Every once in a while I come across an e-cigarette that actually makes me say to myself, that seems like a good idea. The BV-TE from a manufacturer called Bluvaper is one such device. If you take a really tall CE4 style clearomizer and shove a battery inside it, you wind up with the BV-TE. Essentially, it’s an all-in-one clearomizer and e-cigarette. It’s either genius or insanity. Find out which one in this BV-TE review.
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Product name | BV-TE all-in-one eCig Kit |
| Available from | VaporAlley | |
| Price | $49.99 | |
| Competing products | Kanger EVOD | |
| Who’s it for? | See footnote | |
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BV-TE Design
The good news here is I don’t have to worry about the inevitable comparisons to other products. As far as I know, there’s nothing else really like the BV-TE at the moment. I’m sure someone will eventually copy (and hopefully, improve) this design.
From a purely visual stand point, the BV-TE looks like a reallly long black Kanger EVOD cartomizer. Like really long, it’s the dachshund of clearomizers. It features a black body with windows cut out on either side to view the e-liquid levels. Each window has graduated markings to show the e-liquid levels inside.
On the top is a rounded sort of end cap topped off with a standard CE-4 screw-in drip tip. The bottom looks kind of like an extended endcap you’d find in most clearomizers. There’s a band in that part which features a multi-colored LED band.
Not only does the LED look neat, but it changes colors to keep you apprised of the battery status as it cycles from green to blue to red.
There is a small hole on the side at the bottom of the BV. This is the port for the charger, which uses an old cellphone style adapter instead of USB or anything universal.
The bottom endcap unscrews to remove the battery and attached atomizer head. I’m not exactly sure why that part comes out, the head isn’t replacable, and the battery is fixed. There’s essentially nothing to swap out in there, it’s essentially a stick-style e-cigarette battery with a Nova-style head (and some seriously long wicks) press fitted to the end.
Update: Since VaporAlley sells replacement heads, there must be a way to unscrew the heads and I’m just not smart enough to figure it out.
You’ll find no buttons on Bluvaper’s gizmo, this is a fully automatic e-cigarette battery. Filling the BV is done by unscrewing the drip tip and carefully dripping e-liquid. It can take a while since this thing boasts a 6ml capacity.
Of course, all 6ml might not stay in there. I found they have a habit of seeping e-liquid. The thing was generally a little damp every time I picked it up. To make matters worse, it ships with a ton of factory mystery fluid already inside the body. With wicks that long, it took a very long time to get the odd factory flavor to clear out.
Using the BV-TE
I already covered the basics of filling this model and the subsequent leaking issues. Let’s just move on to the performance, shall we?
Sadly, even though it has a CE4-style head on top of that internal battery, performance lags behind that type of clearomizer. There was a fair, though not massive, amount of vapor produced. However, it just seemed to lack oomph for some reason. There was little throat hit, and the flavor wasn’t all that impressive.
I attribute that to the battery itself. There doesn’t seem to be much info about the battery available. I’m guessing it’s outputting a fairly unimpressive voltage, maybe somewhere in the low 3’s. The vapor just feels like what you get on an underpowered device.
Sadly, this one can’t really even match the vapor of decent traditional style e-cigarettes.
As a plus, battery life is pretty decent. That’s likely also attributable to the low power output as well. I got several hours out of this device on a charge, which isn’t too shabby.
If you really want something that has the battery and clearomizer all in one place, this might be an option. Otherwise, the lackluster performance and issues with the device mean this will likely appeal only to a certain few people. If you’re interested in checking one out, head over to VaporAlley.
Too Long; Didn’t Read
The Bluvaper BV-TE matches an innovative idea with less than optimal performance. Combining an e-cigarette battery and clearomizer in one device seems like it might have appeal. However, the device has a tendency to leak, and not being able to replace the heads limits its useful life. Less than ideal performance is also holding this device back from its true potential.
Pros:
- Good battery life
- Pocketable design
- Easy to read battery life indicator light
Cons:
- Poor performance
- Leaks
- Can’t replace heads
- Proprietary charger
Footnote: As I was sitting here wrapping up this review, I had one of the battery units sitting on my desk without the cover. The auto switch activated on its own firing up the coil. While the light went out after a second, the unit kept firing. It did so for well beyond the 10-20 second cutoff most devices have.
I ended up having to break the coil to interrupt the circuit and taking the thing outside in case of catastrophic failure. It got very warm, but did not fail fortunately.
While this may be an oddball defect that happens from time to time with e-cigarettes, I’m going to go ahead and do something I don’t think I’ve ever done in the two years of this site. I’m going to suggest you not purchase this device.
One more thing to mention: Just because this came from VaporAlley, clearly this is beyond their control. Normally, Rick goes out of his way to stock excellent equipment, but sometimes things can slip through the cracks. It happens to most merchants, and this review in no way reflects poorly on the store I happened to buy the device from.
Disclosure: This article contains affiliate reviews, though somehow I don’t think that’s going to be an issue with this device.
