
Chibi	large-format e-liquids	no	100 ml

Four collections exist only as concentrates (Panda, Shaker, Classic DIY and the simple flavours), while Chibi exists only as a liquid. Ultimate has also gained a MAX sub-range of three recipes, stronger and all of them cold, sold both as concentrate and in 50 ml.

Concentrate, shortfill or nicotine 10 ml

At A&L the same recipe can come in three forms that are used in completely different ways. Knowing which one you are looking at avoids most buying mistakes, especially from the UK, where nicotine rules shape the formats.

The concentrate, for home mixers

The concentrate is flavouring diluted in propylene glycol, what British mixers often call a one-shot. The maker is clear that it must never be vaped neat and has to be mixed into a PG/VG base, which in turn lets you choose the volume, the ratio and the nicotine strength.

The shortfill, a finished recipe without nicotine

For Ultimate recipes such as Ragnarok, the large format is 50 ml of nicotine-free liquid in a 70 ml bottle, at 50/50. The spare space takes up to two 10 ml nicotine shots, sold separately, and UK rules cap each shot at 20 mg/ml like any other nicotine-containing liquid.

The nicotine 10 ml, the simplest option

The small bottle arrives with the nicotine already in it. Ragnarok, for instance, comes at strengths from 0 to 12 mg/ml, comfortably inside the 20 mg/ml ceiling that applies in Britain, which makes it the most direct way into the house’s world.

Three questions to find your way

The Arômes et Liquides catalogue looks tangled as long as you approach it through recipe names. Three questions are enough to bring it down to a handful of bottles.

The first is about flavour family. Fans of fresh fruit should start with Ultimate and Hidden Potion, classic lovers with Ryan, Classic DIY or some of the Panda recipes, and anyone who likes fruity drinks with Shaker.

The second settles the format. If you do not mix your own liquids, rule out Panda, Shaker, Classic DIY and the simple flavours straight away, since they only exist as concentrates.

The third fine-tunes the profile. Several Ultimate recipes come in a Zero version without coolness, and some in a Green Edition without sucralose. The flagship recipe is the best illustration, with six named variations covered in our guide to the Ragnarok versions.

FAQ

The practical questions that come up most often about the brand and its products.

Do A&L recipes come in nicotine salts?

Some do. Ragnarok is sold as a 10 ml nic salt at 10 or 20 mg/ml, according to the maker, both within the UK limit. For other recipes, check product by product, as the format is not offered across the whole catalogue.

Can you mix two A&L concentrates?

Yes, and the brand suggests it on its own product pages, presenting the blending of several flavours as one of the perks of DIY. Try the mix on a small volume before committing a whole bottle to it.

What does Sweet Edition mean on a concentrate?

It is the original recipe, as the house flavourists designed it, sweetener included. It is the counterpart of the Green Edition, which leaves the sweetener out, wherever both versions exist for the same recipe.

Where do you find the mixing percentage for an A&L concentrate?

On each concentrate’s product page, which gives the recommended percentage for a 50/50 base, the equivalent in drops per 10 ml and the steeping time. The site also offers a DIY calculator to adapt those figures to your own volume.

Are Arômes et Liquides products made in France?

Yes. The brand presents its recipes as designed, made and bottled in its laboratories and premises near Saint-Étienne, whether they are concentrates or e-liquids.

Arômes et Liquides, a house best read collection by collection

Whether you type aromes et liquides without the accent or the full name, the brand makes more sense through its collections than through its recipes. Nine collections of its own, four of them concentrate-only, and a website that sells other brands as well, that is the frame to keep in mind.

Once that frame is in place, Arômes et Liquides becomes a readable catalogue, where you pick a flavour family first, then a format, then a level of coolness or sweetness. Every e-liquid house has its own grammar, and learning to read it is the surest way to find what suits you.

Next stops

Travel notes for adult readers only. Vaping products usually contain nicotine, which is addictive, and nicotine vaping products are not for sale to anyone under 18 in the UK. Nothing here is a buying recommendation.