Electronic Cigarette Review

The Best Electronic Cigarette Reviews on the Web!

Best Electronic Cigarette

Posted by Sparky

If you are looking for the best electronic cigarette or cigar or pipe for that matter you have come to the wrong place!  What do I mean by that?  Well, there isn’t one size that fits all or a best-all-around.   It doesn’t exist.

If there was a superior model there wouldn’t be such a huge selection out there and there would only be 1 or 2 to choose from.

Thank god for so many choices because variety is the spice of life!

The first goal of this post is to discuss some of the things you may want to consider when deciding which best manufacturer and model to buy.  The bottom line is you have to make a decision which is the best electronic cigarette for YOU.

The second goal of this post is to discuss what features I will be reviewing for each manufacturer and device and what I have decided as a scoring system for the reviews on this site.  Maybe this rating system can help you decide if there is a “best” in each category.

So, lets get started..

Once you have decided to take the plunge and invest your dough there are 5 areas to consider:

  • The model that suits you
  • Components
    • Cartridges
    • Atomizers
    • Batteries & Chargers
  • Construction / Quality
  • Cost
  • Style and Extra Features

Best Model for YOU

First, do you even want an electronic cigarette?  Maybe a electric cigar or a pipe suits you better.  Or, if you do want a cigarette style, do you want a ”pen-style” or a mini?  The best electronic cigarette or cigar may be even one of the disposable styles that are now available.

Ratings will be based on comparisons to comparable models.  For example: pen-styles will be compared to pen-styles, cigars will be compared to cigars and so on.  It is important that comparisons are apples-to-apples!

The rating system for features that get a score will be as follows:

  1. Poor
  2. Below Average
  3. Average
  4. Above Average
  5. Excellent

Components

This area includes the three main components of electronic cigarettes starting with the battery and charger.  You may want to consider how many times they can be charged, how long they hold a charge and if the starter kit comes with an extra battery.

Also, most batteries have an orange lighted tip on the end that glows while taking a drag on the device to more accurately simulate smoking.  Some manufacturers / models offer now offer other tip colors such as blue.  You may wan to consider this as some bars do not want to confuse other people into lighting up a real cigarette.

Batteries and chargers will be rated 1-5 for things like number of charges, lenth of charge and recharge time.  I will probably have another field that indicates if non-standard tip colors are offered.

Atomizer

This component heats the air from the drag to a high temperature that vaporizes the liquid nicotine solution upon contact.

Since these components get very hot at times the atomizers from some manufacturers and models have been known to fail.  Watch out!  In some cases you will be covered by a warrenty if this happens in the first year.  Most manufacturers do not sale spares separately though so you may have to buy a new starter kit when it is not covered.

Atomizers will be rated 1-5 for things like being covered by warranty, replaceable, and failure prone.

Cartridges

Electric cigarette cartridges get used up and replaced as needed.  They come in various flavors and nicotine concentrations ranging from 0mg to about 18mg per cartridge.

In addition to listing the number of flavors offered I will also rate cartridges overall 1-5 for a particular model based on total number of flavors offered, number of nicotine levels, and rate higher for offerings of zero nicotine and higher nicotine levels above 18mg.

Construction

Do the individual components fit well together producing a final product that is sturdy and comfortably solid in the hand?  Better individual components will probably result in a higher score in this area.  The 1-5 rating system will be used to score construction and determine which is the best.

Cost

Prices fluctuate but I will try to list and keep the price of starter kits and cartridges up to date.

I will also rate cost on the 1-5 scale based on value or bang-for-your buck.  Lets face it, you get what you pay for, or at least you should.  So the best electronic cigarette in this catagory will have high ratings in every other category but at a lower cost than expected.

The best device in this category will need to avoid problems like chronic atomizer failure, batteries that need replaced too frequently and high cartridge prices.

Style and other Features

The best electronic cigarette in terms of style and other features will be a matter of opinion and preference among e cig smokers.  There will be some editorial in each review discussing things like this but other than that and reading comments posted to each review, this is an area where you will have to decide what is best for you once again.

