South Beach Smoke is a brand that scored relatively mediocre with our team when we reviewed their classic two-piece design. After seeing that they now offer personal vaporizer / tank-style e-cigarettes, we couldn’t wait to get stuck in. We get started with the South Beach Smoke Storm review.
As you've probably seen, we reviewed one e-cigarette from South Beach Smoke and now it's time to take a closer look at another. This time we decided to delve into the world of personal vaporizers with the South Beach Smoke Storm tank... Let's see what we thought:
Starter Kit
For $49.99 you get the Storm tank with one atomizer already attached and a spare one just in case, plus a battery (650mah), a wall charger and USB charger, and the box with instruction manual, etc.
It’s not a lot of kit but to be frank, its pretty much all you need to get started.
That’s the good thing about these tanks — you don’t need much!
Battery
In fact, we’ll get started with the South Beach Smoke Storm battery… At 650mah, it kicks the butt of most two-piece electronic cigarettes, and you’ll more than likely find that a battery of this size will last you for most of the day.
A 650mah battery is pretty much standard for most personal vaporizer / tank style e-cigarettes these days, and most users tend to find that they get anywhere from 4 to 7 hours of use out of it, depending on how they smoke it. It actually proves to be quite difficult to say how many cigarettes one battery is worth because everyone smokes different, plus most users will also tend to rely on their e-cig much more than they used to smoke real cigarettes, especially right at the beginning.
Batteries available at South Beach Smoke
With ‘regular’ usage, the 650mah Storm battery lasted me for most of the day. I got up at about 8am and started using my ecig, I was at work for 10am, I stole a few cheeky puffs in the office away from customers throughout the day, plus a half-hour lunch of almost constant chain-puffing. I puffed in the car most of the way home, and it was only at around 6pm when I finally made it back home that I started to lose puff. At about 7pm, I needed to plug it back in.
On the days that I wasn’t at work, I would get about four hours worth of use out of it, but I definitely use my e-cig more when I’m at home doing nothing.
You can buy a spare Storm battery for just $24.99, and it comes in 8 colors - black, blue, yellow, green, silver, pink, purple, red, white and army-style camouflage. You can get 1100mah battery in the same colors for just $27.99, and the 650mah LCD batteries are $29.99 but these are only available in silver, pink and black.
In fact, while we’re here, let’s talk about this smart LCD screen! You get to see exactly how much battery power is left before it needs to be re-juiced, and you can also get a good sense of how many puffs you managed to get out of it since the last time you plugged it in as it even gives you the puff-count.
It’s a very nifty little screen and we must admit, the entire office loved it. Once you’ve had that little LCD screen on an e-cig, it’s hard to go back to living without it!
There’s also a great 1100mah variable voltage battery option available for the Storm tank and this again comes with its fair share of perks. Available in black, silver and pink, you can change the voltage of the e-cigarette to make it work better for you. I’m not really a fan of a super-strong e-cigarette in the morning because my throat can’t handle it. With the variable voltage option, you can turn down the heat until after you’ve had your morning cup of coffee and you’re ready for it.
E-Liquids
One of our favorite things about South Beach Smoke is the array of flavors they have on offer, especially when it comes to e-liquids. If it’s cartridge information you’re looking for, you’ll probably want to check out the two-piece review instead.
E-Liquid available at South Beach Smoke[/caption]
You can custom blend your own e-cig liquids to make it perfect for you, but there’s a massive line of pre-created ones you can enjoy too. With options like Blueberry Cheesecake, Sweet Tobacco, Mint Julep, Fruity Fun Cereal, Summer Freshness and Mango Lemon Delight, there is literally something for everyone with a massive range of strengths too. You can choose whether you have one, two or three shots of flavor in your liquid, and you can make your pick from the following strengths - Bold (24mg), Full Flavored (16mg), Light (12mg), Ultra Light (6mg) and Zero Nicotine (0mg).
At $14.99 for a 30ml bottle, it’s not that bad a price tag either!
We believe that South Beach Smoke deserve a massive thumbs up for their range of e-liquids and out of all of them, we found Classic Tobacco to be the most like a genuine smoking experience, Chocomint the most enjoyable for when you’re having a sweet-tooth moment, and Raspberry Razz perfect for a great fruity taste.
Throat Hit & Vapor
This is a cigarette that packs a decent amount of punch and the throat hit and vapor that you get from this e-cigarette is super awesome! It’s not the kind of e-cig that you’ll easily get away with smoking discreetly in public, but it’s a great one to go for if you’re looking for a really satisfying hit.
I went with the stronger 24mg liquids to start with, and that, for me, was a great smoking experience. If you’re not sure, always go higher because you can always drop down. I once bought a 24mg bottle and a 16mg bottle and when I found the 24mg was too strong, I diluted it down with some 16mg stuff! Smart thinking, right? ;)
The atomizers that come with the tank last for ages and we were using the same for months before we thought about replacing it with the spare that comes in the box, and that was only after it started to taste a bit ‘burny’. You can buy a 5-pack of these for just $14.99, but this will generally help with any throat hit and vapor problems that we’ve come across. It was generally when the atomizer was on the way out that we found the throat hit getting very harsh, and the vapor was thinner too. It wasn’t a clean smoke.
If you wanted to get a spare South Beach Smoke Storm tank, it’ll set you back just $14.99 but we’ve been using the same one that we got for the initial order months later and it hasn’t shown any signs of conking out on us yet!
In Conclusion….
We really enjoyed the South Beach Smoke Storm e-cig / PV, and it felt like a really solidly built tank. With a decent amount of throat hit and vapor with a battery that does actually last as long as they say it will, there was nothing disappointing about the entire vaping experience, and with the discount codes that you’ll find on this site, the prices aren’t half bad either… Especially that this is a brand of e-cigarettes that the celeb’s are regularly papped with!
Bearing everything in mind, we can’t help but give South Beach Smoke Storm 4.5 stars out of 5! It gave off a bit too much vapor to be as discreet as it needs to be while you’re out and about, but still a very good e-cigarette that we’d love to recommend!