The Modern NJOY Loop Starter Kit – Review

The NJOY Loop Starter Kit review has been one of my most surprising reviews this year.  Spinfuel Vape has been publishing electronic cigarette reviews, guides, and tutorials for 7 years now. In the very beginning we were tightly focused on the several dozen existing cig-a-like brands on the market, and highly critical of nearly all of them. So, the last thing I expected in 2018 was to be reviewing another ‘cigarette shaped’ e-cig. But here we are…

I know most reviews about vape hardware begins with specifications and particular features, and I’ll certainly get into them later on, but first I want to talk about the nicotine salt eliquid ‘flavors’ that are available for the NJOY Loop. As with any closed system electronic cigarette, if you don’t like the supplied e-liquid that are contained in the replaceable pods or cartomizers, then no matter how good the vaping system is, it’s a waste of money.

Consider the JUUL, a popular pod mod with prefilled pods that taste awful. Tens of thousands of people jumped on the JUUL bandwagon only to find out that they were stuck using the not-so-good eJuice contained in the JUUL pods.

NJOY no doubt faced a similar problem with the Loop Starter Kit, and the nic-salt flavored cartomizers sold for the Loop Stick batteries. Make the wrong choice and the potential for any sizeable market share goes out the window.

For review purposes I vaped the following nic-salt eliquid flavors that are currently available to NJOY Loop customers; Tropical Twist, Blue + Black Berry, Cool Menthol, and Rich Tobacco. Each of these flavors, with the exception of the Cool Menthol (which was just too ‘cool’ for me), reminded me of why I enjoyed the old Blu Cigs cartomizers. They are, in a word, excellent.

These 4.5% nicotine salt eliquids are every bit as flavorful as the eliquid once made by Johnson Creek (God rest their souls) for the ever declining Blu Cigs. After Blu Cigs dropped Johnson Creek as their supplier I just couldn’t stomach their replacement flavors. But, each time I vaped an NJOY flavor cartomizer I was reminded of just how good a cig-a-like eliquid could be.

Although nicotine salt eliquid contained unusually high levels of nicotine, this type of nicotine itself is smoother, with deep, luscious flavoring, but at 4.5% it does have a kick. Nic-salt eliquid lasts much longer than ‘freebase’ (normal?) eliquid because the user is sated of their nicotine craving much faster, so instead of puffing away like a chain smoker, the user vapes a lot less, using little eliquid and draining the battery much slower otherwise. Is it any wonder then that nicotine salt eliquids are so popular today?

Tropical Twist is a deliciously balanced blend of ripe pineapple with hints of kiwi. For me, vaping Tropical Twist delivered a potent, but tropical vape experience totally unique to my previous experience with tropical flavors. A+ on Tropical Twist

Rich Tobacco reminded me a lot of Johnson Creek/Blu Cigs classic tobacco blend that I knew this had to be the flavor every current smoker needed to experience in order to seriously consider leaving tobacco products behind. Rich Tobacco doesn’t taste like a nasty cigarette tobacco. Instead, this is a natural, hearty, but smooth authentic Virginia tobacco. A+ on Rich Tobacco

Cool Menthol is more Menthol Ice to this reviewer. If you’re expecting, or hoping, for the flavor of KOOLS, or some other menthol tobacco you might be disappointed. Cool Menthol hits like a freight train, but man on a hot summer day it’s refreshing and eye opening. The problem for me is I’m no great fan of menthol, or even mint, but for current smokers, or vapers that enjoy the cig-a-like experience with an icy eJuice, Cool Menthol will satisfy. “C” on Cool Menthol

Lastly, there is the incredible blend of blueberry and blackberry that that NJOY simply calls Blue + Blackberry. The dominant flavor is a authentic, rich blackberry with overtones of an authentic blueberry on the tail end of the exhale. A favorite for myself, I give this one an A+ as well.

As I said above, any closed system is automatically limited to the eliquids decided by others, and fortunately NJOY has been around long enough to know this. These flavors were developed over a long period of time, and now that they are blended with nicotine salts, I would venture to say the NJOY Loop cartomizers contain the best versions of these four flavors.

The NJOY Loop Cartomizers have also been given a modern makeover. Now, with the NJOY Loop, users can see how much eliquid is left in each cartomizer with just a glance. When purchased, online or in real world locations, they come in packs of two prefilled cartomizers. It is my opinion that the price of $7.99 for two cartomizers is a little steep. Though, I have to remember that unlike the old days and the old cartomizers, no one is going to vape through 2 or 3 cartomizers in a day. With 4.5% nic-salt eliquid, very, very few users would ever need to vape a full cartomizer in a day.