Wrapping Up

While there may not be a best electronic cigarette all around there will be some models that excel in one or more categories I have listed here.  Once you have figured out which features are most important to you based on your smoking habits then pic a few models with high scores in those areas.  Then buy what’s best for YOU!

39 Comments

  1. johnny says:

    Thanks for good post

  2. ECR Blogger says:

    No problem.

    I have some updates planned because the more of these I review the more I learn about what should be considered in each score. Any suggestions you have are welcome.

  3. Carrol says:

    Dear ECR Blogger/Sparky,

    Your review(s) and information on ECR are a good start and provide useful material for people looking for an alternative to the “real thing” (like me). However, the text you’ve posted (at least in “Best Electronic Cigarette”) would really benefit from more careful editing. There are a plethora of badly misspelled words or typos (“catagory”,”replaceble”, “nictine” just for starters)that detract from the quality and professionalism of your formal material. (By “formal material”, I refer only to the main informational postings or reviews and not comments or “Tweets”, etc.)

    You are providing a helpful service and making what appears to be a sincere effort towards careful crafting of the visual aspects of the material presented. I think that your site should more fully reflect those aspects in things like spelling where appropriate.

    Sincerely,

    –Carrol

    • Sparky says:

      Thanks for the feedback. There really is no excuse for this in the age of computers. I corrected this post and will keep a closer eye on spelling and grammar in the future on all the other posts.

  4. lcdata says:

    This article promises a lot but – where the heck is the actual review?

    • Sparky says:

      You can find the reviews on the electronic cigarette here.

      • karen says:

        I don’t see the review either. Or where you say it is. here? where? thanks

      • jason says:

        SORRY, …E-CIGARETTES ARE A RIP-OFF, …WITHOUT A DOUBT. THERE IS NO EVIDENCE THAT IT WORKS EXCEPT FOR CHERRY-PICKED TESTIMONIALS. PLEASE, TO THOSE OF YOU WHO WANT TO QUIT SMOKING, DO NOT TRY WITH E-CIGARETTES!
        The fake cigarette is often offered as “free”, BUT THEN YOU FIND OUT THAT THE CARTRIDGES COST $70!
        GO FOR A SYSTEMATIC PROGRAM WHERE YOU GRADUALLY REDUCE SMOKING OVER TIME AND SITUATIONS.
        GOOD LUCK!

        • Sparky says:

          You are entitled to your opinion regarding e-cigs even if it is wrong… in my opinion. Not everyone is able to switch fully, but I no longer smoke and I have dozens of friends, family and acquaintances that haven’t smoked for over a year thanks to electronic cigarettes. Many of them told me, “I have tried everything before this and nothing worked.”

          The biggest mass media outlets focus on any piece of negative information they can find simply because there IS evidence proving that negative media attracts more viewers, readers, ratings and money than the positive.

          • Jami says:

            Which e-cig did you buy? I want to try them but I don’t want to be ripped off.

          • Mark McKinney says:

            I smoked for 30 years and had to quit. It was that or death. I LOVE THESE CIGARETTES. As soon as I heard of these I ordered them and have had NO HEALTH PROBLEMS AT ALL since starting to “smoke” again. I can now enjoy my life so much better. I have loved to smoke all my life and always will. And now, I CAN !!

        • Ricky says:

          I don’t think e-cigs are meant to help people stop smoking. If anything they’re supposed to allow you to enjoy smoking more. Some people have a different experience than others and some of them get the nicotine free carts. If you have a product that excludes 75% of the chemicals that an original cig has (60 of them being cancerous) what is there to look down upon. Sure they may not be healthy but they’re a lot better for you than cigarettes are.

        • Cat says:

          Hi Jason,
          I have to disagree with you. I smoke the Joye 510 model and have cut down more than half for over 3 months now. My sister hasn’t smoked a real cig at all for over a month and her husband has not smoked a real cig for almost 3months now. This is just to name a few. E-cigs are not a quit smoking device they are just a healthier way if you enjoy smoking and want to continue smoking but without all the other stuff. You still have to WANT to stop smoking tobacco cigs. I do have to say that you can smoke it anywhere-I have used it in Walmart, Chili’s, the stadium at work and my boss loves it by the way cause he is a non-smoker and does not like smoke breaks. I think that if you find the right provider it would be cheaper than your costs. I go through [moderated] who is a new website but I know the owners so I just buy through them to save shipping costs and I only spend less than 50 a month on carts and liquid.

