Quick summary: Great features, the thickest vapor, some of the best feel and taste around – and now, lower prices. They’ve also added extra-strong cartridges. For all of those reasons, V2 Cigs get our best electronic cigarette rating.

There are several brands of e-cigarettes that we can comfortably place at or near the top of our rankings. By a narrow margin, we have chosen V2 Cigs as our top-rated electronic cigarette. The factors that led to our decision are vapor and convenience.

V2 Cigs had the thickest vapor and strongest hit of the e-cigarettes we’ve tested, we found their claim of “the thickest vapor in the business” was spot on. The vapor cloud was thick enough to give a hit that was quite satisfying (particularly with the tobacco flavors), and gave us enormous exhales – we could even blow thick smoke rings with ease. We found that the manual battery (more about that later) intensified the smoking experience yet another notch. V2 e-cigs utilize the two-part design, and to us, that’s always a plus. We always prefer the simplicity of only two components, rather than the complex and somewhat messy methods employed by 3-part designs. Read more…

Quick summary: The powerful throat hit and big smoke clouds brought Green Smoke right to the top two of our rankings; they’re our best e-cig for menthol smokers and right near the top of the list for everyone else looking to buy electronic cigarettes. And they’ve made big price cuts on kits and batteries. SPECIAL “BIG GAME” SALE AT GREEN SMOKE THROUGH FEB. 3: GET 20% OFF EVERYTHING. USE COUPON “FOOTBALL20″ AT CHECKOUT.

Attention, menthol smokers. Green Smoke is an e-cigarette made just for you. Actually, there are a number of great flavors of Green Smoke that will appeal to just about everyone, but their “menthol ice” flavor is what really appealed to us – a strong menthol taste somewhere between Newport and Kool. Their other flavors are also very good: Red Label (thick and satisfying, close to the taste of a Marlboro Red), Tobacco Gold (a rich, sweet mixture of flavors), and Absolute Tobacco (almost like a pipe tobacco). They also have four “novelty” flavors: Smooth Chocolate, Mocha Mist, Mountain Clove and Vanilla Dreams.

We tested the Green Smoke pro kit which came with two white batteries, one long and one short, which screw into the “cartomizer” (the cartridge that creates the vapor) in their two-part design. It also had a wall charger, a car adapter and a USB cigarette; that allowed us to smoke one while charging the other, or smoke whenever we wanted at our desk with the USB cigarette connected to our computer. The charges lasted the equivalent of about a pack, and the cartridges lasted a little longer than some of the competition, between a pack and a pack-and-a-half worth of smoking time. The wall charger was of a more convenient design than some of the others we’ve tested, a definitely plus. Read more…

Quick summary: South Beach Smoke is solidly in the competition for best electronic cigarette, and lands in our top three for its nice taste, good throat hit and strong electronics. There’s a good reason so many celebrities use them.

We first became aware of South Beach Smoke through the media, with a number of celebrities using them to vape. But when we got a chance to test their e-cigarette, we put aside the “hype” and were definitely impressed by the product, which has become one of our personal favorites.

The taste of South Beach was the first thing we noticed; it was one of the most pleasant tasting e-cigs we’ve tested, with the menthol, vanilla and peach particularly standing out. There was also a nice balance between smoothness and throat hit; the hit is noticeable but not overly strong. The vapor cloud wasn’t the biggest we’ve experienced, but it was close to the other top electronic cigarette brands we’ve reviewed. Cartridges come in ten flavors: three tobacco, menthol, peppermint, chocolate, vanilla, cherry, pina colada and peach. There are five nicotine strengths: strong (24mg), full (16mg), light (12mg), ultra light (6 mg) and no nicotine. All eliquid is made in the USA, unusual among the brands we’ve tested. Read more…

Quick summary: More flavors than any e-cigarette we’ve reviewed; more colors, styles and fashion designs than any other on the market, as well as e-cigars and e-pipes, make them our editors’ choice for style and choices – and a solid product as well.

Premium Vapes is one of the bigger names on the e-cigarette market. Established in 2008, this company has been a leader in the development of two-part and single piece electronic cigarettes. Premium offers one of the highest varieties of physical models on the market, with designer patterns and unique designs – and perhaps most noteworthy, they even offer electronic cigars and electronic pipes.

Premium’s flavor offerings are astounding – nearly 20 different flavors, ranging from tobacco and menthol, to coffee and chocolate, to clove and irish cream, to watermelon and peach. Our favorite is the blueberry. They also offer strengths from zero nicotine, all the way up to 24 mg of nicotine for heavy smokers who need a real punch. On the whole, the vapor is smooth and mild, with just a moderate throat hit. Their length is equal to a 100mm cigarette, longer than some of the other e-cigarettes we’ve reviewed, and a nice length to our mind. Read more…

Quick summary: Ladies: it’s taken a while, but you can now buy electronic cigarettes created just for you. Vapor Couture is a slim, stylish e-cigarette with great taste – and it’s made by the same people who make V2 Cigs, so even though it’s a new product we’re more than satisfied with the quality. It’s our editor’s choice for feminine e-cigarettes.

