Table of Contents
Is The eLeaf iStick 40w TC The Best Mod For New Vapers?
Vaping with Julia
The eLeaf iStick 40 TC (temperature control) is in such high demand that it is arguably the most popular vaporizer on the market right now, especially for new vapers. Why do you think that is? I have an idea, and I’ll share it with you below. If you disagree, post your opinion in the comments… let’s talk about this.
First, for those of you who may not be familiar with this very cool box mod, here’s are some of the reasons I like the device enough to use it daily, despite my collection of much more expensive devices, and why I think new Vapers are snapping them up in big numbers as well.
Sometimes big things come in small packages.
Aesthetically speaking the iStick 40W TC Box Mod is very much an iStick. The size, shape, and appearance scream iStick, but there are a couple of tweaks that give its appearance a sophisticated feel, and some technical features that make it the best iStick yet.
The curves are slightly less curvy and the height/width/depth have a slightly different ratio than the iStick 20w or 30w, though they are similar. Even the finish of the exterior feels just a little richer. I describe it people who have never seen one up close as an iStick that has been polished to perfection.
There are two big differences in the iStick 40w TC that separate it from the other iSticks appearance-wise. They are the rounded fire buttons instead of the square/rectangle buttons, and the slots at the top of the device provide a lanyard (edit- DF).
The iStick 40w TC is also the only iStick offered in sophisticated gunmetal grey. The iStick 40W TC fits comfortably in your hand, like all the other iSticks, but in a way that feels like eLeaf did a lot of research into what would be the ‘most’ comfortable shape to fit the majority of palms in the population. (Though they probably didn’t do the research)
The Eleaf iStick 40W TC is, much like the other iSticks, a true variable voltage/variable wattage vaporizer. For newer vapers that have enjoyed the advantages of variable voltage once they moved past the dreadful cig-a-like devices, and having the option to use variable voltage in a box mod can help with the transition to variable wattage mode, which I think is a more reliable way of customizing your vape.
A feature that was overlooked in the past about the iStick series is the ability to fire down into the sub-ohm range for atomizers, before subohm was even a ‘thing’. The iStick 40w TC is capable of firing down to 0.05-ohm in Temperature Control mode with Ni200 coils (Nickel), and down to 0.15-ohm with normal Kanthal wire coils. Don’t skip over this part; I’m talking “Zero-Point-Zero-Five”, as in HALF of a TENTH of an Ohm. The iStick 50w, on the other hand, can fire down to 0.2-ohms, which is ultra low, so the iStick 40w TC is considered firing down to ultra-ultra-low ohms. The iStick 50w is NOT a Temperature Control box mod, so a fair comparison would be the iStick 40w TC fires down to 0.15 vs. the iStick 50w firing down to 0.2-ohms. The advantage is a higher constant amperage output.
The maximum wattage output is, of course, 40 watts, providing enough power to push most tanks. The iStick 40W TC features a spring-loaded center connection pin so 99.99% of the tanks and glassomizers will get solid connections. It even comes with an eGo-thread adapter for Vapers wanting to continue using clearomizers.
The above features are a step above the previous iStick but the biggest feature is its temperature control technology.
Temperature Control
Manufacturers and vapers are adopting ‘Temperature Control’ faster than any previous breakthrough in vaporizers, including the move to variable wattage a couple of years ago. Tank manufacturers are working at breakneck speed to rework their tanks to utilize Ni200 (Nickel) coil heads, and we’re just now beginning to see Ni200 coils offered for the most popular tanks. John’s recent review for the new FreeMax Starre Pro points out that Ni200 coil heads ship as standard equipment with the Pro tank.
Temperature control can improve the quality of your vape in big ways. Temperature Control can ‘box in’ the temperature of an atomizer coil made with Ni200 wired coils so that when used properly a Vaper won’t experience the dreaded dry hit that creates a searing pain your throat and a horrible burnt taste in your mouth… and an to some extent Temperature Control can warm up the vapor without turning up the wattage output. I find that when using Temperature Control in any TC-equipped vaporizer I can maximize the flavor of any High VG e liquid. Now that an iStick has been created with Temperature Control technology is it any wonder that the iStick 40w TC is selling better than any previous iStick?
Further top-notch features include a 2,600-mAh built-in battery, several safety features like short-circuit protection, automatic shutoff protection if the internal temperature rises too high, low voltage protection, over-discharge protection, pass-through vaping, and an on/off feature to extend battery life. What’s missing if you compare this device with $200 devices?
Why We Recommend The iStick 40w TC To New Vapers
I want to be clear here; yes we do recommend the iStick 40w TC to new Vapers, which I’ll explain below, but we also recommend the device to intermediate and even advanced Vapers as well. Hell, even Tom owns one!
You can buy the iStick 40w TC for as little as $32.99 (Vapor Authority) while other Temperature Control 40w box mods can sell as high as $150. In my opinion, eLeaf’s Temp Control technology is every bit as good as Evolv’s DNA40 temperature control, when it comes to protecting yourself from dry hits and as a vapor warmer. The iStick 40w TC’s safety features are also every bit as good as box mods costing 5 times as much.
New Vapers And Smoking
New Vapers want, and need, a vaporizer that can satisfy their need for nicotine AND satisfy their hand-to-mouth habit. The amount of vapor production vs. smoke production from tobacco cigarettes also contributes to the success rate for ex-smokers. No matter how good a cig-a-like brand portends to be, the reality is a cig-a-like’s success rate is horribly low when compared to the success rate of vaporizers like the iStick line. Because the price of the iStick 40w TC is so affordable any New Vaper can avoid the ugly cost of a cig-a-like starter kit by picking up the iStick 40w TC starter kit, available soon with the GS-Tank, the perfect companion.
Other devices, like the Kanger Subox is also an excellent device for new Vapers, as is the Joyetech eVic-VT, although both devices lack some features of the iStick 40w TC. The eLeaf GS-Tank was built with mouth-to-lung Vapers in mind, and as we all know, most smokers enjoy the mouth-to-lung method when smoking cigarettes. For the “lung hit” Vaper the eLeaf iJust 2 is the perfect companion tank. Even the Kanger Subtank Mini or the Joyetech Mega Tank can be great companion tanks as well.
Personal Opinion
Now, I know that to some cynical readers this column is going to come across as some sort of paid advertorial, but I assure you that is not the case. My only interest is to bring more smokers into the world of vaping.
There are too many people in Boston that use a cig-a-like and continue to smoke cigarettes. I see it every damn day. Clearly the cig-a-like is not working well enough to bring a smoker all the way over to the vape community. Smokers need more than the cig-a-like can provide and when I first began using the iStick 40w TC I knew that this was the vaporizer that could do the job that cig-a-likes can’t, and do it cheaper than most cig-a-like starter kits.
I have tried in vain to convince John to create an iStick 40w TC starter kit of our own, a kit that would contain the vaporizer, the GS-tank, and a bottle of the 2014 eLiquid of the year, the Rocket Fuel Vapes Reaper. John doesn’t want Spinfuel in the business of selling vape gear, and I get that, but with the performance and safety of the iStick 40w with the mouth-to-lung performance of the GS-Tank, and a bottle of the best tobacco flavored ejuice, the combination would do more to make full time Vapers out of all the dual use smoker/vaper folks out there.
I’m a big believer that whatever vaporizer/tank/ejuice combo works to make a vaper out of a smoker is huge, and from what I have seen this year the eLeaf iStick 40w TC has the best chance to achieve that goal.
So, dear readers, do you agree? Disagree? Do you know a better combination that we should urge smokers to use? Do you think the cig-a-like is enough?
Julia Hartley-Barnes
