Here I go again with a product review for you today. This time I was sent the Thunderhead Creations Blaze rta by Sourcemore in order to provide you with a fair and honest review. I’ve heard a little talk about this one on the forum so have been looking forward to testing it. The Blaze is a top airflow and top fill rta. It has a liquid capacity of 2ml with straight glass and 5.5ml with the bubble glass. It has a dual coil postless deck so I don’t know if it would do well with a single coil but I may have to try it. It has a 24mm base so should fit on most mods. It was designed by Mike Vapes so I have high hopes of it performing well since I very much like the Recurve V2 that he was also involved in designing.
WHAT’S IN THE BOX?
SPECIFICATIONS:
Size: Diameter 26 (Base 24) * 44.5mm
Material: SS
Capacity: 2ml (5.5ml with bubble tank)
Filling: Top filling
Airflow: Top airflow
Deck: Dual Coil
Drip Tip: 810
Color: SS, Gun, Gold, Silver Black, Matt Black
FEATURES:
1. Φ24mm diameter (base)
2. Designed by Mike Vapes
3. Innovative "WOW" build deck
4. Dual coil postless build deck
5. Top to bottom leak-proof design
6. Double 270° 46 holes honeycomb airflow system
7. Top airflow and top fill design
8. 2ml/5.5ml capacity (5.5ml bubble glass included in the package)
INITIAL THOUGHTS:
I know I’ve mentioned this in prior reviews but I really like the packaging where there is a clear window and you can see the tank or device inside before it’s even opened. The Blaze RTA comes in a black two part box with the clear window and the Blaze name at the top in gold text. Near the bottom it is stated that it was designed in cooperation between Thunderhead Creations and Mike Vapes also in gold text.
The back side of the box shows once again the THC and Mike Vapes names near the top followed by a contents list in the center and a link to the website near the bottom. I guess they don’t want us to forget that it was designed by Mike Vapes and manufactured by Thunderhead creations since it is once again printed on the box near the bottom. The names are also on the sides of the box but I’m not going to show pictures of that. I feel it’s unnecessary and a little bit much on the branding on the box. I’m just glad they didn’t do something similar on the tank itself. Well, it is printed on the bottom of the tank base but you don’t see that when it’s on a mod.
I really didn’t have much experience with THC tanks before I recently review the Artemis 2 RDTA. I guess their stuff just wasn’t on my radar. I very much liked the Artemis and still have it in rotation on a squonk mod. From what little experience I have with their tanks, they seem to be well made and function well. It definitely makes me want to try more from them.
So once the box top is removed then you get a little better look at the Blaze sitting in a cardboard insert with the spare bubble glass. Underneath the tank is where the user guide and all of the accessories are located. I noticed that there was no cotton threads included in this tank just like there wasn’t with the Artemis. They give you a bunch of accessories like grub screws, o rings, two allen wrenches, and two .4 ohm Ni80 coils but no cotton. I wonder why that is.
As always, the very first thing I do is disassemble a new tank and clean it. The Blaze comes apart very easily for cleaning or rebuilding. Most times I will go ahead and install the bubble glass immediately if one is included but for some reason I decided to try it first with the straight glass. With the straight glass, it will only hold 2ml of liquid. After about three fills I went ahead and switched out for the bubble glass that will allow a capacity of 5.5ml of liquid. It didn’t take me long to get tired of refilling the tank with the straight glass.
If you look closely at the picture below, you will see that the top cap for the Blaze is threaded rather than the usual bayonet style cap. As a matter of fact, I think this is the first tank I’ve reviewed in a long time that actually had a threaded top cap. I don’t mind it. The threads on the sample I received are very smooth and with the knurling around the top cap it’s easy to get a grip on it to install or remove. Also in the picture below above the straight glass is the chamber reducer that comes out separately rather than being part of the chamber. The idea behind this reducer is to make the chamber area around the coils smaller to enhance the flavor production.
The Blaze name is etched into the outside of the chamber and that’s pretty much it for branding. Oh. Wait. In case you didn’t notice the box being covered with names or you forget who designed and made it, it’s also on the bottom side of the base.
The Blaze has two large airflow openings to allow plenty of airflow for those that like big air. I found myself never running the airflow past 1/3 open. The airflow adjustment does have a positive stop. I like how THC sends a nice drip tip with their tanks instead of the usual black delrin or whatever they are made of. It is an 810 drip tip on the Blaze. The base of the blaze measures at 25mm and should fit on most mods with little or no overhang.
