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R-KISS 2 Kit by Smok
Review by Jen_Turista
Smok R-KISS 2 Kit – Another Banger from Smok?
Good day, my fellow vapers! It is Spring in the U.K., and as most of us have learnt to expect from living here, Spring doesn’t always bring sunshine and warmth, as demonstrated by the snowy day I am having as I write this review!
But in any case, today we will be looking at one of Smok’s recent sub-ohm box mod kit releases: the Smok R-KISS 2 ! This kit was kindly supplied to me by Sourcemore for the purposes of a review (thank you, Joyi!). Established in 2009, Sourcemore is an established online vape supplier that provides not only retail services but also wholesaling and drop-shipping to businesses. They sell all kinds of vape gear and run serious promotions from time to time, and the code KISS2 gives you 20% off if you pick this kit up from Sourcemore.com. So be sure to check them out!
Now, the Smok R-KISS 2 , as evidenced by its name, is an update to a previously released kit a few years ago which was the Smok R-KISS. I don’t own and haven’t used the original R-KISS, but from what I can find on the net, Smok developed the original R-KISS kit with simplicity in mind (thus, “KISS”, as in Keep it Simple Stupid). With this update, have Smok kept to this principle, and is this update worth investing in? Let’s find out!
As always, my review will be from my own experience of using the device as a regular vaper, as most of you vapers buying this device will be.
Packaging and Contents
I was sent the retail version of the R-KISS 2 Kit (non-TPD) containing:
- R-KISS 2 Mod.
- TFV18 Mini Tank with a 6.5 mL capacity, which is fairly decent, especially for us folks living under TPD.
- A meshed 0.33 ohm V18 Mini coil that is preinstalled.
- A dual meshed 0.15 ohm V18 Mini coil.
- Replacement Bubble Glass.
- User manual.
- Spare O-rings.
- A USB-C charging cable.
Salient Features of each main component are below:
TFV18 Mini Tank
- Dimensions at 25 x 54 mm and made with stainless steel.
- The top cap swivels with a push of a button to expose the kidney-shaped fill hole, thereby childproofing the tank.
- Very large fill hole for easy refilling, with plenty of space to let the air out and accommodate e-liquid bottle tips and glass drippers.
- Has a replaceable Delrin drip tip that is custom to the tank. That’s right, unfortunately, standard 810 tips will not fit on this atomiser.
- Adjustable bottom airflow with 3 cyclops slots and hard stops.
- 510 threaded.
R-KISS 2 Mod
- Dimensions at 84 x 46 x 30 mm. It’s fairly compact and small for a dual 18650 mod.
- Ranges from 5W-200W in power.
- Needs 2 x 18650 cells/batteries.
- Weighs 116g owing to the materials used which are mostly plastic and metal (zinc alloy, maybe?).
- Has 2A fast charging.
- Input voltage of between 6.4V to 8.4V and output voltage of 1.0 to 8.2V.
- Reads 0.10 ohm to 2.5 ohms.
- Has wattage and bypass modes only. Yep, this one has no TC and other gubbins that we usually see in high power mods these days.
- Has a coloured 1.3 inch TFT screen.
- The usual vape device protections via its IQ-S chip.
Impressions and Experience
A. Packaging and Kit Initial Impressions
The kit comes in a nice black box and black outer sleeve that has a photo of the device in front. Around the sleeve, you will find kit features, contents, manufacturer information and the usual warnings. All the contents are sat neatly inside a compartmentalised foam tray, with the tank separated from the mod. Overall, a no-frills style of packaging which I really like as there’s no excess space or superfluous material used.
The Smok R-KISS 2 kit in Black looks absolutely gorgeous when put together! The tank is finished in a sort of matte style, which matches nicely with the textured mod. This texture of the mod is nothing really new to the industry. Personally, I’ve seen/used it before with the Vaporesso Gen series and is something that I find truly works in enhancing grip, especially when my fingers catch some e-liquid when refilling. So, I really like that Smok went down this road with a practical and yet stylish finish to the kit!
