SMOK Stick AIO Kit Review

SMOK introduced the SMOK Stick AIO (All In One) as part of the Stick range including the SMOK stick V8.

One of the best known brands in the vaping world we have see some excellent devices of late such as the SMOK Morph kit and the SMOK Nord Pod system. So Smoktech have it in them to create winners.

The SMOK Stick AIO: A starter kit – but not for new vapers! What is it like?

It’s a pen style device with a top fill integrated tank, a simplified Direct to lung Sub Ohm device.

Let’s move straight on and see how this kit performed.

What’s In The Box

• SMOK Stick device with integral tank.
• User manual.
• Micro USB Charge Cable.
• 2 x coil heads – 0.23 ohm dual coil.
• Warranty card/authenticity check card.
• Orange vape band/tank protector.

Features

• 2ml capacity – (TPD compliant).
• 22mm diameter.
• Colours: black, silver, gold, 7 colour.
• 115mm height.
• 95g weight.
• Made from stainless steel.
• Top Fill.
• 1600mAh internal battery.
• Resistance range 0.1ohm to 2.5ohms. Battery will shut down outside these limits.
• USB Pass-through charging (this means you can charge device whilst using). A mini USB port provided on the side of device.
• Safeguards – low battery warning, short circuit protection, 8 second fire button cut off, and intelligent atomiser recognition.
• One button operation – the button is also backlit.
• All in one design (claimed to be “leak-proof”) – no separate tank required.
• 510 connector (this is stated on the official specification – there is no tank to battery connector as it is all in one – so this must be referring to the drip tip.)

Build Quality & Design

The SMOK Stick AIO comprises of 4 main components – the battery/tank unit body, the coil head, top cap and drip tip. Everything else is built in and not removable – which means tank or battery failure = game over – buy another.

The tank is made of glass so hopefully no issues with cracking due to certain e-liquid use. The drip tip can be replaced with a standard 510 sized drip tip.
The SMOK Stick AIO I am reviewing is in Gold – this has a finish similar to highly polished copper – get some wire wool and furiously rub a copper pipe and this is what you will see.

This comes in a few other colours- rainbow, Silver and black. I personally think the 7 colour rainbow on screen looks the most attractive.

Little touches like the vape band/tank protector being included make me happy – put this around the glass area of the tank to help protect it from damage. Also a spare coil is a nice touch – some more expensive devices often give you the very bare minimum in the starter kit.

There is an odd gap between the top cap and the body – this initially annoyed me – does look like it’s not correctly assembled – however this is the airflow intake and not a flaw or assembly error.
The device has a solid well-built feel, no rattles or loose bits. However the device I had did have an initial fault – the centre tube from the mouthpiece to the centre of the coil was slightly at an angle making the coil wonky – which caused lots of spitting.

I did rectify this with a screwdriver. This could be an isolated case – and I just got the rare dodgy one – but I thought I would mention why I rated the build quality so low when it otherwise is a nice solid device.

The Tank:

The tank is integral to the device – I’m really not sure how you would clean this – other than just wiping it out. I didn’t have to clean this as I tend to use the same flavour liquid in different mixes.

The Battery:

The battery again is integral to the device – so if it fails you will have to replace the whole thing sadly.

The USB lead plugs into the side of the body and you leave it to charge. A red light next to the USB connection illuminates whilst charging. When fully charged this light goes out.

With the USB cable attached the device doesn’t want to stand up though. It tries to – then when you least expect it falls over and makes you and the dog jump out of your skins.

The fire button is firm, works on every single press even if slightly off centre. It doesn’t rattle or feel loose. The backlight is so dim you can hardly see it though.

The actual device gets pretty warm as you are using it – but the drip tip stays comfortable.

In The Hand

It sits lovely in the hand – I have quite small hands and even I found it smaller than I expected it to be.

How Does the SMOK AIO Perform?

First lets take a quick look at our quick start guide to show you how easy this is to get up and vaping.

Basic operation

• 5 click on/off
• 15 flashes of the button backlight = time for a charge.

How To Fill The Tank

• Swing across the top part of the device – as if you were trying to unscrew the drip tip.

• Make sure to squirt the liquid into the hole shaped like a smile. Do not squirt the liquid into the large centre hole – unless your mouth is lined with asbestos and a raging fire in your lungs is your idea of fun.
• Swing the top cap closed again.

How To Change The Stick AIO Coil

When the flavour starts to taste burnt (unless the tank is empty – check this first), or the performance drops then it’s time for a coil change. Also you have to install a coil to get started when you first buy this. Good news is the tank doesn’t have to be empty to change.

• Unscrew the top cap.
• The coil fits into the underside of the top cap.
• Simply unscrew old coil and screw in new coil.

• Screw top cap onto tank.
• Fill the tank to the required level, best practice not to fill to the top.
• Leave the device to stand for 10 minutes to prime the coil. If you don’t you run the risk of a horrible burnt taste that makes you cough up a spleen!

Flavour & Cloud Production

I used 3mg/ml and 6mg/ml nicotine Apollo DSRT – high VG (80/20) E-liquid with this.

Further Reading: What is PG and VG in E-liquid?

As this is a Sub Ohm device (coil resistance is less than 1 ohm) – it performs better with High VG E-liquid.

You generally need a lower nicotine strength for sub ohm devices as you get a very strong throat hit anyway – so between 3-6mg/ml of nicotine if you do use nicotine liquid. Any stronger than that can be pretty rough!

It is pretty noisy in use – has quite a hiss about it – similar to spraying an aerosol can. So not very stealthy and the cloud of vapour would be pretty hard to sneak out anyway!

