SKE Crystal Plus Pod Kit

It is about as simple as vaping gets. The Crystal Plus is draw-activated, so there is no button: you fit a pod, set the airflow and just inhale. The body holds the battery and the airflow ring, and the pod holds the juice and the coil, so all you ever handle is the pod. A clear pod and mouthpiece let you see roughly how much liquid is left as you go.

The real flexibility is the pod choice. Drop in a prefilled pod and it works like a tidy disposable, sealed and ready. Or fit a refillable pod and you can add your own nic salt and pick the strength, which makes it cheaper still to run. Either way the pods also fit the SKE 600 Pro, so if you own both kits the pods cross over.

For such a slim device the Crystal Plus holds a 400mAh battery, which roughly matches a pod, so a light vaper gets through a day and tops up overnight. It charges over USB-C and fills fast, around half an hour from flat, and SKE include a cable in the box, which is a nice touch at this price.

That recharge is the case for the Crystal Plus over a disposable. The cell keeps going pod after pod on its fixed 11W output, and the only thing you ever replace is the small pod, never the battery. Heavier vapers will want to top it up daily, which is the trade-off for keeping the device this slim and pocketable.

There is barely anything to learn, which is the appeal. Charge it, fit a pod, set the airflow and draw. The only habit worth keeping is giving a brand-new pod a moment to soak before you pull hard on it, so the mesh wets through and the first puff tastes as clean as the rest.

This is the part that makes the switch worth it. The kit is £3.99 for the device and a pod, and after that you only buy pods, which work out far cheaper per puff than a disposable Crystal every time. Go a step further with refillable pods and a bottle of juice and the running cost drops to pennies a fill, because you are paying for e-liquid rather than a whole new bar.

Put rough numbers on it. If you currently get through a Crystal bar every day or two, the running cost of prefilled pods is a fraction of replacing the bar each time, and refillable pods cut it further again. You also throw away a great deal less plastic and lithium. It is the same money-saving logic behind any refillable pod kit, in the most familiar Crystal-bar shape going.

It is a low-maintenance kit, so most snags clear in seconds. Nearly all of them come down to a pod that has not soaked or seated, the airflow setting, or a battery that wants charging.

Against a single-use Crystal bar it is the same vape with a plug, a swappable pod and an airflow ring, so you keep the flavour and the feel while cutting the cost and the waste. If you liked the disposable Crystal, this is the obvious step up. Against the newer SKE 600 Pro it is a close call: the 600 Pro uses a neat magnetic pod and leans on simplicity, while the Crystal Plus adds the airflow ring and takes refillable pods as well as prefilled. The pods cross over between the two, which makes owning either easy.

It is not the kit for you if you want big clouds or a battery that lasts days between charges, in which case a refillable like the SKE 4-in-1 or a bigger pod mod suits better. As a cheap, flexible, low-waste way off disposable bars, though, the Crystal Plus is one of the easiest kits to recommend, and it undercuts a closed system like the Elf Bar ELFA Pro on flexibility.