Nazamataz's LoonGTotem Review

[TropicalBob]

Naz, while I'm not going to rush and buy, I think the LoongTotem you describe is my kind of e-cig. You have evaluated it -- and criticized it -- for things it was never meant to do.

So what if it failed to be refilled and work well. It's not designed for that. That's not a "refillable" cartridge. Refilling it is like .... sex .. why? The overriding fair question for a disposable c-cig is: Does a single cartridge produce lots of decent vapor and last one day?

Not an hour more. One day. Then throw it away. And do not attempt refilling during the day. Does a cartridge last one day by itself?

Battery life seems dreadful. None of mine on any device I own die in 3 hours. You must be torturing those things! Course, I do swap devices all day.

 

[markab]

Hi DC,
I try to get something put together as soon as I can. I've been holding off a bit due to a battery issue, and to try and have my review as complete and accurate as I can. Excuse my ignorance, but when does the olympics wrap up ?

Regards,
Mark

please let me know before the olympics are over the prices go mental again. I'ld love a preview!!

 

[Nazareth]

Mark, please do let us know your experience, as DC said, the sale is only goign to be on for another week or so. Just a quick question, are you able to get morethan 30 hours from a cartridge?

DC- They must have added the flu-cured after I ordered because I most definately would have ordered that had I seen it. I have no idea if this 'tobacco' that I've got is flue-cured or not. It does have a pleasant taste when the Cartridge is new & actaully, I've had this same cartridge goign since 11:00 this A.M, about 10 hours now, and I'm still gettign apleasant taste- however, I have to state that the small bit of smell that coems from it reminds me of sweat/perspiration smell- not always, but every now and again the vapor iwll smell liek that for some reason- not sure what's goign on with htat.

I'm sitting here toking and typing, and the taste and smoking experience is just really pleasant right now- (I've never smoked in the house- now I can and not bother anyone ) So nice to work and smoke at same time. This cartridge seems to be a quite good one- haven't had to refill it yet

I tried goign real slow with a cart yesterday, smoking it liek 1 cigg (10 puffs) every 10-15 minutes or so, to see if I could make it last 2 days, but the durn thing burned out in only 9 hours- I did not that the center of hte cartridge cotton was squashed over to the side, so perhaps it got damaged when puttign it together- but it's the first one so far that has been liek that out of about 10 used so far

 

[Nazareth]

Naz, while I'm not going to rush and buy, I think the LoongTotem you describe is my kind of e-cig. You have evaluated it -- and criticized it -- for things it was never meant to do.

I don't feel I've been overly critical of it TB- I've given it a good goign over like any good R&D would do, and given my impressions of how it held up under stress situations so that those who are gentler on devices will at least know hte limits to which the device can go, and can make an informed descision about whether they feel the device will more than meet or exceed their expectations or not. I've pushed the failing points to give peopel a good idea of how tough or weak the device is which I think is fair.

So what if it failed to be refilled and work well. It's not designed for that. That's not a "refillable" cartridge. The overriding fair question for a disposable c-cig is: Does a single cartridge produce lots of decent vapor and last one day?

Not an hour more. One day. Then throw it away. And do not attempt refilling during the day. Does a cartridge last one day by itself?

I understand your position on the issue- and respect that- however, there are most likely peopel like myself on a very limitted budget and who woudl like to know if they can extend the life of a device that has atomizers that can be thrown away when htey fail, not when the day is up- thus savign htem even more money shoudl hte device be able to go beyond a single day.

I'm not concerned with buyign a device that only lasts one day, my main concern has been the fact that htese devices have atomizer that can be be thrown away 'when htey fail' while not worryign abotu having to buy an atomizer everytime one fails- I now have 50 atomizers, and if I can somehow extend the life to 3 days, I've cut hte cost by 2/3- Every dollar is important when you're on a fixed very restricted budget liek my own. If I can cut it from $1.80 a day to $ .60 cents per day, that is a big help over the long run for me. It's not like I enjoy being poor, but I've been ofrced into it, and have to think in terms of budget cutting. I'm sure htere are others who may be in same boat too, and I've made it clear my reviews were for folks liek myself

Battery life seems dreadful. None of mine on any device I own die in 3 hours. You must be torturing those things! Course, I do swap devices all day.

