Video review is up!
Now, to sum up in the final review:
Blaze Kit & Refills
Packaging
Rather clever. Although mostly useless for carrying around with you in the longer term (since it would ultimately grow rather tatty and misshapen in short order) the presentation is clever and well-familiar to every smoker. It unwraps the same way as a pack of cigarettes, it opens the same way as a hard pack, and you take out the E-cig the same way. The only real difference is screwing the .... in, and the snicker you experience in mentally describing the activity in exactly those words. Everything is sealed up nicely in the refills it -- both the box and each individual cartomizer are sealed very well. There's a very nice manual included that's clear and lays out everything you need to know in plain English.
Look & Feel
It's hard to fault it here. It looks like a genuine cigarette, and although heavier, the paint with the pale concentric rings down the shaft is a matte finish and does bring to mind the impression of a paper feel, which is nice. The cartomizer has the familiar light orange flecks on a darker orange background of the stereotypical cigarette. Otherwise it's a pretty standard RN4081 device. The orange LED on the end was a good choice though instead of blue or red, neither of which I really liked. It contributed to the overall feel of a real cigarette.
Performance
Performance is a mixed bag. Vapor production is excellent, and the vape is more on the warm side of things which is very nice. The cartomizers I'm guessing are in the 2.5-3.0ohm range and, unless I'm mistaken, appear to be H-coils like the Kangers, which accounts for the warmth and amount of vapor. Unfortunately it suffers in the throat hit department. Even though everything was in 24mg, it hit more like a 12mg. However this is not unusual, as I've experienced the same thing when I reviewed the Bloog MaxxFusion, Volt, Kanger and V3 E-cigs as well. It seems to be endemic to slim E-cigs. Not that I personally mind since I am a 12mg vaper anyway, so the hit was right in my wheelhouse, but those looking for the the 24mg karate chop to the Adam's apple aren't going to find it here. Battery life is about 2-2.5 hours at my pace, which pegs the battery most likely at 180mAh.
Flavour
Menthol: Unexpectedly good, mainly because it's not a menthol and I'm not a menthol fan. Rather, it tastes like a sweet after dinner mint, which I do enjoy.
Original: Supposedly a tobacco, but that's not anywhere near what I get. Instead I taste more like a mildly sweet candied peanut or peanut brittle mixed with the yeasty backnotes of marmite or vegemite. An odd combination to be certain -- not one I found utterly objectionable, but also not one I'd choose to vape deliberately. Throat hit is weaker than the Menthol, feeling more like a 9 or 10mg.
Prricing
$30 for the "deluxe kit" is reasonable for what you get. I've seen similar kits go for around the same range. $15 for a pack of prefilled cartomizers though is a little high. $12 at the very outside is about the top end of my reasonable scale here.
Other notes
There really needs to be either third tier package that includes a second battery and maybe a wall charger, or a change to the existing "deluxe" package that includes at least the second battery, even if it costs a little more. A single battery is okay just to try out, but you already have a tryout package. Deluxe should include a second battery so you can vape it while the other charges.
The starter kit should also be available in either of your flavours, not just menthol, and should be available in other nic strengths as well, including a 36mg strength (that would likely hit like an 18) for those heavier smokers that need the extra kick to get off analogs.
Also, the equivalency claims of each carto being equal to 1 to 1.5 packs of cigarettes has got to go. It's just patently, ludicrously untrue unless you're referring to packs of cigarettes the size of a small box of matches. Half a normal pack at best. I simply don't understand why some companies do this. All you do is raise expectations that will inevitably be left to fall from a great height, leaving the buyer to resent you for tricking them into thinking they'd be getting the equivalent of up to 7 or so packs of smokes for a mere $15, when the reality is less than half that. Don't make grandiose claims. Some newbies may be naive, but they're not stupid. Don't treat them like they are.
Finally, you need a better tobacco juice. If you can get one that tastes real for the cigar, surely a similar blend can be made for the E-cigarette.
Cuban Cigar
Packaging
Not much to say here. Sealed cardboard box and a plastic tray insert are about all there is to it. There's no manual, but do you really need one?
Look & Feel
Top shelf. Although it doesn't exactly feel like rolled leaf -- more like a smooth wallpaper -- it is nevertheless rolled up like a real cigar. It looks authentic and feels good too. It's not too heavy either, though it's heavier than a real cigar, but it nevertheless contributes to a convincing cigar. Like the Blaze kits above, it has an orange slow-burn LED on the end that makes a convincing ember glow. The hard mouthpiece I could take or leave -- it's a bit large to be comfortable with it being hard and all, and while I'd have preferred a soft tip, there are certain hygienic reasons that I understand made the hard mouthpiece a more practical choice.
Performance
Also most excellent. Once again, great vapor production, and the throat hit is much better here, hitting more like an 18mg. I can't speak for battery life because it is a disposable and I haven't killed it yet -- I'm rationing it for reasons I'm about to get to. But I have no complaints about its performance on any level.
Flavour
I find it difficult to accurately convey my feelings about the flavour without using expletives as intensifiers following words like "Holy" and "Son of a" or preceding words like "incredible." Because holy [redacted] is the flavour [redacted] incredible. As I say in my video review, it is a tired trope when talking to a newbie who's looking for something matching their favourite brand that they will never find a juice that tastes like a burning cigarette, and by association that naturally extends to pipes and cigars. Until this, that is. This tastes like a Cuban. Not a fresh tobacco, a burning cuban. Like you just snipped off the end, lit one up, and started puffing on that stogey. I'm not even kidding. I didn't think it was possible to replicate the flavour of a pile of burning tobacco, but somehow, this does it, and it does it with uncanny accuracy. It's not just reminiscent of a lit cigar. It is exactly like a lit cigar, for just as you take a mouth inhale of a real cigar and let the smoke ruminate around in your mouth a while, so too can you do the same here and get the same experience. It is, to be perfectly blunt, a bit freaky. But in a good way. A really, really good way.
Pricing
It's a disposable, and it costs $25. It performs excellently, it looks realistic, and tastes fantastic, but ... it's disposable, and it costs $25. It has, at best, a 1000-1300mAh battery in it and probably 3-4ml of juice, maybe a bit more. A day to a day and a half of average vaping as your main device. This is financially impractical unless you have the means not to worry about such trivial amounts. Honestly, if you charged a bit more for a refillable, rechargeable version, this would be far more practical, less wasteful, and make it a far better value for people. Sell refill cartridges for it instead. I think you'll find a better revenue stream in cheaper refill carts than expensive disposable units.
Other notes
Bottle and sell the cigar juice. Seriously. I've said it before, I'll say it again: Put that [redacted] in a bottle and sell the hell out of it. I'll buy it. I think many of us here would. I realize we're the "vets" and manually refilling carts is a bit steeper a learning curve for newbies, but newbies don't stay that way forever, nor do the vast majority of them stay with slim cigarettes -- they'll usually move up to something bigger and better performing. Give them a reason to keep coming back. Give them the juice. And if not, give me the juice. I promise I won't tell anyone.
Also, an even bigger, more ludicrous equivalency claim here -- 45 traditional cigars! Just ... just no. It isn't. It isn't remotely. Not even in its wildest fantasies -- not even the ones where Julianna Moore is feeding it grapes while Jessica Alba rubs lotion on its feet. Not even 45 cigarillos. Not even those little wine-tipped Colts. It just isn't happening. 10 traditional cigars? Maybe. Maybe. That's stretching it, but isn't completely outside the realm of possibility.
So, yeah... that's my assessment, top to bottom, in video and text.