Smartcigs Introduction
Smartcigs are a UK based brand that have a very tight product line that consists of 5 starter kit options and concentrates on the mini e cigarette type design.
For this Smartcigs review we received, free of charge, the Premier Starter Kit, an additional battery and a PCC. As always though our opinions are our own.
In The Box
The packaging is all good quality and professionally branded and the Premier kit contains the following:
– 2 x Battery (Auto/Manual)
– 1 x USB Charger
– 1 x Wall Plug
– 30 Flavour Cartridges
– Portable Charging Case
– In Car Charger
Battery
The Smartcigs Premier kit is supplied with two battery options to fit in with your personal vaping needs. You can choose from a black manual battery, stainless steel auto/manual and white auto/manual. I actually received three batteries with this kit, the black manual, stainless steel auto and white auto.
For those brand new to electronic cigarettes, the difference between the auto/manual batteries is that with the manual there is a button on the side that needs to be pressed to activate the battery whereas with the auto the battery is simply activated by taking a drag on the e cigarette.
This really is a personal preference option but for me manual batteries edge it slightly. Reason being that the with the manual battery you can heat the e-liquid up prior to taking drag, this only takes a second but it does ensure no primer drags are needed.
The downside of course is that you can’t just have the e cig in your mouth and take drags on it as you can with the auto battery.
OK, back to the Smartcigs batteries…
These batteries come with a KR808D thread which are the same connections used by both V2 Cigs and Jacvapour. As to be expected all these brands are compatible with one another.
The batteries themselves feel decent in the hand, not the best quality feel I have come across but certainly not the worst and have the SmartCigs branding tastefully set at the top.
The actual performance of the batteries are very good, taking a longer slower drag on the automatic battery heats the e-liquid up nicely and helps provide a good vapour without the need for any ‘primer puffs’. The manual battery, as previously mentioned is my preferred option and on pressing the button fires the battery up straight away to get the liquid heating up before you take a drag. Again it helps provide a good vapour volume.
The batteries are one size, 280 mAh and will last an average vaper such as myself around 2 1/2 hours of actual vaping time. This of course will change depending on each individuals vaping habits.
Replacement batteries are also available for £10.99 which is reasonable value.
PCC
Now the Premier Kit doesn’t actually come with a Portable Charging Case (PCC), it just has a the plain metal carry case. I did however receive a PCC so I will tell you a little bit about it.
The PCC is available with the top end ‘ Smartcigs Prestige Starter Kit’ or available to buy separately for £16.99.
It is a compact metal case that allows you to charge and hold one battery and two cartomisers. Looks wise this isn’t a great bit of kit, there are far better PCC’s available that are a more upto date design and hold more cartomisers and batteries.
I prefer PCC’s that can hold a full e cigarette made up or at least hold two batteries so everything can be kept together. Having said that it does a job and can help you out if your battery unexpectedly dies but it can take 2-3 hours to fully re-charge battery.
Overall – Both the manual and auto batteries perform well. The feel of the batteries in the hand isn’t as good as some competing brands. The PCC (not included with the actual kit reviewed) is a touch dated on the design front and only holds one battery and 2 carts.
Vapour/Flavour
Smartcigs have a wide selection of flavours both in cartomiser and bottled e-liquid form. With this particular kit though you get 4 packs of cartomisers (5 in each) and a choice of 10 different flavours and varying nicotine strengths (6mg-18mg) depending on the individual flavours. In this kit I received Red Tobacco (6mg), Gold Tobacco (6mg), Menthol (6mg) and Strawberry (6mg).
The Red Tobacco flavour is pretty similar, if not the same, as its namesake in the V2 Cigs range – ‘V2 Cigs Red’. The flavour does have a slight sweetness to it but I actually don’t mind this personally. The throat hit with the 6mg nicotine strength is not very good but should be better when going up the nicotine strengths. The vapour volume is decent though.
The Gold Tobacco flavour is not as robust as the Red. It is more of a smoother vape, so much so that the throat hit on the 6mg was non existent for me. The flavour itself was nice though, again a little sweet but a very easy tape with good vapour volume.