TB- to be honest- it's not all that bad- One battery gets charged right abotu hte time the one I'm using is goign dead, so I just keep rotating them. IF I were to smoke the device more conservedly liek I do normal ciggs, the batteries would last probably 4-5 hours, perhaps 6, but I am smokign hte device very steady all day long- much much more than I woudl for normal cigarettes. I'm also taking two and three drags at a time for a deeper hit to the lungs- and htis does drain battery more/quicker- for a Mini- I think the batteries are pretty spot on as far as how long htey last- perhaps htere are mini batteries that could last longer- but I can only judge by what My SmartFixx mini batteries lasted, and these are on par with them

 

[Nazareth]

Onem ore htought- just liek the Ruyan throwaway cigar, I'm looking for a throwaway that can possibly be refileld to extend the life of hte device- and when atomizer dies- meh- no big deal- grab another one as they are cheap enough to have many atomzers at the ready, and if i can push one for a month, that just means I'll have to spend less for hte year as the devices will go further with refilling- Devices beign completely throwaway has never been my goal- a good workign device with many atomizers instead of just one per kit has been my goal as my main frustration with penstyles has been the fact that the atomizers are simply not ready for the masses as they fail so often in my experience- these 'throwaway' devices answers and addresses my frustratiosn quite nicely in my opinion

 

[markab]

Hi Nazareth,
To be honest at this point I just don't know. From day one I had a problem with both of the batteries I recieved. As a result I've only done limited tinkering with it. I've ordered several replacement batteries which I should recieve either tomorrow or Thursday. As soon as I get them I will begin some more indepth testing, providing, of course, that they work properly

Regards,
Mark

Mark, please do let us know your experience, as DC said, the sale is only goign to be on for another week or so. Just a quick question, are you able to get morethan 30 hours from a cartridge?

 

[TropicalBob]

I appreciate you pushing the limits in testing. I really do.

I'm now advising a tobacco store chain owner on how to get into electronic smoking. I've told him to stay away from the present bunch of e-cigs unless he wants every other customer at this counter to be a rotating buyer returning a malfunctioning product or failed atomizer.

He and others like him will only welcome a sales model like the packs and cartons he now sells. Rushed people who stop by on the way to work to buy a pack will want a day's worth from an e-cig. They will never, ever, sit around at the office, in a car, or at home and drip sticky liquid into a drug delivery device.

The present e-smoking model is comparable only to tobacco smokers who roll their own. A few do, but they don't provide significant income for a tobacco shop.

It will be the LoongTotems, GreenCigs and Ruyans of the e-smoking world that finally break into the mass market with disposable products. The price must be right. The reliability and repeatability must be a given. A pack of Kent I buy now must taste the same as it did 10 years ago. It's a given that it will.

I understand saving money, but I'm most interested in whether LoongTotem delivers on the disposable promise.

 

[Nazareth]

Yeah I fully understand that position, and I think my tests have shown that they can go the day- but I am a bit premature on final impressions, and the cartridge that I was just saying was workign so good- just gave me a burnt taste right after I wrote what I did. So that is two that gave the burnt taste at around 10 hours usage now. I did refil lthis one, and the it is not heating up now, but I suspect I'll only get a few more hours if that by keepign it from burnign the paper/cotton that surrounds the coil-

Havign said that, a more casual user woudl probably not run into the burn for about a couple more hours- so I'd say at this point that a Cartridge can most likely go a whole day for the common smoker- more for the light occassional smoker, and probably about 10 hours for a heavy chain smoker.

I don't know what is goign on as when I first got the device, they were goign for 30+ hours with refilling- I don't know if this 5 pack of cartridges is 'bad' or what, or if the 'aging' battery is causing this earlier burn or not.

With the refilling, the burn has stopped, and I'm not sure how long it will go, but I'll be up until 2:00 A.M, so I'll post back on how long it goes.

I would say that the device can go all day, but that peopel looking for a true smoking alternative will be a bit dissappointed with the hit and nicotine, but not overly so. I'm not sure what I'd advise the fella at hte tobacco shop to carry- perhaps the Ruyan throwaway cigar to start- then perhaps the loongtotem- but probably should wait until GreenCig comes out with hteir product first, to see if it might trump the loong.

I woudl htink that a Cigg shop might have a hard time selling $50 batteries for hte loong though- but ya never know, once bought, the average smoker certainly could use just one Cartridge per day- even two wouldn't break them $$ wise. It woudl in my opinion be a good device for those looking to compeltely switch for hte reasons I give in previous posts, and they wouldn't have to deal- as you mentiooned, with messy refilligns.

