Review: Packer Gear Boxer Brief with Packing Pouch

I’ve been packing daily or near-daily for about 12 years now, and in that time I’ve tried out nearly every packing method under the sun. Magnetic packer pouches that “clip onto” other underwear, strappy minimalist harnesses that hold a packer close to the body under boxers or briefs, prosthetic glue (although I am now too hairy for this to work, and don’t want to remove any hair), “free packing” (which just means putting a packer in underwear without anything to hold it in place), and using packing underwear.

I’ve found packing underwear works best for me — slightly chubby, willing to sacrifice having more underwear choices for easy packing, and financially able to buy enough packing underwear to wear it daily. While I’ve got my own brand loyalties, I’m always open to finding out more about the options out there.

The Packer Gear Boxer Brief with Packing Pouch

One of the reasons I’m really excited about the Packer Gear Boxer Brief with Packing Pouch is that it’s a product from Cal Exotics. They’re one of the big name sex toy manufacturers, so packing underwear from them is something people are more likely to able to find in physical stores near them, even if they don’t have a feminist sex shop locally. While at $36.99, it is a bit on the expensive side, both compared to other Packer Gear offerings and the brand I tend to wear packing underwear from (Cake Bandit, which is around $21 for a pair of briefs), it’s more likely to be a product somebody can find offline.

Speaking of the Packer Gear line, it’s existed for a while (I’ve reviewed their packer, packing jock, and other packing underwear before), but the Packer Gear Boxer Brief with Packing Pouch is something new in their offering. Unlike the packing briefs they’ve released before, the packer is held in a pouch rather than using an o-ring. This means that while it can’t be used for strap-on sex in the same way the o-ring briefs or boxers can, any packer is completely hidden from the outside. This makes it both resemble non-packing underwear more, as well as a lot more usable in environments like changing rooms.

The only colour option is black (although not something that bothers me as a boring goth), and the briefs come in sizes XS/S to XL/2XL. I’m normally a 38 inch waist in trousers, and found the XL/2XL size fit me, but was a little tight, so I would love to see extended sizes for this product.

The Packer Pouch

The packer pouch on these briefs is the feature that’s the most different from packing underwear I’ve seen and used before. Usually, a layer of fabric is sewn around the crotch, forming a pouch where a packer can sit. In the Packer Gear Boxer Briefs, the packing pouch is totally separate from the outer layer of fabric, which creates some weird side effects.

The packer pouch is also quite long. While the other packing underwear I own also has a pouch that extends about as far back on the crotch, the fact that the pouch is separate from the outer layer of fabric here makes it a lot more noticeably during wear. It doesn’t help that while product images show the entire packer sitting in the pouch, the pouch’s opening is small enough and has such little stretch that it’s pretty hard to fit most of my packers in. I struggled with the Tantus On The Go, which I generally consider my smallest packer. This isn’t the end of the world — I can wear a packer with the shaft in the pocket and the balls against my skin — but does leave a lot of excess fabric which can bunch awkwardly and uncomfortably.

I will give the caveat that I didn’t find any issues using the packer I own from the Packer Gear line. It does make sense that Packer Gear would make boxers that specifically suit their packers, and that because the Packer Gear packers are on the long side other packers would fit a little awkwardly. If you know for sure that you’re only going to use it with a Packer Gear packer, it might not be an issue for you, but it’s something to bear in mind.

Daily Wear

Once you’ve actually got a packer that fits into the pouch, how do the Packer Gear Boxer Briefs wear?

Pretty well actually! The packer feels secure, the boxers don’t have a tendency to roll up or fall down, and everything feels very secure. I will say that the Packer Gear packer can look a little on the large size, so there are some shorts and trousers that the pairing is just not suited for, but these are very much a minority. I find jeans in general (unless they’re skinny) tend to disguise the largeness a little, so if you live in jeans you should be good to go.

I did find I had to wear the Packer Gear Boxer Briefs a little lower than I’m used to. However, this is very much a quirk of me wearing underwear and trousers relatively high-waist, and that in turn is because I’m on the chubby side and find that sitting underwear over the bottom of my belly rather than just under it is more comfortable. If you’re not built on the larger size, this isn’t really something you’ll have to worry about, but it is worth considering. I do personally find the Cake Bandit underwear more comfortable because of this, but I don’t want to generalise this very specific personal preference.

Overall, when it comes to daily wear the Packer Gear Boxer Briefs with Packing Pouch function as packing underwear should — they fit seamlessly into my life in a way that makes them hard to comment on in much detail.

Washing Instructions

Aside from the packer fit issue and my own personal preferences around underwear fit, there is one issue I want to bring up with the Packer Gear Boxer Briefs — washing instructions. The washing instructions for the Packer Gear Boxer Briefs state that they’re cold handwash only, but I’m a realist — I know if you’re somebody who’s packing every day, you are absolutely not going to be handwashing underwear.

Because of this, I did machine wash them to see how they held up. I didn’t tumble dry them and used a low temperature and they turned out… fine, really. On a few repeat washes, some threads have come a little loose, but for the most part the boxers are as they were. I want to emphasise that machine washing rather than hand washing is still a choice you’ll need to make, but I think I got away with it.

That said, I’d still definitely prefer packing underwear that confirms I can machine wash it, so the hand wash only instructions on the Packer Gear Boxer Briefs are a ding for me.

Overall

I feel like my review comes across as quite harsh on the Packer Gear Boxer Briefs with Packing Pouch. While I stand by the criticisms I’ve made here, I do want to emphasise that I’m able to make them because I’m lucky enough to be able to access smaller, more trans led products when it comes to packing. While the Packer Gear Boxer Briefs will make it into my underwear rotation, they won’t ever replace my Cake Bandit undies.

That said, I’m also aware that many people only have access to big box stores, and for those people something from CalExotics is something they’re much more likely to be able to access. I do think that the Packer Gear Boxer Briefs with Packing Pouch are the best packing underwear that the Packer Gear line has. While they’re likely a miss if you have a packer that’s not Packer Gear brand, if you’re looking to try out packing for the first time, these plus one of the packers from the line is a solid starting point, at a reasonable combined price.

Buy the Packer Gear Boxer Briefs with Packing Pouch from Betty’s Toy Box for $36.99