I’m a smoker, and recently it has been a huge burdon on my finances and of course quitting is something I have tried many times before and it’s tedious, painful and generally not a nice experience. So to avoid that I’ve gone back to electronic cigarettes. E-cigs have recently gotten more popular, when I brought my first one they were only sold online or special stores now you can get disposable ones in the newsagents or kits in shopping centre stalls quite easily.
It’s very hard to decide which one is best and you can be easily put off if you buy the wrong one. Now my review or post is for those going from cigarette smoke to electronic cigarettes, it’s not for those “major vapers” out there.
Ok so my story starts around 3/4 years ago were I bought my first electronic cigarette which was a Gamucci – not sure if they’re still on sale. It was awful. It was bulky with a design that had this fake cigarette toy look. The taste was vile, the throat hit was minimal and it left the harshest burn at the back of throat much like nicotine gum. It put me off for sure. so stay well away from this brand.
Next I tried Jasper & Jasper which i believe is available online at Amazon. It was very expensive starting at £30 for a small starter pack of a USB charger, 1 battery and 5 cartridges. However the design was small, it was plain white with a red crystal end. The throat hit was perfect, the taste didn’t taste like tabacco but it was very pleasurable if not more-ish. It was extremely easy to assemble with packs of 5 cartridges. However, the cartridges that were meant to last “200 drags” lasted about 60/80. The battery was also extremely poor and although they claim “full drags until the battery has run out” this was not the case, about 20 drags before the battery went were extremely weak and tasteless. It was very difficult to figure out what was running out, the juice or the battery. I’d often change cartridges to only find that the last cartridge was still three quarters full. I aso had to replace the device three or four times because it broke so often, although still cheaper than cigarettes it was a lot of hassle and still digging a fairly big whole in my pocket.
In the past year I bought the Liberro Realis (http://liberro.co.uk/). This is by far the best one, the taste is similar to Jasper & Jasper’s liquid without being overly more-ish. I actually dug up one of the old cartridges from Jasper & Jasper and dropped the liquid from Liberro into it to find that it held about three small drops, compared to the Realis that holds 12. The starter park also comes with a PCC which is basically a pocket charger, it can charge one battery, hold another full e-cig and 5 cartomisers. It’s extremely handy and is not much bigger than a pack of 20 cigs. It comes with 6 of the cartomisers already filled and a bottle of e-liquid which can be used to easily (very easy) refill the cartomisers.
Now the battery life is a bit minimal lasting around 20-30 minutes if used continuously, However with the PCC on you it can last two days. (This is all dependant on how often you use it of course). It’s also very easy to notice if it’s the battery or the cartomiser, the cartomiser will start to taste bitter when it’s gone where as when it’s the battery going you just get a weak but a full tasting vape before the light flashes indicating dead battery.
It comes in white or black with cartomisers in white/black or brown. I prefer black, because it looks nicer and also if I do use it inside it’s very noticeable it’s an electronic cigarette.
The starter pack comes with 2 batteries, a PCC, 6 pre-filled/refillable cartomisers and a bottle of 30 ml Liquid which lasts a very long time at £35.
As I have been extremely impressed with Liberro’s quality, price and customer service I may just try out they’re new range of E-cig called the Vea.
They also offer a wide range of different flavours, once you are accustomed to your e-cig you may want to play around with it, and try the different flavours and even mix and match to taste. Out of they’re purity range I love the Maple Cured flavour. I mix three drops of Maple Cured VG* with the realis flavour which gives me a nice throat hit with no harshness, nice big vaper production and a sweet taste.
*VG is a form of liquid alternative to PG which is used in almost all of them the main difference being is that VG has a less throat hit but bigger vaper production and some say it’s sweeter although I haven’t noticed.
I still smoke mind you, in the past week I have cut down majorly, smoking cigarettes only at work and even then it’s only three at the most.
I hope this helps those of you looking to buy a electronic cigarette or those going back to them.
Michael Luke Mitchell's Blog 