Lastly, the construction of these cartomizers is impressive. The screw on threads are silky smooth, there is zero spitback when drawing on the cartomizer, and the atomizer coil handles the power of the battery with no complaints.

The NJOY Loop battery

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NJOY Loop batteries have certainly been updated since the old days of cig-a-like dominance.  Thankfully, these batteries lack that fake ash cap that used to be on all cig-a-likes. Instead, the tip of the battery is silver and includes a tiny LED ring that lights up white while the user is drawing on the 2-piece setup.

The batteries are definitely lighter than the old cig-a-like batteries. If you’re inclined to hold the Loop’s Stick battery and cartomizer in your mouth, hands free, it’s as easy as it is with an actual cigarette. At the same time, these batteries feel mature, almost elegant. From a ‘battery life’ standpoint, I can’t really say. This 510-threaded battery with attached cartomizer is impossible to chain smoke. Because of the battery powered case, in the 2 weeks of continuous use my batteries were kept fully charged. Which brings me to…

The NJOY Infinity Case

Forget what know about cig-a-like charging cases. The NJOY Infinity case changes everything. Instead of trying to emulate a pack of cigarettes, the Infinity case looks and feels more like a modern smartphone, with a weight of 5.7-ounces, it feels significant, expensive, long lasting. It is sturdy, durable, and thin enough to fit in your jeans pocket without worrying about it.  (Tip* Recharge the Infinity case every couple of days with the USB cable that’s included.)

The Infinity case also allows for two fully assembled batteries and cartomizers, keeping both fully charged all the time. What I liked most about this case is that I can use each battery for a different flavored cartomizer. One battery with Blue + Blackberry and one battery with Rich Tobacco is my personal NJOY Loop setup.

Lastly, the Starter Kit also includes a USB ‘stick’ device that has ports to screw in two batteries just in case the Infinity case isn’t charged, or you want to plug it into any USB port for a quick charge up. Unfortunately, the Starter Kit doesn’t include any pre-filled cartomizers, so you’ll need to purchase some.

Had it not been for all the pod mod reviews I either wrote or helped to write, I wouldn’t have much to say about the performance of the NJOY Loop. My go-to gear is the Lost Vape Triade DNA250C (reviewed here) with a SMOK Prince Cobra (reviewed here) and Mesh Coils. I enjoy tons of vapor clouds from my usual gear, but when I switched to using any of the dozens of pod mods for review purposes I lower my expectations. So too with the NJOY Loop. No one can expect the same level of performance, nor would they want to.

I can say that from what I remember of the old cig-a-like, the performance compared to them is at least 100% better. More flavor and more vapor output by far. As for pod mods, it’s about 50:50. Half the pod mods I’ve reviewed produce less flavor and less vapor than the cig-a-like that is the NJOY Loop, and half produce somewhat more. But none of the pod mods I’ve used ‘blow away’ the NJOY Loop, which is saying a lot, considering the small battery and cartomizer of the NJOY.

I had to keep reminding myself of the 4.5% nicotine salt eliquid in the cartomizers because I truly dislike nicotine buzzes. During the review period I only experienced that buzz twice, and the reason was that the Rich Tobacco flavor was so good that I kept forgetting to stop at 2 or 3 hits. And although nicotine salt eJuice produces a smooth hit, 4.5% of it gives one big kick of a throat hit.

The NJOY Loop is not going to appeal to those Vapers that love their High-VG eJuice that produce huge clouds of vapor, or any other Vaper who ‘vapes’ for pure pleasure. The NJOY Loop will appeal to those of you that want that same mouthfeel and device size of cigarettes. And NJOY has certainly bought the cig-a-like into the modern era of vaping.

When we contacted NJOY about our desire to review this modern take on the cig-a-like, they gave us a special code for our readers to enjoy a full 20% off should they decide to give the Loop a try. (Good until the end of the year) Codes at the end of this review.

The NJOY Loop Starter Kit Includes:

• 1 Infinity Charging case
• 2 quick-charge batteries
• 1 USB magnetic charger
• 1 USB A to USB C charging cable

Please keep in mind that the NJOY Loop Starter Kit does not include any prefilled cartomizers. If you order the kit, pick up some cartomizers at the same time. My recommendation? Rich Tobacco!

 NJOY.com link for Spinfuel Readers

NJOYSPINFUELLOOP – 20% off LOOP device purchase (first time customers)

NJOYSPINFUELPODS – 20% LOOP pods

Note* Spinfuel VAPE will not earn any commission of any type from this review or discount codes.