Quit Smoking Community believes that electronic cigarettes are one of the best ways to switch the way you intake nicotine. By publishing these reviews on the top electronic cigarettes, we hope that you will switch from smoking tobacco to vaping e-cigarettes to greatly reduce the harm you cause to your body.
eCigarette Rankings and Reviews for 2015
V2 Cigs
V2 Cigs is the undisputed top brand on the market right now. They are the largest online retailer of electronic cigarettes and have a gigantic fanbase. This is because V2 combines a huge variety of products with superior performance. Their e-cigs produce more vapor, have a longer battery life, taste better and offer more personalization than any other brand on the market. Whether you’re new to e-cigarettes or have been around the block, V2 Cigs has a product that can help you quit smoking for good. Check out our V2 Cigs Review to learn more about this brand!
Vapor Fi
We just finished our review of Vapor Fi’s e-cigarettes and e-liquid, and it’s very clear that Vapor Fi is advancing fast. Previosuly known as Vapor Zone, Vapor Fi now has 6 different models of electronic cigarettes ranging from miniature cigarette shaped ones to full-sized eGo models with great cartomizers. With that said, what really makes Vapor Fi a top 3 e-cigarette is their e-liquid. Not only do they have a large selection that is very popular with e-cigarette users, they recently launched a “Create Your Own” flavor option. You can mix and match between up to 3 flavors and create a custom taste that’s all your own. Vapor Fi offers the most customization of their products in the e-cigarette industry; if this intrigues you, read more below.
Halo Cigs
Halo Cigs is an innovator in the industry. Halo offers very competitive and advanced e-cigarette hardware that both new and experienced vapors will enjoy. We have reviewed their Triton Tank System, which we were very impressed with (click below for details). They are also very well known for their wide selection of flavors, though we thought V2 Cigs had a slight edge on them in that respect. Be sure to check out our Halo Cigs Review to learn more about what is possible with the Triton Tank System.
Mig Cigs Brand
Mig Cigs is one of the most unique electronic cigarette brands on our list. They have a few different options for starter kits, but one of them is wildly popular. It’s called the Mig21 and it’s basically a miniature sized electronic cigarette that performs like the larger setups. A lot of people hate carrying around huge e-cigarette setups but want the vapor production they come with. This product is a perfect mix of both.
Apollo E-Cigs
Apollo is a very good brand that we recommend particularly to more advanced e-cig users. This is because they offer not only the typical e-cigarette model, but the eGo model as well. eGos are fantastic batteries that connect to a wide range of tanks. You can fill these tanks with any brand of juice you can find, which makes a more personalized and open source experience. Check out our Apollo E-Cig Review for more
South Beach Smoke
South Beach Smoke has been around for a very long time. They haven’t quite improved as much as some other brands but they are still a solid choice for beginning e-cig users. If you are interested in a brand that has a great selection of flavors and a solid history, than South Beach Smoke is definitely an option. For more information, read our South Beach Smoke Review.
777 E-Cigs
777 E-Cigs is a very well-respected electronic cigarette company. They have been around for a very long time and have a very respected company. Their product is top notch; it creates a fair amount of vapor and their flavors are top notch. But not only that, they also have premium customer service and take care of their customers in every way. Learn more by reading out 777 E-Cig Review.
Revolver E-Cigs
Revolver is a brand that is very similar to Apollo. They have a huge variety of products for many different types of e-cig users. They have disposables for entry level users all the way up to the “eVIC” model which is very advanced and can even plug into your computer to give you statistics about your e-cig use. Revolver is definitely worth a look. Check out our Revolver E-Cig Review for more information.
Basic Information on Electronic Cigarettes
Many people put off the decision to switch to e-cigarettes because they are worried that the technology or amount of options will be too overwhelming. But as those of you who have actually made the switch know, e-cigarettes are actually very easy to use. We’ve put together this section in order to help new or potentially new e-cigarette users understand how these new devices work.
Our View on eCigarettes and Quitting Smoking
Here at Quit Smoking Community, we believe that electronic cigarettes are a perfectly acceptable tool to help you quit smoking. Some of the best electronic cigarettes available on the market will successfully replace your nicotine cravings, resulting in a pain free way to quit smoking.
We decided to order 10 popular e-cigarette brands and have a 3rd party reviewer (none of the staff here use nicotine) test each one and write up reviews for them. Armed with the best electronic cigarette for your needs, anyone can kick the tobacco habit.
The Essential Parts of Every Electronic Cigarette
As far as the average e-cig user is concerned, electronic cigarettes are really just composed of 3 main parts. Those two parts are the battery, the cartridge and the e-liquid.
E-liquid, sometimes called E-Juice, is the fuel of any electronic smoking device. It cointains flavoring and nicotine, along with a base to hold it all together. Once the device is activated, the e-liquid becomes vapor to be inhaled. There are almost an infinite amount of e-liquid flavors available all over the internet, so it’s important to understand how it works.