        • NonSmoker Now says:

          Jason…YOU may think it’s a rip off “without a doubt” and maybe YOU can do a “systematic program where you gradually reduce smoking over time” but SOME people like ME can’t. I’ll bet YOU never smoked a day in your life. I had smoked for decades and had tried hypnosis, every medication, cold turkey, program after program after program and they never worked for me. THANKS to my e-cig I have been tobacco-free for 3 months now. I started with the high cartridges and did the “systematic” step down and now I am on the ZERO nicotine cartridges. I LOVE my e-cig. I will recommend this method to ANY smoker who wants to quit. I even take my e-cig to the smoking area at work and “smoke” right along with my co-workers just like I used to. It is still a habit and even if it is found to have some harmful effects they can’t possibly be any worse than real cigarettes. I thank the makers of e-cigs every day for finally making a product that helped ME. I would tell ANY smoker that it is worth the try just like the patches, gum and other programs. If the cigarette companies would make cigarettes that taper down on nicotine I think you would see people doing that, too. But they don’t. There are some issues with batteries and atomizers and cartridges but the longer these products are on the market the better they are becoming. So before YOU start calling things or opinions “fake” or “cherry-picked” maybe YOU ought to start smoking and do it for a year and THEN try to do your “systematic program” and see how successful YOU are. Until you have smoked for more than a year your opinion on how to quit is just that…YOUR opinion. I absolutely positively LOVE my e-cig!!!! And that is not a cherry-picked testimonial.

        • Richard says:

          While I agree you are entitled to your opinion, first off this is an infomational site on ecigs not a site telling you to get one, furthermore you do have to buy it and no the cartridges not cost 70$ you can buy 5 blanks for around 8-10 dollars and about amonths supply of juice for 6-16 dollars, and to add d someone that smokes 1 pack a day will have to smoke29–31 packs a month think about it genious. last thing, do ppl quitt with the gum? patches?? yes they do others no not all will have the same results but most ppl and professionals will tell you the habbits the main issue with quitting the niccotine just makes it unbareable. so think before you comment about things when you do not know the facts this is a good site for anyone needing info thank you for the site.

          • Sparky says:

            Thanks for your comment. I am trying to improve things always.

            I invite anyone and everyone with suggestions to go the contact page and e-mail me your suggestions. I am making some changes on the site in the next month and I really want some input from folks.

  5. Carissa says:

    CAN YOU SUGGEST THE “BEST”/MOST POPULAR??…
    WHICH IS THE BEST?!…I really appreciate your thorough review/compilation, but I’m still lost/confused about what brand to buy! I’m not a smoker & don’t have time or enough info to research all of the options on various brands–I want to get this for my younger brother as a Christmas present. He’s been smoking for 10 years, & really wants to quit. I think this would be a great option. I’m looking something that has variable nicotine levels (so that he can ease down to a low-level of nicotine as he “weans” himself off), is easy to use, sturdy, long-lasting, good drag, cheap, easy to get refills delivered, etc, etc…I’ve been looking at reviews online for HOURS now & can’t seem to come to any conclusion about the BEST option…Any suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated! Thanks!

    • Sparky says:

      That is really sweet of you to be so considerate of your brother!
      I have 2 suggestions for you:

      1. Consider a disposable e cig as a gift for someone else. My latest post includes 30% off coupon. The reason why is because smoking is highly personal. A person has to choose for themselves to use e cigs so unless they specifically asked for a starter kit I think disposables are a good gift to get someone to try out.

      2. If you are certain you want to buy a starter for someone go to the reviews section of this website and pick one from the 2 or 3 with the highest overall rating. I intend to rank the highest rated on this page within the next month or 2 after I finish with another batch of reviews, but I realize that doesn’t help you right now.

