BluCigs Review

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Although BluCigs haven’t been around all that long, they’ve proven themselves to stand out amongst the crowded market of Electronic Cigarettes. They originally had some issues with spiking demand overwhelming their ability to fill orders and a recall on some of the batteries, but that’s nothing out of the ordinary for a new product in a relatively new market.

BluCigs is targeting the every day smoker looking to switch to something a bit healthier. They offer an easy to use starter kit designed to get you vaping quickly and providing the ability to recharge spent batteries on the go with their unique carrying case that doubles as a portable battery charger. Despite some issues when the company first launched it’s product, BluCigs has evolved into a serious contender for one of the top electronic cigarettes on the market today.

The BluCigs starter kit

BluCigs offers their starter kit at $69.95, which is less than most brands, in some cases significantly less. The starter kit is packed with items most electronic cigarettes don’t come with, including the charge-on-the-go carrying case, which is a big selling point for Blu. The carrying case basically allows you to charge your electronic cigarette away from a wall outlet. It contains a small battery that you charge each night using a wall outlet. Then, while you’re out during the day, if one of your e-cig batteries dies, you can stick it in the case and it’ll be fully charged within a few hours. I’ll cover the case a bit more later in this review.

The starter kit also includes two rechargeable, lithium-polymer batteries, a wall-wart style battery charger, a USB battery charger, a 5-pack cartridge sampler, each with 5 cartridges and each a different flavor, and a carrying case that also functions as a mobile battery charger.

The Batteries

Like most brands, the BluCigs starter kit includes two rechargeable lithium-polymer batteries; both of which include a blue LED at the tip that lights up when you take a drag. If you’re unfamiliar with electronic cigarettes, most have this LED at the tip of the batter. The blue LED on the BluCigs battery is meant to distinguish the electronic cigarette from a real cigarette. The reasoning is simple: Imagine you decide you want to puff on your electronic cigarette in a restaurant or bar. Well most indoor places are covered by smoking bans these days. But guess what? Smoking bans don’t apply to electronic cigarettes since the by-product is not cigarette smoke. So you can smoke these things indoors; unfortunately, if your e-cig has a red tip just like a real cigarette, you’re much more likely to have the manager come over ask ream you out for smoking inside than with a blue tip. And it works. I’ve tested a number of different brands in restaurants and bars and the blue LED does, in fact, make it clear that you’re not smoking a real cigarette and its been very simple explaining the fact that I’m smoking an electronic cigarette, as opposed to a tobacco cigarette, to anyone interested.

BluCigs were designed to appeal to the average smoker, so, unlike a few of it’s competitors, Blu is very small. In fact, fully assembled, it’s only slightly bigger than a standard tobacco cigarette. This is a big improvement over earlier electronic cigarette models that were the size of a ball point pen.

BluCigs’ battery life is about average amongst the different brands I’ve tested. They all leave something to be desired, but you can expect, with heavy usage, about half a day before you’ll need to swap batteries. For some brands, this means you have to carry extra batteries with you, but the charge-on-the-go carrying case included in the BluCigs starter kit means that when your battery inevitably dies at work or out at the bar, you can quickly swap it with the other battery, fully charged, from the carrying case and plug your dead battery into the case to fully recharge in a couple of hours.

The Carrying Case

I cannot stress enough the convenience of the carrying case. Not only is it small, just a bit larger than a pack of traditional smokes, but it’s able to carry a full 6 battery charges, which means you’ll rarely, if ever, get caught without a fully charged battery. And when it comes to replacing traditional cigarettes, never running out of batteries means never being forced to go back to tobacco cigarettes.

The case can hold and charge two batteries simultaneously, and provides space enough for 5 cartridges in addition to the batteries.

The Battery Chargers

In addition to the carrying case, BluCigs comes with two other battery chargers: a USB charger and a standard wall charger. Both will charge the batteries from zero to full in about two hours. The USB charger is particularly useful if you always have your laptop with you. I keep mine in my laptop case and use it whenever my laptop is plugged in so that I can save my Blu case for emergencies.

The BluCigs cartridges

The cartridges included with the BluCigs starter kit include 5 packs (25 cartridges total) of your choice. This is a real benefit over other electronic cigarette brands. First of all, most brands come with only a few cartridges, maybe 5 in the starter kit. Second, they don’t let you choose which cartridges your starter kit comes with. BluCigs on the other hand gives you full choice over which 5 packs come with your starter kit. Any of the following flavors are available to choose from: Classic Tobacco, Magnificent Menthol, Java Jolt, Vivid Vanilla and Cherry Crush. Each cartridge comes in your choice of 4 nicotine levels: Full flavored (16mg), Light (12mg), Ultra Light (8mg) and Non-nicotine (0mg).

It can be hard deciding what strength of nicotine cartridge to start off with. The answer really depends on your current smoking habit. If you’re a heavy smoker, I’d definitely go with the full-flavored cartridge with 16mg nicotine content. If you’re not a heavy smoker, you can generally match your cartridges up using the following guidelines. If you smoke lights, go with the Light cartridges with 12mg nicotine content, if you smoke ultra lights, go with the Ultra Light cartridges with 8mg nicotine content, and if you’re not a regular smoker at all and are just looking for a substitute to help you quit completely, try the non-nicotine cartridges. That said, you can’t go wrong with the Full Flavored cartridges (16mg nicotine content) because you can always smoke a little less or take lighter hits if it turns out to be too strong for you.

The atomizers

The atomizer is the device that makes electronic cigarettes do what they do, vaporize the nicotine solution. Most starter kits only come with one atomizer and, if experience is a teacher, no matter which brand you purchase you’ll end up replacing atomizers about once every 3 – 4 months. So, it’s really convenient that BluCigs comes with two atomizers so you’re not left out in the cold when your first one inevitably dies. The atomizers are high quality and generate a good amount of vapor.

Replacement parts

Eventually, you’ll have atomizers die or your batteries won’t hold a charge anymore. This is something you’ll find no matter which brand you go with, so it’s important to consider the cost of replacement parts for your electronic cigarette. I found the BluCigs replacement parts to be about average price when compared to other brands. As of this writing, replacement batteries are $9.95 each, replacement atomizers are $9.95 for a two-pack, new USB and wall chargers can be had for $9.95 for both, and a replacement blu charging pack will also be $9.95.

Cost of ownership

You can save a significant amount of money over tobacco smokes by switching to electronic cigarettes. I was a pack-a-day smoker and I calculated I’d save $600 over the course of one year, even factoring in replacement parts. Compared with other electronic cigarette brands, the cost of owning BluCigs is on the lower side. The starter kit is relatively inexpensive and, because of the charge-on-the-go carrying case, you don’t have to purchase a whole handful of batteries to carry around with you to avoid getting caught without a full charge. Also, new cartridges can be had for as little as $0.80 each, and at the equivalent of about 6 tobacco cigarettes, represent significant savings over the life of ownership.

All in all, BluCigs is a very good electronic cigarette and certainly one of the best for those looking to try electronic cigarettes for the first time. If you’re not sure about which flavor cartridges to go with I can tell you that they’re all good, so it won’t hurt to give them all a shot. However, even though I never smoked menthol cigarettes in my tobacco days, the Menthol flavor really stood out above the rest and I thought the Vanilla was another good one. Classic tobacco was pretty good, although I’m partial to the sweeter flavors. Replacement cartridges are inexpensive, so you won’t regret trying all the flavors to make sure you get one you really like and will stick with for the long term.

Buy Now or Learn More

Buy Now or Learn More