Next flavour was the Strawberry, I do enjoy fruity flavours and this was a good one. Not too sickly sweet but just a nice amount of the strawberry coming through. The vapour volume was again good but the throat hit was lacking for me personally even at the 6mg, this does however give you a nice smooth vape.
The last flavour was Smartcigs Menthol. Again I am a menthol fan when it comes to e cigarettes, this is a nice subtle menthol flavour that does leave the minty cool aftertaste in the mouth but again it is just lacking in any throat hit. Yes, I am only vamping the 6mg (low) nicotine cartomisers but I would normally expect a slight throat hit and this doesn’t really give me anything.
The flavours were OK on a whole but all in all were just lacking a bit of kick and as a result they came across as slightly dulled down, flat flavours. I would recommend starting off on the higher (18mg) nicotine strength and then working down from there if needed.
When coming to buy the refills, the Smartcigs cartomisers are priced at £7.99 for a pack of 5 which is a decent price and on a par with competing brands. They do come foil sealed which I like, the only thing missing which would be good to see is a ‘Use by Date’ or something along those lines.
There are also 5 flavours available in their ‘Smartjuice’ bottled e-liquid range which can work out to be better value in the long run, these come in one size (30ml) and are priced at £13.20. For those that like to fill there own cartomisers they also sell a 5 pack of ‘blanks’ for £5.99.
Overall – The flavours themselves are OK but the 6mg was lacking any kind of throat hit throughout the options I tried. Some may say this is to be expected with a 6mg juice but I would expect a little kick. The strawberry and menthol were my personal picks but I would recommend starting on a higher nicotine level to give more throat hit.
Starter Kits
There are 4 main Smartcigs Starter Kit options that pretty much cover all bases:
Smartcigs Deluxe Kit – £24.99
- 1 battery – Your choice of automatic or manual
- 10 Cartomisers – This is 2 packs worth, flavour choice is yours.
- Metal carry case
- USB & Wall charger
Smartcigs Juice Kits – £36.99
- 2 Batteries – Choice of automatic or manual
- 1 Pack of blank cartomisers (5)
- 1 Bottle of Smartjuice e-liquid
- 1 Metal carry case
- USB & Wall chargers
Smartcigs Premier Kit – £36.99 – Kit Reviewed here
- 2 Batteries – Choice of Auto/Manual
- 20 Cartomisers – 4 Packs, your choice of flavour
- Metal Carry case
- USB & Wall Chargers
Smartcigs Prestige Kit – £64.99
- 3 Batteries – Your choice of manual or automatic
- 30 Cartomisers – 6 packs, your choice of flavour and nicotine strength
- Portable Charging Case
- In Car Charger
- USB & Wall Charger
Discount Codes
The best Smartcigs discount code available at the moment will give you 15% off your next order. See the top of this page for the coupon or click the link!
Returns/Warranty
Product can be returned within 7 days as long as it is unused. There is also a lifetime warranty which is subject to their T&C’s. Please see there site for all the latest details!
Customer Service
Smartcigs are available by phone, email and live chat on their website. They are also active on both Facebook and Twitter.
Overall – And For Those That Skipped To The End!
The Smartcigs product is quite similar in a lot of ways to the V2 Cigs electronic cigarette brand so if you have come across that then you will have an idea of what to expect in terms of look and feel.The pricing is better for sure but the only thing I would say is that the Vapour2 Cigs range is a little more complete in its offerings on a whole.
Having said that Smartcigs do have everything a new vaper needs to get started.
The Smartcigs flavours whilst being OK just had something missing for me, they were all slightly ‘dull’ in their taste but I think this could be down to the low nicotine level possibly?If you do go for a Smartcigs kit I would recommend starting with minimum 2 batteries and try both a manual and an automatic so you can get an idea of what suits you best.
I don’t personally like the PCC that Smartcigs supply though so would say buy that from V2 Cigs or Epuffer as theirs are much better not only in terms of functionality but also design/looks.
