Volcano Electronic Cigarette Review

Volcano Fine Electronic Cigarette

Click the link above to view this product at the manufacturer’s website. Use the coupon code volcanoAFFC10 when checking out to receive a 10% discount on your order. Coupon code good for first-time customers only. Volcano ships within the United States only.

Note: I adjusted the score of this review downward slightly in 2012 to more accurately reflect the way that I feel about the Volcano Fine Electronic Cigarette in comparison to more recent products. If you’re a first-time buyer, I recommend looking at my 2012 electronic cigarette buyer’s guide before purchasing any e-cigarette.

I became a customer of Volcano Electronic Cigarettes by accident. I placed an order with another electronic cigarette manufacturer and became frustrated when they wanted to charge $35 for shipping to Hawaii. I thought that I might be able to save money by dealing with a local company, so I searched for electronic cigarettes in Hawaii. Volcano was the company that came up, and I am incredibly glad, because I wouldn’t want to deal with anyone else.

With prices approaching and sometimes exceeding $10 a pack, Hawaii has some of the highest cigarette prices in the country. As soon as I moved here, I decided that it was time to quit. Unfortunately, that wasn’t exactly an easy thing for me. I actually enjoy smoking. I like the taste, the ritual — everything but the smell, really. I’ve tried every stop-smoking product you can name, and because none of them came close to replicating the act of smoking, none of them worked for me.

The Volcano Electronic Cigarette is a device that looks and feels much like a real cigarette. It consists of a battery, an atomizer that heats up when you inhale and turns liquid to vapor, and a cartridge that contains flavored, nicotine-infused liquid. When you draw on the electronic cigarette, the atomizer turns on and creates vapor that you inhale, just like smoke. The difference is that there is no smoke, and nothing is actually burning.

The Volcano starter kit is a better value than anything else that I’ve been able to find online, and doubly so for those of us in Hawaii, because expedited shipping for any Volcano Electronic Cigarette starter kit is free. I purchased the V-Kit Deluxe, which includes an atomizer, two batteries, all of the equipment needed to charge the batteries with a computer or wall outlet, a V-Pack (more on this later), 25 flavor cartridges of your choice and a nicely designed box. All of this costs just $69.99.

Each Volcano E-Cig flavor cartridge is equal to roughly one-half pack of cigarettes in terms of nicotine, and you can purchase them in a high-nicotine version for heavy smokers and a low-nicotine version for light smokers. Non-smokers or those who have quit can also purchase a zero-nicotine version. The flavors include the traditional Tobacco and Menthol, and they also include several more exotic flavors such as Coconut, Chocolate and Vanilla. In keeping with the fact that Volcano Electronic Cigarettes is a Hawaiian company, many of the flavors have Hawaiian-themed names.

The one thing any prospective electronic cigarette user wants to know before beginning is whether the e-cig is going to taste like their beloved Camel. I’m going to tell you up front — it doesn’t. The Tobacco flavor is slightly reminiscent of actual tobacco, and the Menthol flavor — while it does contain actual menthol — tastes like mint. However, the feeling in the lungs and throat is absolutely authentic. I was a menthol smoker, and the Volcano Menthol flavor has become my go-to. I highly recommend it, even if you don’t smoke menthols. Of the other flavors, I really like Pineapple Punch and Cherry Lava.

The service at Volcano Electronic Cigarettes is top-notch. In the several months that I have been a customer, Volcano has never failed to mail a product within 24 hours of an order, and because I live in Hawaii, I have the product the next day — very important for someone who is quitting smoking and might switch back to regular cigarettes without a steady supply of flavor cartridges.

The flavor cartridges, by the way, are the best part of using a Volcano E-Cig. If you buy ten packs of cartridges — that’s 50 cartridges in all — it costs just $2.99 per pack, or about $35 total with Priority Mail shipping (shipping is free for orders of at least $50). If you buy between five and nine packs, they’re $3.49 each, and if you buy less than four, they’re $3.99 each. So, when you buy in quantity, the savings are significant. As stated above, one cartridge is roughly equal to one-half pack of cigarettes, so you can expect ten packs to last quite a long time.

The V-Pack is another fun feature of the Volcano E-Cig package. This sturdy plastic pack is shaped just like a real cigarette pack, and it has space inside for a fully assembled electronic cigarette, a spare battery and five flavor cartridges. The V-Pack has an internal rechargeable battery that you can use to charge a dead e-cig battery around four times. A display on the front of the V-Pack shows the current charge level of the battery, and an LED on the bottom of the pack serves as a flashlight in a pinch.

Overall, I am extremely satisfied with my Volcano Electronic Cigarette. Between the price of cigarettes in Hawaii spiraling out of control, and the fact that it is illegal to smoke practically everywhere here, Volcano has carved out a nice niche for those looking to satisfy their nicotine cravings without tobacco.