Home / Coffee pen device IQOS in San José: the budget shortlist

Choosing a pen device for coffee

There is no single best way to buy IQOS in Costa Rica. There is only the batch that arrived, the coil that came with it, and whether the shop tracks the production run.

Ordering into San José usually means waiting 4–9 business days. Plan the reorder around that, not around the flavour you like best.

The short version: coffee in San José works if the pen device, the coil and the strength are chosen as one system. Everything below is what we measured while doing exactly that.

What a coffee pen device really costs in San José

Coffee sounds like one product. It is not: a pen device running varies will taste nothing like the same blend on a different device, which is why we test before we recommend.

How we tested coffee in a pen device

1. Settle the draw first: mouth-to-lung or direct-to-lung, because it decides the coil and the liquid.
2. Pick the pen device that fits the device already on your desk, not the one on the headline page.
3. Choose strength against the ceiling in Costa Rica, which is the local legal limit for retail here.

• The landed price per 10 ml after 4–9 business days, which is the only number worth comparing.
• Spare parts availability for pen device in Costa Rica, since tanks and pods go first.
• Coil type inside the pen device, because mesh and wire age at different rates.
• The listed nicotine ceiling, which is the local legal limit in Costa Rica, not a suggestion.

Where coffee goes wrong

• Matching strength to the device instead of the draw, which is why coffee tastes flat after two days.
• Buying the cheapest pen device available and repeating it because the first coil burnt.
• Assuming varies is uniform across brands, because two suppliers can label the same number differently.

The rules that apply here

Costa Rica regulates nicotine imports under its health authority.

Costa Rica regulates nicotine imports under its health authority.

Related reading

Frequently asked questions