The build deck on the Blaze seemed somewhat familiar to me. It reminds me of another tank that I reviewed but can’t remember which one it was. Anyway, the Blaze deck has airflow to the coil coming in at almost all directions. There are eleven holes on each of the uprights with more on each side above the grub screws and airflow coming from underneath as well. The wick wells are pretty large on this one so it doesn’t take a lot of thinning on the wick tails to still get good wicking action.
I very much like that the grub screws on the deck were allen head screws. However if you like flat head screws then there are some include in the accessory bag. I cut the coil legs to 5mm and found it very easy to install the coils. I of course did a dry burn on them after straightening them. After that I used some of my own cotton threads since none were included and cut the wicks a little long. I did a slight comb out and inserted one side of the wicks, trimmed the other side and inserted those. A little liquid to saturate the coils and wicks and back together the tank went. I probably could have done a little better job separating the wicks as they went into the wells but it didn’t cause an issue.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
I have enjoyed testing the THC X Mike Vapes Blaze RTA. Is it the best tank I’ve ever used? No, but it’s pretty darn good. I like that it is top airflow because I hate tanks that leak. It’s nice that THC includes good drip tips and the overall build quality seems very good to me. The threading on the top cap and base are very smooth. You can just tell when someone takes pride in their craftsmanship.
I used the two included coils since that is what you would get if you bought one. I liked the coils well enough. On the mod I was using they were reading .22 ohms which is well within my comfort zone. I liked the airflow at about 1/3 open for a slightly restricted DL and had the wattage in the low to mid 50’s range. You could open up the airflow and run this much higher if you wanted to with the right coils. With the shape of the deck being like two U shapes, I didn’t try a single coil in it. I just didn’t really think it would work well but I may try it someday.
The flavor production on this tank was really very good for a top airflow tank. It’s actually better in my opinion than my beloved original single coil Zeus rta. However, it is a dual coil versus single coil. If I had to grade the flavor on this one then I’d probably give it a 7.75 out of 10. That being said, I’ve never tried one that I thought was a 10.
So, here we are again at the end. Would I recommend the Blaze RTA for you? Well if you like dual coil rtas, easy build decks, good flavor and lots of vapor then yes I would. I like it very much and can definitely see myself buying more.
I’d like to thank Sourcemore and Joyi for sending the THC X Mike Vapes Blaze RTA for this review. Also thanks to you the readers. Thanks for sticking it out through another one of my reviews. Below is a link and a coupon for you.
Thunderhead Creations Blaze RTA Φ24mm 2/5.5ml Tank (sourcemore.com)
COUPON CODE: BLAZR for $23.19
WHAT’S IN THE BOX?
SPECIFICATIONS:
Size: Diameter 26 (Base 24) * 44.5mm
Material: SS
Capacity: 2ml (5.5ml with bubble tank)
Filling: Top filling
Airflow: Top airflow
Deck: Dual Coil
Drip Tip: 810
Color: SS, Gun, Gold, Silver Black, Matt Black
FEATURES:
1. Φ24mm diameter (base)
2. Designed by Mike Vapes
3. Innovative "WOW" build deck
4. Dual coil postless build deck
5. Top to bottom leak-proof design
6. Double 270° 46 holes honeycomb airflow system
7. Top airflow and top fill design
8. 2ml/5.5ml capacity (5.5ml bubble glass included in the package)
INITIAL THOUGHTS:
I know I’ve mentioned this in prior reviews but I really like the packaging where there is a clear window and you can see the tank or device inside before it’s even opened. The Blaze RTA comes in a black two part box with the clear window and the Blaze name at the top in gold text. Near the bottom it is stated that it was designed in cooperation between Thunderhead Creations and Mike Vapes also in gold text.
The back side of the box shows once again the THC and Mike Vapes names near the top followed by a contents list in the center and a link to the website near the bottom. I guess they don’t want us to forget that it was designed by Mike Vapes and manufactured by Thunderhead creations since it is once again printed on the box near the bottom. The names are also on the sides of the box but I’m not going to show pictures of that. I feel it’s unnecessary and a little bit much on the branding on the box. I’m just glad they didn’t do something similar on the tank itself. Well, it is printed on the bottom of the tank base but you don’t see that when it’s on a mod.
I really didn’t have much experience with THC tanks before I recently review the Artemis 2 RDTA. I guess their stuff just wasn’t on my radar. I very much liked the Artemis and still have it in rotation on a squonk mod. From what little experience I have with their tanks, they seem to be well made and function well. It definitely makes me want to try more from them.