I just personally have trouble throwing a cartridge/atomizer away that is still workign just fine and can be extended a bit with refilling, but can understand that others don't want to mess with messy refillings, although the refillings with these is much less messy than with other devices.

If you are looking for a compeltely htrowaway, and especially if you don't mind being overly cautious and using two carts per day to avoid possible burning, then this device will certainly meet your expectations (except for hte battery and hit and buzz, although two chargers and 3 or 4 batteries would more than suffice, and the average smoker as I mentioend above could most likely use a battery for 4-5 hours, perhaps 6 which certainly isn't too bad for a mini- My batteries are chargign up in about 2 hours tops as I don't run them down flat each time- with the lion batteries it is advisable to start chargign them before they run flat, so my two batteries and one charger are meetign my needs quite nicely- but for folks goign out, or to work, takign two charged batteries woudl probably be adviseable), and you;'ll be able to smoke it very heavily doing so, with clouds of vapor all day long, and a pleasant enough taste in my opinion.

At 2 Cartridges per day, it would be $3.60, a bit expensive, but certainly more healthy than regular ciggs, and not too expesnive for hte average smoker in my opinion.

 

[Nazareth]

Just thinking as I go along here- My recommendation woudl be thus:

Buy the Loong + another device (probably the Ruyan throwaway- I'll know better in a week or so) with a bigger hit, better taste, logner lasting, and I think you won't go wrong.

Switch off throuhghout hte day with hte two devices, and you most definately won't have a problem with either the cart life, or battery issues, plus you'll get better Nic consumption using a stronger device to suppliment the loong (although I guess it's now possible to get higher nic upon request from loong?)

The loong in my opinion has 3 important strengths 1: Tons of vapor 2: small form factor which I believe most people want in an esmoking device 3: Disposable atomizers that can make it htrough the day and even beyond if you don't mind refilling a few times, and don't chain smoke it like I do.

These three issues I think make it well worth buying either as a main device, or as a secondary one. I think the decive necely addresses the atomizer issues that plague other devices, and coupled with somethign liek a Ruyan throwaway cigar, I think atomizer issues will be an issue of hte past.

The caution I would give is to purchase wisely, buy everythign at once to avoid repeated shipping costs which are exhorbitant (sp?), and to get 4 or more batteries along with two chargers, and would further caution that like Ned describes in his new thread here http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...ng-totem-replacement-batteries.html#post32391 , that this won't even ensure you get enough good parts- so the risk is up to you. I've personally been quite pleased even with the weaknesses mentioned in previous posts- much more satisfied than I have been with my penstyle and previous mini.

If I had it all to do over again, I would have bought the loongtotem right from the start, then a bunch of Ruyan disposable cigars, and would have been much more satisfied in the esmoking experience, as well as had what I really wanted in the first place- A mini that draws easy, produces excellent vapor, isn't a major pain the ear with atomizers failing, constant messy refillings, shipping waits etc. I really didn't want penstyles, but went with htem because my experience with a standard mini was terrible, and still the pestyle didn't deliver for me (Note, now that Cashme has cheap atomizers that make it an almost disposable device now, I would havebeen much more satisfied concidering I could just chuck an atomizer away if it failed in two weeks, and not have to break the bank doing so)

My revised recommendations are thus:

Option A: Buy the Loong + another device (probably the Ruyan throwaway- I'll know better in a week or so) with a bigger hit, better taste, logner lasting, and I think you won't go wrong.

Switch off throuhghout hte day with hte two devices, and you most definately won't have a problem with either the cart life, or battery issues, plus you'll get better Nic consumption using a stronger device to suppliment the loong (although I guess it's now possible to get higher nic upon request from loong?)

Option B: Buy a Penstyle From Cashme for $49 (1/2 the price of SmartFixx or NJoy, and just as good in my experience) Buy several atomizers, a couple of batteries, two chargers, Buy some Johnson Creek Smokin juice, and buy either soem blank cartridges, or some prefilled cartridges from Cashme for $4.95 for 5 (about 1/3 the price of SmartFixx's price for 5), AND Buy either a Loong kit with extra cartridges, batteries and another charger, OR Buy 5 Ruyan throwaways from Heavengifts (about $100 less than RuyanAmerica) to use as either main or secondary device.

