Today I’m reviewing the Eleaf iCare Flask, quite possibly one of the smallest devices I have ever gotten my hands on. Eleaf have a huge variety of products on the market, and they don’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon.
As a company, they were founded in Shenzhen in 2011, and as well as manufacturing their own devices, they are often the manufacturer responsible for OEM hardware that gets badged up under other names.
Recently we’ve had reviews of the Eleaf Tance and Tance Max by Neil, the iStick Rim and iTap by Gaz, the iStick Mix kit by Ian and the iJust 21700 kit by Kevin… and that’s only going back as far as April!
What Can We Expect From The iCare Flask by Eleaf?
The design, unsurprisingly, is based of a hip flask which were designed with a curve to fit comfortably against the hip. The device is small and comes with an internal 520mAh battery, a 1ml e-juice capacity and a weight of just 69g.
Eleaf seem to be on a mission to own the starter vape kit section of the market, with almost every conceivable variation of device covered. That means as well as their more traditional vapes, you occasionally get something a little bit different.
Or in this case, a little bit little! On to the review…
This was sent to sent to me free of charge for the purposes of this review (thank you Vapesourcing) however this in no way affects my rating, and I shall report back honestly with my findings.
In The Box
- iCare Flask Battery
- iCare Flask Atomiser
- 510 Magnetic adapter
- Micro USB cable
- Manuals for Battery and Atomiser
Specs
- 71mm x 42mm x 12mm
- 69g
- 520mAh Battery
- 1ml e liquid capacity
Design and Build Quality
First things first, when I received my package, the top of the battery seemed to have a lot of fine white dust on it. I brushed most of it off before I thought I should take a picture, but you can see some of it in the photo.
Slightly disconcerting, but I figured (hoped!) it was just something from the packaging process. So I cleaned the Eleaf iCare Flask off and got to work. I said it before, but you don’t really appreciate just how dinky this thing is until you get it in your hands. It is tiny and really lightweight.
The battery is shaped like a classic hip flash, just in miniature. With it’s metal construction, it feels very well put together and quite refined.
The battery itself has a micro USB to charge at the bottom and iCare Flask printed in white on the front, with a tiny white LED between the two words. 
This will light up when you’re vaping, and flash to indicate one of the three protections:
- 10 Second overdraw
- Low voltage
- Short circuit
The iCare Flask comes in two colours, either silver or the black which I got.
I’ve been using this heavily for a little over a week now, and it’s often in my pocket with keys and other bits and pieces. So I’m impressed at how well the finish has held up.
There’s a little bit of scratching of the metal body on one of the top edges, but you wouldn’t notice unless you were looking for it. I would imagine the silver holds up even better.
The atomiser itself is incredibly slim at just 10mm diameter and 51mm long. There’s no replaceable coil, so when the flavour goes it’s a case of replacing the whole thing.
The coil itself is 1.35Ω and according to Eleaf has a “ceramic wrapped wick”, I haven’t been able to find out if they are using any other wicking material in there, which should help to prolong the coil life.
It’s a non adjustable airflow that is fed from the 510 connector, so it is possible to put this on another mod (though it will look really silly!) as long as your mod has air channels on the top plate.
Testing it out on on another vape mod, I think the kit must be firing at about 9W.
How to Fill the iCare Flask
To fill the atomiser, you need to unscrew the combination drip tip/top cap.
I don’t know whether this was me just being unlucky, but about 50% of the time, the silicon seal remained on top of the tank.
If this happens it’s not a big deal, as you just need to lift it up with something like a pin or tweezers and replace it in the top cap before you try to fill.
Unfortunately having only a 1ml liquid capacity, you will need to fill it relatively often, so this can get annoying if you’re out and about.
Once you’ve successfully removed the top cap you then need to fill your tank.
Due to it being so tiny, I found that I couldn’t even get the tip of a 10ml bottle between the chimney and the glass, so what I ended up doing was resting it against the chimney, and slowly filling by letting the eliquid run down the outside of the chimney.
After filling it, let it sit for 5-10 minutes to give it a chance to soak up the eliquid properly.
Quick Setup Guide
When you first open the packaging, you will notice the little gold coloured ring. This is your magnetic adapter that you have to screw on to the bottom of the atomiser.
