Advken Barra Mesh Tank Review

Here’s a product that I thought I never would have purchased for myself, but now I’m not so sure. There’s something about a lightweight tank that can take various coils, with a dead simple fill port that is appealing.

The latest of range of Pod mods with 510 adapter’s are a perfect platform for a smaller, lighter tank, and there are several other applications I can think of. Keeping one for emergencies is one, another is for flavour sampling in vape shops where an expensive glass tank might be a little to pricey to maintain.

Let’s take a look at the Advken Barra Mesh Tank!!

Big thanks goes to Vaporstate, who are the Advken global partner in Australia, for sending this through for me to review!

Photos

General Info

The Barra Mesh Tank sizes up at about 24mm in diameter and isn’t much taller at only about 38-39mm, and is a real lightweight at apparently only 28 grams. The small stature of this tank lends itself really well for use on smaller single battery mods and Pod Mods that have a 510 adapter. But don’t let it’s small size fool you, this tank will pack a punch because it takes- standard sized small coils. That’s right not just Advken coils fit this, but also TFV8 Baby coils, GT Core Coils, Eleaf HW Coils and many more! The light weight of the Barra comes from its PCTG material, where most tanks use glass for the chamber, the Barra introduces a tough, shock resistant plastic just like many Pods that are in circulation today.

Some might call this a disposable tank, but does plastic really mean disposable? I’m not convinced of that, in fact I think the Barra fills a pretty important niche, it’s tough. Where glass might break if you’re out on a job site, or have pretty physical work, the PCTG brings peace of mind, that it can take a knock and not shatter.

The Barra comes in 2 different type of packaging, a full kit which includes coils, and a blister pack, which just includes the tank and base. I believe Advken have done this, due to the fact that it takes such common coils, that you may already have compatible coils at home, and you’ll just need to purchase the tank! The blister pack is a little cheaper in cost of course too!

The Base

The base is a pretty simple design. Completely made from stainless steel, with excellent machining, it incorporates the bottom adjustable airflow ring, allowing you to adjust your airflow from a pretty right MTL draw right through to a slightly restricted DTL draw.

The Tank

As mentioned earlier the tank section is made from PCTG plastic, so it is quite strong and shock resistant. Once you have installed a coil to the base, the tank simply screws in over the top, to complete the build.

It has a pretty groovy design with smart looking notches running down the sides to break up the circular shape, also giving a little more grip when removing it from the base. You’ll get 4ml of e-liquid into this champ, so if you’re running a conservative coil, you’ll get a decent amount of vaping time out of it, perhaps all day if you’re vaping on a lower wattage.

It has a built in drip tip, which I might add, is of a size that you can fit a standard 510 drip tip into. I don’t know why you’d do this besides in a vape shop flavour testing scenario, but its a feature. Perhaps if your coils are running a bit hot, you can add an additional drip tip, so that you don’t burn your lips. Either way, I’ve been using the Barra with just the standard mouthpiece and it’s been fine.

I would have preferred to have seen a removeable drip tip here, it would have made a little more sense and made filling a little easier. (I’ll explain this later)

Airflow

As mentioned the airflow control sits on the base section of the tank, and offers 2 large cyclops style airflow holes, with quite a range of airflow options. It’s a continuous adjustment, so you’re not locked into 4 or 5 settings, set it where you want for the vape that works for you.

It’s quite a smooth airflow, not too noisy, and the adjustment ring has a nice resitance to it without being to tight to turn.

Filling

Filling is easy, lift the silicone plug up from the top of the tank and fill.
I’ve noticed that the drip tip can get in the way a little if you’re filling from a large bottle, further pushing the requirement for a removeable drip tip.
Having said that, on a standard chubby gorilla bottle, you can just get the tip of the dispenser in there to fill cleanly, so as long as you’re paying attention, you won’t have any issues.

The Barra isn’t really disposable, it has a little more longevity than that, but I can see the silicone plugs might start to get a little worn over time. I noticed that there are no spares in the pack, this would have been a good thing to have on hand just in case, since a tank that isn’t sealed is a tank that will start to leak.

Coils

Advken provide 2 coils with the kit, and both perform really really well, with great flavour and no seepage.

• 0.16Ω mesh coil (60~80W)
• 0.2Ω mesh coil (50~70W)

I honestly can’t say which of these coils that I like better, they both perform really well, and give out excellent flavour. The resistance of these coils is so similar that the only real difference is their maximum wattage.

Any Leaks?

None from the provided coils. This has performed magnificently, nice smooth flavoursome vape without and leakage or seepage.

Obviously, experiences will vary depending on which coils you use with the Barra, some coils are not on the same level as others.

Pros:

• Great flavour
• Excellent airflow control
• Super simple to setup and use
• Accepts a multitude of coils
• Small and lightweight
• Cost effective
• Excellent for situations where a glass tank may get broken
  

Cons:

• Drip tip can get in the way when filling
• Fixed drip tip
• May not be as resistant to some acidic flavours as glass tank would.
• No spare fill plugs
  
  

Where to Buy:

The champions over at Vaporstate sent this through for me to review, so I’ll plug them here, head on over to Vaporstate’s Online Store and you can pick up the Advken Barra tank for $25 AUD for the kit, and $15 AU for the blister pack without coils. Excellent value for money for a brilliant little tank.

Secret Code: ADVKEN2020

Conclusion

The Advken Barra Mesh Tank has been a winner for me, it’s found it’s way into my rotation on smaller single battery devices that glass tanks feel top heavy on. (It goes great on the Advken Artha, and also the OXVA Origin X both with their 510 adapters)

Contrary to belief, this simply is not a disposable tank. The stainless steel base is quality, leaving this in the small/lightweight tank category rather than the disposable. You’ll find most disposables built a little more cheaply than this, and are just not machined as accurately and cleanly as the Barra.

I can see this tank being useful for those who do physical/manual work, who need a strong tank to withstand the knocks of their everyday lives.
It would also be a great addition for vape shops whom offer flavour tasting, it’s a cost effective tank, that takes most small coils compatible with GT Cores, so finding coils for this in the future is not going to be an issue. You can also pop an extra disposable drip tip in the top of this for hygiene while flavour testing.

With a 4ml capacity and great flavour, it’s a winner for anyone looking for a small lightweight tank to throw on top of smaller mods.

Excellent work Advken!

Shane Presser

Shane Presser has been vaping since 2013, and has extensive experience with advanced equipment, coil builds and DIY mixing. He is the man behind VapersGarage, and also more recently Aussie Vape Stores, a resource to help vapers find their nearest Vape Shops, and eLiquid Vendors.