Smok Resa Stick Kit Review – A Fancy Looking Vape Pen But Is It All Looks & No Performance?

So Has the Cobra Styled Resa Stick From Smok Charmed Me?

The Smok Resa Stick is as the name suggests another new pen style vape kit from a company that some including me might say have lost their way more than a little.

It’s hard to believe one of the pioneers of vaping with a claim of innovation has gone – in general – over to the dark side or should that be flashy LED light side with tacky designs and pretty poor performing tanks and mods.

That may sound harsh but hey it’s my opinion prove me wrong!

OK the Smok Resa stick features a 2000mAH internal battery and snazzy cobra style ‘resin’ design and comes topped with the Resa Baby tank on top.

Smok seems to like pen style set-ups with the Vape Pen 22 and the Stick V8 and V8 Baby version proving popular among vapers and reviewers alike.

There’s a theme running through all these releases and that is rather than the company’s byword of innovation – they’re merely churning out smaller versions of the same not up to scratch kits – little wonder social media is filled with the anti-Smok brigade.

Listen I’m not a Smok basher per se however I, like the antis, can see the company is taking the proverbial piss with these babies and re-releases of re-releases slapping a baby on the front of everything – they really are better than that.

In fact go take a look at the SMOKtech interview and indeed history of the company I wrote some time ago to see just how innovative and good they were and could still be.

OK semi-rant over.

The Resa Stick was sent to me free of charge for the purpose of this review and as you can already probably tell my thoughts and opinions are my own.

Inside the Box

The usual tough Smok box inside a pull out sleeve:

• 1 x Smok Resa Stick
• 1 x Smok Resa Baby 2ml OR 7.5ml Tank
• 1 x Smok TFV8 V8 Baby – Mesh EU Coil 0.15Ω Mesh Coil [Pre-Installed]
• 1 x Smok TFV8 V8 Baby – M2 EU Coil 0.25Ω Dual Coil
• 1 x USB Cable
• 1 x User Manual
• 1 x Bag of Spare Parts

Smok Resa Stick Specs

• Height: 83mm
• Diameter: 25mm
• Built-In 2000mAh Battery
• Voltage Range: 4.2V – 3.4V
• Standby Current: <200uA
• Resa Baby tank : 25mm – capacity: 7.5ml – EU version 2ml

Smok Resa Stick Kit Quick Start Guide

Note: Smok stock coils really and I mean really need priming well and to be left for a good 10 to 15 minutes before vaping!

• X5 clicks on and off
• Unscrew top cap to locate juice fill ports
• Best to close air flow control when filling
• Turn upside down when filled to open air flow slots to prevent any leaking
• Coil screws in and out of the bottom of the tank
• Coils can be swapped when partially full
• TINY LED light flashes x 4 when vaping
• LED light flashes x15 when battery has emptied
• 8 second vape cut-off
• Short circuit – low resistance and voltage protection

Key Features

OK as the name and obviously the photos suggest this is yet another vape pen style device.

It features a 2000mAH internal battery and comes topped with the top fill 7.5ml Resa Baby tank – those of us in the EU will receive the 2ml version.

The 510 plate is stainless steel with a spring loaded 510 pin – no issues with that at all.

The drip tip is kind of proprietary taking those Smok 810’s with the double O rings – none of mine without the seals fit.

The kit includes x2 coils: the pre-installed V8 Baby-Mesh Coil 0.15ohm and the V8 Baby-M2 0.25ohm Dual Coil – both are compatible with the Smok Baby Beast tank.

It’s a simple as it gets one button fire – which protrudes nicely and clicky enough – and there’s pass through vaping meaning you can vape whilst it charges.

The kit comes in an eye catching array of colours all with the snakeskin cobra design resin [sticker?] with the tank matching.

Design and Build Quality

It’s actually put together very well indeed though saying that there’s not a lot you can screw up with the design and build of a pen style kit.

However the 7.5ml bubble glass especially when filled can make the Resa Stick a little top heavy and given there’s no spare glass be careful!

The tank comes apart easily enough though even after a couple of weeks use the top cap despite lubed up to the max is still annoyingly stiff. I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve unscrewed the whole top rather than just the fill ports.

