A Newbie’s Review of E-cig’s E-8

[MasonD]

After sifting through the internets looking for my first PV, I settled on the E-8 from the relevant website; if you’re a light smoker, a social smoker, or maybe someone who just wants to smoke at work when you can’t smoke smokes, or when it’s rainy, then this system may well fill the bill-- if you’re a pack a day smoker, like myself, who wants to move on with life, this will not be sufficient for you to ditch the analogs altogether.

I’ve had the kit for several days now, and am pretty confident that it won’t get much better or worse from here, so here’s a review.

I chose the E-8 for several reasons: I wanted something that had the same form factor as an analog; I wanted something relatively inexpensive; above all, I wanted customizability. This last is where the E-8 shines (and their E-9; 8 for 8mm (same gauge as an anny), 9 for 9mm): you can get the cartomizers and batteries in many colors, you can get the end-cap (the fake-ash plastic end of the batt) in many colors, you can choose the color of the LED-- this last is what sold me: I got mine in all black, with no LED at all (I think all PV’s should have the option of none; a little persnickety, perhaps, but what of it? I like to look at the stars). The basic starter kit shipped from China-- in about five days to the east coast of our United States-- with a handy-dandy carrying case (kinda cheaply made, but it does the job), two batts (one small, one large; when connected to the carto, they have the exact form factor of a regular anny, the other just shy of an 100), a usb charger, and 4 carto’s with whatever flavor, strength, and base they offer-- and they do offer a ....-ton of flavors: I chose butter-rum. Being unsure if the batteries would last for my vaping needs, I also ordered a usb pass-through.

The first thing to note, is that there is a stark difference between vaping the pass-through vs. vaping the batt. I haven’t taken a VOM to it, but I’m sure they are pulling different voltages-- I’ve hooked up the pass-through to everything under the sun, to my laptop, various desktops, a couple of different monitor usb ports... the wall: the pass-through vapes the same from whatever the source, but it’s less powerful than either batt by far; the batts are consistent with one another on this account. If you’re vaping the pass-through, you can rest assured that you will never-- ever-- burn out a carto and, occasionally, you may just come across some mild hint of flavor for the nonce. Heh.

Between the two batts, I’ve never run out of power-- but I always keep one charging unless I’m going for a bit of a walk or drive or whatnot (or unless they’re both fully charged, which only happens out before bed). So far, when I’ve taken both batts out for a jaunt, I haven’t fully drained both batts yet, just one of ‘em; but if you were going to spend a day at the beach, sneaking around an art gallery, or climbing the back woods (and I tell ya, I cant wait ‘til my eGo-t arrives-- love it or hate it, right?-- and I finally ditch these annys after some 20 years: the back-woods will be fun again!)... anyhoo, if you were taking a day-trip, I’d recommend getting another of the long batts to take with you. If you’re a regular smoker, new to vaping, you’d probably need, say, 6 or 8 batts. For my part, I didn’t get any duds, and these batts do seem to hold their charge between usage-- though, even after mild use, they do take some time to charge for being so dainty (rated 90mah and 140mah, respectively, @ 3.5v to 4.2v). Of course, this has only been some number of days: you can go ahead an’ google up how to use and maintain your lithium-ion batts for maximum longevity. I should also note that someone somewhere in the vast sea of the internets reported that their short batt that came with the kit had slightly crooked threads; I have the same problem-- it’s very slight, and doesn’t affect performance none, but, hooked to a carto, it won’t roll true on a plane. The long batt is just fine.