So once the box top is removed then you get a little better look at the Blaze sitting in a cardboard insert with the spare bubble glass. Underneath the tank is where the user guide and all of the accessories are located. I noticed that there was no cotton threads included in this tank just like there wasn’t with the Artemis. They give you a bunch of accessories like grub screws, o rings, two allen wrenches, and two .4 ohm Ni80 coils but no cotton. I wonder why that is.
As always, the very first thing I do is disassemble a new tank and clean it. The Blaze comes apart very easily for cleaning or rebuilding. Most times I will go ahead and install the bubble glass immediately if one is included but for some reason I decided to try it first with the straight glass. With the straight glass, it will only hold 2ml of liquid. After about three fills I went ahead and switched out for the bubble glass that will allow a capacity of 5.5ml of liquid. It didn’t take me long to get tired of refilling the tank with the straight glass.
If you look closely at the picture below, you will see that the top cap for the Blaze is threaded rather than the usual bayonet style cap. As a matter of fact, I think this is the first tank I’ve reviewed in a long time that actually had a threaded top cap. I don’t mind it. The threads on the sample I received are very smooth and with the knurling around the top cap it’s easy to get a grip on it to install or remove. Also in the picture below above the straight glass is the chamber reducer that comes out separately rather than being part of the chamber. The idea behind this reducer is to make the chamber area around the coils smaller to enhance the flavor production.
The Blaze name is etched into the outside of the chamber and that’s pretty much it for branding. Oh. Wait. In case you didn’t notice the box being covered with names or you forget who designed and made it, it’s also on the bottom side of the base.
The Blaze has two large airflow openings to allow plenty of airflow for those that like big air. I found myself never running the airflow past 1/3 open. The airflow adjustment does have a positive stop. I like how THC sends a nice drip tip with their tanks instead of the usual black delrin or whatever they are made of. It is an 810 drip tip on the Blaze. The base of the blaze measures at 25mm and should fit on most mods with little or no overhang.
The build deck on the Blaze seemed somewhat familiar to me. It reminds me of another tank that I reviewed but can’t remember which one it was. Anyway, the Blaze deck has airflow to the coil coming in at almost all directions. There are eleven holes on each of the uprights with more on each side above the grub screws and airflow coming from underneath as well. The wick wells are pretty large on this one so it doesn’t take a lot of thinning on the wick tails to still get good wicking action.
I very much like that the grub screws on the deck were allen head screws. However if you like flat head screws then there are some include in the accessory bag. I cut the coil legs to 5mm and found it very easy to install the coils. I of course did a dry burn on them after straightening them. After that I used some of my own cotton threads since none were included and cut the wicks a little long. I did a slight comb out and inserted one side of the wicks, trimmed the other side and inserted those. A little liquid to saturate the coils and wicks and back together the tank went. I probably could have done a little better job separating the wicks as they went into the wells but it didn’t cause an issue.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
I have enjoyed testing the THC X Mike Vapes Blaze RTA. Is it the best tank I’ve ever used? No, but it’s pretty darn good. I like that it is top airflow because I hate tanks that leak. It’s nice that THC includes good drip tips and the overall build quality seems very good to me. The threading on the top cap and base are very smooth. You can just tell when someone takes pride in their craftsmanship.
I used the two included coils since that is what you would get if you bought one. I liked the coils well enough. On the mod I was using they were reading .22 ohms which is well within my comfort zone. I liked the airflow at about 1/3 open for a slightly restricted DL and had the wattage in the low to mid 50’s range. You could open up the airflow and run this much higher if you wanted to with the right coils. With the shape of the deck being like two U shapes, I didn’t try a single coil in it. I just didn’t really think it would work well but I may try it someday.
The flavor production on this tank was really very good for a top airflow tank. It’s actually better in my opinion than my beloved original single coil Zeus rta. However, it is a dual coil versus single coil. If I had to grade the flavor on this one then I’d probably give it a 7.75 out of 10. That being said, I’ve never tried one that I thought was a 10.
So, here we are again at the end. Would I recommend the Blaze RTA for you? Well if you like dual coil rtas, easy build decks, good flavor and lots of vapor then yes I would. I like it very much and can definitely see myself buying more.
I’d like to thank Sourcemore and Joyi for sending the THC X Mike Vapes Blaze RTA for this review. Also thanks to you the readers. Thanks for sticking it out through another one of my reviews. Below is a link and a coupon for you.
Thunderhead Creations Blaze RTA Φ24mm 2/5.5ml Tank (sourcemore.com)
COUPON CODE: BLAZR for $23.19
