SMOK Minos Sub-Ohm/RTA 25mm Tank

SMOK Minos 25mm Sub-Ohm Tank w/RBA Deck

$24.95 – $25.95

Don’t let the SMOK Minos Sub-Ohm Tank fool you with its short stature; this 25mm tank has a 4mL capacity… and although the extra 3mm in width will cause a bit of hangover for mods built for 22mm, when used on mods that easily handle 25mm widths this chuff topped tank will give the TFV8 Baby Beast a run for its money.

Early last week, when I was tossed the SMOK Minos Sub-Ohm for review my initial reaction was “Not another 2mL tank! I can’t stand refilling constantly.”. From the photo on the box there is nothing to indicate how wide the tank is, or how much ejuice it can hold, you can only determine that the tank is short, and short meant 2mL.

But, it’s not my job to refuse a review, so I took it home and decided to ignore the capacity and focus on the flavor, vapor, and craftsmanship of the tank. In the grand scheme of things, does it really matter if a good tank holds 2mL or 4mL? Not really. It’s a matter of convenience only, and convenience is subjective anyway.

After unboxing the stainless steel and glass SMOK Minos Sub-Tank I read through the short manual to learn the official specs and it was then I noticed that the tank was 25mm wide and held 4mL of juice. I felt a relief well up in gut and rush up to my head. I enjoy SMOK tanks, and I had hope for the Minos and wasn’t looking forward to ranting about how stupid 2mL capacity tanks are in the age of HighVG ejuice, High Wattage mods and Low Resistance coils. The UK’s law concerning 2mL maximum capacity doesn’t make a lick of sense. That said; SMOK has also released the Minos Sub-Ohm Tank in a 22mm model that hold 2.5mL of juice, so I should count my lucky stars I wasn’t given that tank to review.

SMOK Minos Sub-Ohm Tank – Flavor

The Minos tank comes with a preinstalled 0.35Ω Fused Clapton (Kanthal) called “Minos Q2 Core atomizer heads” and a wide 2-post RBA Deck that is super easy to work with. Rebuilders are going to enjoy working on the large deck and utilizing any build and/or wire material they see fit. Vapers that buy the SMOK Minos for its sub-ohm coil heads will enjoy the excellent flavor and ample clouds of vapor that these coil heads can produce.

The 0.35Ω coils are rated at 30-80W, though 80W was impossible for me during the review period. These proprietary coil heads (3 to a pack, about $10-$12 a pack) require a lot less power than the SMOK TFV8 replacement coils, which range begins at 50W and extends to 260W, dependent upon which coil head the vaper chooses. In my experience with the Minos, 70W was pushing it with a new coil, and it was only after a good deal of break-in time was I able to use 65W-69W comfortably; a far cry from vaping all day long at 110W-140W with the TFV8.

The ability to provide excellent flavor and more than enough clouds at much lower power levels means saving on ejuice and battery life. I’m certainly not saying the Minos is anywhere close to being as good as one of the TFV8’s for flavor or cloud chasers, but for vapers who are unwilling to venture into extreme vaping, it is a very suitable alternative.

Let’s Vape with The Minos!

Because I’ve been vaping since late 2011 I sometimes get a bit cocky when it comes to using new vape gear. This happened with my initial few hours with the SMOK Minos Sub-Ohm Tank. I want to replay those mistakes below so in the event that you pick one up you won’t make the same mistakes I did.

Seeing that the preinstalled coil head was 0.35Ω my first wattage setting on my Lost Vape Triade was 55W, and at that I thought I was being conservative… start at 55W and work up. I dropped some ejuice into the coil head, filled the tank, and let it sit for roughly 5 minutes. Then, to prime the tank properly I took in a few huge inhales without power to the mod, and set it back down again. A few more minutes passed, I picked up the mod, pressed the Fire Button and took a direct lung hit… and scorched the coils like an idiot.