Option B will give you an 'almost disposable' penstyle (or mini DSE 901), along with a good true disposable device (The Ruyan, which can be refilled and extended if you so desire- or not).

To everyone- sorry posts are so long, but I want ot give the best objective view I can so everyoen can get the best 'feel' for the device possible before makign a descision one way or hte other

 

[TheEmperorOfIceCream]

don't apologise Naz - this is all good stuff. (and 'oh balls', by the way. I've just written an essay myself asking a load of questions you answered above - no point posting it now).

All that's left is power. I'd be willing to buy 100 carts, two starter kits and two batteries, about $270 for 100 days smoking (I am a heavy smoker, but I see this as a pub .... If I get say 5 hours out of a cart, no dripping and a reasonable amount of nic, I'm happy and would call that a day's use).

How reliable do you think the batteries and chargers are? If we get nowhere with the tap and die idea we're entirely dependent on these elements of this model. Do you feel they will last 100 days? If the answer is yes, I'd pay $2.70 a day without quibbling. Even 50 days wouldn't cross my eyes at about what, four bucks?

Finally, I can't find any reference to cart strength above 8mg on the site. Do you have to mail beforehand or something to ask for higher strength?(apologies if you don't know).

Anyway, Naz, you've done good work on this model (thanks also to Ned and Mixos) - this is exactly the sort of info we need ahead of making a buying decision. Give yourself a couple of weeks off before the next one - that RSI'll kill ya...

Emp

 

[Mr.Darcy]

yeah,youve gone beyond the call of duty on the totem Naz and Ned,good work mates,much appreciated and valuable information.

i just dont think its worth buying this generation of disposables...they need to iron out lots of problems before i'll part with my hard earned...

theyre far too expensive,you gotta deal directly with China,little taste,small nicotine doses,extortionate shipping,chance of dodgy batteries-and expensive replacements,inconsistent and overheating cart/atomisers...

i know there are some plus points too,but for me the benefits are in the minority...

i'll wait and see what comes next,i think...cheers fellas.

 

[ned Zeppelin]

Emp if you want a high-strength in cartridges they told me I would have to buy 5000 of the blighters.
As for the batteries they still have not got these right yet and the quality of the new USB Chargers is disgraceful.
So when I ordered these I also ordered 2 of their new mains USB chargers.
They sent me one of these and another which don't exist for sale on their website.
So I am miffed what the hell I'm supposed to do with this one as it will probably cost me £40 in shipping it back because they only replace but you have to pay for shipping costs.

 

[Mr.Darcy]

hmmm...i rest my case...

 

[TheEmperorOfIceCream]

Hi Ned and Mr D. What the hell are we doing up at this time of the morning? I'm gonna have to revisit that Nicotine/Insomnia thread...

Darcy, I think you're right. I want what this promises, but all the good stuff's in the cart. The rest of the kit seems to be crap.

Ned, good points also. I just won't pay to ship **** back to source. Too much of a gamble at this price point. Why can't these clowns get the basics right? We'd bite their hands off...

Emp

 

[Nazareth]

Emp I dunno- my experience is quite different than Ned's for sure. My batteries have been holding up good now for 12 days already- 100? I doubt they'll go that long- i can't even get any SmartFixx penstyle batteries to go that long

IF you get workign batteries, you can definately go 5 hours heavy smoking without refilling or messing with the carts- beleive me, I smoked the snot out of the first few cartridges I tested ,and am still smoking quite heavily- tripple-drawing all day long. For pubbin- I'd say this woudl be a great device (Unless ya pub for 20 hours straight lol)

DC said he was speaking with someone at loongtotem and they said the carts can be ordered in higher strnegths without having to buy the 5000- he's waiting for reconfiormation of htis as we speak.

The battery issue is the one big issue- kinda a crap shoot I guess, and being propritary batteries, we're stuck buyign from them

If you're not in hurry for a mini cigg- I'd wait for Greencig to come out and see how htey perform- they too are goign to be expensive, but htey just might outperform the loong, and have cheaper batteries- just wish they'd hurry up and start posting their prices so we have an idea what kind of $$ we're talkign about- Greencig claimed 200-250 puffs off one cart I beleive which would be about 1 pack worth of real ciggs vaporwise, but I'm findign I smoke about 2-3 times as much vaporwise with eciggs as I would with real ciggs, maybe even more- not sure the greencigg will keep up with me for just one cartridge per day.- will be ok if I can refill it though.

tough Call Emp- The battery crapshoot issue beign the only real downside- dunno if I and Mixos just got lucky, and Ned got unlucky, or if what Ned experienced is about 'normal' with loongtotem, and we were the exception or what. Their shipping costs just further aggravate the battery crapshoot issue.

