NICOCIG MESH KIT INTRO
If you enjoy vaping as a hobby there’s loads of excellent kit out there.
The latest mods give you an awesome degree of control over your vaping experience; modern drippers allow incredibly effective multi-coil builds, and sub ohm tanks are outstanding too.
But what if you just want a simple, easy to use alternative to smoking?
Vaping technology has come on in leaps and bounds over the past few years, but most of the innovation has been at the top end of the market.
Those looking for a plug and play solution haven’t seen anything like the same amount of progress, and have really been stuck with the same old ineffective cig-a-likes.
If you’re fed up with that, the Nicocig Mesh might be just what you’re looking for.
PACKAGING & DESIGN
The Mesh is only available as a starter kit, which makes sense – it’s designed as an off the shelf smoking substitute, and the goal was clearly to make it as simple as possible.
It all comes in a very nice cardboard box, with the attractive design you’d expect from a large company – Nicocig is a Philip Morris International brand.
When you open the box you’ll find a plastic tray containing the battery and a 2ml cartridge in a bubble pack.
Lift that out and underneath there’s another tray with two more cartridges, and tucked away under those is a micro USB charging cable.
It’s an extremely simple device. The battery has a single button to turn it on and off; opposite the switch is a micro USB charging port, and at the top there’s a recess with two contact pins inside.
There’s no industry-standard 510 connector here; the Mesh only uses its proprietary cartridges.
The cartridges themselves simply push over the end of the battery. They’re angled at the base, so when there’s a cartridge fitted the charging port is concealed.
These hold 2ml of liquid and they’re available in four flavors:
- Classic Tobacco
- Menthol
- Tropical Fruit
- Chai
Each flavor is available in either medium (11mg/ml) or high (19mg/ml nicotine strengths) and replacements can be bought in packs of two.
When you pick the Mesh up you’ll notice that it’s quite light – no heavier than an eGo-style device, despite being chunkier and containing a larger battery.
Most of it seems to be made of plastic, but it feels solid and durable.
The battery has a nice rubberized non-slip coating, which makes it very comfortable in the hand. For the price it’s very well put together.
KIT CONTENTS
- 1 x Nicocig MESH™ Device
- 1 x Nicocig MESH™ USB Cable
- 3 x E-Liquid Capsules: 1 x Classic Tobacco High, 1 x Classic Tobacco Medium, 1 x Menthol High
FUNCTIONALITY
There isn’t much to this. Basically all you do is push a cartridge over the end, turn it on by clicking the button five times, then take a puff – it’s an auto switch that fires when you inhale.
A couple of points about the button. It has an LED that’s basically the only display on the device. When it’s on the LED glows white.
If you don’t use it for a few minutes the LED will go off; that means it’s gone into standby mode. To wake it back up just press and hold the button until the LED comes back on.
My one real gripe about the Mesh is that it could maybe wait a little longer before going into standby, but it’s easy enough to get going again so perhaps I’m just being picky.
When the battery is running low the LED with start to flash white; that’s your signal to take the cartridge off and plug in the charger. There’s no pass-through option here.
If the LED starts flashing red you need to change the cartridge, because it’s out of juice.
Inside the cartridges is some clever design. Instead of the usual coil there’s a steel mesh heating element – this is where the device gets its name.
I have no idea how much power it’s putting out but it’s very effective. Vapor production is respectable, the flavors come out clearly and there’s a lot of throat hit.
If you like to fiddle with settings and amazing builds you’re not going to like the Mesh, but then it isn’t aimed at you anyway.
This is a very simple device with limited functionality, but it does what it’s meant to do very effectively.
OLED DISPLAY
The Mesh doesn’t have an OLED display; all the information you need is shown via the LED.
BATTERY DETAILS
The battery is a sealed unit, with a rated capacity of 900mAh. That’s about right for this size of device. Using it as my main device, the battery lasted almost a full day.
If you get a Mesh and decide it’s what you’re going to vape all the time, I’d suggest getting two kits – the batteries aren’t available separately. On the other hand, the kits don’t cost much.
LIKES
- Light and compact
- Surprisingly good throat hit
- Very simple
- Ideal no-fuss smoking alternative
- Amazing price
DISLIKES
- Proprietary cartridges
- Limited flavor choice
- Non-Refillable Cartridges
- Spare Batteries not Sold Separately
OVERALL PURCHASE SATISFACTION
The Mesh is very different from the sort of equipment I normally use, and it certainly isn’t something I’d have bought.
Having said this, now that I have one I’m going to keep using it. Will it replace my array of mods and rebuildable atomizers?
No.
But, when I’m going out, I’m finding that more often than not it’s the Mesh I put in my pocket.
It’s leak-free, light and compact – but still gives a perfectly acceptable vape.
If I’m going into town for a couple of hours why carry a heavy mod with a leaky tank when I can just grab this?
Nicocig have obviously targeted the Mesh at smokers who’re looking for an alternative and don’t want to start learning about coils and device settings.
They’ve done everything possible to make it easy to use, and it’s worked – this is as simple as the most basic cig-a-like but a lot more effective.
It’s also great value for money. The starter kit, with a battery and three cartridges, costs £13.99; a pack of two refill cartridges is £1.99, and you’ll get through two or three of them a day.
The Mesh cartridges might be proprietary, but they’re cheaper than normal cig-a-like cartomisers and they hold twice as much liquid.
I’m very impressed with this little gadget.