A lot of us have heard of vaping now; those pen-like or box-like devices that grant the user nicotine delivered through a burned vapor of glycerine, water, and artificial flavoring. People typically categorize these devices as being used by folks attempting to quit smoking, and well, I am one of those folks trying to quit smoking. When you get a new battery and tank, though, it becomes somewhat of a hobby. Many local stores and online marketplaces allow things to add pizazz to your pen or box, as well as e-liquids with almost any flavor you can imagine. This is my introductory paragraph to the blog as a whole, but I will not be talking about the kinds of boxes, pens, tanks, or liquids today. No, let's talk about those cigalikes you see in your grocery store or gas station.
MarkTen by Altria
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This is the Markten, Altria's (the parent company of Phillip Moris, creators of Marlboros) cheap entry in the vape market. The $10 starter kit comes with a single battery, USB adapter, and your choice of a single regular or menthol cartridge. Yes, cartridge. These little things simply screw or snap on the end of your battery and are generally ready to go. Two additional cartridges go from $6-$7 and, depending on your puffing habits, last from less than a day to about two days.
Of the three brands to be mentioned today, this would be currently dead last. The menthol tastes much more like chemical-laced artificial mint than any menthol I've ever had, the regular flavor tastes like god damn nothing, and the battery will go out at least once on a full charge before your cartridge finally runs out. The battery is also prone to falling apart after long-term use; the cap covering the lighted end will come off, the sticker around the battery will eventually peel off, and even brand new cartridges will have the stickers already ready to come off at any moment. If you can't afford a good battery that uses a tank yet and just want to get started with a cigalike, do NOT start with this piece of garbage.
Vuse by RJ Reynolds
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Surely you've heard of RJ Reynolds, even if the lot of you don't smoke or vape. They make Camels, Winstons, just about any brand that isn't Marlboro. Vuse started to be sold in 2012 but didn't get really mainstream until late 2013 and 2014. Very similar to Markten, a single batter, cartridge and usb charger is available for $10 and two cartridges for $6, but on rare occasion you can find a store selling an expansion kit that comes with an extra battery, a black case, car adapter, USB, and wall adapter, all for ~$25... and with no flavor cartridge that could've been added just as a thank you bonus. Trust me, you could just use the $10 for a little while just fine. RJR claims the battery design is for those who don't want to look like smokers thanks to it's... well, unique but still cigalike appearance. Whatever you say, guys.
This battery though... is actually really good! Unlike the MarkTen battery that will only last about half the length of a cartridge's life span, this battery can actually eat up two cartridges (each one is approx. one pack of cigarettes) before needing a charge. I was impressed how much I could use this thing at work during smoke breaks and heading home, then coming back to work before needing to charge it on the store's pc. Because cigarette companies have no imagination with flavors, once again you're stuck with just regular or menthol flavors. I actually do like the initial menthol flavor on these, they taste much more authentic than the MarkTens' menthol and give a more cool sensation, but overtime, they will begin to taste pretty burnt and mediocre, a good indication that your cartridge is going to run out (as a note, the Vuse battery gives indications of low battery life or low cartridge life by blinking red and white lights, respectively). The regular... oh my Dear god, it's awful. It's like I'm tasting an ashtray. Where as the MarkTen regular tasted like nothing, the Vuse regular flavor tastes like the cheapest paper-rolled convenience store cigar you can imagine. It was not pleasant on the throat and I would constantly cough like a chain smoker after only a few small huffs.
Vuse gets second place with the decent battery and not-bad menthol, but stay clear of that regular flavor.
blu PLus+ by Fontem US, Inc
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I'll summarize the previous generation of blu in a nutshell: Crap cartridge life, crap battery life, terrible draw, overpriced starter kit and disposables, do not purchase.
Now onto blu Plus+. I was reluctant to give BLU a second chance after the disaster that was their previous generation of batteries and cartridge. I hated blu, I was convinced to actually start using a real battery and tank because of the money I was pouring for its mediocre experience. But along came a little $15 kit with a battery, usb driver, and two (yep, not one, but two) cartridges, flavored tobacco. I had more disposable income than usual and thought "what the hell" and gave it a try. Hooooo what an improvement. The flavor was much more crisp, the vapor per draw was practically twice the original cartridge and longer lasting, and the battery life was singificantly improved (though still not to the level of Vuse or, well, just about any real vapor battery).
With blu Plus+ cartridges, you typically get a choice of four flavors at $14-$15 with three cartirdges per box at the store: menthol, tobacco, strawberry, and vanilla. The menthol was very good, about the quality of high-grade e-liquid menthol flavors; strawberry still tasted like medicine similar to the cartridges and is not worth the $15, and the vanilla.... wow, really fantastic. I'm not kidding, it tasted like I was eating cookies n cream ice cream, I wanted to eat the damn thing for fucks sake.
This battery ranks first place of the three thanks to improvements made in battery life, cartridge life, amount of vapor produced outranking the other two, and three of the four flavors being pretty decent.
Final Note:
Whatever praise or ranting I may make about these three cigalike vapor devices, please do not start vaping e-liquid with nicotine if you're not already addicted to nicotine and you only just want to fit in or have a habit and taste the many flavors on the market. Nicotine is a hell of a drug that's very hard to shake off, something I learned the hard way as I was desperate for ways to calm the stress of work and school.
With that said, please do not get either of these three if you want to be a serious vaper. Save up and get a freaking battery and tank that you can fill up with whatever brand, flavor, and strength (or lack of strength thereof) of e-liquid you want. Trust me, your wallet will thank you.