E-Liquid comes not only in different flavors, but with different amounts of nicotine as well. Strength of the liquid is typically measured in milligrams of nicotine per millileter of liquid. You’ll usually see strengths labelled with “mg/ml”. Below is some information on typical nicotine levels and which one would be best for you:
6 mg/ml: Low volume smoker, less than half a pack per day
12 mg/ml: Average smoker, between half and full pack a day
18 mg/ml: High volume smoker, more than a pack per day
24 mg/ml: Chain smoker, this is typically the highest strength sold by any reputable retailer
Beyond that, there’s not a lot more to know. If you buy a starter kit, which we recommend for first time buyers, it will include e-liquid. But it is the one part of an e-cig that you have to replace very frequently.
Recommended E-Liquid Vendors:
V2 Cigs – Their Menthol is Hugely Popular
Vape Dudes – Gourmet E-Liquid, Huge Selection
Halo – They Are Well-Known For their Lineup
To learn more, read our Full E-Cig Liquid Guide
This piece of an electronic cigarette has many names. Cartomizer, cartridge, clearomizer, tank, and often any of those two words combined. But they all serve the same function. It is the piece that holds the reservoir of e-liquid and facilitates the process of vaporizing it.
Inside the cartridge is a small piece called an atomizer, which is the vaporizing element. As the user puffs on his e-cigarette, the cartomizer feeds liquid onto the atomizer via small fiber wicks. Cartridges are the most frustrating element because there are many things that can go wrong. However, some brands have very high quality cartridges that work very well and need to be replaced a lot less.
Brands With Starter Kits That Have Good Cartridges:
V2 Cigs – Recently released 2 new cartridges under the “EX” line, and they are fantastic.
Halo – Their Triton Tank System comes with a great tank that holds a lot of liquid and has very few issues.
Apollo – Their eGo Starter Kits come with a “CE4” clearomizer, which is cheap and decent quality.
Make sure you choose a brand with quality cartridges, they can make or break the flavor and smoothness of your vapor.
The final piece of the puzzle is the battery, which provides the power needed to generate the atomizer and vaporize the e-liquid. Batteries are fairly straightforward: the bigger the battery, the longer it’s going to last and the more vapor it’s going to be able to generate. Some people prefer the miniature e-cigarettes because they want to mimic the tobacco cigarette experience. Others prefer the eGo style (sold by Halo and Apollo) because they are a bit larger and have a longer battery life. Some eGo models even allow you to adjust how much power you want your battery to release when you are puffing. Then others have gargantuan “mods” that have incredibly long battery life but are not portable at all.
The most popular types of electronic cigarettes are in the list below (click to read more about them)
- Miniature e-Cigarette (Cig-a-Like) Models
- eGo Style
- Mods and APVs (Advanced Personal Vaporizers)
- Mechanical Mods
Miniature e-Cigarette or ‘Cig-a-Like’ Models
eGo Style
Mods and APVs (Advanced Personal Vaporizers)
Mechanical Mods
There are a few different aspects of batteries that are variable beyond just their size. They are:
1. mAH – This stands for milli-ampere-hours and it’s a measure of how much energy can be held in your battery overall. So basically, the higher the mAH, the longer that battery will hold a charge. eGo batteries typically range from 600 to 1300 mAH, while miniature “cig-a-like” brands are a little lower.
2. Automatic vs Manual – This used to be a big debate in the e-cig community around 2012, however since then manual batteries have become the more popular choice. The difference is just as it sounds, the automatic batteries will start to vaporize right when you start inhaling on the device. The manual batteries require that you push a button while inhaling. It’s common knowledge that manual batteries can hold a charge longer, are safer, and create more vapor than the automatic ones. You’ll still find automatic batteries around but we certainly recommend manual.
3. Voltage – Whereas mAH is the measure of how much energy a battery can retain, voltage is how much it can put out. So the higher the voltage, the hotter the atomizer is going to get, resulting in some very big, very hot vapor. The industry standard used to be 3.7 volts for the “cig-a-like” batteries, but things have gotten much crazier since then. Most eGo batteries are now “variable voltage” which means you can adjust the range of power you want the battery to output when you press the button. They typically start a 3.0 volts and top out at just below 5 volts, allowing the vaper to try and find the setting that they like best.
When it comes down to it, it’s a personal preference thing. I don’t like to draw a lot of attention to myself, therefore I wouldn’t go around whipping out something like this thing at a party. I personally like to have an mid-size battery like the eGo around for when I’m working or sitting around, but for driving or working around the house, I love to have a “cig-a-like” in my mouth. I used to love working in the yard with a real cigarette loosely hanging out of my mouth, and I can have that again with a miniature e-cigarette.
Brands Whose Kits Have Great Batteries:
Halo – The Triton Tank System is a beautiful thing. The battery is short and squat, but it packs a punch.
V2 Cigs – They recently released an improved battery, also with the “EX” line. It is still the shape of a real cigarette but it has much more power
Apollo – Once again, their eGo starter kits are a great option, this time because of the eGo batteries included.
Electronic smoking is not like being a traditional smoker, you don’t simply finish up a tank of e-liquid and toss the whole thing away (unless you buy disposables, which you shouldn’t be doing). Also, it’s important to keep things clean so that the moving parts aren’t interrupted by dirt or loose e-liquid. Here’s some tips on making the most and saving the most during your e-cigarette experience.