B. TFV 18 Mini Tank and V18 Mini Coils
The TFV18 Mini Tank is the little brother of the TFV V18 tank, which I reviewed previously with the Smok Arcfox kit (also provided by Sourcemore) for the blog. Although smaller in size, this atomiser is overall really well-made and packs a punch! The top-cap swivel system works perfectly well and clicks back into place every time; it never came loose on me. The threads are smooth and the o-ring tolerances, especially at the airflow ring, are absolutely spot on. The atomiser does have minimal branding, which is a pro for someone like me.
As mentioned, this tank uses a custom drip tip that attaches to the top cap as a sort of sleeve. I did find it comfortable enough to use but I am well aware that other people might prefer to use their own drip tips, hence my mention of this aspect of the tank.
Going to the airflow, it is perfect for this atomiser which is, in my eyes, purely for DL vaping. And when fully open, my word, this tank is airy AF! I found myself cutting the airflow down to about ½ to 2/3 closed to get the airflow I want for the coil I am using. Now, the airflow can get a little noisy, especially when not fully open, but this didn’t bother me at all during my time in testing.
The coils thread into the base of the tank, onto five contact braces, and then into the top cap. This is all well and good but then, it doesn’t make replacing coils easy when there is still e-liquid inside the atomiser. The tank would need to be almost empty to avoid e-liquid spills and wastage. Not a con, but something to take note of.
Another thing to note is ensuring that the coil is threaded into the base finger-tight. Any looser than that, then you may experience some leaking into the airflow. From my time in testing this tank, the only time I experienced leaking was when I didn’t tighten the coil enough into the base- so that was completely my fault. The leaking disappeared as soon as I corrected my error.
Onto the coils, I started with the preinstalled 0.33-ohm meshed coil (80-140W, best between 100-110W). This coil is a bloody cloud-chucker! Even at lowish wattages (around 70W or so), the clouds are really plentiful and not wispy at all, and what I mean by that is I could feel the clouds at the back of my throat as I inhale. Not only that, the flavour off this coil is absolutely brilliant! I have to laud Smok here for this coil’s performance as it’s not that common to have a cloud-chucking coil that also gives amazing flavour (8.5/10)- well done, Smok!
The 0.33-ohm meshed coil also kept up with chain vaping, even at high wattages. Although the coil states 100-110W best wattage range, I found my sweet spot for this coil at 90W, as my perfect combination of warmth, flavour, and clouds.
Next to test was the 0.15-ohm dual meshed coil (80-110W, best at 90W). This coil was also a great performer, with comparable clouds and flavour as the 0.33 ohm meshed coil (8/10 in flavour). I did find the airflow to be ever so slightly more restricted with this coil, but a quick adjustment of the airflow ring addresses that very easily. This one, I did vape at the recommended wattage of 90W for that right mix of flavour, warmth, and clouds. It also kept up very well with chain vaping, with its large wicking holes.
C. R-KISS 2 Mod
Keeping to the theme of simplicity, the mod is actually relatively toned-down in branding as compared to other Smok mods, with branding just appearing on top of the screen and at the rear of the mod. The mod then could look rather plain, but the texturing all over it adds some depth to its looks that it actually looks nice in my eyes. As you will know from my reviews, I am not a fan of screaming branding, so you can understand why the Smok RKISS-2 mod appeals to me!
The mod is very comfortable to hold and use; the curved corners really help with that despite the mod’s boxy looks. The dimpled texture really helps with grip and makes the mod quite pleasant to grasp.
Up top is a slightly protruding 510 plate, held to the mod by 3 screws which adds to the mod’s durability. Even if it’s slightly protruding, I didn’t notice any significant gaps when the TFV 18 Mini Tank is attached to it, or any of the atomisers I tested it with. The mod can accommodate up to 30mm atomisers with no noticeable overhang, which is a big plus for me. This is especially because recent DL atomisers being released tend to be 25mm and above in diameter, and therefore this mod will be able to match most of the DL atomisers in the market these days, adding to its versatility.
In front of the mod are the up and down buttons which are placed quite well with no play, the 1.3” TFT coloured screen, and the USB-C port.
