SMOK Nord
9.3
PROS
- Nice DTL Draw
- Excellent Flavor
- 1100mAh Battery
- Good Cloud Production
- Comfortable to Hold & Use
CONS
- MTL Coil Is Too Airy
- Fire Button Is Sensitive
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The SMOK Nord is a small pod-style vape that has been getting a lot of hype since its release. It’s got replaceable pods that will hold up to 3ml of eliquid and a large 1100mAh battery. It comes with two coils: a 0.6ohm mesh coil for DTL as well as a 1.4ohm coil for nicotine salts and MTL vaping. It’s activated by a single firing button located on the front of the device and is available in a whopping 14 different colors and patterns.
The SMOK Nord has a lot of good things going for it on paper, but just how good is it in practice? In this review I’m going to find out and I’ll go over everything that you need to know. The device used in this review was sent to me free of charge, from Eightvape.
SMOK Nord Review — The King of Pod Vapes?
Box Contents
- 1 x SMOK Nord Device
- 1 x 0.6ohm Mesh Coil
- 1 x 1.4ohm Regular Coil
- 1 x USB-Cable
- 1 x User Manual
Specifications
- 94mm by 30mm by 18.8mm
- 10-15W Output
- Replaceable Pods
- 3ml Pod Capacity
- “Plug And Play” Coils
- 1100mAh Built-In Battery
- Micro-USB Charging
Design & Build Quality
The SMOK Nord is a nice device. It’s very similar to the SMOK Novo but it’s a little thicker and chunkier. Not by a lot, but the Nord definitely has more girth than most pod systems out there. However, there’s good reason for the extra size: it packs a large 1100mAh built-in battery. This is larger than most other pod vapes on the market and should mean much longer battery life; I’ll take the trade of physical size for battery life any day.
The Nord comes in over a dozen colors, all of which are quite beautiful and very unique. There are “snake-skin” diamond patterned colors as well as full-resin color options, with the latter being my personal favorites. I don’t think that I’ve seen another pod vape with resin color options so to me they’re really quite cool looking.
The Nord has enough weight to it that it feels solid to hold. However, it’s not too weighty as I threw it in my pocket a couple of times and completely forgot about it. This makes it a good device to take out with you when you’re trying to keep bulkiness and items to a minimum.
One important note: when putting the Nord in your pocket or purse, make sure to always turn it off. The firing button is easily activated and I’ve had it go off in my pocket more than a couple of times. If you’re not careful, you’ll end up with a burnt coil long before it’s lived out its proper life — don’t say I didn’t warn you!
Pod & Coils
The Nord comes with a single replaceable pod that will hold up to 3ml of ejuice. However, unlike the majority of other pod vapes, this pod is reusable. The coils for the Nord simply push into the bottom of the pod and when your coils are done you simply replace the coil. This means that a single Nord pod can last you a very long time.
The pod is clear at the bottom and has a black plastic at the top to form the mouthpiece. The mouthpiece is shaped sort of like a duck’s bill and is very comfortable to use. The pod simply inserts into the device and there’s no click or catch system but it fits in quite snug. There’s a small window that sort of lets you see your ejuice level but I didn’t find it very helpful. Any time I wanted to check how much ejuice I had left, I ended up just removing the pod.
The pod is side-filled and uses a small rubber plug. The plug does a good job of sealing the pod and I had no incidences of leaking from the fill port.
The two coils that come included with the Nord are a 0.6ohm mesh coil and a 1.4ohm regular kanthal coil. The 0.6ohm coil is meant for DTL vaping and will provide an airy draw while the 1.4ohm coil is for mouth-to-lung use and provides a slightly tighter but still airy draw. I don’t think I would really suggest the Nord for someone who is purely into MTL because it probably isn’t as tight of a draw as most MTL vapers are looking for.
The 0.6ohm coil worked great with regular ejuices. As it is a sub-ohm coil, I wouldn’t suggest using it for nic salts. The 1.4ohm MTL coil on the other hand is made specifically for use with nicotine salts and worked great with mg strengths all the way up to 50mg. I got a smooth vape with very little throat hit. I’ll elaborate more on how these two coils performed a little later in the performance section.
Aside from the two coils that come included with the Nord there are also 1.4ohm ceramic coils available. I didn’t get a chance to test these out so I’m not sure how they perform, but there is another coil option out there for you to try.
Battery
The battery life on the Nord is respectable. Whereas most other pod vapes have a capacity of 300-700mAh, the Nord has an 1100mAh built-in battery and this is super massive in comparison. The battery size makes a huge difference in how long you can vape before having to recharge, especially when paired with the Nord’s ultra-low wattage output. I was averaging just over a day of heavy usage on a single charge — not something that can be said about most other pod vapes that I’ve used.
The LED battery indicator is another great feature of the Nord. There are three different colored LEDs: green, orange, and red.
Green: 100 to 70%
Orange: 70 to 30%
Red: 30% or Below
What’s neat is that you can click the fire button twice and the LED will flash to indicate your current battery level. Super useful feature and it’s one that I used quite often to tell me where I was at.
Performance & Vapor Quality
The SMOK Nord is hands-down one of the best pod vapes that I’ve used. This goes for both flavor and clouds, although it’s still not quite comparable to a sub-ohm tank.
The 0.6ohm mesh coil was my favorite coil and I got very good flavor out of it. The airy draw also meant that the clouds were pretty massive for a pod vape, although not as large as what you’d get from a tank. I used a variety of ejuices with different pg/vg mixes and they all worked great. You can use anything from a 50/50 to an 80/20 with the Nord and you won’t have a problem. They all performed equally as well for wicking and flavor.
The 1.4ohm coil was a bit less flavorful than the 0.6ohm coil. The 1.4ohm coil isn’t mesh and it’s also a higher resistance so I did expect this. However, it’s overall still a good coil and offers a bit of a tighter draw. This coil seemed to work better with higher vg ejuices than ones that were closer to 50/50 and I found this weird as both coils have similar sized wicking holes. In any case, I would suggest using a 70/30 VG/PG or 80/20 VG/PG with the 1.4ohm coil for the best results.
Verdict — SMOK Nord Review
The SMOK Nord really impressed me with its coils and flavor. The mouthpiece is super comfortable; hands down the best one available on a pod vape. It’s got a chunkier form factor than other pod vapes but still remains a super portable device. The 1100mAh battery is great and lasts through the day and then some, too. I also really liked the ability to check your battery status. Finally, although it’s not the best device for MTL vaping, DTL vapers will really like the draw.
What do you think about the SMOK Nord? Let me know in the comments. Thanks for reading!
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This vape is a piece of absolute garbage and anyone that reviews this positively either hasn’t used it more than a few puffs or just has nothing to compare to. It leaks almost as much as you can smoke in a day. The fire button is extremely easily engaged that it often turns on and burns away in your poket or changes volatge in you pocket to give you a surprise next time you use it. Good for vape shops you’ll be buying way more coils and juice than you should with a device that doesn’t leak or with such a fire button that will turn on while walking and fire away.