Toronto Transportation Society

In a way, it is as though V2 went sideways instead of up. When we talk about firms developing to accommodate the changing e cig market, you might picture Vaporfi and Halo with their catalogs of graduated electronics. Halo’s G6 is followed by a Triton, surpassed by a Tracer, then topped by the Reactor box mod. Vaporfi begins with an Express, upgrades to the Pro, moves on to a Rocket, a Rebel, then finishes strongly with the VAIO and VEX mods. Vaporfi does not follow the same path at all; they go their own way.

V2 Cigs Review

This characteristic of one of America’s oldest brands of e cigs is an endearing feature. We get a little bit sick of the sameness in this industry. Everything is made to the same or almost the same specifications. Power is similar. Controls (or lack of them) are the same. Colors don’t vary much, and mini cigs are usually shaped like cigarettes. It gets a little bit boring over time.

Then V2 comes along and decides to change things up. We should have known, when they dropped “Cigs” from their name and let go of Vapor Couture, that V2 was redefining itself. They are pushing away from the “cigarette” association towards a unique representation of vaping but at the same level as before; the user-friendly, new-vaper style that makes it so easy to transition. With the latest products from V2, it will be impossible for a non-vaper to mistake vaping for smoking.

New V2 Technology

The VERTX and VERTX Plus feature angles and corners, something the usual mini cig does not boast. What is so special about edges? They distinguish a device from the typical cigalike so others can tell this is not a cigarette. Also, edges prevent rolling. The two versions are set apart by the swipe screen. One, without a swipe screen, is non-adjustable. The VERTX Plus touchscreen allows one to change the voltage setting and to see this setting clearly. Both versions offer pass-through technology: use them while they charge. The 420mAh battery lasts for 5 hours or longer when it is fully charged up. Select rose gold, black, or gunmetal gray.

Old But Still Awesome

V2’s Classic battery is still a good choice of first-vape for the newbie. Select from multiple sizes and either manual or automatic operation. The difference is this: puff to make the element heat up or press a button. The manual option is more efficient as it does not drain the battery continually. An automatic, however, is more streamlined and user-friendly for a newcomer to vaping.

The best starter kit comes with two batteries and several cartomizer replacements. Eventually, swap pre-filled cartridges for blank ones and refill them with V2 Platinum e-liquid in one of 12 flavors. These represent three types of tobacco, three types of menthol, some fruits, and a few other choices. New flavors sometimes come along on a limited basis, or you can use other flavors by different companies as long as they are not made with a lot of vegetable glycerin.

The EX was introduced several years ago and offers a more glamorous version of the Classic. Five tiny lights along the edge indicate how much power is left in the battery. Colors and patterns are bolder than the Classic.

Disposable V2 e-cigs come in two flavors: menthol and tobacco. Buy them in bulk to save money. That goes for cartridges too. Find a coupon code to save more money or utilize loyalty points in exchange for money at the checkout.

Herbal Vaping

When the Pro Series 3 was released, the vaping world rejoiced. They could vape with oils or herbs as well as e-liquids using one device and a specialized cartridge. The Pro Series 3 is like an eGo, but the Pro Series 7 ramps up the power even more. Better yet, customers have control over the Series 7 to select the power level.

One of the best features of a Pro Series e pen is that the parts connect magnetically. A single battery recognizes codes on cartridges for specific materials. Don’t try to use herbs in the oil cartridge; it will not work out so well since wet materials are heated more than dry ones. You will end up with smoke and a broken device without being able to claim warranty.

Magnetic connection is secured by a console. Top parts slide in and out of the base forming an all-in-one appearance. Not only is this system efficient and cost-effective; it looks great too. V2 customer service is hard to beat. They are usually rated in the top-three.

There are numerous brands of e-cigs in the United States, many of which one will only ever encounter at a garage or corner store. Disposables are important to this industry and to smokers who want to explore the electronic alternative, so even if they seem like low-powered wanna-be electronics, give them some credit. Here are the top electronic cigarettes in two categories: disposables and rechargeables, all of them in the mini cig format and marketed by American brands.

Top Disposable E Cigs

South Beach Smoke makes a long-lasting rechargeable e cig, but how do their disposables stack up? They rate highly next to the competition and right now there is a sale going on: $11.99 for four disposables. Is this an effort to phase them out and clear the warehouse or just a great deal? Who knows, but if they are being cleared out, I recommend buying their menthol or tobacco disposable e cigs while there is still time. South Beach Smoke is noted for quality products including good-tasting e-juice.

NJOY just went bankrupt, so if you can still find a disposable by that firm, do so. They were making the strongest e cigs around, nicotine-wise. Now they will be surpassed by the likes of Apollo and BluCig, two strong competitors. Apollo makes vanilla- and cherry-flavored e-cigs as well as traditional tobacco and menthol. BluCig added cherry a while back, and their e cigs are unique. While the others are tan and white, like real cigs, BluCig disposables are black.

SmokeTip gets good ratings but flies below the radar with their products, both rechargeable and disposable. Try one of their menthol minis or one of two tobacco flavors for $9.95 each. Discounts like coupon codes will bring that price down, but only when you buy enough stuff. Consumers like the cigarette-like style with a green light at the tip to prove this is no cigarette.