The screen will show you typical vaping data like battery life (A & B batteries) in both percentage and bar which is always a pro, mode selected, wattage or bypass, ohm load, voltage, puff counter and time of puff. The colour of the screen can also be changed into the six colours pre-set into the mod (red, yellow, purple, blue, green, and white). The screen is very crisp, clearly laid out and easy to read with big fonts, especially for the wattage. I didn’t experience any difficulty reading the screen in either low light or in sunlight.
The fire bar is long and covers almost the length of the left side of the mod (as you are looking at the mod). You would have to press it from the middle and upwards to get it to click, which is actually perfect in terms of ergonomics as that area is where your index finger or thumb will be when firing the mod.
Going to the bottom of the mod where the batteries are loaded, you will find a sliding and hinged battery door marked with battery polarities (the chambers for the battery are also clearly marked for polarities, great job here, Smok!). With the batteries inside, there is absolutely no rattling to be heard which adds to the sturdy feel of the mod. The battery door, when closed properly, also never came loose or undone on me even when I dropped the mod. Interestingly and also rarely seen these days, the battery door has no vent holes; so, I suppose the mod could vent via the USB-C port? I’m not really sure. But in my time of testing it, the mod managed the batteries very well during use, and it doesn’t even get warm when charging the batteries (but I still recommend using external chargers, guys!).
Now, this all sounds well and good, and indeed the R-KISS Mod is a subtle yet well-made mod. But I do have a niggle, because the unit I received had some white marks on it. They really stand out on a black mod. These white marks did fade a little with my use, but their presence made me think about Smok’s QC process again, which – let’s face it – hasn’t really enjoyed a stellar reputation over the years. Not a big deal for me since it didn’t affect my use and they did fade over time, but I am mentioning it as I came across it in my review.
Having a relatively simple menu, the R-KISS 2 mod is super easy to use:
- Five clicks of the fire bar to turn it on and off.
- Three clicks of the same button allow access to the menu, and a long press of this button confirms your selection which is accomplished using the up and down buttons.
- Up and down buttons to adjust wattage and scroll through the menu.
- Up and down buttons pressed together lock these buttons, but the mod will still fire.
- Fire bar + down button will allow you to clear your puffs.
- Fire bar + up button changes the screen colour.
The mod is very responsive and fires without any lag. In power mode, you can adjust the wattage in one-watt increments, and it is a fast scroller. I’d say the power output is true to wattage per my experience and in comparison to other regulated dual 18650 mods I own. Battery management, as mentioned before, is also very good. Even if I am vaping at 90W or higher, it doesn’t consume my batteries at the same rate as other mods in the market. Smok deserves another bravo for this as it seems their IQ-S chip is a solid performer!
But… the mod’s bypass mode is a little weird to me. It runs VERY hot! Especially if my batteries are full or close to it, the mod seems to be firing nearer to 200W with the stock coils. I even tested it with a rebuildable, an RTA with a 0.16 ohm build, but it still runs too hot for me and what I am used to as compared to other regulated mods in bypass. Maybe this is something that Smok could tweak on their chip? I hope so because that is really my only con with this mod’s chipset. It is perfect for me, otherwise.
All in all, this mod may have been created with simplicity in mind in looks and function, but it will meet most vapers’ needs.
Overall: Yay or Nay?
As a DL kit, the Smok R-KISS 2 gets a solid Yay from me! The kit as a whole looks phenomenal. The black kit I received has red o-rings, and with a red screen, let me tell you, it looks the business!
More than its looks, the TFV18 Mini tank performs superbly and ticked all my boxes. The SMOK R-KISS 2 mod is also designed cleverly (bar the white marks that QC should have picked up), and as a personal pro, I really liked how it managed my batteries well. I could get through an entire day vaping with the same set of batteries at 90W!
This kit is for both the experienced vaper and those who want to get into sub-ohm, cloud-chucking vaping. The mod and tank are both very simple to operate, hence the recommendation to the sub-ohm vaping initiate. But I would recommend that this mod be used in wattage mode predominantly (see feedback above about the bypass mode).
And that’s it! Once again, my sincerest thanks again to Joyi and Sourcemore for sending this kit to me for the review! To pick up the kit, follow the links at the start of the review and remember to add that code for a discount.
This review was written by jen_turista who is very active within the vape community. You can go give her a follow on Instagram and Twitter.
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