SKE CL2000 Pod System Review: 2000 Puffs of Prefilled Convenience

Design & Build Quality

The SKE CL2000 is a fairly chunky addition to their “Bar” range of vapes, but it basically follows the same tall and slim design as all the others. It comes in at 115mm tall and 21mm square, and weighs a little over 55g, which is certainly light and compact enough to fit comfortably in the palm of your hand.

As with the majority of SKEs’ vapes, the CL2000 has a transparent plastic shell, designed to look something like crystal, encasing a metal inner core that hides the battery and other electronics. This metal section is colored and patterned to reflect the flavor of the e-liquid pod that comes with the device (e.g., the “Spring Berry” device is purple, and the “Watermelon Strawberry” device is pink), as is common with pre-filled vapes.

Despite the mainly plastic construction, the device feels very solid. The pods, which can be used in a couple of configurations (more on that later), slot firmly into the socket and feel very secure. The pods feature the standard SKE wide and flat mouthpiece, which is pleasant to use due to its nicely rounded corners.

There’s no fire button or airflow slider to mar the surface of the plastic shell, and even the USB Type-C charging socket is hidden away on the bottom. Alongside the charging port is an LED that illuminates when the vape is firing and changes color to indicate when the battery power is low.

Features

There are not many features to explore on the CL2000. It’s a pre-filled pod system rather than a refillable one, and it’s extremely simple and easy to use. There’s no airflow slider, screen, buttons, or anything else you might expect in a modern pod vape. But the main thing to take note of is the dual-cartridge system this device uses.

When you open the CL2000 box, you’ll see two cartridges inside: one with an integrated mouthpiece and one without. You can insert the main 2ml cartridge (the one without the mouthpiece), which contains the coil, and use it with the black mouthpiece that comes with the device.

When that runs out, you snap on the second cartridge, which is just an e-liquid reservoir with no coil, to get another 2ml of vape juice to use. Alternatively, you can simply snap both cartridges together at the start, resulting in 4ml of vape juice for use.

Although not specifically mentioned by SKE, this opens up the possibility of mixing your own flavors. You could, for example, use the main cartridge in Spring Berry flavor, and snap on the extra reservoir from the Pink Lemonade cartridge pack for an interesting mix!

The CL2000 features a relatively large 850mAh rechargeable battery. This is more than enough to get through one of the cartridges without needing to plug in a charging cable, but I found that they generally needed at least one recharge to get through the entire 4ml of two cartridges. Charging is, however, nice and quick thanks to the 2A USB Type-C full fast charging port SKE has opted to include on this device. During my testing, a full charge took only around 20 minutes on average.

Flavors

The CL2000 pre-filled pod system is available in a range of 20 different flavors. These include firm favorites such as Watermelon Strawberry and Pink Lemonade, as well as some more unusual ones, like Menthol Mojito, Lemon Sour Fudge, and Choc Mint. While I wasn’t lucky enough to have all 20 flavors to test, I got a decent proportion of them to try.

Here are the five SKE CL2000 flavors that I enjoyed the most. However, keep in mind that just because I like a flavor, that does not mean that you will like it. This is solely my subjective opinion.

Spring Berry

This is a very easy flavor to like. It has plenty of fruity sweetness, but not so much that it is cloying or like eating candy. There is a nice, subtle hint of cooling that probably works to counteract some of the sweetness, but doesn’t turn this into a true “ice” flavor. I could (and did) hit this all day without getting tired of it.

Sour Pineapple

Pineapple as a flavor in vapes can be a bit hit and miss for me. I love the fruit, but sometimes find it too sweet in e-liquids. However, the “sour” in the Sour Pineapple flavor does just enough to balance out that sweetness, and the combination is extremely enjoyable and, somehow, quite refreshing on the palate.

Lemon Sour Fudge

I was surprised by this flavor more than any other that I tested. I expected to hate this seemingly odd combination of tart lemon and creamy, sweet fudge, but ended up liking it a lot. If you are more used to plain fruit or menthol flavors, the initial taste will likely seem a bit weird, but keep going; it might just grow on you as it did me.

Kiwi Passionfruit

I’m not sure I have ever had a kiwi and passionfruit flavor e-liquid before now. Strawberry and kiwi, yes, even kiwi and lemon, but never kiwi with one of my all-time favorite real fruits. Happily, this combination of subtle kiwi flavor with the bright burst of passionfruit fruitiness is a winner. Add in the slight ice aftertaste, and this is sure to appeal to many vapers.

Strawberry Ice

Nothing particularly unique or surprising about this flavor, just sweet and fruity strawberry (although more like strawberry candy than the fruit itself) with a lovely, strong ice hit. Like Spring Berry, Strawberry Ice is a flavor I could happily hit time and again without getting bored with it.

How do they vape?

Despite the potentially unfamiliar two-cartridge setup, the CL2000 pod system is very, very easy to use. Once you have the device set up, the only thing you need to do is draw on the mouthpiece until the e-liquid runs out or the battery needs a recharge.

The draw is as tight as you might expect from a pure MTL device, while being loose enough that you can achieve a satisfying lungful of vapor should you choose to puff hard on it. There is a small airflow hole on the base of the device, but covering it essentially stops you from drawing at all, so it can’t really be used to tighten the draw (and likely isn’t designed for this purpose).

The cartridges fit into the device securely and seem pretty leak-free. I did have a bit of an issue getting the main cartridge out of the socket once it was firmly pushed in, but they always came out eventually with a bit of wiggling. This was definitely more of an issue if using the main cartridge with the device mouthpiece rather than snapping both cartridges together at the start (which is, honestly, how they are designed to be used).

The battery has a reasonable capacity and lasts as well as an 850mAh battery might be expected to last. The power output on the CL2000 is probably quite low, so a full charge may last long enough to provide the 2000 puffs that SKE suggests each cartridge pair contains. I didn’t count my puffs, but 2000 isn’t an outlandish estimate.

Verdict

The SKE CL2000 is a nice addition to the range. It offers decent performance, an adaptable cartridge configuration system with the potential for all-day and hassle-free vaping, and the MTL draw will likely suit vapers looking for an alternative to disposables.

The flavors are varied, interesting, and mostly enjoyable. I particularly liked Spring Berry and Kiwi Passionfruit, and of the flavors I got to try, only Mint Choc was less than enjoyable for me. There is enough variety, from sour to sweet to mint, that most vapers will be able to find the one that suits their taste the best.

The removable and replaceable pods make the device an efficient pod system, and the ability to separate the juice cartridge from the battery means that, when the time to dispose of the main section arrives, you can deposit the battery for recycling through your local recycling system rather than seeing that lithium lost in the trash.

If you are looking for a reusable replacement for disposables, but one that retains similar flavor profiles, ease-of-use, and cost-effectiveness, the CL2000 is a fine choice.