Hey, all. I figured I'd throw my $0.02 in on this forum, since I've had some interesting experiences with the blu e-cig.
[Tl;dr version: the "new, improved, redesigned" cartridges with Johnson Creek smoke juice are *vastly inferior* to the old cartridges. I loved blu before, but can no longer recommend them.]
I picked up a blu as my first e-cig without doing any particular research (unusual for me). I wasn't a frequent smoker beforehand, and I'm not the type to do a whole lot of tinkering with the cartridges -- no Lipton Tea Bag modding, no dipping or dripping, no refilling. I just wanted self-contained cartridges delivered to my door, no muss, no fuss. And the blu did right by me for several months: good vapor and throat hit, good battery life, and (most importantly) good, functional cartridges which kept the vapor coming consistently until they were nearly empty. I was a fan!
Until recently, when they switched to Johnson Creek smoke juice.
I would typically buy large quantities of cartridges, 50 at a time, and vape around 1-1.5 of them a day. However, the most recent order (with the website touting their "new, improved, redesigned!" cartridges) arrived with the Johnson Creek label on every pack... and they're *terrible*. From this forum, I gather the term for what these cartridges screw up so badly is "wicking"; I find that vapor production now drops off sharply after the first three or four puffs, and I have to wait an hour before I can get another good puff or three out of them.
I first tried picking up a new battery and a couple of new atomizers, figuring it was an equipment issue and not a total screw-up with the new cartridges. No dice, the new parts made no difference. Then I found a 5-pack of old-style blu cartridges under a stack of mail, and they were *great* -- consistent vapor production for puff after puff.
Needless to say, I started looking for answers online, and encountered these forums. I read a dozen dozen insufferably smug posts about how blu cigs were crap compared to bigger, hotter, manual varieties like the 510; a dozen equally smug refutations defending the blu; and a surprising number (for an internet forum) of thoughtful, well-written posts discussing the pros and cons of various models. Hats off to the many helpful, intelligent posters on this forum!
So, I figured I'd throw my opinion on the pile: if blu cigs were ever good (and I'd say they were, though I don't have much with which to compare them), they are now no longer worth your time. After doing a bit more research, I decided to pick up Volcano's new automatic 510 (the "Magma") based on reports that its lower-resistance atomizers tended to "burn" the juice less than other 510 models. I also picked up an original Volcano atomizer (the Volcano is an L88 like the blu) and some Volcano cartridges, to see if they would enable me to keep using my blu as a backup e-cig. Wish me luck!
[Tl;dr version: the "new, improved, redesigned" cartridges with Johnson Creek smoke juice are *vastly inferior* to the old cartridges. I loved blu before, but can no longer recommend them.]
I picked up a blu as my first e-cig without doing any particular research (unusual for me). I wasn't a frequent smoker beforehand, and I'm not the type to do a whole lot of tinkering with the cartridges -- no Lipton Tea Bag modding, no dipping or dripping, no refilling. I just wanted self-contained cartridges delivered to my door, no muss, no fuss. And the blu did right by me for several months: good vapor and throat hit, good battery life, and (most importantly) good, functional cartridges which kept the vapor coming consistently until they were nearly empty. I was a fan!
Until recently, when they switched to Johnson Creek smoke juice.
I would typically buy large quantities of cartridges, 50 at a time, and vape around 1-1.5 of them a day. However, the most recent order (with the website touting their "new, improved, redesigned!" cartridges) arrived with the Johnson Creek label on every pack... and they're *terrible*. From this forum, I gather the term for what these cartridges screw up so badly is "wicking"; I find that vapor production now drops off sharply after the first three or four puffs, and I have to wait an hour before I can get another good puff or three out of them.
I first tried picking up a new battery and a couple of new atomizers, figuring it was an equipment issue and not a total screw-up with the new cartridges. No dice, the new parts made no difference. Then I found a 5-pack of old-style blu cartridges under a stack of mail, and they were *great* -- consistent vapor production for puff after puff.
Needless to say, I started looking for answers online, and encountered these forums. I read a dozen dozen insufferably smug posts about how blu cigs were crap compared to bigger, hotter, manual varieties like the 510; a dozen equally smug refutations defending the blu; and a surprising number (for an internet forum) of thoughtful, well-written posts discussing the pros and cons of various models. Hats off to the many helpful, intelligent posters on this forum!
So, I figured I'd throw my opinion on the pile: if blu cigs were ever good (and I'd say they were, though I don't have much with which to compare them), they are now no longer worth your time. After doing a bit more research, I decided to pick up Volcano's new automatic 510 (the "Magma") based on reports that its lower-resistance atomizers tended to "burn" the juice less than other 510 models. I also picked up an original Volcano atomizer (the Volcano is an L88 like the blu) and some Volcano cartridges, to see if they would enable me to keep using my blu as a backup e-cig. Wish me luck!
