Smok Scar Mini 80w Review

Smok seems to be well and truly up and running again, seemingly releasing a new product every few weeks of late. They’ve dipped their toes in almost every area of vaping whether it be RDA’s, RTA’s, Pod Kits, even stick mods.

But where they shine is with their coils. Both the RPM coil range as well as the newer RPM2 range put out some fantastic flavour, and wick really well. Another of their coil offerings is their TFV9 or Baby beast compatible coils, which are designed for high wattage, and while not quite as flavourful as the RPM ranges, they do provide some pretty good flavour for general use among their tanks.

Well, their TFV9 mesh coils are back, and in a much smaller sized kit!

Let’s take a look at Smok’s trimmed down Scar Mini Kit!

A big thank-you goes out to Smoktech for sending this through for me to review!

Photos

First Impressions – Rundown

If you’re not familiar, the Smok Scar 18 kit was their version of a rugged IP67 rated device, something that can be knocked about on a work site that could withstand the everyday abuse of some of our less delicate of work places. It was quite large and heavy to hold, but did the job well, making sure you won’t run out of e-liquid nor battery life with it’s dual batteries and 6.5ml e-liquid capacity.

This is the Scar 18’s little brother, and as you can see by some of my photos above, it shares some pretty similar styling, as well as general functionality.
In fact, Smok have opted to make the Scar Mini, as close of a match to the original Scar 18 as they possibly could, even providing a TFV9 mini tank that almost mirrors the original except on a much smaller scale.

The MOD

As I mentioned the styling of the device is quite similar to the original Scar 18, with a zinc-alloy frame covered in a rubber layer, a cage-like exeskeleton, with patterned and padded leather inserts on the heel. It feels quite solid in the hand and gives you a feeling that you’ve got a good grip on it at all times.

Up top you’ll notice the battery cap protruding above the body of the mod, it has quite a tight tolerance in the threading and can take a little bit of effort to take on or off, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Next to it is the 510 connection with spring loaded pin, which next to the battery cap, leaves very little room for anything but a 22mm tank, 23mm max.

Below the fold, and just like the Scar 18, you have a large square fire button, small screen and up and down buttons below that. This time they’re black and not colour coded to the device colour. All buttons have a nice clicky nature to them, but not so clicky that it’s annoying.

Underneath you’ll find a rubber plug hiding a USB Type-C charge port, which you likely won’t use because you of course use an external charger for your 18650 batteries, but it’s nice to know it’s there for emergencies.

I’ll also note here, that having that extra silicone plug on the bottom, introduces some displacement, and the device seems to wobble a little when placed on a flat surface. It stays put, but there is a slight wobble, a minor annoyance.

The Scar Mini also has a passthrough function, so you CAN vape, while it is charging. Again, for emergencies, of course 😉

Battery and charging

The Scar Mini takes an external 18650 battery, which is inserted positive down, in the battery tube accessible from the top of the device. It has a battery cap up top, that you unscrew, not unlike the original Eleaf Pico mods from back in the day.

Some batteries or batteries with double wraps, might not squeeze into this tube too easily, but I’ve had no issues with any of mine, something to keep in mind since batteries expand slightly as they get warm.

Already mentioned is the USB Type-C port underneath that also provides a Pass-through function so that you can vape while charging in an emergency.

Usage & Operation

As you can see from the image above, the screen is quite basic, with no colours to choose from, just a simple white on black display. It’s set back a little in the device too, I assume due to the IP67 rated casing, and to reduce water ingress.

While the screen is nothing to write home about, and some of the text can be really difficult to read, (that battery percentage is a horror!) operating the Scar Mini is straight forward. There isn’t a lot going on, and it’s really easy to navigate the controls of this one. Worth mentioning is the Wattage Lock, that I don’t often see on other devices, well done to Smok for that one. It just makes sense, wanting to lock your wattage to a specific setting.

Here are some of the button combinations you can use on the Rigel.

• Power On/Off : 5x clicks of Fire button
• Wattage Lock: Click both +/- buttons simultaneously
• Puff Clear: Fire and ‘-‘ buttons simultaneously
• Lock Device: x3 clicks of Fire button
  

The TFV9 Mini Tank

On top of the Scar Mini, is the smaller version of the TFV9, the TFV9 mini. It’s essentially just a shrunken down version of the original, that even uses the same coils. I really liked the TFV9 tank, as it handled very well, with a great quality vape, the mini is similar, just with a few extra gremlins.

It measures in at 55.8 x 23mm and has a 3ml capacity.

Up top you’ve got a delrin 510 drip tip which plugs into the swing top fill cap. Just like the TFV9, the top swing cap has a levelled clamp on one side, making sure that the cap sits nice and flush, keeping pressure on the internal silicone plug, to avoid any air getting in.