Watch the E-Liquid Levels – If you use a refillable tank, than make sure to monitor how much is left. Try not to let the levels get below 1/4 because that can end up ruining the atomizer, meaning you have to buy a whole new cartridge. So just like you don’t keep driving on empty, don’t keep puffing on low e-liquid either!
Clean Stuff – You’ll want to take the time to clean off the end of both the battery and cartomizer so that the connection between the two remains strong. When there’s gunk in there, it interferes with the voltage.
Expect That You’ll Have to Replace Things – Over time, every aspect of an e-cigarette wears down. The e-liquid, obviously, gets vaporized. The wicks and atomizers in the cartridges get worn down from the extreme heat. The batteries eventually lose their power and ability to hold a charge. But all told. you’ll still be saving a significant amount over regular cigarettes.
Shopping For the Best Electronic Cigarette
Shopping for electronic cigarettes can be a bit frustrating. We’ve seen some “review” sites out there that dont’ even sound like they have tried the product or even ever been a cigarette smoker in their life. But we’re different. We’ve been there. Our entire goal is to help you quit smoking tobacco and so our analysis of the e-cigarette brands out there is going to be based on that and nothing more.
With that said, it’s time to help you figure out which brand suits your interest. We’ll go through a list of different types of smokers and suggest the e-cigarette brand that suits their style. Please check it out and figure out which brand will help you quit smoking!
Smoking on the Run
If you are constantly on the go and have no time to stand around for a smoke break, you are definitely a smoker on the run. You love to puff while you drive and take long drags as you stroll down the street.
We Recommend: V2 Cigs
Their new EX line of batteries offers the power of larger ones without the bulkiness. You’ll have no problems with it getting in your way, plus their EX cartridges are fantastic. Check out their line of EX starter kits right here!
Big Puffs Every Time
If you’re the type of person to light a cigarette and then immediately take a 10 second drag, you like the feeling of your lungs being filled with smoke. Well, you can still achieve that, only with much less harmful vapor. Many vapers favorite aspect of vaping is the “throat hit” or the feeling of the vapor hitting your throat and lungs, signifying that nicotine is entering your bloodstream. Yes, it sounds a little bit like a drug addicts thinking but that’s essentially what smokers are. Regardless, if you like big clouds of vapor and powerful throat hits, we have the brand for you.
We Recommend: Halo E-Cigs
Their Triton Tank Starter Kit comes with two batteries that will provide you with the vapor production you’re looking for. If you want big clouds, than go Halo all the way. Check out their site.
The Conoisseur
You are the person known to talk about the differences in taste between various tobacco brands, even though everyone pretty much felt they all tasted the same. You like things that taste good, which means you’re going to fall in love with e-cigarettes.
We Recommend: Vapor Zone
Vapor Zone has a ton of flavors, plus they allow you to combine them into custom orders. You’ll never run out of flavors to try.
Our Stance on Electronic Cigarettes
Many of us who have successfully quit, have done so with the help of electronic cigarettes. Many of us have tried other methods to quit smoking, such as the patch, nicotine gum, or even cold turkey. Those attempts generally ended in relapse.
Finally, a product was introduced that revolutionized smoking cessation: the e-cigarette. Non-smokers don’t realize that the allure of smoking isn’t just the nicotine, but also the ritual. Smokers enjoy the actions of holding up a cigarette to their lips and taking a drag of smoke. Although you don’t have to fumble with a lighter, e-cigs give the vaper almost the same experience as tobacco cigarettes. Although personally we feel that vaping is much more sophisticated that smoking. After all, discovering fire is a little primitive.
E-Cigarettes are a Miracle in Harm Reduction
At the very least, electronic cigarettes help to reduce harm. The vapor that e-cigarettes produce is much safer than tobacco smoke, which contains more toxins than you would imagine. Unlike secondhand cigarette smoke, secondhand e-cig vapor is rather harmless. It may contain a small trace of nicotine, but nothing to worry about. In fact, recent studies have shown that nicotine isn’t any more addicting or harmful than caffeine. It’s the other chemicals contained in tobacco smoke that is harmful.
At Quit Smoking Community, we believe that electronic cigarettes are currently the most effective way to quit smoking. We say this from our own personal experiences as well as the countless success stories that we have heard from all over the globe.
The Truth About E-Cigs
We feel that there are a lot of misconceptions about e-cigarettes. In fact, a lot of the stigma on smoking has been unfairly passed onto vaping. It is time to think of vaping as the opposite of smoking. Vaping is the future, and it will bring smoking to an end.
When first trying to make the switch from smoking to vaping, it can become overwhelming. There are so many brands out there. How do you know which one is the best? In our efforts to help those navigate the world of vaping, we personal review some of the brands that we recommend. Check them out and you will find an e-cigarette that is right for you. If you have any questions, just remember that the Quit Smoking Community is here to help. Don’t hesitate to ask questions on the forum.
Today is the first day of your healthier lifestyle!