If you were good at soldering- could always take the battery threads out and solder them onto a bigger battery lol (Which incidetly I just might try as soon as one of my batteries starts to not take a charge anymore)

Ned- Is there anyone you could talk to about trying this with one of your bad batteries? Know any mechanics or folks who can solder? Basically, it's just a matter of soldering the red wire to the middle part (the one that has hte hole through it) and the blue wire to the threaded part- the two parts are seperated by a silicon-like seperator to keep them from touching and shortign hte battery out. The hard part will be taking the threads out of the aluminum tube of both batteries without destroying hte tubes- the rest is easy enough if you can solder.

 

[mixos]

Emp I dunno- my experience is quite different than Ned's for sure. My batteries have been holding up good now for 12 days already- 100? I doubt they'll go that long- i can't even get any SmartFixx penstyle batteries to go that long

IF you get workign batteries, you can definately go 5 hours heavy smoking without refilling or messing with the carts- beleive me, I smoked the snot out of the first few cartridges I tested ,and am still smoking quite heavily- tripple-drawing all day long. For pubbin- I'd say this woudl be a great device (Unless ya pub for 20 hours straight lol)

DC said he was speaking with someone at loongtotem and they said the carts can be ordered in higher strnegths without having to buy the 5000- he's waiting for reconfiormation of htis as we speak.

The battery issue is the one big issue- kinda a crap shoot I guess, and being propritary batteries, we're stuck buyign from them

If you're not in hurry for a mini cigg- I'd wait for Greencig to come out and see how htey perform- they too are goign to be expensive, but htey just might outperform the loong, and have cheaper batteries- just wish they'd hurry up and start posting their prices so we have an idea what kind of $$ we're talkign about- Greencig claimed 200-250 puffs off one cart I beleive which would be about 1 pack worth of real ciggs vaporwise, but I'm findign I smoke about 2-3 times as much vaporwise with eciggs as I would with real ciggs, maybe even more- not sure the greencigg will keep up with me for just one cartridge per day.- will be ok if I can refill it though.

tough Call Emp- The battery crapshoot issue beign the only real downside- dunno if I and Mixos just got lucky, and Ned got unlucky, or if what Ned experienced is about 'normal' with loongtotem, and we were the exception or what. Their shipping costs just further aggravate the battery crapshoot issue.

If you were good at soldering- could always take the battery threads out and solder them onto a bigger battery lol (Which incidetly I just might try as soon as one of my batteries starts to not take a charge anymore)

Ned- Is there anyone you could talk to about trying this with one of your bad batteries? Know any mechanics or folks who can solder? Basically, it's just a matter of soldering the red wire to the middle part (the one that has hte hole through it) and the blue wire to the threaded part- the two parts are seperated by a silicon-like seperator to keep them from touching and shortign hte battery out. The hard part will be taking the threads out of the aluminum tube of both batteries without destroying hte tubes- the rest is easy enough if you can solder.

Naz, I gotta say im abit jealous that you are getting that type of usage out of the batteries, i get 3 Hour MAX and thats not with heavy smoking! I have overcome my crappy taste issue by adding a few drops of coffee flavouring to the cartridges, seems to make a big difference. I havent done anything about the V10 battery, because frankly i cant be bothered anymore, it seems everytime i get something i get a new problems. Im hoping that they fix the issues with the batteries. If they do i will be ordering up big!

 

[jdrancor]

Allright, I got mine in the mail. I ordered two batteries, so as to have a backup. One of the batteries did not work at ALL - not a bit!!! The other battery is working fine so far. As for the carts, the first one I tried was a dud, but the second, I got SMOKE GALORE!! it was truly spectacular. I got nicotine too, for the first hour or so. The nicotine seemed to leave, but the smoke kept coming, and it was very satisfying. Dragging on these is just like a real cigarette - you can take small little puffs, without even having to do a primer puff, and get lots of rich smoke. Flavor-wise, not so great, but I don't really like much these days for flavor. The only good flavor is Jane's 555 juice. JC juice takes second place, it's allright, but there's not a great throat hit, and the flavor just isn't strong enough. I'm rooting for JC, but they're not ready for prime time yet.

