The IQOS is a revolutionary post-cigarette age device created by the company Philip Morris. You may have seen vapers out and about, creating thick clouds of smoke that have the odour of apple pie or bubble gum, these people are using liquid vapes in e-cigarettes. This is where the IQOS differs.

What makes the IQOS unique in comparison to standard e-cigarettes, is that it’s actually very similar to a traditional cigarette. Why? It uses tobacco. This is not smoked, but heated to a temperature of 350 Celsius through the sophisticated technology of the IQOS. The recognisable flavour of tobacco and nicotine is still apparent when you take a drag, this may please a lot of you who are discontent with the draw from e-liquids as the flavour just isn’t the same! Even though it is still tobacco and nicotine that you are inhaling from the IQOS, because it is vapor and not smoke, this decreases the dangerous chemicals that are inhaled when smoking a traditional cigarette.

When we got sent the sample product to try out, we were offered the black IQOS which we thought was very sleek. We were also provided with a pocket charger, and a packet of Menthol Heets (20 deck, please note that these cost £10 a pack so are on par with the RRP for normal cigarettes), we had everything to get started.  

It was very easy to use. You press the button on the IQOS and the green light flashes. Next you insert a Heet into the hole on one end, these look very much like a cigarette but a little stubbier, once the green light has stopped flashing you’re ready to inhale. You drag from the end of the Heet – this stylised like a filter end so it is a familiar feel to smoking. After we gave this a go, it was very apparent that you get a lovely hit from the IQOS, it was very easy to use, and though it tasted and felt like smoking a cigarette there was no smoke at all, just vapor. The Menthol Heets that we were provided with gave off a taste similar to sweetcorn, this wasn’t a bad taste, but my one qualm was that the taste seems to linger for a bit too long. The aftertaste of cigarettes lasts for about 5-10 minutes, whereas the aftertaste for the IQOS lasted up to half an hour. I wasn’t a fan, but I suppose this was a case of personal preference.

Overall, I believe that the IQOS is a wonderful product for smokers who want to cut down on fags and transition over to a smoke free future. The familiarity of a cigarette is apparent with this product, but it just wasn’t for me. I loved the draw that you got, but I wasn’t a fan of the flavour of the Heets. But there are other flavours (Yellow and Amber), so I may have preferred these. RRP £89.99

Current Cheapest Price

3 out of 5

Pros

Good hit

Easy to use

Sleek design

Cons

Prolonged aftertaste

Heets are expensive

Still inhaling harmful tobacco and nicotine