Vaptio Sleek Review: With Automatic Adjustable Airflow?

The Vaptio SLEEK is an attractive and slender refillable pod vape with an ergonomic form factor. There are no distinct mouthpieces or even a visible pod—it’s concealed under a magnetic door that blends in with the design. The 1.5 mL pod has a ceramic wick’ed coil of 0.8 ohms, and it’s powered by a 400 mAh battery pushing 13 watts max.

The main feature that’s being marketed by Vaptio is that the SLEEK can “automatically adjust to produce different vapor volumes based on the intensity of users’ inhalation.” In other words, if you take a bigger and faster hit, you’ll get more vapor. Yes, you read that correctly. That’s a “feature” of a vape in 2019. Alrighty then!

Vaptio sent me this product for the purposes of this review.

Colors: Gold, gun metal, blue, rainbow (more unique options to come for replaceable battery doors)
Price: TBD

The aesthetic appeal of the SLEEK is high and it feels really good in the hand…initially. But the whole thing is made of a polished zinc alloy, which makes it slippery and a fingerprint magnet. Plus, the metal alloy increases the weight to around 66 grams, although it’s only 12 mm thick. The SLEEK is about 86 mm long, which puts it 6 mm longer than something like the Renova Zero.

There are no buttons or anything really to obstruct the form of the SLEEK. There is a thin cutout on the front of the device for a juice window, but it’s almost pointless to be there because you can’t see through it unless you take off the battery door. Although I like the overall look and feel of the SLEEK, there are additional design choices that bug me to no end.

The “back shell,” as Vaptio calls the battery door, is a thin and curved plate that attaches to the device via two small circular magnets near the mouthpiece. There are some cool designs slated to be printed on the shells, but their problem is underneath. Although the back shell is thin, the two magnets are not strong enough on their own to hold it firmly. I think there should be two more magnets near the bottom of the plate.

There is side-to-side movement toward the bottom of the back shell while holding it. And if you drop the device, the crash is loud, and it will separate into two pieces. It’s not a good look, which is why I no longer use the back shell.

Granted, there’s a little side-cutout to make removing the panel easy. Also, you won’t really notice how bad the magnets are if you only lightly hold the device. Then again, if you lightly hold the SLEEK, you’ll probably drop it. Which puts us right back to the issue of the magnets.

The mouthpiece is not really a mouthpiece. It’s just a slightly angled edge that you put your mouth on to vape. It’s somewhat similar to the design of the Vaptio C-Flat which had a sort of duck bill mouthpiece. Either way, it’s not very comfortable to use, and it’s hard to get a good pull due to the odd shape.

Even worse, the mouthpiece end and the USB-port end look almost identical. Too often when I go to hit the SLEEK, I take a drag on the USB-port. That’s quite annoying. Furthermore, the mouthpiece end is also made a zinc alloy, which makes a tooth-chipper if you’re not careful.

The 1.5 mL pod has a ceramic wick’ed coil of 0.8 ohms. The ceramic used is being marketed as “generation 4 diatomite ceramic atomizer.” I don’t know if or how this is different from normal ceramic. What I can say is that the ceramic wicks quickly, and they can handle up to 70 VG, though I prefer using mine with 50/50.

The SLEEK pods have a dual-sided top fill refill plug. The plug comes off and goes back on easily, but it’s snug once in. The refill ports are somewhat narrow, being barely 3 mm, so you’re going to need needle nose tops or a unicorn bottle. You can use a dropper, but you’ll probably spill some.

The pods are inserted into the back of the device. But it’s a tight fit. Also, like the design of the mouthpiece and USB-port looking the same, the pod only works in the device one way, but it fits in two ways. To take out the pod, pull near the top with your nail under the cutout. To make sure you don’t put the pod in the wrong way, which can be a little difficult to get out if in the wrong way, make sure the back of the refill tab is facing the inside of the device.

I’ve been using 70% VG 12 mg freebase, 50% VG nic salts of up to 50 mg/mL, and 24 mg regular nic with only 30% VG. The SLEEK handles them all well. The flavor is slightly above average for a pod vape, and the throat hit is solid. The vapor is warm and comfortable without getting too hot, even against the metal mouthpiece end.

I’ve refilled the two pods I have at least five times each, and they’re still going strong. The performance hasn’t let me down. I’ve had no leaking, spitback, or any loud pops. The SLEEK vapes with very little noise, which I happen to like in a pod vape.

But what about the special feature? The supposed automatic airflow that increases as the user takes a more intense hit, is in my opinion, a joke. The SLEEK has a loose MTL with a light hit and a loose MTL with a forceful hit. It makes lower vapor with a light hit and more vapor with a stronger hit. So does every other device I have.

At only 400 mAh with 0.8-ohm coils, the SLEEK doesn’t have very long run times. But of course, as with all batteries, it just depends on how much you use it.

At the bottom of the SLEEK on the front side, there is a little battery and charge status LED.

White: normal
Red: time to charge

It’s unfortunate that there’s no other lights to show a medium charge. The SLEEK does have pass-thru charging but it takes exactly one hour to charge the device from a depleted battery. That’s long for jusr 400 mAh. When the battery is charging, the little white LED will pulse. The intervals of the pulses get shorter as the battery gets closer to full.

Despite the various issues I have with the design choices of the SLEEK, it’s a been a dependable performer since I began using it. I’ve been on two pods (the only pods I got) for the past couple weeks. I haven’t used the device every day, but I’ve refilled the pods several times and see no signs of diminished performance.

The flavor is good, and the throat hit is solid. I do think the supposed automatic airflow adjustment to make more vapor is silly though. My biggest gripes are with the weak magnets and flimsy battery door, metal as a mouthpiece, and the mirror-ends of the USB-port and mouthpiece. If those design matters don’t bother you as much as they do to me, the SLEEK is a good-enough performer to recommend.