The taste out of the chuffed drip tip was sickening. That ugly flavor of scorched cotton and burnt metal is just disgusting. I drew it away from my lips and cursed it like crazy. Only then did I bother to find out that coil rating of 30-80W.

So, to make matters worse, I didn’t bother to find out about eliquid ports. These ports, small rectangular ports on the metal ring surrounding the coil head, are not mentioned in the manual, but they play a vital role in a successful vape. Putting the tank together, attaching it securely to the mod, properly filling it, and opening the airflow slots on the base of the tank will leave you with closed eliquid ports unless you actively open them. Opening the eliquid ports to allow enough ejuice to flow to the coils requires moving glass tube to the right, just slightly. Doing so moves the entire tank on the mod, but it also reveals the juice ports, 4 of them. As you move the tank to reveal the ports you’ll notice a slight clicking sound as the ports open. Once fully opened the direct lung vaping proceeds beautifully. I don’t recommend any other setting than ‘wide open’.

Scorched Coil Recovery

Usually, scorching a coil head destroys it, unless it uses ceramic coils which recover easily. These coil heads are not ceramic, but if they are not badly scorched they can be recovered with a little work.

Note* Below is my self-taught method for coil recovery of non-ceramic coils. I cannot promise you that it will work for you, but just in case you wind up doing what I did, approaching the Minos with a bit more confidence that you should, you might be able to recover your coil.

Remove the coil head and wipe the thick eliquid off. Run the coil head under lukewarm water for several seconds. Dry the coil head off with a lint-free cloth, or allow to air dry if you have the time.

Return the coil head to the tank, attach the tank to the mod. Set the wattage mode to 25W-30W, and hit the Fire Button a few times, in short bursts. This will evaporate any water drops that remained inside the coil head housing.

Refill the tank, let it sit for 10 minutes, at least, set the wattage to 30W-35W and take short lung hits until you’re confident the coil has regained its ability to function properly. If you scorched the cotton beyond repair, you’ll know it. The only thing left to do is to toss the coil and use a new one.

If the coils recover it will be well broken in. With the eliquid ports wide open, with HighVG ejuice, you can push the tank to 50W+ from then on. 50W provides great flavor but cool vapor, 60W is better, 70W is a tad too much, 65W is a nice balance of great flavor and slightly warm vapor.

The SMOK Minos Sub-Ohm 25mm model comes with the RBA tank instead of an extra coil, so it’s a good idea to buy a pack of coil heads at the same you purchase the tank. I make it a point to this with most tank purchases, but always with a tank that comes with a single coil head.

Cone Drip Tip

Like the first batch of the TFV8 Baby Beast, the SMOK Minos Sub-Ohm Tank features a cone drip tip, otherwise known as a RDA Drip Tip. The drip tip features a V-Shaped airflow design that pretty much eliminates spit back, something I haven’t experienced at all with the Minos. But, any cone shape drip tip must possess one property you can’t live without… Heat dissipation.

Cone drip tips are short and wide, and you have to wrap your lips around them if you want a decent vape. If it is not equipped to disperse the heat adequately you’re in for a nice lip burn. Fortunately, the SMOK Minos drip tip, and the top cap maintains a lukewarm temperature at the upper end of the wattage scale.

SMOK Minos – Top Fill

The SMOK Minos Sub-Ohm Tank is a slight throwback to earlier sub-ohm tanks. The airflow slots are on the base, and the top-fill method is a simple removable top cap that reveals two large crescent moon slots for filling. It’s simple, fast, and mistake-free. I can’t say that the Stainless Steel “color” model will have the same silky smooth threading that the black Minos has (the Freemax Starre Pure in black has silky threads while the SS model does not), but if you decide to pick one up I’d say go for the black one because I know the threads are silky.