Ever since Virginia Slims came out more than 40 years ago, many women have selected cigarettes that are slim and feminine. Up until now, there hasn’t been an equivalent e-cig on the market. Vapor Couture has filled that void with a terrific new product. Everything about it says “feminine.” The batteries and cartridges are the same thickness as a Virginia Slim, noticeably thinner than a traditional electronic cigarette, and they come in a great variety of matching fashion designs and colors with a mild taste. Even the battery tip is elegant, with a faceted crystal design that glows in different colors.

Perhaps the place to start with Vapor Couture is with the look. As mentioned they’re a slim e-cig, and there are four distinctive battery and cartridge colors and patterns available. Read more…

Quick summary: Our tasters were impressed with Bull Smoke, believing the American Ranger cartridges in particular were smooth and tasty. The starter kits are reasonably priced without many frills, making it a good choice if you’re looking to get into vaping.

There’s definitely a market for a no-nonsense ecigarette with attractive pricing, and we think Bull Smoke hits that sweet spot. The draw is smooth rather than providing a massive throat hit, which isn’t our personal preference; but several of our reviewers who prefer the easy hit put this ecig right near the top of their rankings.

We sampled the Ranch Hand starter kit, which comes with two white batteries (a manual short battery and one automatic long one), ten tobacco-flavored cartridges (five American Rangers and five Turkish Tobacco) in varying strengths, and a USB charger with AC adapter. It wasn’t an overwhelming kit overflowing with goodies, but it fit the bill just right. They also offer a City Slicker kit, which comes with black batteries and a sampler of ten different flavored carts. Read more…

Quick summary: White Cloud provides a high quality product, with lots of options, and has dropped its prices to “market” levels. It’s a great choice for those looking for smoothness, rather than a strong throat hit. They’re also introducing lots of new and unique products worth checking out.

White Cloud Electronic Cigarettes used to offer the most expensive products of all those in our e-cigarette reviews. But they’ve now drastically reduced prices to more reasonable levels, making them worth another look. You can tell from using White Cloud that it indeed is a very high-quality product, with a solid feel and smooth draw. They also claim a low product failure rate and the longest-lasting batteries and cartridges.  We obviously can’t judge their overall product failure rate, but in our tests their batteries and cartridges did in fact last longer than most of the competition.

White Cloud’s flagship product is the Cirrus, and while they’re manufactured in China, they are hand-assembled, putting them several steps up the ladder from the generic, Chinese-manufactured e-cigs you’ll see from some lesser manufacturers. As you could probably tell, technologically we like this product a lot. Read more…

Quick summary: SmokeTip is a good no-nonsense smokeless cigarette with one of the lowest prices of the e-cigs we’ve found. Their free battery program is also a very strong money-saving feature.

If you’re looking for a less-expensive option when it comes to buying e-cigarettes, SmokeTip is worth checking out. This two-piece smokeless cigarette delivers a middle-of-the-road vaping experience, with decent smoke clouds and throat hit. In our tests, it functioned perfectly and delivered a pretty good punch and scored about 6 out of 10 on our “smoke ring test.” They don’t offer a huge menu of options, but their starter kit is priced below the cost of the competition, and these days, that’s important to lots of folks.

The SmokeTip kit comes with two short lithium batteries, five cartomizers, a USB charger and wall adapter, in a nice box. (You can buy longer batteries or other accessories, like a car charger, separately – but they do most of their sales on their kit and refill cartomizers.) Read more…

Quick summary: Chase Cigs provides a nice electronic cigarette vaping experience at a good price. They also have several unique cartridge and accessory options worth checking out.

It sometimes is hard to make a useful comparison between electronic cigarette brands, because taste and feeling are so subjective. That being said, we found that the nice taste of Chase Cigs, combined with a good overall vaping experience, puts this e-cig squarely in the upper half of those we’ve reviewed. The two-piece e-cigarette has a medium level throat hit, with a good amount of vapor for the hit. There are also several interesting choices available that we haven’t seen elsewhere, such as flavorless cartridges, and chargers for various countries that would be of interest to travelers.

We tested the premium Chase starter kit, which comes with three batteries, 25 cartridges, a USB charger, AC and car adapters, and a carrying case. The lower-level kits come without the car charger and case and with fewer batteries and carts. All give you the choice of white, black or stainless batteries, as well as the choice of cartridge flavor – there are two tobacco flavors (grit and arabian, similar to Marlboro and Camel) plus menthol, vanilla and the flavorless option we’ve mentioned – in full (18mg), medium (12mg), light (6mg) or no nicotine. Read more…

Quick summary: EverSmoke is one of the newest e-cigs on the market, and we found the hit to be the among the smoothest of the electronic cigarettes we’ve reviewed; they also have one of the most convenient options available, automatic home delivery of your orders so you don’t run out.

When it comes to e-cigs, a lot of attention is rightfully paid to the power of the throat hit. But we’ve often wondered “what about smokers who look for a smoother taste and feel?” We’ve found the answer in EverSmoke. The draw on an EverSmoke isn’t quite as powerful as some of the other brands we’ve tried; but the vapor goes down easily, with vapor clouds almost equivalent to our top-rated options.

There are other things to like about EverSmoke as well. Their batteries are among the long-lasting that we’ve tested (there are three options: standard, long (high-capacity) and mini (smaller than usual but good for nights out) – you can order each in either automatic or manual. We also liked their personal charging case, the size of a pack of cigarettes, that lets you charge your mini batteries while you’re on the go. Read more…