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UWELL Yearn Kit: More Flavor than You'd Expect

Vaping360 Team
November 12, 2019

Product intro and specs

The UWELL Yearn is the follow-up pod system to the very popular Caliburn. There are a few differences between the two devices, but the most important difference is that the Yearn is a closed-system pod vape. That’s right! UWELL has a pre-filled device.

The UWELL Yearn is capable of up to 11 watts operating on a 370 mAh internal battery. The pods only hold 1.5 mL of juice and they’re rated at 1.4 ohms. There are four flavors to choose from, and they come in two strengths of nic salt: 20 mg/mL and 50 mg/mL. Unfortunately, you’ll have to purchase the pods separately since there is no official starter kit with the device and the pods. But there is a variety pack that contains all four flavors if you’re not sure which to buy. Then again, you could find out a little more about which flavors we recommend if you read this review.

Price: $14.95 (at Element Vape)
Colors: Black, grey, blue & black, violet & black

Specifications

  • Zinc Alloy / PC+ABS
  • 86.7 mm × 20.2 mm × 10.4 mm
  • 11 W
  • 370 mAh
  • Draw activated
  • 1.5 mL liquid capacity
  • 1.4 ohm

Kit contents

  • YEARN body
  • Micro USB cable
  • User's Manual

Size, weight, and feel

The UWELL Yearn is a slim and pocketable pre-filled pod vape. Aside from it coming from UWELL, it’s a lot different than the Caliburn. The Yearn weighs about 41 grams with a pod in, which makes it heavier than the Caliburn despite being shorter. It stands approximately 87 mm x 20 mm x 10.5 mm. And it’s also totally solid where the Caliburn’s body feels unrefined, especially with the bottom edge. The Yearn doesn’t have a button-activation like the Caliburn; you simply draw on the mouthpiece and it hits automatically. The mouthpiece is really nice and the glossyness of the body matches with the mouthpiece. It’s got a bit of a wedge form factor and it’s a pleasure to hit.

Aside from the Yearn not being able to stand up like the Caliburn, its build quality and design, as well as fit and finish, are of a higher quality. The pod doesn’t click into place like with the Caliburn though, and ours has a slight gap between the pod and the device. But the pods are held in firmly. The pods have a nice-sized juice window that makes the juice levels clearly visible, up until the remaining ~15% of the pod. These are niggly little details. In general, the Yearn has the look and feel of a quality device.

Getting started

Do not vape the pods immediately!

Before getting started, it’s important to note that the pods are not ready to be vaped right out of the package. Similar to the IVG Starter Kit, the pods have an isolated e-liquid chamber that isn’t in contact with the wick. The base of the pod gets pushed up when you insert the pod into the battery device, effectively acting as the first (and only) fill of the pod, which means you’ll have to wait a few minutes before vaping so that the wicking material has time to soak up the liquid. UWELL recommends 10 minutes. After the base gets pushed up, you’ll see bubbles rushing up inside of the pod, which are seen through the generous-sized oval juice window.

For those of you out there used to vaping pre-filled vape kits, this is going to be a slight hassle. One of the benefits of the vast majority of pre-filled devices is that you can begin using them immediately. Although you won’t have to handle e-liquid or refilling the pods, you will have to carry out one step that involves a wait time.

This is a convenient way for the user to enjoy flavor that’s not been sitting in a pod for who knows how long. That also means the impatient user that skips the user manual will get a burnt hit because the wick is not pre-soaked. It’s a benefit to the device as well as a con for the user. We recommend taking out the pods ahead of time and manually pushing up the base to prepare the pods for future use, without having to wait 10 minutes before you begin.

Other than that, there are no buttons or secret-codes to turn on the device. The pods are press-fit in the device, with none of the lame magnetic connections where the pods will pop out from a simple fall. And because it’s draw-activated, it’ll be ready to go as soon as the pods wicking material is fully soaked. Just heed the advice of manually pushing up the base of the pod with your finger ahead of time, so that when you are ready to use it, the pods will be ready to go.

How does it hit?

Lighting quick, super quiet, and did we mention lighting quick? With just a gentle pull, the device activates. UWELL doesn’t say what kind of coil is in the pod, but it hits quickly as if its mesh. It’s a loose MTL draw that produces a warm vape. You won’t have to draw super hard and collapse your cheeks like you’re drinking a milk shake through a coffee straw. For some it might be a bit too loose, but we find it pleasurable once you get adjusted to its pull.