For price and variety, White Cloud’s Fling can’t be beaten. Their disposable mini cigs cost around $6 and come in fruit, tobacco, menthol, and other flavors. If you buy them in bulk online, prepare to pay even less. That’s amazing given the regular price (around $10) for a brand of one-time e-cig. Then again, online prices are almost always better if shipping doesn’t kill the deal.

V2 sells a good product, and they offer volume discounts as well. With V2, you will always be sure of a reliable, sturdy device. Most disposables are supposed to last as long as around two packs of cigarettes. While this is probably an exaggeration, 1.5 packs-worth of puffing is still good value when you only pay $10 or less.

Rechargeable Sets

Some of the best manufacturers don’t make disposables. They concentrate on rechargeable technology which is better for the environment and the way to go for consumers too. If you recharge, you save money. Refill e-juice and save even more. The top brands offer you the option to do just that; refill your e cig rather than replacing pre-filled cartomizers at a cost of $2 or even $3 per ml.

Vaporfi’s Express Starter Kit contains two batteries, one large and one regular-sized. The high-drain example should supply 4 or more hours of vaping on a full charge. It looks like a normal cigarette but blank cartomizers, sold separately, are designed to be filled with e-liquid. Choose a style of tobacco or menthol that’s similar to your cigarette, at least for the first little while. Change it up to experiment with cherry, apple, or some other fruit. Select a dessert, cocktail, or baked item next. You can have a lot of fun just with the Vaporfi line of e-liquid before going anywhere else.

Halo’s e-juice might be stop number 2 because it’s one of the industry’s favorites. Although Vaporfi e liquids have won awards, those are the high-VG choices that are unsuitable for single coil mini cig cartomizers. Halo’s liquid was popular before they introduced high-VG. A single starter kit comes with blank or pre-filled cartomizers, two charging devices (USB, AC), two batteries, and a gift box. Vapers are invited to select a cigarette-type appearance or go rogue with Midnight Blue, Demon Red, or Jet Black.

The V2 Classic and EX are both marvelous: durable, flexible, and attractive. Select tan and white or opt for pink, silver, or blue. EX batteries feature patterns such as playing cards and blossoms. Opt for mechanical or automatic batteries and choose from 12 flavors of e juice or filled cartomizers. Their range of starter kits is extensive, offering tremendous selection and variety.

This is an interesting industry. Electronic cigarettes are designed in the United States but made in Chinese factories in Shenzhen. These factories pump out their own brands as well as ones for American clients, often making one model and adding one of the numerous names to its side. Famous Chinese brands are Kanger, Innokin, and SMOK. There is very little originality in the beginners’ market or among eGos, but with portable vaporizers, it is a different story.

Portable Vaporizers Worldwide

Countries producing the major brands and models of portable vaporizers include Germany, Canada, and the United States. Many mods are made domestically, not shipped to major off-site plants in India, China, or Mexico. Arizer of Canada is a bestseller all over North America. 7th Floor, from Colorado, makes attractive devices. The Volcano has been produced in Germany for two decades by Storz & Bickel, makers of the Mighty and Plenty also.

Devoted to Design

There is tremendous design variety too, with lots of shapes, colors, and materials being used. The top portable vaporizers reflect this diversity. Some are long and slender; others are bulky and a little bit heavy. Positive factors they share in common are efficiency, durability, and rechargeable batteries. Any color is possible, from a vivid shade of blue to luxurious gold.

Applications for Vaporizers

E-cigs are much like cigarettes, and eGos are not far off, but box mods do not look like anything one would carry in a handbag or briefcase. They cannot be stealthy. Many vaping devices for herbs, oils, and waxes resemble other things. Ingenious designers have transformed an item which elicits considerable suspicion into an inhaler, a flask, a drink with a straw, and a light saber. There are also units made specifically for certain situations. For example, the inhaler-style PUFFIT really does support individuals with asthma with optional delivery assistance when you press a button. The Summit is designed for hiking at high elevation in unpredictable weather.

Then again, Grenco Science goes the other way, purposely creating vaporizers that draw attention. They work with artists and superstars of American culture to design special, limited editions of the GPen rechargeable handheld vaporizer.

Mostly Portability

But the defining feature of what the industry and consumers consider “best” is how portable an item is. A portable product is rechargeable, small enough to carry around, easy to use, rugged to withstand being dropped, and the battery is long-lasting. Usually, the top devices cost between $100 and $300. While it’s not always a defining sales factor, reviews tend to favor convection heating too. Price doesn’t appear to be a turn-off to many consumers who place quality ahead of their budgets.

Top Portable Vaporizers

A Vapium Summit from America earns high marks on all of these points. It was made for travel, created to be dropped against mountainous rocks, and even removable parts are attached in some way so they can’t go flying into the cracks of a craggy slope. The Summit ignores elevation and performance is not dampened by high winds. It’s sleek and small for carrying long distances, but still, holds enough material for the sake of convenience.