MrDrunkenFox's Drunken Vape Reviews is a new blog covering the finer vices in life, mostly vaping. This blog is not meant to encourage nonsmokers, above or below legal vaping age, to take up vaping but is instead covering the personal experiences and judgement of the vaping world, and does encourage anyone currently smoking to at least give it a try.
MarkTen by Altria
This is the Markten, Altria's (the parent company of Phillip Moris, creators of Marlboros) cheap entry in the vape market. The $10 starter kit comes with a single battery, USB adapter, and your choice of a single regular or menthol cartridge. Yes, cartridge. These little things simply screw or snap on the end of your battery and are generally ready to go. Two additional cartridges go from $6-$7 and, depending on your puffing habits, last from less than a day to about two days.
Of the three brands to be mentioned today, this would be currently dead last. The menthol tastes much more like chemical-laced artificial mint than any menthol I've ever had, the regular flavor tastes like god damn nothing, and the battery will go out at least once on a full charge before your cartridge finally runs out. The battery is also prone to falling apart after long-term use; the cap covering the lighted end will come off, the sticker around the battery will eventually peel off, and even brand new cartridges will have the stickers already ready to come off at any moment. If you can't afford a good battery that uses a tank yet and just want to get started with a cigalike, do NOT start with this piece of garbage.
Vuse by RJ Reynolds
Surely you've heard of RJ Reynolds, even if the lot of you don't smoke or vape. They make Camels, Winstons, just about any brand that isn't Marlboro. Vuse started to be sold in 2012 but didn't get really mainstream until late 2013 and 2014. Very similar to Markten, a single batter, cartridge and usb charger is available for $10 and two cartridges for $6, but on rare occasion you can find a store selling an expansion kit that comes with an extra battery, a black case, car adapter, USB, and wall adapter, all for ~$25... and with no flavor cartridge that could've been added just as a thank you bonus. Trust me, you could just use the $10 for a little while just fine. RJR claims the battery design is for those who don't want to look like smokers thanks to it's... well, unique but still cigalike appearance. Whatever you say, guys.
This battery though... is actually really good! Unlike the MarkTen battery that will only last about half the length of a cartridge's life span, this battery can actually eat up two cartridges (each one is approx. one pack of cigarettes) before needing a charge. I was impressed how much I could use this thing at work during smoke breaks and heading home, then coming back to work before needing to charge it on the store's pc. Because cigarette companies have no imagination with flavors, once again you're stuck with just regular or menthol flavors. I actually do like the initial menthol flavor on these, they taste much more authentic than the MarkTens' menthol and give a more cool sensation, but overtime, they will begin to taste pretty burnt and mediocre, a good indication that your cartridge is going to run out (as a note, the Vuse battery gives indications of low battery life or low cartridge life by blinking red and white lights, respectively). The regular... oh my Dear god, it's awful. It's like I'm tasting an ashtray. Where as the MarkTen regular tasted like nothing, the Vuse regular flavor tastes like the cheapest paper-rolled convenience store cigar you can imagine. It was not pleasant on the throat and I would constantly cough like a chain smoker after only a few small huffs.
Vuse gets second place with the decent battery and not-bad menthol, but stay clear of that regular flavor.
blu PLus+ by Fontem US, Inc
I'll summarize the previous generation of blu in a nutshell: Crap cartridge life, crap battery life, terrible draw, overpriced starter kit and disposables, do not purchase.
Now onto blu Plus+. I was reluctant to give BLU a second chance after the disaster that was their previous generation of batteries and cartridge. I hated blu, I was convinced to actually start using a real battery and tank because of the money I was pouring for its mediocre experience. But along came a little $15 kit with a battery, usb driver, and two (yep, not one, but two) cartridges, flavored tobacco. I had more disposable income than usual and thought "what the hell" and gave it a try. Hooooo what an improvement. The flavor was much more crisp, the vapor per draw was practically twice the original cartridge and longer lasting, and the battery life was singificantly improved (though still not to the level of Vuse or, well, just about any real vapor battery).
With blu Plus+ cartridges, you typically get a choice of four flavors at $14-$15 with three cartirdges per box at the store: menthol, tobacco, strawberry, and vanilla. The menthol was very good, about the quality of high-grade e-liquid menthol flavors; strawberry still tasted like medicine similar to the cartridges and is not worth the $15, and the vanilla.... wow, really fantastic. I'm not kidding, it tasted like I was eating cookies n cream ice cream, I wanted to eat the damn thing for fucks sake.
This battery ranks first place of the three thanks to improvements made in battery life, cartridge life, amount of vapor produced outranking the other two, and three of the four flavors being pretty decent.
Final Note:
Whatever praise or ranting I may make about these three cigalike vapor devices, please do not start vaping e-liquid with nicotine if you're not already addicted to nicotine and you only just want to fit in or have a habit and taste the many flavors on the market. Nicotine is a hell of a drug that's very hard to shake off, something I learned the hard way as I was desperate for ways to calm the stress of work and school.
With that said, please do not get either of these three if you want to be a serious vaper. Save up and get a freaking battery and tank that you can fill up with whatever brand, flavor, and strength (or lack of strength thereof) of e-liquid you want. Trust me, your wallet will thank you.
MrDrunkenFox's Drunken Vape Reviews is a new blog covering the finer vices in life, mostly vaping. This blog is not meant to encourage nonsmokers, above or below legal vaping age, to take up vaping but is instead covering the personal experiences and judgement of the vaping world, and does encourage anyone currently smoking to at least give it a try.