I used BluCigs to quit smoking. My first order arrived several years ago, and I had my last cigarette the day it arrived. I never looked back. That's the one good thing I can say about Blu (well, that and the Blu Points that could be used for discounts on their products, but they recently eliminated the product discounts and are now only allowing points to be traded for swag like coolers and iPad cases with the Blu logo on them -- no thanks, I will not be a walking advertisement for Blu).
Having said that, the Blu system is far too expensive and unreliable. The batteries are overpriced when compared to the batteries we use in our mods. $8 for a tiny battery (they used to be $12 when I was still buying them) that never seemed to last very long between charges, compared to $10 for a Sony VTC5 18650 that lasts almost the whole day on a sub-ohm setup or even a Kanger EVOD battery that lasts half a day, at least? That's just way overpriced in my opinion. The cartridges are also far too expensive when compared to a 30ml bottle of ejuice from Mt. Baker Vapor, for example. Further, I always (yes, in every pack) got at least one (if not two or three) that had one of the following problems.
- They tasted horrible and were unusable. Specifically, they often had a burnt taste that burned my throat, so it wasn't just the taste. It actually hurt.
- They produced significantly less vapor than normal (less than half and often below that amount).
Given the cost of a pack of Blu cartridges, one should be able to expect that 99% of the time each cartridge will work normally. Given the cost, the loss of money on the ones that didn't work, and all the frustration this caused, I seemed to be using them because I liked vaping, not because I liked BluCigs. It was time to move on.
I'd never go back to Blu. I boxed up everything I had, including several unopened packs of cartridges that I had purchased for the business trip, and put the box in my closet. I figured that I'd keep it all as a "just in case" (just in case
what, though, I have no idea).
Anyway, I get it. Blu makes it easy for people to get into vaping (they certainly made it easy for me to quit smoking, and I'm very grateful for that). For some people, they seem great (in theory, if not for the issues I had with every pack of cartridges I purchased), because they are small, compact, and extremely easy to carry (I always preferred the Starter Pack, because it came with the slim charger pack, although I started out with the larger charger pack, and even used the one with all the bells and whistles). However, it's just as easy (and more cost effective) to get a Kanger EVOD starter kit or an eGo kit and carry that around as a first vape. One can even purchase 350mah eGo batteries that make things even more compact.
