Table of Contents
SMOK GBC Clearomizer – $5.99
Introduction
The good people of Vaporetti generously provided the SMOK GBC clearomizer for the purpose of review.
The GBC, on the whole, is an interesting device from SMOK precisely because, unlike some of their other offerings like the Magneto, the ARO, and the Trophy tank, it’s clearly not inspired by anything else on the market. It’s just… inspired. Let’s get right down to brass tacks with the GBC.
Presentation
The presentation of the GBC on SMOK’s end is nothing particularly ornate or ostentatious. It arrives in a simple white box, as do so many of its brothers and sisters. It’s on Vaporetti’s end where things get classy.
The standard, almost nondescript white box with black branding and straightforward information is presented in a small plastic gift bag adorned with tiny red stars and closed with red ribbon-like twist tie. This is something that’s never going to fail to put a smile on my face when I open a package from Vaporetti.
Features & Specs
The specs on the GBC are very, very nice. SMOK really did themselves, and their users, a solid by opting for the standard 510-connection for the GBC. With the transparent plastic tank offering a generous 4ml eliquid capacity, this device is sufficient for extended outings. Shipping with a pre-installed 1.9 ohm Kanger atomizer head of the type common to the EVOD and ProTanks 1 and 2, the device arrived ready to fill and vape.
But while the specs may seem a little dry and none too exciting, the build quality and aesthetics are anything but.
Aesthetics & Build Quality
This is where the GBC shows itself to be something really special. The entire tank, from the threads that attach it to its base all the way up to the comfortably wide integrated mouthpiece, is all one curvaceous piece.
One look, and you’ll know that this particular clearomizer — on the point of its design sensibility, at any rate — is like nothing else out there. The same goes for the lines between the tank and the base assembly, which are so flush and trim that I can’t help but appreciate them.
There’s simply nothing about this design that isn’t immensely user-friendly and simply gorgeous to look at. If only it were just about being pretty, I feel no shame or hesitation in saying that the GBC could have been a Nova killer. I have to qualify that remark and keep it shy of full-fledged praise, though, because beyond the display case, it isn’t just about being pretty. Performance matters more, and in the case of the GBC, as with SMOK’s other clearomizers, well…
Performance & Real World Experience
This is the part that, for me, is just about infuriatingly frustrating. And yet, at the same time, a little bewildering. You see, the GBC, in my experience, is crippled by SMOK’s selection of atomizer head.
Once again, we have the Kanger EVOD/ProTank head driving this device. And yet, because of the brilliance of the rest of the design, it’s still a solid performer! It’s just… not the performer it could be.
While flavor on this device is quite muted compared to other devices in my arsenal, it shows greater presence than it does in other SMOK clearomizers. This may be owing to the unified nature of the device’s design. It’s almost certainly due in no small part to the wider, gentler plastic mouthpiece, as metallic mouthpieces do have a tendency to impart a metallic tint to the flavor of the vapor that passes over them, whether to a greater or lesser degree depends on the specific device.
That effect is gloriously absent from the vapor produced by the GBC — however, sadly, so is the vividness in flavor typically enjoyed by users of other brands’ atomizer heads. And yet, something about the GBC’s design mitigates the weaknesses of the Kanger atomizer head. Perhaps it’s the unified “bell” shape, I’m not sure.
Vaping Vaporetti’s own Marano Tobacco (look for the review later today!), I get very good flavor fidelity and presence, and of course amazingly solid throat hit and good visual vapor output.
In real world use, the 4ml capacity, combined with competent if not stellar performance, makes the GBC a winner in spite of the atomizer head it uses.
Recommendation
Would I recommend the SMOK GBC clearomizer? Yes, I would. Its combination of generous eliquid capacity and striking good looks, in my opinion, overcome the last-generation level of performance from its included atomizer head to make it a solid device at an especially reasonable asking price of $5.99
John Castle
The new SMOKTech GBC Tank comes with:
- 1 x 3ml Tank Tube
- 1 x GBC Tank Base
- 1 x Replaceable 2.4ohm Coil head installed
