Smoke 51 Review (Krave Disposable)

Picture of Krave - Also available in menthol

Pros:

Copious vapor, good “throat hit” and taste, very full fresh cartridges sealed in blister pack

Cons:

Battery switch very hard to activate, expensive for a disposable unless discount code used

Smoke 51 Review Summary:

The Smoke 51 Krave is a disposable 3 piece electronic cigarette that has loads of potential and would be great if it weren’t for a cumbersome issue with the battery that requires a modification to get it to work correctly if at all.

I may have gotten a unit with a defective battery switch which is a huge shame. I ordered the cherry flavor and when the battery switch actually worked the Krave produced very thick great tasting vapor which gave me a good tingling in the back of my throat just like a real cigarette.

At first I thought it just took a very hard draw to turn the battery on, but after several puffs I started having a hard time getting the battery to turn on at all. I was able to employ the “scotch tape mod” to cover 3 of 4 atomizer holes to salvage my purchase and finish all 4 replacement cartridges for my first Smoke 51 review.

The scotch tape mod on this model was not as annoying as it usually is because I didn’t have to remove the tape to change batteries or cartridges due to the fact that this unit has a disposable battery and a little extra body to the atomizer.

Since Smoke 51 ships product very fast I still think Krave is still good for a first timer’s experiment using electronic cigarettes (with 30% discount code) because the vapor is great tasting and effective at satisfying nicotine cravings. Also, some first timers may actually find an early introduction to e cig “modding” appealing.

Overall Rating: 3.3 (Average)

30% OFF coupon is:    DSC-234

Visit the Smoke51 Website

Full Smoke 51 Review:

• Manufacturer / Supplier: Smoke 51
• Country: U.S.A.
• Model: Krave Disposable (Cherry)
• Style: Mini Electronic Cigarette
• Price: $20.97 (with 30% OFF coupon)
• Cartridge Price: n/a (disposable)
• Number of flavors: 3
• Nicotine Levels Offered: High
• Nicotine Solution Sold for Dripping: No
• Warranty: Unknown

Krave Disposable Contents:

1 battery, 1 atomizer, 4 cartridges, instruction manual

Smoke 51 review "Krave"

Rating Scale:

Average

Poor 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 Excellent

• Ratings and Score
  • Batteries: 2.0
  • Atomizer: 4.5
  • Cartridges: 4.0
  • Vapor Production: 4
  • Construction / Quality: 3
  • Cost: 2.5
• Overall: 3.3 (Average)

Smoke 51 Review – Krave Breakdown:

Cartridge Rating = 4.0

The four cartridges that come with this disposable are very “juicy” and are double sealed first with a rubber stopper and then a blister pack (like OTC pills or chewing gum) which is good for maintaining freshness. The reservoirs in the cartridges are very deep for a mini e-cig, but a little narrow so I had to poke and adjust the poly-fill on a couple of them to get to all the nicotine solution.

I think Smoke 51 Krave was shooting to last as long as 1 pack of cigarettes since the Krave box even resembles a pack of cigarettes. Each of the 4 refill cartridges lasted about 50-60 puffs so I think overall 4 refill cartridges lasted me almost as long as a whole pack of regular cigarettes. As always, your mileage may vary.

Krave is also available in 3 flavors (regular, menthol and cherry) which is not common in a disposable model, although cherry might go away soon if the FDA begins regulating electronic cigarettes the same way they do regular cigarettes.

Finally, the good “throat hit” is mainly due to a high concentration in the nicotine cartridges which I couldn’t find listed anywhere, but I estimate it is 18mg or maybe even a little more.

Atomizer Rating = 4.5

The atomizer that comes boxed with the Krave disposable electronic cigarette is a very high quality 4 hole shiny body atomizer with brass plated copper electrical connections. The wicking is very thick and sturdy.

Some reusable 3-piece electronic cigarettes don’t ship with atomizers this good.

It’s a shame I had to cover 3 of the 4 holes of the atomizer with scotch tape (scotch tape mod) because the battery switch was not sensitive enough. After covering 3 holes the draw through the atomizer is hard which means harder than a regular cigarette.

Battery Rating = 2.0

OK, you have already heard me go off about the battery switch on this thing and the mod to get it working, so I am going to try not to mention it anymore. After all, I may have just gotten a defective battery.