A straight glass tube is installed from factory, with another straight glass tube spare in the box. This I don’t really understand, a bubble glass option would have been brilliant, and something that you see in almost every other kit, why would Smok go for a straight glass option only?

Anyway, I digress, below that is your base, which when unscrewed, allows access to the TFV9 coil/baby beast coil which is also screwed down onto the base. Below, your cyclops airflow holes in the airflow adjustment ring provide excellent airflow that creates a nice dense vapour.

Airflow & Coils

Continuing on from the larger TFV9, the mini, is very similar, even the coils that it uses are the same, to it’s detriment, because they chew through the e-liquid rather quickly, and you’ll be refilling often.

You’ll find x2 V9 Mesh Coils in the Scar Mini box, they rate in at 0.15ohms, and their recommended wattage is between 40-90 Watts. I’ve been mainly vaping mine at around the 60 Watt mark, which puts out some great flavour without chewing through e-liquid as much as a higher setting.

The airflow is also very much the same, with Smok’s now signature, split cyclops airflow, creating a small amount of turbulence, to offer up quite a smooth and dense vape. The airflow control ring on the TFV9 mini, spins around enough to offer you a restricted DTL to an almost fully open DTL draw. There are stoppers in each direction to stop it from spinning all the way around, giving you some reference for adjustment when you’re not looking at it.

The TFV9 mini has an e-liquid capacity of 3ml, which is not bad considering the size of the tank and device, however, it ships with 0.15 ohm coils, which will burn through e-liquid really really quickly.
Ive found myself having to refill far too often, and it does get irritating. I have no idea why smok would release a 3ml tank with such low resistance coils, when a smaller coil with a higher resistance that burns through e-liquid at a slower rate would have not only been expected, but encouraged.

Filling

Filling isn’t rocket science. Lift the top cap slightly and swing it around to once side, to reveal the silicone insert. You’ll notice that there is a slight cut mark on one side, that’s the fill hole. Push your bottle nozzle into there, and start filling! The position of this fill hole to the drip tip is a little cumbersome, but filling can be achieved with some finesse.

One thing that I noticed with my copy was the swing top fill, the lid would not swing back cleanly, instead got stuck often on the catch at the front, leaving me having to force it to close properly.

Likewise, that silicone or rubber insert in the fill area, also comes loose every so often and gets caught up in the swing mechanism. Flattening it out so that it sits correctly again fixes the issue, but can be messy, and I definitely wouldn’t want to be doing that while out and about!

Another issue I’ve had has been from leaking after filling. It seems when swinging the fill cap closed, it creates a bit of pressure in the tank and forces eliquid out through the airflow ports, and the base. I’ve gotten a handful of ejuice more than once, and notice pooling around the bottom of the tank often after filling. I’m guessing that some type of pressure valve in the top could potentially fix this issue.

Does it leak?

I’ve noticed a little leaking from airholes and also around the base of the tank after filling. This, I’m assuming is from pressure build up in the tank when the lid is swung back into place. I’ve experienced no other leaking though.

Pros:

• Small portable size
• IP67 rated (water-resistant, shock-proof, dust-proof)
• Takes external battery
• Great vape and flavour
• USB Type-C Passthrough Charging
• No leakage while in use

Cons:

• Swing top fill doesn’t latch together easily
• Leakage whenever filling
• Can be difficult to fill
• Battery level really difficult to read
• Display is basic and leaves a lot to be desired
• No bubble glass (small capacity e-liquid for coil used)
• Goes through e-liquid really quickly
  
  

Where to Buy:

You can purchase the Smoktech Scar Mini 80W kit directly from the Smok Online Store. At the moment it’s up for sale around the $55 USD mark.

Conclusion

I have to admit, I was a little excited about getting my hands on a mini version of the Smok Scar, I loved the larger version, in particular the TFV9 tank which just works really well and gives such a great vape. Combine that with that nice rubbery finish, and the IP67 rating, you’ve got yourself a pretty tough setup for taking to work with you!

I’m sadly disappointed with this smaller offering however, I can understand the limitations with the size, and shrinking things down smaller is going to introduce it’s own issues, but the swinging fill cap mechanism on the TFV9 Mini is just plain irritating, and simply does not work correctly, and the small leaks I get after filling can get messy.

The fact that Smok have chosen to package this mini version with the exact same coils as the Scar 18 is a bit of a worry considering the coils are rated for up to 90 Watts. I can’t believe I’m saying this but packaging in some coils for a lower wattage use would have been more welcomed, considering not only the power usage but also the tiny 3ml tank finds itself empty far too often.

On the plus side, the Scar Mini puts out a fantastic vape! It’s a little more restricted than the Scar 18, but all in all the flavour is great, and the quality of vape is excellent.

I’m on the fence with this one, it’s a fantastic vape, but needs a little bit of attention on the finer details.

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.