Upgrading the Electronic Smoking Experience

Once you've become accustomed to the "cigalike" electronic smoking experience you're likely to encounter the word "Vape" or "Vaping" as synonyms for e-smoking activity.

Unless you're married to the idea of only using an electronic smoking product that mimics the form factor of an actual cigarette you might want to consider upgrading to a larger, more customizable e-smoking device.  Above is an example of a vape with a slightly larger form factor than a normal cigalike. The one shown is made by iSmoka and can be purchased for a bit less than the Blu system but there are myriad others available in the same price range as the Blu Starter Kit.

There are several reasons why many cigalike smokers quickly move on to larger devices. Here are some reasons to consider making the switch yourself.

1. Larger battery capacity.  Cigalike products have much smaller battery capacity (rated in milliamp hours (mah) and require charging on a more frequent basis.  The Blu e-cigarette brand addresses this weakness by providing a combined cigarette holder/charging case which allows for a spare battery to be charged while one is in use. There is no other recharging option on the Blu system whereas most all the slightly larger systems allow for a common micro USB recharging option.

2. Larger tank capacity.  Cigalike tanks normally hold a very limited amount of e-juice, normally rated in milliliters.  Typical cigalike cartridges (cartomizers) top out at about one milliliter of e-juice and are not made to be refilled.

3. Cheaper operation.  Because you can refill the tank on all the standard vapes with e-juice purchased in bulk, the cost of vaping is a fraction of buying branded proprietary cartomizers refills.

4. A huge choice of e-juice flavors.  Branded proprietary cartomizers come in a very narrow range of flavors.  There are hundreds of custom flavors and nicotine levels available for purchase outside the walled gardens of the major cigalike brands.

5. A better overall vaping experience.  Less restrictive and adjustable airflow as well as options for e-juice tanks with specialty atomizer coils allows for a more customized e-smoking experience.

Refilling the New Blu E-Cig Tanks

The widespread availability of electronic cigarettes being sold at nearly every convenience store makes them the most likely route to electronic smoking for most people. 

Blu - The Best Mass Marketed Ciga-like System

I settled on the Blu brand early on because they are about the only e-cigarette brand that offer nicotine juice cartridges (cartomizers)  in flavors other than standard tobacco.  The Blu starter kit also includes a convenient carrying case/portable recharging system that resembles a pack of cigarettes.  Given the diminutive battery capacity of these cigarette-sized electronic smoking devices, portable recharging is something you really can't do without. 

The Original Blu  

The original style replacement cartomizers are nowhere near as good as the new 'tank' system but it was possible to stretch the life (and save money!!) of those early cartomizers by refilling them yourself in a fashion not totally dissimilar from that of refilling a Zippo lighter.  I would purchase Mystic branded e-juices available at Walgreens nationwide to match the flavor of the original Blu branded cartomizers.  Cherry and Java were my two favored flavors at the time.  It was never the intention of the Blu corporation for users to refill the cartomizers as they were designed to be used, discarded and then replaced with new ones.  That's all well and good if you don't care about saving money, but the 'cheap bastard' side of me quickly became aware of the ability to refill the original cartomizers thru YouTube videos like this one that show the ease of refilling the first generation cartomizers.

The New BluPlus "Tank" System

As fate would have it, a week after I bought the original Blu starter kit they launched the new and improved BluPlus kits featuring a higher capacity battery, as well as a much better cartomizer.  The updated BluPlus "tank"system offered a superior vaping experience to the original but also a much more expensive one.  By designing cartomizers with sealed tanks that held liquid ejuice instead of the original cartomizer's reliance on saturated cotton storage (ala Zippo) there was no longer any easy way to refill and reuse the cartomizers when the original juice supply was exhausted.  To top it off, each Blu tank refill costs five bucks and are meant as a substitute for a single five dollar pack of cigarettes, negating any monetary savings in switching to the Blu system as an alternative to traditional smoking.  I was unable to find a how-to video on hacking and refilling the new tank system, which led me to invent one myself.

If you're a Blu tank smoker and wish to extend the life of your tanks and save money in the process here's the how-to video to make that happen.  You are not limited to replacing the depleted juice tank with the same flavor as the original. This adds the benefit of being able to use the Blu tank system with flavors not available in the regular Blu retail selection.  It's also a lot cheaper to buy e-juice by the bottle and refill yourself.  Since the atomizer coil is not replaceable there will ultimately be a limit to how many times you can refill and reuse the same tank but I've refilled mine a couple times so far with no problem.

Enjoy.