Design wise you’re either going to love it or hate it.

I received the green version and grudgingly have to say I quite like it – I have lots of statues – trinkets and paintings from India dotted about my flat and the Resa Stick doesn’t look out of place.

The ‘resin’ looks more like a sticker to me though does feel tough enough to take a few knocks and isn’t as slippery as you might think.

I have taken this out and about with me and reactions from blokes are shall we say verging a little on the teasing side whilst any women – I don’t see or talk to many lol – have loved it.

How Does the Smok Resa Stick Perform?

Knowing from past experience that Smok stock coils – particularly in a kit – can give poor performance I really did prime both of them well before vaping.

I used my go to Chicken Shop e-liquid to test the coils which is a sweetish 70VG 30PG mix.

V8 Baby-Mesh Coil 0.15ohm

Best between 40w and 80w.

It took over 2 fills before any kind of flavour came through – that’s a lot of juice – and when it did come through it wasn’t too bad – not amazing but not bad.

I’ve now run x4 fills through the mesh coil and it’s still showing no signs of darkening or the threat of a burned taste so longevity looks to be pretty good.

As you might expect the vapour is very good though clouds and flavour seem to dip quite alarmingly as the battery dies.

I tried the tank and coil on the Smoant Cylon at 80w and for me it was a slightly better vape than on the freshly charged Resa battery.

V8 Baby-M2 0.25ohm Dual

Best between 30w and 50w.

Not as good a vape at all in fact this coil reminded me of the bad experience I had with the original Baby tank I reviewed as part of the AL85 kit.

On that occasion I blamed the fact the silica gel they pop into the box may have dried the coil out given its not in a sealed wrapper.

Trust me I primed this one hard leaving it sat in a little pot for an hour.

On top of the freshly charged Resa battery the taste was about as muted as you can get – not good.

Even with x4 fills through it the flavour hasn’t improved much if at all.

Again I popped it onto Smoant Cylon mod and even at 50w the flavour was poor to say the least.

I might have a dodgy coil but hey I’ve been here before [see above!].

I even tried using a pin to punch holes into the cotton to help wicking – but all to no avail – not a good coil at all – though clouds were pretty good.

Overall Performance

Battery life isn’t so good and for the life of me I can’t work out when the Resa stick is fully charged.

I’ve kept an eye on the tiny red LED pinprick of a light but whilst charging it seems to just sit there unblinking – unflinching – just staring lol.

I had this issue with the Smok V8 stick and either this one needs hours of charging or Smok leave it to you to guess when it’s charged – not good at all.

Obviously if this old fool has missed a trick here do let me know 😉

So…one half decent coil – one awful coil – crazy design and decent build quality with a meh kind of vape – oh dear…

Pros

• Colourful
• Decent clouds
• Takes Baby Beast coils
• It vapes

Cons

• Poor flavour
• Poor battery life
• No spare glass tank
• Hit and miss on coil quality
• Thirsty
• Pricey

Final Review Verdict

The last ‘proper’ Smok kit I reviewed was the Smok G80 a smart looking little set-up built for flavour chasers.

Since then I think many of you will agree Smok has gone a little ‘out there’ to say the least.

I seemed to have been able to swerve the latest Smok kits and frankly I’m glad I have because what the hell is going on with that company?

It’s like they’re running a competition to see who can bring out the tackiest weirdest most ridiculous set-ups going – but I digress.

OK the Resa Stick.

This is chalk and cheese compared to the hugely popular Smok Stick V8 that I had the pleasure of reviewing.

That was a no frills solid performer with a larger 3000mAH internal battery that was great fun to use.

The Resa Stick is I’m afraid a tamed down version of that with a pretty party dress on.

For me the tank is so so and nowhere near the quality [back then] vape the Big Baby was and still is.

Battery life is well what you might expect with a 2000mAH internal battery – average.

So a year on from the V8 with this release Smok has taken not one or two steps but a mighty leap backwards – so much for their motto:

Innovation keeps changing the vaping experience

With the release of this particular kit and the rest of their all flashing tacky shiny monstrosities they really are changing the vaping experience – sadly for the worse.

C’mon Smok get back to the drawing board you’re better than this!