Whereas the vape on the pass-through just barely gets you to the doorstep of flavor (granted, I’ve got the smoker’s taste, but still...), the battery seems a bit too powerful for the carto. After the obligatory “Oh-my-God-this-tastes-like-total-....! ...I-just-went-and-burnt-out-a-cartomizer-‘cause-I-don’t-know-how-to-vape-yet... -Hmm... it’s-not-an-anny...” I figured out that there is indeed a sweet spot for the E-8, it’s just rather limited. Just when you get to some decent flavor, you’ve got about 4 or 5 good pulls on it, being careful to keep it warm, but not too hot, before you begin to run dry, and need to top it off. If you don’t keep it warm, then you’ll vape through the juice getting the thing back up to temp-- to get back to the flavor-- and run it dry; if you’re not patient, and you hit the sweet spot too hard, the batt is powerful enough that you’ll scorch it. After the carto’s season a little, you can get to that sweet spot a couple of times before beginning to run dry, letting it cool off some in between. The vapor production proper is fairly consistent, in terms of volume, but the flavor and TH is not so. I’m not so much in it for the TH, but for those who are, the only time you get major TH is when you’re burning it up, which, at least, gives you the slightest moment of pause for reflection, and preparation, for the nasty, nasty taste you’re about to endure. Again, part of that was the learning curve for carto’s, and vaping in general, but, after getting a bit of a handle on all of that, and breaking in some fresh empty carto’s, I’ve found that this sweet spot is what it is. You've got probably several cleanings before the carto wears out, and keeps that burned carto flavor no matter what you do.

The construction of the inside of the cartomizers is inconsistent. Some times there’s more polyfill, sometimes less-- the little paper cylinder which keeps the center clear of batting tends to slide up on the element lead, toward the mouth end, limiting the air-flow some-- this bushing is in two pieces, and doesn’t seem to go all the way to the battery end. As far as construction and capacity, the empties seem better than the pre-filled. The best way to fill this make is with a syringe: if there’s a little dry-spot, you’ll scorch it a bit, even if it seems like it has a lot of juice yet-- the syringe gives you a better chance at a full fill. Because of the inconsistency in the amount of filler they pack, it’s tough to say how much it holds, which is relatively moot, since you really ought to keep this thing damp to get a pleasant vape. My top-offs have been, say, 3-9 drops, give or take, depending. The pediatric oral syringe with hot water method, seems to work just fine to keep ‘em clean. The E-8 system uses soft-caps.

If you’re like me, a regular long-term smoker looking to take that turn to vaping, the E-8 is not for you. Don’t even bother with the anny form-factor in any make or model. Sure, I could make it work, by investing in more batts, and a ....load of carto’s, but I don’t care to take the time required to maintain this system for heavy use-- I’ve got other things to do. I tried to use just one carto, and keep topping it off throughout the day, but once you burn it just a touch, you get less and less time at the sweet spot ‘til you clean it out-- and the frequent taste-like-burning will drive you right to the Sev for a pack of smokes. I could make it work, by maintaining several carto’s throughout the day, prepared the night before, but why? I don’t intend on spending more money to taste like I’m smoking out the wrong end of an anny, often, with this system under heavy use-- the which also requires a deal of time and effort. If you are in a similar spot on the smoking spectrum as I, and just starting out with vaping, haunting around the internets about it, go with the eGo system. They’re manufacturing different options (atty, carto, tank, new and (in principle) improved tank), and there seem to be a selection of aftermarket mods based on that system-- I’ve read that the eGo threads the same as the 510 and the Riva, so there are a lot of options for you. For my part, I’m just looking for a reliable unit that doesn’t take a lot of time, daily, to maintain, but, if you think you may want to get into mods and hot-rodding what not, it seems you got the option for it with the eGo system, and (so I’ve heard...) enough reliable vapor to kick those annys to the curb, right out of the box. Sure, you may blow ten or twenty some-odd bucks frying atties-- or carto’s-- during your learning phase, but it’s better than ‘trying out’ a system which stands inadequate to your needs and concerns.

If, however, on the other hand, you are a casual smoker; or want to vape at work-- or whatever-- when you can’t smoke; want the same form factor as an anny; want options up the wazzoo in terms of customization; and don’t want to spend a small fortune-- the E-8 would probably work for you. Once you get the carto thing down, you can get a good vape... I have nothing to compare it to, so take that for what it’s worth (but, when that sweet spot is there, the butter-rum does taste yummy, even with the smoker’s mouth!).

Unless they come out with an eGo battery sans LED, I’ll probably still keep the E-8 system around for stargazing-- it is useful for that...

Hope this helps someone out.


Bottom Line: Fine entry-level for the casual smoker; Inadequate entry-level for the needs, the requirements, of a long term regular smoker.