Published by Sierra Monica P. on November 11, 2011 under Reviews





I’ve always been curious about electronic cigarettes, but haven’t had the chance to try one until recently. I was hesitating because some people told me these are very different than cigarettes, and I will still feel the need for a real one. What made me curious about them was the possibility to quit smoking by replacing smoke with vapor containing a little bit of nicotine. Well, recently, an interesting company providing electronic cigarette kits and all kinds of accessories contacted me to send a sample for a review. I was very anxious to try it and tell you how it feels to switch to electronic cigarettes.

Vapor4Life, in short V4L, is the company providing this electronic cigarette starter kit that you can customize according to your preferences to receive all the accessories you need to switch to vapor. My kit is the Ultimate Ultimatum Starter Kit that includes two e-cigarettes in different colors, one USB pass-through, one portable charging case, one USB charger, one wall charger, one car adapter and one pack of cartomizers. If you go for this kit, you have the possibility to pick your preferred e-cigarette colors as well as the cartomizer flavor and strength. I’ll tell you what the cartomizer is in a few moments; just read on.









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The V4L E-Cigarette

After reading more about the V4L e-cigarettes, I learned that what we call an electronic cigarette is actually a thin device consisting of two main elements – a battery and a cartomizer. The battery is a rechargeable Li-Ion type, while the cartomizer looks like your regular cigarette’s filter, but this time it’s a disposable refill unit featuring a coil that heats up the special solution delivering the unique flavor and nicotine. You only need to screw the cartomizer to form the e-cigarette and start vaping.

Now you will ask yourself what vaping is. Vaping is the term used among vapers. They are the people “smoking” electronic cigarettes. Instead of inhaling carcinogen smoke, you inhale flavored vapor which can contain nicotine in the quantity of your choice, or 0 nicotine.

V4L e-cigarettes are available in many colors, flavors and strengths, so you can pick everything you like. There is always something on your taste, regardless of how picky you are; just don’t forget to search for batteries, instead of e-cigarettes, and then match them with cartomizers.

Depending on the usage, each battery lasts around four hours until the next recharge. The price of a battery is reasonable at around $17.











Cartomizers

Cartomizers are available in over 150 flavors, from desserts, menthol, and tobacco to coffee, beverages and fruits. Each pack has five cartomizers, and there are the Premium Cartomizers delivering top flavors, the Wow Vapor Cartomizers delivering more flavor, the sampler packs containing five different flavors of the same type, and the blank cartomizers which you can fill with any flavor mixture you prepare at home using liquids.

If you plan to replace your cigarettes with V4L e-cigarettes, you have to check the strength level to make the right choice. From what I understood, you have to look on your regular cigarette pack for the nicotine level indicator and multiply it by 20, because the strength level of cartomizers corresponds to the total of a pack of cigarettes. For example, I smoke packs of 0.4mg nicotine so I have to look for cartomizers of around 8mg. Anyway, the ones I picked for this review are a bit too strong at 18mg, so I recommend you to contact V4L for guidance in case you need.

Besides the 4mg to 36mg strengths, V4L also has 0mg cartomizers, which are nicotine-free. These are for non-smokers or those of you still trying to get rid of the hand-to-mouth reflex. At least for me, this is the hardest thing to do when trying to quit smoking, and that’s why I think vaping could help in a healthier way.

Another cool thing about cartomizers is that each of them equals a pack of cigarettes, so if you spend about $10 on a pack of five, which equals five packs of regular cigarettes, you will save a lot of money.

Since I mentioned health, I want to add that the solution inside cartomizers is a mixture of Propylene Glycol, Vegetable Glycerin, flavoring also used in the food industry, and nicotine. I did some research and it seems that the ingredients are considered safe, except nicotine, which is highly addictive.











The kit

My kit comes with two Diamond Series Auto Batteries that distinguish among all the types available at V4L though the eye-catching LED shaped like a diamond which lights up whenever you puff. This e-cigarette model features automatic 20-second cutoff, high performance, sleek and ergonomic construction, and automatic suction switch. The internal rechargeable Li-Ion battery activates only when you puff, then it enters the standby mode.

Both batteries come in a nice metal carrying case that can hold up to four cartomizers from the included pack.

In addition to the batteries, the kit also has a portable charging case with USB connectivity. When the battery runs out, you need to place it in the dedicated space inside the case and connect the USB cable to your computer.

The USB pass-through allows you to continue vaping after the battery runs out, by keeping it connected and charging to a USB device.

You also get a USB charger, a wall charger and a car adapter. The wall charger was designed to charge a V4L e-cigarette within four hours.

The Ultimate Ultimatum Starter Kit is available for $99.95.



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Accessories

In the review kit I also received a Vapor King Slim Charger in black, which looks stylish having a mirror finish. Reading about it I learned that it charges the batteries 20% faster, which translates to about 3 hours. It comes in black or white and costs $14.95.

Drip tips are not missing from the collection either. These are available in several colors, while you can find every item in the kit sold separately as well.

Final thoughts

I’ve been vaping since a couple of weeks already and I enjoy the flavors, strength and design of the V4L e-cigarettes. My favorites are Cool Carts Menthol, Cool Carts Butterscotch and Cool Carts Peach Cobbler.

It’s not true that you still feel like switching to a real cigarette. You just have to choose the right strength level for cartomizers and you’ll feel satisfied. I also plan to quit smoking in the near future using e-cigarettes by gradually decreasing the strength level.

If you are a heavy smoker, I recommend you to get two batteries. I vaped from time to time during a day and it lasted less than 24 hours, so you’d need to have the second one fully charged.

The main benefit of using V4L electronic cigarettes is that you can “smoke” in all the places where smoking is forbidden because e-cigarettes don’t produce real smoke, but vapor that dissipates within seconds. People around can’t feel any smell. If I’m in a club or another crowded public place where I barely can hear myself talking, and someone asks me to stop, I can simply give him one of the included green cards explaining that these are not real cigarettes and were designed for vaping anywhere.

Other places where you can use V4L e-cigarettes include no-smoking areas in restaurants, cinemas, malls and others. Read more about V4L e-cigarettes on the official website.

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