Germany’s Storz & Bickel designed the black and orange Crafty to be a smaller, more affordable sibling to the similar-looking Mighty. Storz & Bickel, makers of the enduring Volcano desktop mod, enabled haptic alerts — vibration, also seen in the Summit — rather than a screen. This modern, well-vented item featuring an internal battery is fairly weighty but still compact enough to carry on the train and also robust against knocks and accidents. Connect the Crafty to your smartphone to control heating and read data.

Arizer of Canada structured the Solo for portable vaping in a long, light, narrow format. It comes with several pre-set heat options and is more affordable than the Crafty. This is a customer favorite along with the PAX, another US offering, which is one of the most popular and successful portable herbal vaporizers of all time. There is just one button at the top, by the mouthpiece. PAX Labs, from California, employs an incredibly powerful magnet for the bottom portion to hold in herbs but make it easy to get at them for cleaning. Pretty lights on the side indicate your battery and heat status.

If you want to choose between herbs, waxes, and e-liquids, buy the V2 Pro Series 7, the more powerful of their two Pro Series devices. It’s personally regulated, works with three types of cartridges, and cartridges connect magnetically to one battery. In order to strengthen the connection, V2 designed a console which holds a cartridge in place.

The most famous electronic cigarettes are American, but they are also Chinese. It’s rare for a device to be made in the USA although many are designed here. Where high-performance e-cigs are concerned, China dominates the industry, but American brands still make their mark. Most brands are independent. Mark 10 and Vuse are subsidiaries of tobacco companies.

Branching Out

A more interesting example of wing-spreading comes from the herbal-vape market place. Pax Labs released their JUUL E Cig two years ago to considerable acclaim and excellent reviews. This is a miniature electronic device, yet different from a mini cig. It’s not a tube but a narrow memory-stick-style unit that looks like a piece of office equipment at your desk. If this is in someone’s mouth, he could be accused of chewing on his thumb drive.

Popular E Cigs, No Branching

Most companies these days try to cover all of their bases with mini cigs, eGos, and advanced products. A few notable examples have retained their simple format and chosen not to advance. They include BluCig, Green Smoke, White Cloud, Bull Smoke, and 21st Century Smoke. These firms sell e cigs only; the types which look and feel like analogs although colors vary. A large audience of smokers and recent ex-smokers rely on cigalikes to convince them they are still smoking. They might never upgrade to an eGo, could be e-cig fans for the rest of their lives, or they will give up both e-cigs and analogs in the long run.

Branching Out in a Different Way

Hawaii’s Volcano is a rarity in this industry because they chose to do away with their cigalike, the Magma. This is the only device they dropped. Volcano chose to concentrate on advancing their VTube, promoting the Inferno eGo, and developing new mods like the LavaBox DNA 200 and LavaBox DNA 75.

Chinese Competitors

Americans might not know this, but Joyetech makes a miniature electronic cigarette called the eRoll. It’s tiny, offering only 90mAh, but it comes apart into four pieces. One of the most important innovations in the electronic cigarette industry was combining atomizers with cartridges to form cartomizers in order to prevent over-use of coils and dry hits. In China, maybe they consider the 4-part electronic cig more efficient and cost effective. It sure looks sleek.

Top US Brands

The top-ten of American e-cigs, talking about minis only, is as follows but not necessarily in the following order. Vaporfi, V2, Apollo, Halo, and Mig are usually in there. JUUL, Vapor4Life, South Beach Smoke, Green Smoke, and NJoy often represent the second half of the list. They exchange places all the time; the winner is based on numerous factors which change. Others you might discover, but which probably will not make it to the top-ten, include names listed above plus Smokeless Image, Fin, and Eonsmoke.

Factors in Common

Almost all of the brands in the top-ten have been operating since e cigs were first introduced to the United States. JUUL, Mig, and Vaporfi are the exceptions. The others came out shortly after except the JUUL which was launched late in the game. The other seven have witnessed new launches and the demise of assorted brands. They have seen top names drop in popularity where they still cling to life. Usually, customer service is a deciding factor in what makes a name great. Customers really appreciate how they are treated by the firms above. They also approve of loyalty programs which reduce costs.

Out of the top-ten names above, only JUUL and Green Smoke fail to extend their reach to eGo users. Mig, Vaporfi, and V2 not only sell e-liquid devices but also products for vaporizing oils, concentrates, and herbs. Eonsmoke is another company which promotes vaping from all angles. Apart from JUUL and Green Smoke, all the e cigarette brands in the top ten design and market advanced devices like eGos and APVs. NJOY only goes as far as level 2 (the eGo), but Halo’s Triton was joined by a Tracer APV and Reactor Box Mod a while back. V2’s Pro Series 7 is more than an eGo, although marketed as a 3-in-1 unit. Vaporfi makes several mods including the intimidating Rebel III, VAIO all-in-one device, and a VEX mod with TC and VW functionality.

Mig covers their bases, and so does Apollo. When South Beach Smoke added the Storm, Curve, and Thunder to their line-up, there was lots of excitement, not to mention plenty of colors to choose from. Customers love their “build your own starter kit” feature and the chance to buy e liquid.