Honest review time: The Kilo 1K Starter Kit

Kilo Eliquids out of California have been producing quality eliquids for years now. I was actually a big fan of their Dewberry cream flavour years ago when I was still relatively new to vaping. Needless to say they make some really fantastic juice or I don’t think they’d be as popular as they are today. With the boom in popularity of closed pod systems and salt nicotine they recently launched their own new pod system and I was fortunate enough to get my hands on one. It’s called the 1K starter kit and here’s what I think of it so far.

Package contents:

Listed features and specs:

Packaging and contents:

The kit is very simply packed in a nice blue and white cardboard box with an image of the kit on the front and plenty of details on the sides, back and inside as well. For some reason they listed the contents right on the front which looks a bit out of place but I suppose it could be handy when looking at it on a shelf. In the kit you get the Kilo 1K device, a micro USB cable for charging it, a user manual and a set of four flavoured pods. The flavours that come in the kit may vary as I noticed the ones I received and the ones listed on their site are slightly different. In my kit I got Dewberry Fruit, Lemon Berry Menthol, Smooth Tobacco and Menthol Tobacco but on the website it replaces the Menthol Tobacco with Sweet Mango and the Lemon Berry Menthol is listed as Lemon Berry Ice. It’s a neatly packed kit with plenty of information and everything you’d need to get started but what you receive may vary slightly.

The mod:

The Kilo 1K device is very simple in it’s design and looks like any number of other pod devices already on the market. It’s about 11.5cm long and only 10mm thick and is available in five colours including Black, Patriot Blue, Spur Red, Pearl White and Pearl Pink. It looks like it takes a few style queues from the Juul, the Vladdin, the STLTH and so many others if you look hard enough. It’s long and thin with a matte rubbery finish very similar to the STLTH but with more of an octagonal shape instead of oval. It’s got an internal 350mAh battery, charges via a micro USB port which is located on the bottom end of the device and thankfully doesn’t rely on any sort of proprietary charger. On one side it’s got an LED light in the shape of three little holes to indicate when it’s firing but it doesn’t seem to indicate remaining battery or any other meaningful information. It’s draw activated so you just put it to your lips, take a pull and it fires. The draw is smooth with a nice mouth to lung tightness that I find is perfect for a device like this. At the business end of the device where you insert the pods it uses a set of four magnets to hold them in place. They sit nice and firmly and there’s pretty much zero movement between the two once seated.

Aside from these very basic features there isn’t much separating the device from other closed pod systems on the market. One thing I will note is it doesn’t seem to have a regulated output so the experience can decline as your battery level drops and with no indication of when the battery is running low it just quits when it runs dry. When the battery isn’t quite full it usually just take a puff or two to get it going but when compared to a regulated device like the Juul the output isn’t as consistent as it could be. With the 350mAh battery and the 1.8ml coils it uses it tends to last me a full day but results may vary depending on personal vaping habits. In regards to safety protections it appears the 1K only has basic short circuit protection which should be enough in most cases to keep things safe.

The pods:

Now the pods that come with the kit or sold separately are loaded with a variety of Kilo’s standard flavours. As mentioned above the flavours you receive in the kit may vary but it looks like the standard package includes Sweet Mango, Smooth Tobacco, Lemon Berry ICE and Dewberry Fruit. The pods themselves hold 1.5ml of liquid and have 1.8ohm built-in coils which are only available in 45mg nicotine. They don’t actually specify whether it’s salt based or not either. I find I tend to get about a day and a half out of a pod depending on how much I’m vaping.

As for flavour and vapour production I’d say flavour overall across all of the pods I’ve tried is about average for a pod system of this caliber. The flavours are good and they have a soft and light feel to them while the 45mg nic does have a bit of a throat hit. I don’t find the flavours pop quite as much as with some others out there but they’ve got a decent overall selection with 17 flavours to chose from. If I had to compare it to another device I’d say it’s very similar in performance to the STLTH a Canadian based pod system. One thing I definitely have to call out is so far after going through numerous pods not a single one of them has leaked. Not a drop, not even any condensation that I can see. I pull the pods out and they are completely dry.

The flavours:

Dewberry Fruit

As an OG fan of Dewberry Cream I was most looking forward to this until I realized it’s Dewberry Fruit not Cream. It’s still a nice flavour but it’s mainly just that interesting dewberry berry taste which if I’m not mistaken is related to the common blackberry if that’s what it’s actually based on. It doesn’t quite have a dark berry taste like blackberry but instead has a sort of mixed summer berry taste to it. Folks who like berry flavours will dig this!…7.5

Lemon Berry Ice

This one was my surprise favorite of the bunch. It’s a tasty mix of lemon, berry and ice. It’s probably more berry than lemon and the ice is quite mild but it does have a nice light citrus feel to it. It really makes the flavour pop and with that little added hit of ice, this one is tasty tasty and refreshing!… 8

Smooth Tobacco

A very very light tobacco blend that’s hard to really put my finger on. It’s not quite a rich American style tobacco almost more of a Canadian blend but to be honest it’s pretty fleeting. It’s got a light sweetness but not a whole lot of depth to it. For a tobacco it’s definitely smooth but for me it lacks any real character… 6

Menthol Tobacco

A very similar flavour to Smooth tobacco but with a fairly strong kick of menthol. It doesn’t come off too minty so what I do get of the tobacco still comes through and if you enjoyed menthol cigarettes this would probably be the one to try. I actually liked this one better than the smooth simply for the fact that it was more flavourful… 7

Milk Coffee

Kilo were kind enough to send along a couple of extra flavours for me to try out and seeing Milk Coffee on their list I just couldn’t resist. It’s a fairly soft coffee or espresso flavour with a shot of milk. Coffee flavours can be very strong but with the milk in the mix it stays pretty chill. It’s one of the milder flavours I got to try and it can have a bit of a dry taste at times but if you like coffee it’s an option… 6

Nutty

Nutty is a blend of vanilla and nuts, which I believe are specifically almonds. It’s another very light flavour and comes off just touch dry at times with the vanilla mostly coming out on top. I was really hoping for a bit more of an actually nutty flavour or a bit more vanilla even cause unfortunately I really don’t get very much from it… 6

Overall:

The device works quite well and for a fairly small battery it lasts a surprisingly long time. The draw activation is smooth an responsive, the device feels great in the hand and even on the lips so overall it feels like a quality product. With the pods, I love the fact that it hasn’t leaked a drop but the flavours I found were a tiny bit mild and they’re only available in 45mg which also has a bit of a throat hit and tiny bit of burn compared to some of it’s competitors. I know some folks appreciate that extra throat hit but they do feel quite strong comparably. I’d still say overall I’ve been having a great experience with the system and it would make a great option especially for someone just making the switch but if I had to ask for one thing it would be for Kilo to eventually release their other flavours in pods or maybe offer a refillable option.

If you want to pick one up from Kilo you can use the code NEWTOKILO to get 20% off and free shipping on your first order.