Review: The Safe Cig Original Starter Kit

The Safe Cig is one of the original electronic cigarette companies around. The company itself claims they introduced e-cigarettes in the US. Yet until now I haven’t written a Safe Cig review. Let’s take a look at the company’s offering and see if being around for a while has helped or hindered the brand.

What’s in the Box:

The Safe Cig offers three levels of kits from a basic kit with one battery to a deluxe version that has three batteries and a carrying case. The starter kit pro is the most popular option, so let’s see what’s in that kit. You can see what’s in the other kits by visiting their site.

2 automatic batteries with PCB
1 USB charger
1 AC wall adapter
7 prefilled cartomizers

Design

Being one of the original e-cigarette brands, the Safe Cig gear is pretty standard in appearance. It’s average size for this type of kit, probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 200mAh. The standard battery is white and has a very subtle striping and texture along the battery to very closely mimic a traditional cigarette.

The cartomizers are similarly themed with a tan color flecked with lighter tan spots just like the filter in a regular cigarette. There are logos on both the filter and battery. The logos are small, again, like a regular cigarette.

I’m sure it will come as no surprise the battery illuminates orange at the tip. Not a personal favorite of mine, but it’s clear they are running with the “hey it looks just like a cigarette” thing.

One thing that’s not so cigarette-like is how the battery actually feels. It has a heft to it that is slightly more than other ecig batteries of the same size. The battery itself is probably one of the most solid batteries I’ve seen in this style of e-cigarette.

The threading used seems to be the RN4081 style, which doesn’t enjoy quite the popularity of the 510 or KR808D-1 used in brands like V2 Cigs.

A Word About The Safe Cig’s Cartomizers

I don’t normally break out a special section for cartomizers in a starter kit review. However, there’s a couple of noteworthy things going on that I’d like to mention.

First, I like the packaging the cartomizers come in. They come in packs of 7 that look like miniature cigarette packs. They are… cute.

The cartomizers themselves come sealed with a hard plastic screw-on cover that protects the battery connector. The tip features just a sticker over the hole. The net result is less extra stuff to toss out as compared to other cartomizers.

That’s not the main attraction. What caught my notice is their large flavor selection. Or rather, something specific about their flavor offerings.

While they aren’t the first company to offer a lot of variety in e-cigarette refills, The Safe Cig has taken what I think is a unique approach. Their flavors are all tobaccos.

It appears that they’ve gone through great lengths to come up with a wide variety of tobacco flavors that are different from the norm. Some have fruity undertones while others have the sort of nutty and cocoa flavorings that are more typical in ecig flavors. I tried one that even had interesting spicy notes, similar to the spice found in some cigars (but it wasn’t a cigar flavor).

I’m not normally a huge tobacco fan. At best, I hope that the included flavors with some starter kits are inoffensive. However, there were a couple of flavors here that I actually found myself enjoying. It’s unfortunate they aren’t offered in e-liquid form.

Performance

I’ve been on the record having a preference for this style of e-cigarettes using the KR808D-1 standard. This is mostly due to that style having a slightly more powerful battery. That being said, this ecig holds its own against an 808 style model like Revolution Vapor’s excellent gear.

Vapor production is plentiful and has a slight warmth to it. The automatic battery is very responsive (sadly, there’s no manual battery option).

According to the company, they employ advanced circuitry to control the automatic switch and the vapor production. I take that to mean voltage regulation. I’m not sure how much merit to the claims, but this electronic cigarette is a pretty good performer.

Battery life is what you would expect from this size device. Very heavy users can expect 1 – 1.5 hours where light users might get a little closer the promised 4 hour battery life.

Too Long; Didn’t Read

The Safe Cig is one of the biggest brands in electronic cigarettes. They offer a few different technologies and styles, but their original kit is unapologetically cigarette-like, and it does that well. The ecig is solid and performs surprisingly well. The company has one of the most impressive selections of tobacco flavors outside a dedicated e-liquid company. Visit the website for prices and options.

Pros: