Luci Review
(TWO STARS)
Review
It is the stated opinion of the editors of this site that 3-piece e-cigarette designs are clearly inferior to their two-piece counterparts. They are most assuredly becoming an outdated technology as an ever-increasing number of e-cigarette manufacturers are switching to the 2-piece design. That being said, we could not help but notice that Luci e-cigarettes were being positively reviewed on more than a few sites and in a number of online videos despite their reliance on the 3-piece design. Therefore, we felt compelled to order the Luci electronic cigarette and bring you our own unbiased review. We are fairly certain that you will find it unlike the vast majority of "bought-and-paid-for" endorsements that have become all too familiar on the web.
Currently priced at $9.99 for a pack of five, Luci cartridges are available in Full-Flavor Tobacco, Menthol, Coffee, and Cherry flavors. Choice of Nicotine strength is limited to High, Low and None. Bulk pricing is available for 50-Packs (20% discount) and 25-Packs (10% discount).
We found the Luci website to be extremely user friendly. It features a clean, simple, and modern design; crisp graphics; clear and consistent navigation; an excellent "Getting Started" page (details the design, use, and maintenance of Luci e-cigs); and a "Customer Service" page that provides a toll-free number for sales, product and warranty information, and a link to an e-mail form for contacting their support team. Heck, they even include a link to a press kit — in which found the "Luci Electronic Cigarette Parts Diagram" below.
We placed our order for the Luci Basic Starter Kit, and received it eight days later via USPS. We immediately opened our package, removed the various parts from their respective boxes, removed the cellophane wrapping and protective blue cap from one of the black "Full Flavor" cartridges, inserted the atomizer, and then screwed the cartridge/atomizer assembly into one of the black cigarette-style batteries. We took a few quick puffs and exhaled.
The result of our efforts proved to be disappointing. While it did not produce the annoying popping and crackling sounds found in most of the lesser brands, the vapor volume of our "Full Flavor" Tobacco cartridge was well below average. Someone described it as "poor," and another judge referred to it as "pathetic." Drawing on the Luci seemed to require what we deemed to be an inordinate amount of effort. Further adding to our rapidly growing list of negatives was the flavor. It was fairly mild with definite vanilla overtones, and was seriously lacking in tobacco flavor. "Throat-hit" was non-existent.
On the positive side, we thought the all-black Luci looked great in our hand. We also found it be noticeably dissimilar to nearly all of the electronic cigarettes we have reviewed in the past. The cigarette-style batteries were clearly smaller than any we had tested except for Blu Cigs. Measuring only 2⅝” in length and a mere ⅓” in diameter, Luci e-cigs were clearly designed to better replicate the look and feel of a real tobacco cigarette. While it was lighter in weight than most e-cigs, we were not pleased with the balance, or should we say, lack thereof. Having completed our first Luci smoking session, we screwed the battery into the AC wall charger and in order to resume our testing the following day.
For our second session we decided to switch cartridges. However, when we pull the atomizer from the used cartridge, the wadding used to hold the flavored Nicotine was found to have adhered itself to the atomizer. We carefully removed the soaked wadding and proceed to attach a new cartridge. Unfortunately our second day's results were nearly identical to our first session. The Luci had fared no better on a full charge.
In summary, we found Luci to be a moderately-priced, low-value electronic cigarette with an outdated 3-piece design and not worthy of your consideration.
We estimated that including our Luci Express Starter Kit purchase, the cost to maintain a one-pack-per-day cigarette habit using Luci was $831.61 annually or $69.30 per month or $15.99 per week or $2.28 per day. Evaluated strictly in terms of long-term costs, we found the Luci to be a moderately good value. When compared to the cost of tobacco cigarettes and the same one-pack-per-day habit at $6.00 per pack or $2190.00 per year or $182.50 per month or $42.12 per week or $6.00 per day, the annual savings for an Luci user is $1358.59.
Luci has earned TWO STARS and is NOT RECOMMENDED.
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