OXBAR ASTRO MAZE Review: Triple Mesh Coil Goodness

Design & Build Quality

The ASTRO MAZE is a good-looking disposable vape. It has a rectangular shape with rounded sides and corners, and it comes in a number of nice colors, all of which have an eggshell finish. The display portion of the device has a black plastic cover that curves around the sides, giving the ASTRO MAZE a two-tone look that I really like.

It’s comfortable to hold and perfectly portable at 102mm tall, 53mm wide, and 28mm deep. The 94g weight is not bad either. The ASTRO MAZE is a bit too large to conceal in my hand, but it easily fits into a pocket without feeling too weighty.

The mouthpiece is made of TPU, and it’s soft and flexible. It’s comfortable on the lips and feels nice to vape with, so it’s a nice little design inclusion.

With a device named the “ASTRO” MAZE, you might assume that there’s some sort of space theme going on, and you’re right. Each device has a zodiac sign printed onto it, with a different one for each flavor. This seems to be the main difference in design between the GTURBO and ASTRO MAZE; the GTURBO does not have any zodiac symbols whatsoever.

The ASTRO MAZE also has a small panel that says “ASTRO MAZE”, while the GTURBO has one that says “GTURBO”. Otherwise, these two OXBAR disposables are physically identical.

It’s confusing that OXBAR would release two devices that look the same. I’ve reached out to the company for some clarification and will update this review once I hear back.

There’s a large OXBAR logo on the back of each device, and the flavor is printed on the side. It’s easy to see the flavor because it’s printed in large font, so even if you have poor eyesight, you’ll have no trouble reading it.

The bottom of the ASTRO MAZE has a Type-C charging port and an airflow adjustment slider. The slider is quite wide and moves freely, so it can be set to any point you like. The airflow can be adjusted from a mouth-to-lung draw when wide open, and down to a tighter mouth-to-lung draw when nearly closed.

There’s a single button on the ASTRO MAZE, which is the nicotine adjustment button. This button is round and made of plastic, and it generally works well. But I’ve had a few occasions where it’s become a little stuck, making it difficult to use.

The last thing to mention about the design is that the top of the ASTRO MAZE has a lanyard anchor spot. No lanyard is included in the box, but if you have one and want to use it, you can.

Features

The ASTRO MAZE comes prefilled with 14ml of ejuice and, according to OXBAR, will last for up to 25,000 puffs in ECO mode or up to 50,000 puffs in BOOST mode. It is only available in 50mg/ml (5%) nicotine strength.

The main feature of the ASTRO MAZE is its nicotine adjustability, which can be adjusted to five different outputs. Unlike the NIC-SWITCH, which offers clear nicotine outputs in milligrams per ml (0, 10mg, 30mg, 50mg), the nicotine levels on the ASTRO MAZE are ambiguous.

There’s no mg/ml indication of what each of the five nicotine levels represents, so it’s less of an exact experience than the NIC-SWITCH. There’s also no zero-nicotine level, so you’ll always be vaping with nicotine with the ASTRO MAZE.

The display is tall and bright, with a nice UI that is easy to read. The top of the screen displays the nicotine level. Each level displays part of a circle in a different color. When set to the maximum nicotine output, this forms a (nearly) full circle that is five different colors:

• Nicotine level one: Green
• Nicotine level two: Teal
• Nicotine level three: Blue
• Nicotine level four: Purple
• Nicotine level five: Red

Large indicator strips on the sides of the ASTRO MAZE also light up when you change the nicotine level or take a draw. The color of the indicator strips matches the set nicotine output level. For example, when set to the fourth nicotine level, purple, the indicator strips light up purple.

The nicotine level can be adjusted by pressing the button on the ASTRO MAZE, which is located just above the display.

ADVERTISEMENT

Below the nicotine level is an ejuice level indicator, and below that is a battery charge indicator. Both are displayed as percentages, which makes it easy to accurately track where each level is sitting.

Finally, the bottom portion of the display is the mode indicator. The ASTRO MAZE has two modes, ECO and BOOST. The mode is dependent on the nicotine level, with nicotine levels one and two working in ECO mode, and levels three, four, and five working in BOOST mode.

There’s no visual indicator for ECO mode, so the bottom of the display is blank when the nicotine output is set to levels one or two. However, when the device is set to nicotine levels three, four, or five, a BOOST icon is shown.

Flavors

At launch, the ASTRO MAZE offers fifteen flavors:

• American Tobacco
• Blue Razzle Astro Pop
• Blueberry Watermelon
• Clear
• Fruity Pebz
• Juicy Watermelon
• Mint Emerald
• Red Punch Slushy
• Rocket Pop
• Root Beer Float
• Sexy Strawberry
• Snickerdiddler
• Strawberry Star Pop
• Watermelon Apple Gush

It’s nice to see a tobacco flavor in the lineup, although sadly, I didn’t receive one to try out. There are many candy/drink flavors that sound sweet, like Red Punch Slushy, Rocket Pop, and Root Beer Float. They also have some interestingly named flavors, like Snickerdiddler. Hey, you do you, OXBAR.