It will only screw on one way up, so no chance of getting it wrong. Once you’ve screwed it on you’ll see that the four little cut outs at the top line up with the airflow in the top of the 510 connector.
Slide the whole assembly into the battery, and it makes a nice secure connection with the magnets. Because the tank is recessed into the battery, it’s not going to become dislodged easily.
However, I did notice that there’s about 2mm of side to side movement at the top where the drip tip extends beyond the battery. If you’re walking while vaping, you definitely notice the tank moving around and clicking against the top of battery.
It’s not a deal breaker, but I wish the tolerances were a little tighter, or there was some cushioning around the inside.
One thing I do appreciate is the fact that the battery has a cut out running down the thin edge of it so you can see the tank and keep an eye on your eliquid level.
Only having 1ml of eliquid, it would have been a pain to take it out to keep checking. So this is a nice touch.
Firing is draw activated, so just take a pull to start vaping!
How Does the Eleaf iCare Flask Perform?
Since I only received a single atomiser and the coil is not replaceable, I decided to play it safe and stick with my 50PG/50VG Berry Ice from Vape Simple.
Near the end of my testing I also tried some 60VG/40PG Murf Blood by AVB, which it handled equally well.
In all honesty though, this device is definitely set up for someone using small amounts of high strength e-liquid or nic salts.
Flavour
I was expecting to be a little underwhelmed by the flavour, but (not for the first time) I was proved pretty decisively wrong.
Flavour is clean and crisp, not a warm vape, but very satisfying!
Clouds are similar to what you would get on a pod mod vape system, nothing much in terms of vapour production. But this is fine in it’s role as a stealth vape/backup.
Airflow
Airflow is not adjustable, so if you don’t like it you’re stuck. It’s definitely a mouth to lung (MTL) device, whilst not being super tight, you would struggle to get a Direct to Lung (DTL) hit from it.
Battery Life
It’s hard to judge battery life on a device like this, as it’s not the type of thing you will typically use as an all day vape.
In moderate usage with a high strength e-liquid, I was happily able to get 5 days out of it. It’s worth noting that there’s no battery indicator though, so I’d recommend keeping it topped up if you’re using it frequently, as otherwise it will just stop firing at some point.
However, you have to remember that this was being run as a backup/stealth device, and so I wasn’t vaping on it constantly.
It’s quick to charge though, taking about 45 minutes, so it’ll easily get you through a day at the office/job interview/wedding, basically anywhere you might not want to take a full set up!
Longevity of Atomiser
I can’t give you a definite answer on this one unfortunately, but I suspect it would take a lot longer than I have time to review this for! What I can tell you is that in over a week of vaping, I haven’t noticed even the slightest of drops in flavour.
Obviously the type of eliquid you put into it is going to make a big difference, overly sweet flavours are going to gunk up the coil more quickly.
I also think that what Eleaf are doing with their “ceramic wrapped wick” should help with this as well. I wish there was a little more information available on how exactly it’s constructed, as the diagram on their website doesn’t show a great deal.
It looks like it may actually just be a ceramic wick, that is actually wrapped around the coil If this is the case then I take my hat off to them, as the flavour I was getting was far closer to a normal cotton wick than any of the ceramic wicked coils I’ve tried!
Pros
- Really slim “shirt pocket style”
- Decent battery life
- Able to check e-liquid level
- Protected atomiser design
- Great flavour
Cons
- Small e-liquid capacity
- Weird white powder when first opened
- Drip tip wiggles when seated
- Silicon seal gets stuck on top of atomiser
- Fiddly to refill
Final Review Verdict
The Eleaf iCare Flask is by no means a perfect device, but what it does, it manages to do really quite well.
I have continued to use this on a daily basis loaded up with some high nicotine, 50/50 vape juice, and it makes a perfect stealth vape. If you’re going somewhere fancy and don’t want to ruin the lines of your suit with a big dual 18650 set up, this will slip into a pocket without a fuss.
Flavour for me is always one of the critical factors in determining whether I’d personally use anything I get in for review, and I’m really pleased to say this little kit has done well on that front.
I wish some of the fit and finish were a little higher (the wiggle at the top and the seal mainly) but equally I know that this would have increased the price and potentially put some people off buying it.
