Puritane Review

UPDATE: 2019 E Cigarette Buying Guide

Puritane – A ‘Big Tobacco’ E Cigarette

The Puritane electronic cigarette was launched early 2014 by Fontem Ventures, a company that was set up by Imperial Tobacco to focus on introducing non-tobacco products to the market.

The e cig is available in Boots stores and a few select places online. Fontem Ventures have also partnered with Hon Lik who developed the e cigarette back in 2003.

So that’s a bit of background about the company, lets great straight onto the product in question.

In the box / Presentation

Puritane comes in a retail package that is made for the shelf. Looks professional but is one of those annoying packages that take forever to get into if you don’t have scissors or a knife handy.

In the package is the following:

• 1 x Rechargeable battery
• 2 x Cartomisers (11mg & 16mg nicotine strength)
  
• USB Charger
  

Battery/Responsiveness

The Puritane e cig battery comes finished in a white rubberised type finish that actually feels great in the hand. Plain and non intrusive is the order of the day with nothing else apart from the branding to break things up.

The battery reacted well to the draw and lasted me a good part of a working day before I needed to recharge which is not too bad for a cig-a-like e cig. Keep in mind though, if you want something that is the same size as a tobacco cigarette then these are probably not for you.

They are a fair bit bigger. The nearest I have got to an actual cigarette size is with the likes of Vype, Njoy and to a lesser extent Blu Cigs.

With cig-a-like e cigarettes I would always suggest having at least two batteries, this is a definite must for Puritane.

As they don’t have a charging case you will find you are without an e cigarette when it comes to charge, which can take 2-3 hours.

Not only this but picture yourself out at the pub, at work, in the car on a long journey.

What happens when the battery dies? I think you get the point!

A spare battery is a must.

Spare / Replacement batteries

OK, I’ve been going on about having a spare battery, I’ve gone over to the Puritane website to price them up and unless I’m missing something you can’t buy a spare battery on it’s own! The only option is to buy another starter kit. Not good.

Overall – The Puritane battery works well and feels quality although some smokers switching to e cigs may find the size to be on the large side. The big problem I have is that the starter kits are only available with one battery and they do not sell spares. If you need a replacement you will need to buy a new starter kit.

Vapour / Flavour

The two Puritane refill cartomisers I got with my kit were 11mg and 16mg nicotine strength and had the familiar filter flecks on an orange background.

The first thing I notice is that they are MASSIVE! Or at least massive compared to other brands. I suppose the good thing here is that the increased size does allow for extended life, if you can live with that then great, you won’t be disappointed.

They are keeping things very simple here with just tobacco or menthol as an option. I received the tobacco flavour which for my personal tastes was alright.

It wasn’t offensive it just didn’t excite in anyway or have me rushing back for more.

The draw was also very airy, I’m not sure if this is due to the length of the refill cartridge itself but it led to a disappointing vapour production.

Refill prices

The refills are available in packs of two in a variety of nicotine strengths – zero, 11mg, 16mg and 20mg. They do initially look very expensive for two cartomisers but taking into account the size of them you can expect them to last a similar amount of time to 4 Vype cartridges.

Still, if I was to compare them to the Vapour2 Cigs cartomisers in terms of length of time they last and flavour they revert back to looking expensive again!

Overall – The tobacco flavour was OK, maybe a little on the weak side, the refills are huge which does extend life but they still work out to be quite expensive for two.

Returns/Warranty

Only unused and unopened packs can be returned for a refund. They do however offer free return shipping.

Customer Service

Puritane are available through a free phone number (UK), email and are also active on Twitter.

Discount Codes

If I come across any Puritane e cig discount codes I will be sure to post them here.

Overall Puritane Review Verdict

The Puritan e cigarette I have to say was a pretty disappointing experience overall. There are good features for sure but in a competitive market they don’t come anywhere near the top.

Good

• Look fairly realistic
  
• Battery feels good quality in the hand
  
• Good battery life
  
• Made to high standards in the UK
  

Not so good

• Size may be too big for new vapers
• Tobacco flavours were just average (remember this is according to my tastes, yours may differ!)
  
• Seemed to airy like I was sucking through a straw.
  
• Vapour volume average
• Cannot buy spare batteries on their own (at least online). To get another battery you would need to buy a new starter kit.
• Refill prices are verging on expensive

So not a great one here I’m afraid, there are just too many other options out there that, in my opinion, do a far better job.