0.23 ohm AIO Coil

These coils are specific to this device and others from the SMOK range are not compatible. So you only have 0.23 ohm AIO coils to choose from.

The coils appear to be available in packs of 5 at a price comparable to other replacement coil heads. Viewing some early purchaser reviews it does appear that people find it disappointing that there is only one type of coil available.

The shortest inhale results in clouds you really wouldn’t expect. Like a magician pulling knotted hankies from his sleeve- the cloud just keeps going –when you really didn’t think you inhaled that much!

The cloud production is always dependent on the e-liquid used and personal opinion – however this seems to be a great vapour production to me and I have used way more expensive and advanced devices than this.

The airflow was spot on – enough to be able to taste the liquid but not like sucking on a drainpipe either. It is, however, non-adjustable.

As you can imagine with a coil running at full whack all the time the coil life is pretty short. I think 2-3 days was the average.

The angry feral kitten can spit when it wants to. If you wrap a tissue around the airflow intake and blow into the drip tip briefly this does clear the spitting.

I also had to remove the drip tip and put something absorbent down the hole through the coil to mop up the liquid. You can use a Q Tip or tightly rolled tissue for this. After this hold the device away from you and press fire for a couple of seconds until it stops spitting.

I had very few dry hits from this – straight from the start. I didn’t prime the coil in any way other than filling the tank and allowing it to stand for 10 minutes before use.

With high VG e-liquid this is pretty amazing – I have quite advanced tanks which give out the occasional taste of ashtray when using high VG liquid. The – I quote – “balance e-juice wicking via a bi-direction 4 hole” (?!) system is working and working very well.

This delivers in one second what other devices take 5-6 seconds to give you.

This is a direct to lung device. I found using this constantly – even with very short inhales I was very thirsty as it did dry my mouth and throat.

• Check out our top rated e-juice brands

Battery Life

The battery life is poor really – at 1600mAh it’s not a powerful battery for low resistance coils and they do require more power.

More annoying was that you get no warning or indication of battery level until the device flashes 15 times to tell you the voltage is below 3.3v and then it doesn’t want to play anymore. Luckily I was at home and close to a charger – but if I wasn’t I wouldn’t be happy.

What I Like

The Smok Stick AIO is super simple to use. Charge up, fill up and off you go! For such a small device the performance was a real surprise – it’s incredible – a pocket furnace! If you handed this to another vaper to try they would be so impressed they would want to know the model and where to buy it from.

Filling is as simple as it gets and the fact that you don’t have to empty the tank to change the coil is another huge plus. Putting the issue I had with my AIO aside, it’s a very well made device – all metal, nice weight, stands up well (except when charging!)

The size makes it very pocket friendly, I have included photos (above) of this device in my hand – but I’m a girl with teeny weeny hands!

Finally, it’s a very low maintenance e cigarette. Not the lowest maintenance device (I consider disposables to be the ultimate low maintenance) however the only maintenance needed is coil changes, charging and filling.

• Check out our best rated vape pens

What I Dislike

Battery life isn’t great but this is very much dictated by the size of the device. The smaller the e cig, the smaller the battery. Nature of the beast! There are larger devices in the SMOK Stick range with 2000mAh and 3000mAh batteries.

No warning its about to go sleep on you. Just 15 flashes when the voltage is too low which is followed by the battery cutting out. Ok if you near a charger – not ok if you out and about.

The SMOK Stick AIO tank can’t be changed to modify performance, although that is the idea of an All In One device so think if that is important to you before you buy. At the time of writing there is only one coil option available, hopefully Smoktech will introduce more options soon! I also found the coil life wasn’t the best (with the coils supplied in the kit).

The lack of adjustable airflow may bother some but for me the airflow is spot on.

Last but not least I did receive a device where the centre tube was at an angle, likely just mine but not a good thing none-the-less!

Final Review Verdict

If you like a cloud creating, tasty, direct to lung vape this is a great place to start. It’s pretty addictive to be honest – I found myself picking it up a lot. The taste is wonderful.

I’m not really sure where this sits in the market. The Sub Ohm capabilities put this as more advanced than a starter device, however I would think a lot of advanced users would not be keen on the idea of an All in One – other than as a second device as its portable and low maintenance? This is also ideal for more advanced vapers with zero time or inclination to put effort into their vaping device.

I always welcome devices which are “plug and play” and this is definitely one of those. The high level of vaping technology can be intimidating to a lot of people and this is a wonderful gateway device into the world of sub ohming. It is just so practical and easy to use – it almost throws itself together – definitely ideal for technophobes.

At this price you really can’t go wrong – if the device appeals to you – just buy it. This device is like a pool playing hustler. They play terribly to encourage you to fork out money in bets – then when the cash is out – they show their true colours and pot every ball on the table. This gives the appearance of a basic starter device- then outperforms your expectations.

The “Mom” test – could I give this device to my (cig-a-like using) mom to use? A huge NO WAY!! This would traumatise her and no doubt give her a phobia of vaping!

Have you used the AIO Stick from SMOK? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

Pros

• Excellent price for the kit and replacement coils also reasonable.
• Plenty of power for a small device
• The top fill is so easy.
• Good length USB cable.
• Everything except E-liquid is in the box ready to go.
• Excellent quality
• Lovely size- pocket friendly
• Low maintenance

Cons

• Battery life not the best with low resistance coils
• No indication of remaining battery.
• Light on fire button isn’t very bright.
• Top cap screw threads are a bit “squeaky”.
• No Airflow adjustment – however to me the airflow is already spot on.
• Coil life – this does get through the coils pretty quick.
• Device I received was faulty and needed a quick fix.