SmokeStik Pitbull e-Cigarette Review

SmokeStik is one of the grand old brands of the e-cigarette world. They were one of the first to try and make their kits a little prettier than you’re average cigarette. SmokeStik is also the e-cigarette Catherine Heigel famously puffed on Letterman. While I previously reviewed one of the company’s basic models a while back, I figured I’d give their higher end Pit Bull kit a run around the old block. Let’s see if it’s more bark or bite in this review.

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	Product name	Pitbull Starter Kit
	Available from	Smokestik
	Price	$99.95
	Battery type	250mAh, chrome, automatic

What’s in the Box
2	Batteries
3	Cartomizers
1	USB charger
1	AC adapter
1	Car adapter
1	Carry case

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Pitbull e-Cigarette Design

At just a hair under a Benjamin the Pitbull is certainly in premium e-cigarette pricing territory. Although I will note that some portion of the price goes to a charity aimed at reducing pet overpopulation.

The kit includes only 3 cartomizers (available in 3 nicotine levels) there doesn’t seem to be flavor options, though the company does carry them. Along with the cartos you get the usual assortment of chargers and adapters, including the car adapter which is pretty much required in a high-end starter kit. The included carry kit is a nice, large case with spots for both batteries and all 3 cartomizers (one of them attached to a battery.)

This is apparently an online-only special, so if you happen to find a Pitbull kit in meatspace, presumably you’ll not get the nifty case.

On to the batteries. These are the company’s premium XL batteries which have a 250 mAh charge. Not too shabby for a mini-style e-cigarette. The batteries are metallic and are fairly light so I am assuming they are aluminum and not stainless steel. Each battery is tipped with a jewel-style tip that lights up red when the automatic battery is puffed.

I’ve probably ranted enough about red tips by now, so I’ll just say that I personally don’t like them, but that’s totally a preference thing and obviously has no impact on the device itself.

The batteries use a less common threading. I believe they are RN4081, but I’m not completely sure.

SmokeStik doesn’t sell refill liquid that I saw, so it makes sense that their cartomizers are the hard cap variety. My kit included a 5-pack of their new XL cartomizers. These versions hold more e-liquid (probably in the 1.2ml range.) They also are available in a few flavors like vanilla and cappuccino which is a nice improvement from plain ‘ol tobacco and menthol. I found a couple of the flavors downright enjoyable.

Pitbull Performance

I don’t think I can say the Pitbull (or the other SmokStik gear I’ve tried) are bad by any stretch. They are quite competent devices within their weight class. The Pitbull’s auto battery does seem to work a heck of a lot better than I remember the other kit working.

A light draw will have no problem activating the automatic switch. There’s no unusual resistance and the draw is smooth and consistant. I do note that these things are somewhat noisy. There’s a low sort of hissing noise that happens when the air is being drawn between the carto and the battery.

The larger batteries seem to do the trick and actually last a good long while. Of course that varies by user, a heavy vaper can probably drain one of these in well under two hours. Light or new users can probably double that time, which ain’t too shabby for a traditional-style e-cigarette.

The charger is a typical 100 mAh unit, so recharge times are going to be north of two hours. Heavy users might be skating kind of close to the time it takes to recharge while depleting the second battery.

In general, the Pitbull is a sharp-looking kit that brings competent performance with it.

Too Long; Didn’t Read

SmokeStik’s Pitbull is a traditional e-cigarette kit with aluminum XL batteries. For the price, the included cartomizers and accessories seem a tad anemic. It’s not a bad looking kit, and you probably wouldn’t hate yourself if you bought one, but it might not be worth going through extraordinary effort to acquire one of these kits. You can get one with little effort at SmokeStik.