Lubricated dotted condoms - male condom discontinued by Playboy - review by Jul!a

The Overview: Playboy continues on their condom collection with this studded version. Studded condoms are nice because they provide some extra sensations without accidentally squeegeeing all of the available lube in between the ribs.

The packaging: A black box with a red bunny and writing rather than the silver that the other packages have. It's got an instructional pamphlet and information on how to properly use a condom inside. If reading instructions isn't quite your thing, you can also watch this short video as well.

The boring specs: The "average" condom is about 7.5" long, 2" wide at the base and along the shaft and in the head, and .0027" thick. Online dimensions have this listed as 7.5" long and 2.1" wide. I measured one in my own collection and came up with pretty much exactly that as well. I don't have a micrometer, but these didn't feel especially thick or especially thin. My husband is about 5" long and about 5" around and they weren't overly loose on him. If you routinely need the size of a Magnum, you might want to avoid these, but otherwise use your best judgment.

Lube and smell: These definitely have a scent to them that's not terribly pleasant. It's not quite latex, but something sweeter. Almost sickeningly sweet. It didn't permeate the room but it was definitely noticeable on our hands after we had opened and put the condom on. As far as the lube goes, it's not bad. I had initially expected to need more lube before we got into it, but surprisingly I didn't. The lube itself was fairly silky, and overall pretty decent.

The potentially interesting design features, and what it was like: Being a studded condom, I was expecting a lot of texture. When looking at it the dots are almost impossible to spot, and I wasn't expecting much in use. Again, I was pleasantly surprised. Unlike some more extreme studded condoms that can really leave you feeling raw, this one provided texture that was noticeable and not overwhelming. It would be a good choice for those who have wanted to try a textured condom but were worried about it being too much to handle.

The important safety stuff: Ok, real quick let's talk about things you should and shouldn't do with condoms. Do add more lube if you feel like you're drying out. Lack of lube can cause increase friction and cause the condom to break. Don't use anything oil based to lube up with. Water and silicone based lubes are fine, but oil based lubes can degrade the latex. Do keep your condoms in a cool, dry location. Don't keep them in your glove box, in the wallet you sit on all day, or at the bottom of your purse. These are not good places for condoms. In the purse it could get punctured, and being in all that heat can also degrade the material which is again, not good.

My husband is the king of useless information when it comes to condoms. The perks of being painfully neutral on almost everything is that unless something really sucks it's not a big deal. The downside is that nothing is really all that impressive either. These got a solid "yep, it's a condom" from my husband. There's definitely a difference between these and nothing at all, but they shouldn't cause a problem for most guys. If your vagina can't easily feel most textures, then you might not be able to feel these either, but they'd be great for a woman who's really sensitive to textures.