Steve K's Vaping World

Vapor Couture is V2 Cigs e-cigarette brand made exclusively for women. In general, women account for around 85% of all consumer spending in the US, a fact that’s not lost on e-cigarette retailers as they increasingly try to court the ladies. In this Vapor Couture review I’ll tap into my feminine side to figure out if this is simple pandering or fulfilling an underserved niche in the electronic cigarette market.

Details:

What’s in the Box:

Vapor Couture Design

My first inclination when I hear about these types of e-cigarettes is cynical. I figure companies are just pandering to women who generally aren’t swayed by such things. Then I showed the kit to my wife.

“Ooh pretty!”

Ok, scratch that, apparently this kit does appeal to women. My wife isn’t particularly impressed by such things easily.

Vapor Couture sent me a sample kit with two of their batteries, one was the silver model, the other was their signature white version. The white version features a pattern with little silver flours-de-lis and the letters VC in script. It’s sort of reminiscent of those Louis Vuitton purses (not that I’d know of such things, being a manly man).

Beside the silver and white, there’s also purple and rose gold options for the batteries. Each battery has a jewel style tip that lights up in a complimentary color depending on the battery color. I have to hand it to them as far as attention to detail goes.

Except maybe in the cartomizer department. Of the two packs that came in my kit, the bombshell indeed had the same signature white pattern as the battery. However, the passion fruit seems to be a very dark purple nearing black. It doesn’t quite blend, but then again black goes with everything.

There are a total of 4 flavors available in the product line, each with a girly theme.  There’s bombshell, a sort of fruity turkish tobacco, passion fruit which is… fruity. The “normal” flavors get the monikers of Rodeo Drive for their American tobacco while the menthol gets the softer name “fresh mint”

Beyond the pretty looks and feminine names for stuff there is one unique feature, which is also a significant negative in my mind. Taking a page from the playbook of cigarette companies in the Mad Men era, Vapor Couture e-cigarettes are thin. Think Virginia Slims here.

Ok, so many ladies are delicate flowers with dainty fingers, maybe they might prefer a slimmer e-cigarette. Or at least that’s the rationale I can follow being a man, much like whatever suit came up with the same idea in 1964.

One slight problem with that. With cigarettes, fire isn’t particular. But with e-cigarettes, size matters. If you have something with a smaller diameter in an e-cig that means standard thread patterns aren’t going to fly here.

These aren’t compatible with V2’s regular accessories, or anything else on the market of which I’m aware. If you’re committed to being girly, you’ll be locked in this ecosystem.

What an ecosystem it is too. Not only does VC have the e-cigarettes, they actually have a whole lineup of stuff to go with their gear. You can pick up a matching clutch, lanyard, or even a charm for your charm bracelet that can hold your ecig. I’m sure that wouldn’t be awkward at all.  You can see the whole lineup in the accessories section.

Using the Vapor Couture Kit

Ok, if you’re done accessorizing (sadly, they didn’t send me a lovely clutch to review), the question is do you get a decent ecig or not if you decide to go all vaping chick. And no, I didn’t mean to say chic, so no comments you!

Since the flavors are limited I’ll kick things off there. As I mentioned previously, I got the bombshell and passion fruit flavors with my kit. I’m no flavor reviewer, so I won’t go to far into it, my scale is generally gross or not gross for these things.

I’m in the not gross camp here. More so for the fruit than the bombshell. The bombshell has a tobacco base, and I’m just not a big tobacco guy any longer. The passion fruit had a nice fruity flavor, sweet, but not overly so.

If you do like the flavors, you’ll only be able to get them in cartomizer form. Unlike V2’s stuff, there’s no refill liquid and the cartomizer ends are of the hard plastic variety, so not easily refilled.

Performance-wise apparently good vapor and throat hit aren’t un-ladylike. These are about on par with the regular V2 stuff. If you haven’t read my V2 Cigs review that’s pretty good.

As I mentioned the flavor is good and there is a surprising amount of vapor coming out of such a dainty e-cigarette. There’s also some reasonable throat hit packed in there.

In general, I think V2 did a good job of putting their touch on the Vapor Couture line. Yet, it’s also its own product instead of them just slapping some pink stickers on their regular lineup.

Too Long; Didn’t Read

The Vapor Couture e-cigarette kits feature a design that appeals to women, or at least the one woman I had nearby to ask. Performance is pretty decent, and there’s pretty accessories to go along with everything. However, they may have gone a little too far in designing for women as the VC gear sports a proprietary connector style. You can check out the whole lineup at VaporCouture.com.

Pros

Cons

Disclosure: I received this kit for review from V2 Cigs. I feature affiliate links for this product.