Product intro and specs
The new UTBAR is a 6000-puff rechargeable disposable vape made by FLUM. It features a mesh coil, 12 flavors in 5% nicotine salt, and a juice indicator to give the user greater confidence in traveling with the vape.
The UTBAR has the feeling of a small AIO with a throwback Ming-style mouthpiece. It’s comfortable to use, a pleasure to look at, and the juice indicator is a godsend to users of disposables.
The UTBAR has a lot of useful and competitive features, but as always, what really matters is the performance. Is the UTBAR by FLUM the next disposable you should try? Let’s see about that.
Price: $17.99 (at Mi-pod)
Flavors: Blue razz icy, strawberry banana, super mint, sakura grape Icy, peach mango watermelon, triple berries icy, aloe mango icy, guava sunrise, Phoenix sunset, Cali blossom, Mt. Rainier, black pink
- Nicotine strength: 50 mg/mL (5%)
- Capacity: 10 mL
- Puffs: 6000
- USB-C charge
- Draw activated
Size, look, and feel
The UTBAR by FLUM is a sturdy AIO-looking vape with a subtle C-frame design. The mouthpiece is a classic design for drip tips that has a vase-like form, making it comfortable and secure to take a good drag from.
The body of the UTBAR comes in one form, several colors, and two finishes. Depending on the flavor you get, it’s either going to be a matte or glossy finish. I prefer the glossy finish—it’s much easier to hold.
The UTBAR is taller than disposables with the Elf Bar BC5000 design. It measures 33 mm x 23 mm x 101 mm, and it weighs 45 grams. It’s not light or small enough to recommend going hands-free and holding it in your mouth while vaping. I would like to be able to do that with this mouthpiece, but it’s not a big deal. All in all, it’s very pocketable, but it also feels good to just hold it in your hand versus some of the boxier disposables.
Getting started
There is nothing to do except vape the UTBAR. Open the device from the box, remove the sticker from the airholes (located on the bottom of the device), and remove the plug from the mouthpiece. The device should arrive to you fully charged, which will be indicated by one of two indicator lights near the bottom. The lightning bolt is for the battery, and the drop icon is for the juice level.
Both lights have the same color-coded system: white/full, yellow/getting low, red/out. When the battery light is red, just recharge it with a USB-C cable (not included.) But when the juice level light is red, it’s time to dispose of the vape. Luckily, you don’t have to guess or take a bad hit to know when this time has come!
Unfortunately, the indicator lights don't stay lit very long, and they only turn on when you take a puff. By the time you remove the device from your mouth and look at the lights, they turn off. You can somewhat see it from your lower peripheral vision, but obviously not clearly. It could stand another second or two of staying on.
How does it hit?
The UTBAR provides a somewhat loose MTL. It activates quickly from the mesh coil, and the vape is nice and warm. However, the draw isn’t as smooth as I’d like. There’s a little bit of turbulence in a few of mine. At times, it feels like there’s some gurgle, and other times, it’s just normal mesh-coil activation.
Since the mesh coil has such a quick activation, I don’t need to take as long of a draw as I normally do. I probably wouldn’t want to take a long draw with the UTBAR anyway, because the draw is somewhat loose. I wouldn’t call it a restricted lung hit, though. Just a loose MTL.
FLUM UTBAR best flavors
I was excited to try the flavors of the UTBAR. After vaping them all, one of the flavors knocked my socks off… but several are just average. The others are somewhat in the middle. The best one, hands-down, is Citrus Cake. Even among my top five flavors, the bottom four don’t hold a candle to Citrus Cake.
In most of the UTBAR flavors, the iciness is strong. I know a lot of vapers like that, but some of the flavors lose their individuality because of it. All the devices produce a pleasant aroma, and the vape itself is satisfying. I just wish it wasn’t so difficult to blindly distinguish the flavors from each other (besides Citrus Cake). Of the 12 flavors I tried, these were my five favorites.
Citrus cake
Like a moist lemon/lime pound cake. Somehow, you can taste the cake texture! It’s sweet, citrusy, and velvety. I’d love to have a big bottle of this flavor if I could have it. The lightest cooling sensation of all the flavors.
Peach mango watermelon
A well-done fruit medley. The peach and mango produce a smooth, sweet, and almost creamy taste. The watermelon is hard to pick out, but there’s that “something else” note, which could be the watermelon. This would be my favorite if there were no Citrus Cake.
Blue razz icy
A more natural blue razz flavor with a high dose of cooling. It’s more tart than sweet, and there’s more of a berry flavor than the typical candy flavor. Regardless, if you like blue razz, you’d probably like UTBAR’s version.
Strawberry lemonade
The name says it all. It does taste like strawberry and lemonade, but oddly not a simple “pink lemonade.” The lemonade is the predominant aroma and taste, but the strawberry is still forward enough to not be missed.
Sakura grape
A unique grape flavor with an added dimension. It’s got a sweet and exotic taste with a classic grape flavor. Hard to describe, but good to vape.
How long do they last?
The FLUM UTBAR has approximately 10 mL of juice. With the quick-activating mesh coil, I was expecting them to get drained quickly. That isn’t the case. I think the surprising life of the device is due to the strong hit that provides satisfaction with just a quick draw.
Of course, 10 mL is still 10 mL. It’s not going to last a long time if you vape a lot. Unfortunately, I almost finished Citrus Cake in a day. It’s honestly that good!
When it’s time to charge the UTBAR, simply plug the device into any USB-C-compatible power source. The battery indicator light (with the lightning bolt) will flash as it charges. Once it stops flashing, it’s fully charged. I timed a full charge at one hour 15 minutes, and as with most other disposables, there is no pass-thru charging (something I longed for when I charged Citrus Cake).
Pros / Cons
Gallery
Verdict
The UTBAR has a nice form factor, an awesome mouthpiece, and useful features like a juice indicator light. What more could you want? Well, a smoother, tighter draw and better flavors. However…
If I had to judge the UTBAR by just my favorite flavor, I’d say the UTBAR was my favorite new disposable. When my Citrus Cake still had juice in it, it was the device I chose to take with me when I left the house. I cheated on my ADV for that flavor!
I can’t really fault the whole line for the flavors since it’s a disposable, and you only really need to like one. And I suspect most vapers are probably only buying one or two flavors per disposable brand. If you are looking for a fantastic new flavor from a loose MTL disposable, please do try UTBAR’s Citrus Cake.
Since I will be buying the UTBAR for myself, I have no problem recommending it (and you know which one you should get).