    • peter says:

      Try the Green Smoke or Elites which have a chargable case, both good and choices aplenty. Green Smoke is far more expensive though

    • Pamela says:

      I have tried three e-cigarettes and found the e-puffer to be the most like an actual cigarette. When trying the Fifty-One, it made my chest tight without the sensation of actually smoking – other than leaving a TERRIBLE taste in my mouth. The third brand emitted a strong chemical smell – with some friends saying it was worse than the “real” ones. Be careful when buying e-cigarettes at mall Kiosks, the Fifty One for example does not stand behind its product. After being unhappy with the experience, they would not take the product back for a refund. At the point of sale – they simply forget to tell you this. Also, the Fifty-Ones sold in the AZ malls switch out the empty mouth covering but leave the atomizer in (used by many people that day). Funny their reason stated for not accepting returns was “health” reasons. I guess it is OK to jeopardize health if it is for a sale. I recommend the e-puffer. It is wonderful. After trying only three I can say that they are all VERY different which was surprising to me.

  6. Stephie says:

    Your reviews helped me decide which brand and type to try, thanks!

  7. sue says:

    is it possible to put rating info in some sort of table or method that would let us see the brands side by side? This is good info but difficult to decide when having to flip back and forth between pages and try to remember which is which. What about Lux brand??

    • Sparky says:

      I have a backlog of other products to review right now, but I figured if I can clear that out next month then I will have lots of good info on more products that will create an excellent reference table that you have described.

  8. Irene Hicks says:

    I purchased an e cig and was doing really well with it and not smoking regular cigs. Then my asthma kicked in really badly. Has anyone else had this problem?
    I would really like to try again but am a little afraid of another flare up.

  9. jess says:

    Has anyone tried or heard any reviews of a brand called “smoke tip”. Ordered the product and was wondering if anyone had any info. Thanks

  10. bobtow says:

    Saying there is no superior ecigarette because of all the different brands there are, is like saying there is no superior car for the same reason.Many people buy objects as cheap as they can which brings on the variety of products. If you actually tried a variety of ecigs for a month or two, you would notice the longevity of some and the brief life span of others.

    • Sparky says:

      You may be right. I never use one for longer than a month because I am constantly doing reviews. I do my best to estimate the quality from short term performance. I should probably reword that article though because that is not what I meant.

      I’m trending towards using products for less than a week at this point too, because I am working on a ton of new reviews.

      I do have a solution for the problem of judging quality from longevity on this site though. Can you guess what it is?

  11. Randy says:

    This was the first site I found when thinking about buying an e-cig almost 9 months ago. THANK GOD I DID MORE RESEARCH. Because most of the models reviewed here are not only HUGELY overpriced, but they are also big time under performers that are likely to disappoint. Anyone really considering buying an e-cig, there are several online forums devoted to e-cigs. I suggest you find one of those, as the advice and recommendations you get on any of the e-cig forums will be much better, and much more up to date then any of the reviews here. In addition, on any of the regular e-cig forums, you will also find reviews for many, many models not even mentioned here.
    So do yourself a favor, and make sure you do more research before buying your e-cig.

    • Sparky says:

      OUCH! That hurts. Sorry if I have disappointed you Randy. I hope you will agree that at least I actually use and do real reviews on the products. Most of the sites I come across these days sadly do not. :(

      Actually reviewing the products takes time.. And, I do it in my spare time.

      Most of the products I have reviewed are from bigger companies that I did some due diligence on, thought were most professional, thought would stand the test of time AND agreed to send a free sample. It has been 9 months and they are all still around, so I guess in a way I was right.

      If there are products / companies you want me to review though, e-mail me a list and I will contact them. I want to review the best products and put them here. I really do!

      It is just too hard to figure out which small companies are good because there are like 100′s of them. Also, it seems that only bigger companies agree to send me a sample. I don’t know what it is, but the mom and pop / enthusiast shops seem to be smaller and a bit tighter with the purse strings. They almost never send me a sample, but I’m sure they have excellent products. There is one that recently sent a sample and you will see their product here soon.

      Anyway, I am working on some exciting updates to the site which includes about 12 reviews on some great products with a wide variety of prices and some other exciting enhancements to the site that people have been asking for!

