Astral
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Innokin Sceptre Tube Kit.
Disclaimer: This is an independent review of a vape device kindly provided to me by @Innokin and is not associated with Planet Of The Vapes or any other organisation. The opinions here are purely my own and I am not receiving any payment or inducement for them.
First things first, I have to confess, this review might be a bit biased. In fact, it might be more than a bit biased, it might be gushingly sweet - nauseatingly, chocolatey mud cake gushingly sweet.
You see, I’m in love with the Innokin Scepter, in fact I love it so much I still consider it the best pod kit on the market and I’m currently on my fourth.
That’s not because they break - their build quality is excellent - it’s because I use them so much. As a pocket device, in addition to a main kit, there really is nothing better to have.
So when Innokin announced they were bringing out a new one, and asked me if I’d like to test it there wasn’t even the slightest part of me tempted to decline.
After all this Innokin, and this is a Scepter, something so perfect it’s naturally going to be brilliant isn’t it? And not something they could possibly mess up?
I even don’t think they could’ve done that if they’d tried - and thankfully they didn’t.
From the first moment I got my hands on it I knew they hadn’t, and more to the point I suspected they’d made a good thing even better.
When I received it, I was bouncing with anticipation. This was a moment to savor and I wasn’t disappointed in the slightest.
It was everything I hoped it would be. It was sleek, elegant, tasteful and perfectly proportioned for my tiny little paws.
The packaging wasn’t much to write home about, but then again, with Innokin it never is.
Since they’ve started using their laudable eco-friendly recyclable boxes and paper wraps, it’s all a bit mudain and plain, but it’s done with good intentions, so I have no complaints about that.
So, from the outside it isn’t much - just a brown cardboard box - but all the necessary contents are there and all perfectly sufficient.
You get your device, your two 0.5 ohm coils, your USB Type-C charging cable, some spare O-rings for your 510 drip-tip and your literature - and not much else.
But then again, what else do you need?
At least they haven’t omitted anything - like a second coil or the USB cable - to keep costs down like a lot of other manufacturers.
Oddly though, I wasn’t actually in too much of a hurry to actually vape it.
I already knew it would be good, as it uses the tried and trusted S-Coils from the original Sceptre and it’s bigger brother, the Sensis. The 0.5ohm is my personal favourite of these but the 1.2ohm is pretty good too.
Your choice is apparently limited to only the 0.5ohm and 1.2ohm varieties of S-Coil though, Innokin make no mention of it being compatible with the 0.25 ohm or 0.65 ohm coils, so whether it actually takes them or not, I don’t know without trying, and I didn’t have any on hand.
I hope it will take them though because I particularly like the 0.65 ohm S-Coil. It’s my personal favourite of the bunch.
Regardless of this though, it didn’t matter. The 0.5 ohm 18 - 20w kanthal mesh S-Coil really is a good one and I have no problem with that being my only option from the box.
Once primed, it was everything I expected it to be. Warm, flavourful and productive. It was like reacquainting myself with an old friend - and in the new pod I think they might have even surpassed the old one and it might be even better.
It all just felt so right.
I do have a nagging fear they might encounter a few of the complaints the first incarnation of the original did though.
It was very loose.
If you remember back to when the original Sceptre was launched there were a few in the reviewing community that weren’t too enamoured with it and actually criticised it for being too loose for a proper MTL experience, and Innokin rapidly and contritely brought out an MTL pod to rectify the situation.
As it goes, this new Sceptre is also loose and they may find themselves having to do the same again, but I think that with the omission of a 1.2 ohm S-Coil from the package they’re showing they’re more expecting this to be used by looser MTL users this time and perhaps aren’t so worried.
They say you have to close the airflow right down and use the 1.2 ohm coil if you want a tighter draw, and I can see why.
That said, it tightens just about well enough even with the 0.5 ohm coil fitted and it doesn’t bother me enough to make it a complaint, but it’s going to be very subjective.
So in many ways, this new tube Sceptre tube kit isn’t all that different from the original, but where it is, I can’t help but feel that the negatives are largely outweighed by the positives
For instance the battery might be down from 1400mah to 1300mah but it’s gained faster charging via 5v/1amp USB Type-C replenishment.
The liquid capacity may be down from 3ml to 2ml, but it’s gained top-fill via a retractable sliding top cap in place of the fiddly rubber bung, and this, in addition to the airflow control now being set by a rotating pod rather than digging your nails into a slider, they’ve clearly gone to big efforts to make this one more user friendly.
Another boon to this new update, is that they’ve avoided the fashion for integrating the coils into the pod and maintained their interchangeability, and as someone who cares about the environment and minimising waste, I can only applaud this.
The one big fear I had for this device was that they’d go down this route, but thankfully they haven’t, even if it is at the expense of a few sticky fingers.
Other than that, the changes to the device are largely cosmetic.
It still runs largely the same platform as before, it just comes in a 118.2 x 20mm Zinc-Alloy tubular form rather than the 106 X 29.18mm oblong bar - and this time it even stands upright!
Not that the old one lying flat mattered, it didn’t leak.
Other than that, the other aesthetic changes come in the form of a reshaped tubular 510 drip-tip to match the shape of the body, and some pleasing LED illuminations around the power button.
Click the power button once when it’s turned on and it’ll indicate whether your battery is below 10%, between 10 and 50%, or above 50% by illuminating red, yellow or green. Click the power button twice in quick succession and the LED will indicate whether you’re in 18w or 20w mode by turning blue or purple. Click the power button three times and you’ll turn it on or off. Simple.
It comes in an equally pleasing array of six solid or graduated colours - silver, black, white, red, pink and purple - although with Innokin being Innokin you can be sure these won’t be the only colours available for long and there’ll soon be plenty of updates and special editions for your perusal.
Get one of these and you’ll look even more snazzy!
Quite why they’ve chosen to make it a tube though is anyone’s guess, but it differentiates it from it’s cousin nicely, and it performs just as well, if not better.
It’s as comfortable in the hand as it is in the mouth and the vape is just as well, so, all in all, this is a nice little update to the Sceptre.
It might be a little on the loose side for you. But if you like it, I really think you might find it hard to beat. Only the original possibly still does that.
And if this all sounds a bit of a PR-ish, it probably is.
But not because I’m being paid for it, or receiving any inducement at all for that matter, I’m not, it’s just because I love it so much and I’d like everyone else to enjoy it too.
I might be a bit sycophantic, but that’s for good reason. I genuinely believe the Scepter is the best pod device on the market and this new version provides variety on something already great..
There may be a lot of other choices these days including many from Innokin, but I genuinely believe there’s nothing better than these.
I’ve been using a Sceptre ever since it first came out and I don’t see that changing any time soon.
Of course taste and preference are all subjective, but to be honest, you can’t go wrong with any of Innokin’s offerings at the moment and they’ll all serve you well.
If you want more liquid capacity, there’s still the old one or the slightly lower battery capacited M18 Endura, and if you want something simpler there’s the new MVP.
Innokin’s definitely got you covered right now, and with this entrant, they’ve added yet another gem to their stable.
My only choice now is whether I like this more, or sweet, gooey chocolate cake, and that’s a much harder decision to make!