I’m going to describe how these flavors taste to me and what I think of them. However, keep in mind that just because I like a flavor that does not mean that you will like it. Similarly, if I don’t like a flavor, this does not mean that you will not like it. This is solely my subjective opinion.

Blue Razzle Astro Pop

This blue razz flavor has the typical flavor notes that you would expect from a blue razz vape, but there’s also a second distinct flavor as well, which tastes like vanilla. I like the additional flavor as it makes this Blue Razzle Astro Pop flavor stand out from other blue razz flavors on the market. 

Sexy Strawberry

You wouldn’t know it from the name of this flavor, but I’m getting a strawberry milkshake flavor rather than just a strawberry fruit flavor. The milkshake notes aren’t as strong as in your typical milkshake vape, so maybe that’s why OXBAR didn’t call it that. 

Rocket Pop

As the name says, this is a rocket popsicle flavor. This flavor is very sweet, and the rocket pop flavor is prominent. This is a good flavor if you like your disposables ultra-sweet. If not, you’ll probably find it overwhelming.

How long do they last?

The OXBAR ASTRO MAZE comes filled with 14ml of ejuice, and that doesn’t seem like enough for a device with a claimed 50,000 puff rating, even if used in ECO mode.

In my time testing the ASTRO MAZE, I mainly vaped on the second nicotine level (teal), which is an ECO mode level, and I consistently used 25% of the ejuice per charge. The first time I drained the battery, the ejuice level was at 75%. The second time I drained the battery, the ejuice level was at 50%. This was consistent across all three devices that I used.

With that said, there’s no way that I vaped 12500 puffs per charge. While I didn’t track my exact number of puffs, I can say with certainty that I didn’t even reach 5000 puffs per charge, let alone 12500. From this, the puff rating appears to be significantly overstated.

In terms of battery life, each full charge lasted about 2 days. The ASTRO MAZE has a 900mAh battery, so that’s about what I expected. Charging takes an hour and ten minutes from dead. The ASTRO MAZE has pass-thru charging, so it can be used while it charges.

How do they vape?

The main question I had about the ASTRO MAZE, and maybe the question you have, is “Does the nicotine adjustability work?”.

As far as I can tell, the nicotine adjustability is just wattage adjustment in disguise. As you increase the nicotine level, the draw gets denser and warmer, which is exactly what I would expect to happen if I were increasing the wattage output.

Of course, even if the nicotine adjustability is just wattage control, this doesn’t mean that it doesn’t work. It might not work the way that true nicotine adjustability should, but you still get more nicotine per draw from the higher wattage outputs.

I liked staying around the second “nicotine adjustment” level because I found the draw to be warm and tolerable. The higher output levels feel like the draw is too strong, which is likely a case of high wattage outputs for a 50mg/ml disposable. If these came in 30mg/ml, I would have probably used the higher levels.

The ASTRO MAZE uses OXBAR’s “UNIONE” triple mesh coil, which heats up differently depending on whether you’re in ECO or BOOST mode. There are two smaller mesh coils and one large mesh coil.

In ECO mode, the three mesh coils alternate heating up for a smoother draw. In BOOST mode, the two smaller mesh coils alternate heating up with the larger mesh coil. This makes for more vapor and a denser draw.

Verdict

While the nicotine adjustment on the ASTRO MAZE is probably just wattage adjustment, it’s still a good device overall. Like any device, the higher you set the wattage level, the more nicotine you’ll get from your draw, so even if the ASTRO MAZE does just provide wattage adjustments, it can still be used in a similar way to what OXBAR intended.

These are also claimed to provide up to 50,000 puffs in ECO mode, but from my testing, I don’t see that happening. Each use of a charge depletes 25% of the ejuice, and I didn’t vape anywhere near 12500 puffs per charge, so I don’t see how this rating can be accurate.

I like the ASTRO MAZE’s design, large screen and UI, and overall vaping experience. These provide a nice draw, and the adjustable airflow slider allows me to fine-tune it to exactly how I want.

While I can’t say with certainty that the adjustable nicotine is only wattage adjustment, the experience with the ASTRO MAZE feels the same as a disposable with adjustable wattage. And in my opinion, if there’s no difference in the experience, then what’s the point of marketing it as such?

If you want a device that really feels like the nicotine level is being adjusted, I would check OXBAR’s NIC-SWITCH device, which can even be set to zero nicotine.

Overall, the ASTRO MAZE is still a good disposable device, but it doesn’t quite live up to the expectations that I had for it.

SAVE 12%
CODE: VERSED