  12. Rosslyn says:

    Which electronic cigarette gives the most throat hit. That is what is lacking in the ones that I have purchased. To get a hit like a cigarette you have to plug all the air holes to get that enhaling feeling. I don’t believe it’s all about the vapor its about the actual smoking feeling. I want to buy one that actually feels like a cigarette. Any adise?

    • NonSmoker Now says:

      Rosslyn…I got a great hit with the Gold model at Smoking Everywhere dot com. Don’t use the website…call them. On the website they don’t have the extra-high nicotine but they do if you call. I think it’s 23mg instead of the regular “high” that is 16mg. About 10 years ago they used to have a prescription inhaler that you “inhaled” nicotine but it didn’t “smoke”. I tried that. It was terrible. Mine isn’t like that. I get enough to be able to do all the tricks like smoke rings I used to do with regular cigs. I’ve had some issues with batteries and atomizers but they were great and have replaced them at no charge. If you decide to use ANY e-cig as a method to not smoking regular cigarettes I would buy at least 2 extra batteries and atomizers with ANY brand. You can’t just go down the street to 7-11 to buy a new battery for most e-cigs. So if you are using it and it goes out then you are either cold turkey or more than likely you will be buying a pack of regular smokes. E-cigs take a while to get used to. But you learned how to hold and smoke a regular cigarette, too. You just don’t remember.

  13. JIM says:

    First of all, I would recommend trying at least three of the brands that offer a 30 money back guarantee and choose for yourself. This is how I decided on the best e-cigarette, best warranty, price, and most importantly, the quality of customer service after your purchase.

    I’ve been using SMOKE TIP for five months now. I also tried Green Smoke which is a good product. Smoke Tip has the largest variety of flavors and nicotine levels from 0mg to 16mg. It is a two part system consisting of the battery and the cartidge. No messing around with filling atomizers with liquid. The cartridges offer full vapor and each is approximately equal to a pack to a pack and a half of regular cigarettes, depending on how deeply you inhale.

    They also offer every type of accessory your could imagine and at reasonable prices. I bought the cigarette case which is well made and holds two batteries and two cartridges.

    The only negative comment I have is with reference to quality of the batteries. The usage time and toke ease varies from battery to battery, however, a toll free call to customer service will provide a new battery within three days. Also, the batteries are guaranteed for life so there’s just the cost of three stamps to send back the defective one.

    I would strongly recommend that you include smoke tip when testing different manufacturers of e-cigarettes.

    Hope this was helpful.

  14. carl parisien natick says:

    I find the reviews of all the products are terrible. Why is this so complicated? just wondering.

    • Sparky says:

      Are you talking about why so many scores here are low or just above average or all e-cigs in general?

      I frequently get excited about a particular brand I am reviewing then inevitably there seems to be a major drawback that ruins or brings the rating down. I try to be very harsh in my reviews.

      E cigs are new and many vendors are trying to figure what’s important I think.

  15. bobtow says:

    Jason is right about ecig rip-offs. There are some companies that offer free trials but bill you for cartridges not ordered. This could lead into the hundreds of dollars. That does not detract form the benifits of the ecigarette. Anything that will get a person to quit smoking the real cigarette, is a step toward a healthier lifestyle. If some one finds health problems vaping they should look into the medium. Such as, does the liquid contain propylene glycol and, or, vegetable glycerin. Some vapers cannot tolerate one or the other. Some ecigarette vendors offer modified ecigarettes. These usually contain batteries with a longer life. The average battery has a rating of 180 ma. Some modifies have battery ratings up to 1500 ma. The Hello 016 has a battery rating of 1300 ma.It sometimes takes a little research, but the time spent could be rewarding. I find a Hello 016 battery lasts me three days of moderate vaping. Good luck all, with your attempts at quitting the real cigarette!

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About Me

The Electronic Cigarette Review is NOT about me.

Its here for millions of people in America and the rest of the world who smoke and may be considering electronic cigarettes as an alternative for their health, smoking bans, outrageous taxes and other costs.

When I went to the web searching for GOOD information on electronic cigarettes it was difficult to find.

This site will have something useful here for everyone thinking about trying electronic cigarettes or those who are looking to take their new found joy of smoking the e cig to the next level!

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