Anyhow. These loongtotems seem to be a step in the right direction, but they're too buggy still. If they were more reliable, I'd be fine with paying their prices, even with the not-so-great taste. But as it is.. I talked to them about returning the battery, and they said that they'd replace it, but that I'd have to pay there-and-back shipping. Which, at that rate, I may as well just buy a new battery from them. So that's crappy.

So, I'm waiting for the next version. OR, in a perfect world, somebody would take the design of the cartridge, make it MORE disposable, maybe with a cardboard shell rather than a stainless steel one, put a better wadding in there so that the nicotine gets used at the same rate as the PG, and pair it with a reliable battery. Regardless, I won't be ordering again until the quality control is better on these. It's a great idea, and when it works, it's a great product, but it just doesn't work as reliably as I'd like it.

For the time being, I'm sticking with my trusty rn4801. I get replacement atomizers for $7 and the batteries for $10 and both of them work consistently. It produces good smoke, has an easy draw, and I can drip whatever juice I want to in it. The main drawback is that it requires fiddling around, and that "roll your own" mentality. The loongtotem is PERFECT for somebody like my wife, who can't stand the fiddling around, and just wants to smoke a cigarette. I will be very happy when the LT model gets perfected so that she will be able to easily have a satisfying smoke.

 

[dc2k08]

thanks for that JD. what flavour/s and strengths did you choose?

missed all the talk on the forum last night as i dropped out early but i recieved the confirmation that 'jack' will provide me with extra-high carts along with high carts. whether this proves true, who knows. From the experiences of others, customer service and integrity seem to have little attraction for loong. though i cannot choose this combination on the site, i am to let him know in an accompanying mail.

about returning the battery, and they said that they'd replace it, but that I'd have to pay there-and-back shipping. Which, at that rate, I may as well just buy a new battery from them. So that's crappy

I asked jack what percentage of batteries are returned (he is very proud of his batteries), .09% was the answer...and i know now why this is..he rarely sees a returned battery because they come with a catch 22 return policy.

their web-site is catastrophic by the way. some prices are in euro, some in dollars and placed randomly. what makes me vomit though is that alot of links open their own new tab...(i have 10 open right now). but ranting aside, though i do not wish to deal with loong, and i get nauseous visiting their site, i really want to try the product...so it getting close to confirmation time. i just looked at the total though; $257..with $79 of that for shipping!..does it get its own air-conditioned cabin?.....im gonna have to get drunk first.

also anyone know what this does.?.its called a Mini E-cigarette Europe folding USB Adapter. there is one for US also..Do i need one for what?

 

[Nazareth]

i just looked at the total though $257..with $79 for shipping!...im really gonna have to get drunk first

For a basic kit and 50 cartridges? Why so much? I paid $240 total- shipping included, and I ordered before their 35% off olymipcs sale- if anyone is goign to try these- now would be the time- not tryign to talk anyone into it, but I wish I'd have not learned abotu them until this months- sure coudla used the 35% off.

Anyone want to send me hteir dead batteries? I'm goign to try to solder the threads fro mthe battery onto another battery- on paper I think this will work and should prove much easier than tryign to tap and die and machine pieces to step down or up to fit better batteries. I just need the threaded part fro mthe batteries. I still think this could work if anyoen wants to try this.

 

[Nazareth]

Naz, I gotta say im abit jealous that you are getting that type of usage out of the batteries, i get 3 Hour MAX and thats not with heavy smoking!

Mixos, I should clarify- abotu 90% of the itme this is what I am getting- about 10% of the time, a battery will come off the charger, and even htrough the light is strong green, it only lasts for abotu 2 hours- but then the next charge, it'll be back up there in the 3+ range- not sure what is goign on there. The battery I have in right now, I stuck in the cartridge at 11:00 a.m (yes, this is what tiem I get up from sleeping lol) and it is still goign strong. I take the cigg with me to the resteraunt, and smoke it light and discretely for abotu 1/2 hour, then I start smoking much heavier after I leave hte resteraunt- so far this battery is holdign out for 3 1/2 hours- I think it might go another hour judgign by past performance- soemtimes I get one off hte charger, and it just seems to be strong for quite awhile, and again, abotu 10% of time, it just seems weak right off the charger, and makes me think "OK, battery is goign to die completely on me" but hten I'll recharge it and it seems ot work fine again. It's a wierd situation.