Depending on the nicotine concentration you bought, the throat hit is either going to be light with the 20 mg/mL or strong with the 50 mg/mL. With 50 mg/mL, the throat hit can be a bit sharp, almost to the point of leaving some scratchiness. Not all of us that tested this felt that though. You can chain vape it fairly well as long as your hits aren’t too long, like taking multiple consecutive hits over 5 seconds. That’s pushing it a bit too much, especially considering the almost non-existent ramp up.

Where things get almost weird is in how much flavor the device can produce. Before we get into the actual flavors and how good (or not) they are, we’ve been floored with the amount of flavor from the Yearn. We’ve had no spitback or leaking, but the flavor is so pronounced, you might actually think the pod is spraying liquid in your mouth. Although the Caliburn was heralded as having more flavor than your average pod vape, the Yearn has more than the Caliburn! Too bad this isn’t an open-system pod because, regardless of how much flavor it can produce, you’re stuck with the four flavors available.

Are the flavors any good?

As mentioned, the Yearn can produce some incredible flavor. It’s almost odd coming from such a small device. But since it’s prefilled, the flavor production is going to be secondary to the quality of the flavors themselves. After all, what good is off-the-charts flavor if the flavors themselves are subpar?

The flavor packs come in small boxes of two pods and the variety pack has four pods (one of each flavor available).

Fuji Apple
By far the best flavor from this device that we tried. The Fuji Apple is sweet, slightly tart, and unmistakably apple. Although the pods don’t have clear indications of which flavor is which, just a quick sniff of the pod will make it obvious when you have Fuji Apple in your hand.

Mango
It’s not as good as many of the Mango juices on the market, but where the flavor profile lacks, the quality of the flavor production takes over. It’s got a fairly non-descript mango taste with a bit of menthol. It’s not going to win any “best mango juice” awards and it’s barely discerinble as mango…but it’s a decent vape on its own.

Ice Mint
This is where things start to go south for the Yearn. The Ice Mint should be an easy juice to pull off, but the flavor tastes cooked, like it’s slightly burning–even though the pod had ample time to soak up the juice. Because of the off-tasting hits, we can’t really comment on the flavor all that much because we won’t vape it.

Vanilla Tobacco
Despite our anticipation of this being our favorite juice, it was by far the worst! Like with mint, but even more with the Vanilla Tobacco, the flavor tastes like it’s pre-infused with the taste of a burnt hit. That’s not good! This and the Ice Mint went in the trash, just to make sure no one accidentally used it. We really hope that this was just a bad batch with the Mint and Tobacco flavors.

Flavor recommendations: We strongly recommend the Fuji Apple. The Ice Mint and Vanilla Tobacco sounded good to us, but we were extremely disappointed in the flavors. They just taste off! Of course, it’s possible that what we purchased was a case of bunk coils that messed with the flavors. Your mileage may vary. If you’re itching to try the Vanilla Tobacco like we were, do yourself a favor and try the variety pack first.

The FDA announced Jan. 2 that it will begin enforcing all Deeming Rule requirements immediately for prefilled pod- and cartridge-based vaping products in flavors other than tobacco and menthol. Products sold after Feb. 2 are subject to enforcement if the FDA has not granted them marketing approval through a premarket tobacco application (PMTA). No PMTAs have been approved for vaping products yet. The FDA guidance only applies to products sold in the United States.

Battery life and charging

At 370 mAh, the Yearn doesn’t have a lot of battery life.  But, what’s cool about the battery capacity is that it’s almost perfectly in-tune with the liquid quantity (which is also somewhat low). 370 mAh and 1.5 mL juice isn’t all that great, but what we’ve found is that, on a fully charged battery, the charge will last right up until the pod is out of liquid. So if your battery was full and you put in a full pod, your battery life can effectively be read by how much juice you have left. It’s not really a feature per se, but we like being able to ascertain the battery status based on the juice level. Of course, there is a battery indication light as well.

  • Green: high/fully charged
  • Blue: medium
  • Red: low/time to charge

As it charges, the charge lights will pulse. From totally depelted to fully charged it took 71 minutes. At about 52 minutes, the light turned to green, but it was still pulsing and a ways out from complete. It’s a rather long charge for only 370 mAh, but luckily the Yearn has pass-thru charging. Even on a totally depleted battery, you can get a hit immediately once you insert a charge cord into the micro USB. You can’t chain-vape on it right after plugging it up if the battery was totally drained, but you can get a quick couple hits if you need to. Once it’s been on a few minutes, you can vape freely on it as it charges.

Note: when we charged the Yearn to clock the charge time, we did not vape on it at all.

