VOKE Inhaler Review – As Good As An E-cigarette For Quitting Smoking?

It's Not An E-cigarette OR A Starter Kit And There's NO Vapour So Is It Fit For Purpose?

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April 30, 2020

The VOKE inhaler review, and whilst this is NOT an e-cigarette, we've had a lot of interest in reviewing this alternative to a vaping 'device' or starter kit.

Launched in the UK back in November 2019, the company goes to great lengths to say this is not a vape device.

There's no batteries and no heat – instead users fill the cig-a-like from the main box and inhale.

The VOKE inhaler has been licensed as a 'medicine' by the UK's Department of Health and Social Care and can be given out on prescription.

The company behind the brand has caused a bit of a stir – especially with the New Nicotine Alliance – after it emerged it was using deaths from EVALI in a campaign to raise funding.

I've covered that issue here:

So…a bit of controversy to spice up the VOKE inhaler review

What Can We Expect From the VOKE Inhaler?

In a nutshell – the VOKE inhaler is designed to help smokers quit!

It's priced around the same as a packet of 20 cheaper branded lit cigarettes and there's 20 0.45mg 'charges' in the box.

VOKE says:

Voke's unique design delivers nicotine to rapidly relieve cravings whilst mimicking many of the rituals of smoking.

A single Voke stick may reduce your cravings for several hours.

Let's see if that is indeed the case.

OK, after talking with the company behind VOKE [Kind Consumer] for the two stories above – I hinted we would like to do a review and were given the website where we could purchase one lol.

So this was bought [as very many of our review products are] rather than sent in for free.

And obviously and given it was Jonny's cash not mine lol – my thoughts and opinions cannot be bought or swayed – biased I ain't

Let's see what this is all about then…

Inside the Box

Sparse contents to say the least – however the 'box' in this case contains the reservoir of nicotine and cig-a-like inhaler.

BTW even the wrapper comes off like that of a packet of fags!

Voke box
Inhaler
Instruction manual

Key Features

VOKE makes it very clear this is NOT an e-cigarette – it's a nicotine inhaler.

There's no heat or batteries and NO vapour on the exhale.

What you have is an inhaler made to look exactly like a lit cigarette.

You push the cig-a-like into the bottom of the box – designed to look like a packet of 20 lit cigarettes – and fill the inhaler.

There's 20 re-fills in each box dispensing the equivalent of 5 puffs – at least that's what I found, and the nicotine strength is just 0.45mg.

More on the strength in a moment…

All very simple and all designed to offer the user that 'familiar feeling' of smoking.

Incidentally, listed among the ingredients is PG – Propylene Glycol – so if you're allergic to that this might not be a good choice to use to stop smoking.

Design and Build Quality

It's slightly smaller than a packet of cigarettes, and the box is made from lightweight plastic.

You press the side of the box which reveals the inhaler and that opens and closes with a loud but satisfying click.

The inhaler is nothing special it's a hollow plastic tube! But yes it looks like a cigarette I guess.

Design wise and given pretty much all countries now have plain wrapping on packs – the VOKE box looks quite smart and reminiscent of a packet of 20 cigarettes – there's even a large figure 20 adding to the look.

As well as the included instruction sheet, there's also a wealth of information on the back of the box which you can peel off.

That's about it really – as I said all very simple, and straightforward.

How Does the VOKE Perform?

First up a very quick 'n easy start guide:

Press side of box to remove the inhaler
Hold box upright and insert inhaler firmly into the port on the base
Hold for 5 seconds and release
Inhaler should now be filled
Inhale as you would a lit cigarette
Refill when empty!

As you can see above – it's very easy to use indeed.

peel off for fill port!

It reminded me of filling a refillable lighter from a gas canister – so another nod to the old smoking habits we all had.

I must stress you need to push the inhaler in quite firmly – even then as you release it, quite a bit of vapour is released – wasteful to say the least…

OK onto the performance of the VOKE.

For the review I replaced my usual morning ritual of a high double figure freebase nicotine e-liquid, and gauged how long before I felt the need for another hit on the VOKE.

Voke Review – Flavour and Throat Hit

Given there's no heat or battery, as you might expect the inhale is cold – very cold.

A tiny amount of medicinal tasting spray hits your tongue for a split second before dissipating into pretty much nothing.

There's a slight – very slight – tingling at the back of the throat but NOT a throat hit in any way shape or form.

The flavour, if you can call it that, is as I've said medicinal and slightly reminiscent of a local anesthetic…

Not unpleasant – to me – but not tasty in any way shape or form…think an antiseptic spray for a throat infection – it's in that ball park.

It also shuts off the inhale after around 4 seconds – which became annoying as I searched for a 'hit'.

VOKE Nicotine Strength

This is a real issue for me and I'm sure cleverly designed to make more sales…let me explain.

One of the first things a vape shop owner should ask someone switching to vaping from smoking is how many cigarettes they smoke.

In simple terms that means the new vaper can be advised on the right nicotine strength, to give them the very best chance of a successful quit.

As a rule of thumb – the heavier the smoker, the higher the nicotine strength required.

Of course these days and with the arrival of nicotine salts – higher strength e-liquids don't have the same harshness most high level nicotine e-liquids had 'back in the day'.

The nicotine level in the VOKE inhaler is just 0.45mg – that's pretty much sub-ohm vaping territory!

The vast majority of sub-ohm vapers are well into their quit smoking journey and have eased right back on the nicotine strengths with most around the 3mg mark and others at zero!

IMHO, even someone smoking say 10 cigarettes per day might struggle with that sudden dip in nic levels from the VOKE.

Again, and IMHO, heavy smokers certainly won't get the 'fix' they need at such low levels.

Unless of course, they 'vape' the VOKE hard and often…

See what I mean by this is may be a 'clever design' to make users buy more?

VOKE says:

Voke can be used whenever you feel the urge to smoke, and you can use up to two packs of Voke a day

Two packs per day would cost you £23.98…now that's A LOT of money…a simple vaping starter kit and a couple of bottles of the right e-liquid WILL be cheaper and last significantly longer.

As I said with such low nicotine levels smokers could be spending an absolute fortune on the VOKE without the kind of results we see from vaping starter kits and nic salts.

My Experience

Given I need a high level nicotine kick-start for the first few hours of the day I genuinely struggled using the VOKE for the 2 days it lasted.

4 or 5 puffs meant I was literally gagging for more within 10 to 15 minutes.

At that rate the pack would not even last a morning let alone a day!

Again I return to the marketing behind this and the low nic strength – it HAS to be that low to keep very many users buying!

Sure it might be handy for long journeys where smoking and vaping is banned – much the same way as some of us use patches and gums for a quick quiet fix.

But as a stop smoking cessation tool?

Doesn't cut it for me – unless they add a sliding scale of nicotine levels and even then I wouldn't recommend it.

As to adding 'flavours?'

I've asked VOKE if they have any future plans for any new products and they told me some may be in the pipeline.

As it stands now the VOKE inhaler can only be bought online direct from the company's website and from what I can gather only to UK based customers.

They do have plans to roll it out to chemists and other retail outlets at some point in the future.

BTW: VOKE says somewhere in it's marketing "they won't quit until you do…"

Given the extremely low level of nicotine that may be quite sometime…and very expensive too…

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