This was a difficult review for me to write for the simple reason that I don’t really care for chastity devices and the Gates of Hell is, if nothing else, definitely a chastity device.

Now, some people will argue with me about that – my boyfriend for instance – and they are people who tend to enjoy the feeling of having their dicks tightly constricted by thick bands of rubber and leather. For them I say, “hey, if it turns you on then good for ya!” But for me, anything that impedes the ability to actually have sex, or that keeps me from the object of my desire is something that I will naturally avoid.

The Gates of Hell is a leather and rubber toy that is comprised of a leather cock ring attached to a strap that runs across the top of the penis shaft which in turn is attached to up to three rings of varying size.

The model that I tested came with thick rubber gaskets (but you can also get them with metal and leather cock straps) that were designed to fit around the base of the head of the dick, the middle of the shaft and toward the thick base itself. The idea being that when you put this on and as your cock hardens the rubber gaskets tighten around the circumference of the shaft while the leather cock ring keeps everything nice and hard.

Now, if what I’ve described sounds as if it would make having sex, such as anal penetration or even a blowjob, difficult, then you’ve figured out why I tend not to like this product. Anything that gets in the way of my handling a dick is something that I will naturally recoil from.

However, the boyfriend, on the other hand, absolutely loves this thing and says that the tighter the gaskets get on his dick, the more turned on he gets. The fact that the entire device makes masturbating virtually impossible is no impediment for him, for he maintains that as his dick gets constricted the reduced blood flow in the areas where the bands are makes everything more sensitive. I’ll have to take his word for that.

I will say this though; when the Gates of Hell are removed from the dick after a lengthy period of tight constriction, you will find that the dick has become deeply ribbed where the rings were, and this is actually kind of hot feeling in ones hand and mouth.

As I said, the Gates of Hell that we reviewed was had rubber rings and this is the feature you want to look for if you’ve never used this product before since it is important that the user find the right sized rings to go along with his own sexual equipment. The one we tested fit the Boyfriend perfectly, while I found that even the largest ring was simply too tight on my dick once I was hard. I’m not bragging; I’m just trying to give you the best review possible here and so that you know how important proper sizing is with this product in order to get the most from it.

OK, I may be bragging a little…but just a little.

Anyway, since the California Exotics Gates of Hell uses rubber rings, finding the right size for your dick is just a matter of matching the right ring size to the area of the shaft where the ring goes. Products using metal rings, although quite attractive, are much more costly and difficult to fit and are therefore, in my opinion, to be avoided unless you are very experienced with this product.

So, simply put this is an extremely mixed review but I feel I have to take the Boyfriend’s opinion into consideration since he’s sort of critical to my review process with these products.

I don’t care for the Gates of Hell and that’s for the reasons I’ve stated above. The BF loved it and for the very reasons that I didn’t.

So I’ll give the Gates of Hell two stars.