* by Mark

As many of Bark Time readers know I took up the modern art of vaping to assist me the quest to give up on smoking cigarettes and to also assist in making the house smell a whole heap better. So when the nice people at E-Cigarette Direct asked me to review a new mod, a new tank and juice set I was interested from the start, when they added it was the latest offering from Innokin, one of the industries go to names, it was a deal.

A few days later and a parcel landed on my doorstep containing a lovely red Cool Fire IV mod and a Fury Tank from Anyvape and a bottle of Jack 3 E-Liquid from 13 Sins, sorted! Well almost, the clue was there in the title, the new tank from Anyvape. Now as I have been vaping for over a year and have built up quite a collection of mods and tanks and associated paraphernalia I thought (wrongly) that I knew what I was doing. I pick up the tank and unscrew the base, as you do, primed the coil and started to fill with juice, check levels and when happy screw back together. Pop onto the Innokin Cool Fire IV and wait a couple of minutes and finally time to test this bad boy. All was fine, placed it on the side of my desk to continue with my workload for the day. An hour or so later when I am feeling the cravings kick in I reach for my new toy to find the contents of the tank have leaked out the bottom holes of the tank, all over the Cool Fire IV and then inevitably all over the desk in a large puddle. A 5ml may not seem very big when you’re filling it up twice a day but trust me spilt onto a desk and it seems to take an inordinate amount of tissue and wiping to get rid of it all. Needless to say that tank was lobbed across the room and an old faithful brought back into action to save the day.

Later whilst chatting to fellow vapers it was suggested to try it again and maybe the problem was I had over-screwed the tank when reassembling it, I denied this of course as I am experienced, but still worth a check. Oh and this time I read the manual!… just don’t tell anyone 🙂 A wonderful and seriously understated feature of the new Anyvape Fury Tank (btw if you’re going to Google the tank you need to add the Anyvape unless you want to wade through 2000 posts about Brad Pitt before finding anything useful or simply check all its features here) is that it is a TOP filling tank, a first I believe and what a lovely feature. When filling it up in the traditional manner through the base I was most unimpressed with the microscopic gap between the tank wall and the coil in which you are meant to get the juice through, however unscrew the drip tip and you are faced with two sizable holes in which to pour your juice with ease, wonderful feature! It achieves this feat of awesomeness by a mechanic that lowers the internal sleeving down over the coil inlet holes sealing them. As you screw the drip tip back into place after filling the action causes the sleeve to lift and expose the coil again, I am impressed and even more impressed that now it seems to be behaving and not throwing all my juice away.

The two juices from 13 Sins are nice, they have a nice mellow flavour but my taste buds where not alive enough to distinguish all the claimed flavours in the mix. As an example I am currently sampling their Jack 3 offering which has banana, caramel, popcorn, coconut, raspberry and cream in the mix, not a combination you come up with at the drop of a hat. I can get hints of coconut and the cream and the raspberry is quite pronounced but the rest I think just add to the background. In conclusion I would say that although it wouldn’t feature in my all time favourite juices list it is one that I would buy again when buying juices for occasions or just to keep the stock cupboard filled up.

And finally to the star of the show, the Cool Fire IV. First impressions when I unwrapped it was, “Nice looking mod”. The second strong impression was when I took it out the box, I thought I was going to have to go to store to get a battery for it, it was so lightweight I was sure it was missing, but it was there and ready to go. Seriously the thing ways little more than a current smart phone even with the tank on and juiced up. My usual mod being a Smok80 or the CF Maxx now feel like lead weights after using the Cool Fire IV for a week. Battery life is pretty much as expected, a couple of hours on a charge (fret not, you can still vape to your hearts contentment as you charge due to the location of the socket, always handy when you have been caught short) and the Cool Fire IV will happily deliver you usable power for the day, although if you’re are a chain vaper then that may not be the case. The brushed aluminium case is well constructed and sculpted to fit comfortably in your hand however for me the issue became that the brush effect is vertical and as such it is very easy to drop the mod if you are not paying attention and your grip relaxes a little too much.

The Cool Fire IV has only 3 buttons that when tapped in a variety of sequences give a wealth of information and allow for easy altering of wattage and voltage as well as offering visual clues as to the current state of your battery. The Cool Fire IV also comes with a host of safety features to stop it all going horribly wrong such as accidently pressing the fire button as it rests against something when you slip it into a pocket or bag to go somewhere, after 15 seconds it will automatically switch itself off. Coupled with the mentioned top fill capabilities and air regulation openings at both the base level and on the drip tip allows you to precisely set it to your needs.

As a package it was a pleasurable experience, you’re not going to win any “cloudchaser” competitions but you will get a descent amount of smoke similar in effect to a regular cigarette.

My only concern regarding the set up is that it may not be for the novice user as it requires a fair amount of experience to get working properly. If you are upgrading from an entry level e-cigarette style of kit then prepare yourself for a reasonable steep learning curve. Read the manual and then visit Youtube for tips on how to get the most out of your endeavours. As an example I was unable to raise the wattage above 20 watts without it hissing and spitting like a cat on a hot tin roof, then I added a couple of increments to the voltage side of the equation and suddenly a smooth smoke and significantly increased vapour production.

If you have any questions about any of the package I have reviewed then please post a comment and I will get back to you.

Have you considered starting vaping or upgrading if you already do?

If you are a vaper then what do you think to the Cool Fire IV?

*Products featured in this review were provided free of charge for review purposes.