I would never blame Philip Morris for the lack of innovation. The world’s first IQOS tobacco heating system is their idea. They released a lil Solid device with a heating needle instead of a blade, and the IQOS VEEV sub-system was recently presented as well.
And now, through the subsidiary brand lil, they are launching a weird new hybrid tobacco heat-not-burn system called lil Hybrid 2.0. If you think you’ve seen everything, think again. This here thing is something else.
Disclaimer
I’m kidding, you haven’t been children for a long time, and if you are, close this page and don’t read any further. Anyways, tobacco heating systems, vapes and subsystems are not a toy. They are NOT harmless.
But such alternatives are a way to get off, so to speak, the needle of traditional tobacco smoking. And they are designed to get nicotine more safely. Tar-free, smoke-free, soot-free, smoke-free lungs – so, 99% safer.
But not harmless by any means. Therefore, if you do not smoke, do not start using lil Hybrid 2.0. or any other system. Now that we’ve figured out what a smart person knows anyway, but a fool won’t understand, let’s get down to business.
Positioning
The cost of lil Hybrid 2.0 is $35. And you know, I still remember the times when the same IQOS, being a novelty, cost three times more.
What’s in the box
The system comes in a box, one in one similar to Lil Solid 2. Inside we find the gadget itself, plus a charger and a Type-C cable, several sticks and a hairpin for cleaning, as well as instructions, warranty and other stuff.
Design
Visually, the lil Hybrid 2.0 is not far from lil Solid, of the second version. Exactly the same cylindrical body, in our case in bronze color. There are other options, of course. White, blue and black.
On the bottom there is a Type-C connector, on the top there is a lid covering the hole for the stick. The lid is very high quality, sliding in an oval groove, and even on a spring. You also get the lil inscriptions on the sides of the case from below.
Now – the screen. This glossy black beauty that occupies almost the entire face in front. It shows a lot of all kinds of information, including battery charge, remaining operating time, warnings, and so on.
A button is separated from the top by a gloss allows you to change up the information displayed on the screen. You do not need to press it to start the device, the system turns on itself after you insert all the consumables into the gadget.
On the removable lid on top there are transparent slots on both sides. Why this is necessary becomes clear when we remove the lid. Under it there is a seat for… a liquid cartridge – the main feature of the system!
Because yes, the system is hybrid. This means that it simultaneously heats tobacco sticks and fills them with taste, evaporating the liquid a la vape! There is one bad news connected with this. There are good ones too, don’t be afraid, and there are a lot more of them.
How does it work
But before that – a brief instruction manual. Activate the device by connecting it to a SPECIAL charger, which I will tell you about later. We charge it completely.
We remove the caps from the cartridge, insert the capsule into the device, close the lid, and see a drop with a tick on the display.
We shift the lid, insert the stick inside with a triangular cutout DOWN.
After that, the device vibrates and preheating starts automatically, lasting 25 seconds. When there are 10 seconds left, the notification will be displayed on the screen.
You have 14 puffs or 4 minutes and 20 seconds to use the stick. A single vibration will tell you when there are 3 puffs or 30 seconds left, whichever comes faster. A notification about the end of the session will be displayed on the screen. A double vibration will warn you about the shutdown before turning off the device.
When the session is over, we take out the stick and throw it away. Close the lid. When the liquid in the tray runs out, press the button on the side under the lid, take it out and insert a new one.
The screen will also notify you if you removed the stick before the end of the session, and the vibration will indicate that you did not insert the stick into the device for 5 seconds after the start of warming up. If lil Hybrid 2.0 does not stop heating after the end of the session, hold the button for 2 seconds.
Cons
Lil Hybrid 2.0 requires special MIIX sticks and special pod capsules without a specific name. You can only use the system with both consumables.
Also, lil Hybrid 2.0 is NOT backward compatible with other systems. Therefore, neither Heets or Fiit sticks for IQOS and lil Solid, nor VEEV cartridges are suitable for it.
These features mean that lil Hybrid 2.0 is literally one and a half times more expensive to use than lil Solid or IQOS VEEV.
Pros
Now for the good news. Firstly, the variety of tastes. Don’t like the taste of the stick? Change it by inserting a capsule with a liquid of a different taste. Don’t like the sour taste? Try either another liquid, or change the stick to a sweet one.
At the start of sales you had 2 types of sticks with the taste of apricot and menthol, as well as classic tobacco. There are three trays with liquid – without taste at all, with a sweet taste of melon and a sour taste of grapes.
Don’t worry about the cost either. A pack of 20 sticks costs 0,7 $, one pod cartridge costs 1,06 $. The latter is just enough for 20 sticks with short drags, so not enough, since I’m sure you’ll want to take deep drags, because the steam emitted by lil Hybrid 2.0 is much more spectacular than that of any other tobacco heating system.
Not as thick as pure vapes, but much closer to them than to IQOS or lil Solid. And it almost does not contain nicotine, by the way – there is no nicotine in the pods at all, only in sticks that do not smoke much.
By the way, the device also needs minimal cleaning. Special sticks are used here, with a filter on both sides, they are heated from the outside without penetration of any kind.
Because of this, tobacco does not fall out and does not pollute the inside of the device. It still needs cleaning, but incomparably less often than any other system. Sometimes the filter stays inside, which might be a problem.
It is easy to get it with a hairpin, and then clean the inside of the camera and the connection point of the system.
Battery life, problematic USB
The li Hybrid 2.0 battery is also great. Being the most modern tobacco heating system, it supports fast charging.
You can charge up to 50% in 40 minutes, the remaining half takes a little more than an hour. And here lies one small, but essentially big issue.
To activate the device for the first time, you need to connect it to a charger. The manufacturer strictly recommends using only the branded block, and for a reason. The fact is that either only low-power power chargers, a la 10-15 watts, OR only Type-A to Type-C cables are suitable for activation. This also applies to charging.
Yes, the device comes with a Type-A to Type-C cable, and the adapter block is suitable for charging and activating lil Hybrid 2.0. But excuse me, isn’t this the essence of USB Type-C as a standard to fit all devices that support it? The purpose of this whole system is to use one cable for a smartphone, laptop, headphones and yes, for a tobacco heating system. But it doesn’t work here.
This is NOT a disadvantage of the system itself and I would not focus on it if this did not become a problem for the second time. The first time I had this problem was while reviewing the Synco MMic-U3 microphone.
If you have any problems during the operation of lil Hybrid 2.0, then the instructions describe how to solve them. And do not forget about the warranty on the device – it’s exactly one year.
Verdict
This system is very interesting for obvious reasons. The combination of a vape and a tobacco heating system is very new.
Yes, this means complicating the design of the device, plus an increase in the number of consumables. But in return we get a variety of tastes, aesthetics and completely new sensations.
Read also: lil Solid 2 tobacco heating gadget review: Second time’s the charm?