Pros / Cons

  • Solid build quality
  • Nice hand-feel
  • Pods are held in firmly
  • Clearly readable juice window
  • Variety pack available
  • Wicking doesn’t happen until you want it to begin
  • Lighting quick ramp
  • Loose MTL makes the draw easy
  • Flavor is way above average
  • Warm vapor
  • Two of the four flavors were bad
  • Throat hit sometimes feels sharp
  • Pods require a wait time before you can vape
  • Pods sold separately with only 2 in a pack of individual flavors
  • Long charge for 370 mAh

Verdict

UWELL has a way with coaxing flavor out of pod vapes typically unheard of with these kinds of devices. It almost doesn’t make sense how much flavor comes from the Yearn! Unfortunately, half of the four flavors available for the Yearn turned out to be no good to us. But with the Fuji Apple, and to a lesser degree, Mango, we are comfortable recommending the device. We’re not a fan of having to order pods separately for a beginner’s kit like this though. Why not just include a variety pack with the purchase of the device?

We are concerned about the odd performance issues with the Ice Mint and the Vanilla tobacco. We’ve only tried one variety pack and a couple packs each of Mango and Fuji Apple; it’s possible that the poor performance of the Ice Mint and Vanilla Tobacco was an anomaly, but we can’t say for sure. Hopefully those issues don’t surface with the Mango and especially Fuji Apple because it would be a travesty to have that much flavor in a pod vape go to waste!

We’d like to hear from you. Have you tried the UWELL Yearn? How was your experience with the device? And which flavors worked out best (or not so good) for you?

The Vaping360 team is a diverse group of experienced vaping contributors. We strive to bring you the finest content on all things vaping. Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Instagram for more!
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Memyselveandi
Memyselveandi
3 years ago

Hi, how about an update of the yearn?!! The dealbreaker is gone. There are empty Tanks out to buy now. And they work fantastisch with my prefered e-juice.

Jeremy Mann
Staff
Jeremy Mann
3 years ago
Reply to  Memyselveandi

Thank you for this heads up! I got my pods in yesterday…and so far, I’m incredibly impressed. I’m getting great flavor and a fast hit. The pods perform the exact same as the prefilled, just now we can all use juice that we know we’re going to love. The only problem is that these pods hit too strong for high strength nic salts. OMG! I about blew my head off with 50 mg. Then I went down to 30 mg and that was too much. Luckily I had that same flavor in zero, so I was able to mix my… Read more »

Jeremy Mann
Staff
Jeremy Mann
3 years ago
Reply to  Memyselveandi

I’d have to buy more pods first. I’m looking but can’t seem to find the refillable pods anywhere but Dashvapes. But that looks like a Canadian shop and would cost too much for me to get right now. I’ll keep checking. Do you know of an online shop in the States selling them? I’d be more than happy to update the review and buy more pods…I just have to find them first.

Edit: I found them at Hoosier Ecig. I haven’t ordered from them in almost a decade! 🙂 Order placed.

waleed
waleed
3 years ago

My empty cartridges are coming in today. Would me more then happy to share my experiences with everyone.great review hope you will update it asap thanks

Waleed
Waleed
3 years ago
Reply to  waleed

Received the refillable pods 6 days ago , im using 35mg nic salt ( One Hit Wonder Rocket Man) and its as the flavour is sprayed on my tongue. Very nice smooth not to tight dl draw. After 6 days of heavy vaping the flavour slightly decreased , and that goes for the vapor density as well. I have to take longer drags for more vapor. ill have to use a new pod maybe later today in the evening or for tomorrow morning. 35 MG is the max strenght i can take with this refillable pod system. Otherwise ill get… Read more »

Waleed
Waleed
3 years ago
Reply to  Waleed

the usb charging port broke off. So not charging anymore. Another pod system from uwell thats going to end up in the bin. Sadly i just got 6 months out of the uwell yearn. Going to try the caliburn G now

Bradley
Bradley
2 years ago

Just wondering what brand of juice is best for yearn refillable pods thanks only new to this . Trying to quit the smokes. Thanks

Spyros Papamichail
Staff
Spyros Papamichail
2 years ago
Reply to  Bradley

Hi Bradley,
You can find some of our favorite juices in the Best Vape Juice section of the website.
Taste is subjective, but our lists cover most (if not all) flavor profiles, so I’m pretty sure you’ll find a lot of interesting options there.
I’d start by taking a look at nicotine salts and tobacco juices, as these are usually the types of juice that make the transition easier.
Hope that helps!