I did actually give the battery a 2.0 rating instead of a 1 for a couple of reasons however.

First, the battery did actually ship with a good charge that lasted through my debugging of the switch problem and all 4 cartridges producing good vapor the whole time.

Second, there was no automatic cutoff when taking a draw. In other words, once the battery was turned on you could take as long of a drag as you want. For many people this is preferred because the experience is closer to a real cigarette than the 2-5 second automatic cut-off time with some models and I rate higher for it.

Some people prefer the automatic cut off to ensure they don’t overheat the atomizer or burn the poly-fill if the wicking action breaks down.

Finally, the last thing I noticed about the battery is that once you stopped taking a drag it kept the atomizer and the lighted tip on for about 2 seconds before turning off. This will make it burn through the cartridges faster and reduce wicking for the next puff.

Vapor Production = 4.0

As I said in the summary, probably the best thing I noticed about Krave while doing my first Smoke 51 review is the thick, concentrated and rich tasting vapor. The taste was very close to a regular cigarette.

It was hard to determine if the excellent vapor was due to the scotch tape mod, which is usually employed to increase vapor production or the overall quality of the other components.

Construction / Quality = 3

Ok, I admit. I dinged the quality rating for the battery switch problem because it is the right thing to do. There is no excuse for not testing batteries because it’s not hard and the machinery needed to do shouldn’t be complicated.

Anyway, the only other thing I noticed lacking in the construction quality was the un-matching finish between the replacement cartridges and the battery / atomizer. The battery and atomizer have a semi-gloss finish while the replacement cartridges have a matte finish and the difference is noticeable.

Other than that the cartridges and atomizers are very high quality and the fit of the components as a unit was near perfect with the cartridges being a little loose for my taste but this didn’t cause an issue.

Cost / Value Rating = 2.5

Even with the quality of the components used in this unit it is expensive compared to other disposables in my opinion unless, of course, you use the 30% discount code.

With the code I would say it’s a good value if you could be 100% sure that the battery switch will work. If you need to use the scotch tape mod, you don’t need to take the scotch tape off at all once applied though.

If I get a enough emails from folks saying they didn’t have the same experience I did I promise I will revise this whole review because seriously, the individual components are pretty high quality for a disposable and justify a $20 spot (with the 30% discount code).

Style and Extra Features:

The biggest thing that stuck out to me was the packaging. The whole reason I picked the Krave for my first Smoke 51 review over the Duo or the Trio sitting right next to it was because of the colorful cellophane covered box that looked somewhat like a pack a cigarettes. I have seen this online with other brands before, but this is the first time I have had a chance to review it.

Aside from the packaging this unit is a fairly generic branded 3-piece mini e-cig. There are some fairly fine gold banding lines around the battery up to the branded logo that says “KRAVE” and the brass band from the atomizer and battery fittings give it a classic style that makes it look pretty much like a regular cigarette. It will not stick out too much in public and draw too much attention which may be what you want.

Customer Service:

Shipping was very fast for me. It took me only 4 days with the cheapest shipping option to get all of my Smoke 51 products from the day I ordered it.

I searched the forums in preparation for my Smoke 51 review and didn’t find any major complaints with most customers seeming satisfied. There were a few mentions of people having un-authorized credit card charges from the company, but I didn’t have that problem and sometimes people get Smoking Anywere Inc., vendors of Krave, confused with Smoking Everywhere Everywhere Inc. which is notorious for “free-trials” that come with un-authorized credit card charges.

I guess I should have tried the customer service out a little more given that there is a possibility that I got a defective unit.

The reason I didn’t contact customer service myself (other than I hate dealing with customer service) is because while Smoke 51 starter kits (Duo / Trio) say they come with a lifetime warranty and no money back guarantee, I couldn’t find any warranty info on Krave for this Smoke 51 review.

I figured it didn’t really make sense for a disposable unit anyway and if I couldn’t address the issue (with the mod) then it wasn’t worth people’s time for the purposes they would buy a disposable unit.

Overall Smoke 51 Review Rating – Krave = 3.3 (Average)

30% OFF coupon is:   DSC-234

Visit the Smoke51 Website