The SMOK Minos RBA Deck

The SMOK Minos Sub-Ohm Tank (25mm) includes the Minos M2 RTA Deck which features a large Velocity-style build deck. It comes with a prebuilt NiChrome 0.3ohm dual wire preinstalled, all you need to do is add cotton (not included). I asked Tom’s opinion of the deck, and the preinstalled coils, and he is of the opinion that anyone just starting out with coil building, or advanced users looking to try some fancy builds, would love the deck because of the large size and the height of the posts.

I used some generic organic cotton I found in my desk drawer to complete the RTA. The results were fairly spectacular, although I liked the flavor production from the coil heads over the NiChrome coils and generic cotton. Coil builders will undoubtedly do a better job than I.

In addition to the RTA deck, the SMOK Minos Sub-Ohm Tank includes one replacement glass tube, an allen key, a set of o-rings and a few screws.

Conclusion

I like this tank. However, for fans of the SMOK TFV8 Cloud Beast and Baby Beast, I don’t see much of a need for the Minos. The Minos is more of a standalone tank, an alternative to the TFV8 line. It’s very large coil heads require less wattage to perform well, and this in turn will give the user more battery life and use up less eliquid when compared to either TFV8.

Changes…

The SMOK Minos Sub-Ohm Tank is an excellent flavor tank, and that is the tank’s purpose. But there are some things I would definitely change to make the tank even better.

Eliquid Ports – Although there are 4 ports for eliquid to flow to the coils, these ports are very small. Deep lung hits at 65W will scorch the cotton more times than not. If you want to vape at 65-70W you will need to take slower hits, it cannot keep up. If the Minos was to be my only sub-ohm tank I wouldn’t buy it because I am an aggressive vaper, I like deep, fast, lung hits and I don’t want to worry about tearing up the back of my throat.

Coil Heads – I find the flavor from both TFV8’s to be spectacular, so I’m at a loss as to why SMOK felt it necessary to build another proprietary coil head. It makes more sense to use the same coils, though I realize the Minos than becomes a Baby Beast. Having said that, I’m more than happy with the flavor and vapor from Minos Q2 Core.

Lastly, when it comes right down to it, the Minos is better off marketed as an RTA then it is a Sub-Ohm tank. The large deck will sell this tank to builders looking for this style of tank, more so than sub-ohm users looking for something other than the TFV8 family. Tom opined that if he owned the Minos as an RTA the first thing he would do is enlarge the juice ports. I agree.

You can find the SMOK Minos Sub-Ohm Tank 25mm w/RBA deck at most vendors. The price will range from $24.95 to $26.95, and a 3-pck of coils will set you back about $10 or so. While I “grade” this tank highly, I think it’s only fair to mention that last week I purchased a handful of the Freemax Starre PURE, an exquisite sub-ohm tank with ceramic and cotton coils for $23.95 each.

Grade – B+

“The SMOK Minos Sub-Ohm tank delivers on its promise as a short, stubby 4mL Sub-Ohm/RTA tank with wonderful flavor and ample vapor. It is not the perfect tank, but it is a good one. For vapers that look at the TFV8 tanks with trepidation, the Minos is an excellent alternative. Pick up a pack of coils at the same time.”

Julia Hartley-Barnes

SMOK Minos Sub-Ohm Tank Features:

• 25mm Diameter
• 4mL Juice Capacity
• Superior Stainless Steel Construction
• Pyrex Glass Reinforcement
• Convenient Threaded Top-Fill Method
• 3ohm Minos Q2 Core – rated for 30-80W
• 3ohm Minos M2 Deck – 24.5mm Build Deck
• Two-Post, Dual Terminals Design
• 510 RDA Drip Tip – V-Shape Airflow
• Adjustable Bottom Airflow Control
• 510 Connection

In The Box:

• 1 Minos Tank
• 1 Preinstalled 0.3ohm Minos Q2 Coil Head (Kanthal)
• 1 Minos M2 Deck – RBA Head (preinstalled dual NiChrome .3Ω coils)
• 1 Replacement Glass Tube
• 1 Allen Key
• Spare Parts
• Instructional Manual