Where a refillable stops being a disposable replacement
Eighty watts from a device that still fits in a pocket, with a five-millilitre pod and a coil you replace on its own instead of the whole cartridge. The Nord 5 is the point on this shelf where a refillable stops being a disposable replacement and starts being a piece of equipment.
It comes in two chassis, a zinc-alloy version and a leather-wrapped one. They differ in weight and possibly in how fast they charge; otherwise, they are the same device.
RPM 3, and the two resistances that exist
The coil is a separate part that presses into the pod, and the family is SMOK RPM 3 Replacement Coils. SMOK make it in exactly two resistances: a 0.15 ohm mesh built for forty to eighty watts, and a 0.23 ohm mesh for twenty to forty-five.
That is a narrow range, and it tells you what this device is. Both coils are direct-lung coils. There is no mouth-to-lung RPM 3, so if a tight cigarette draw is what you want, this is the wrong device and a pod kit is the right one.
There is no such thing as a Nord 5 coil.l
Several shops sell something labelled a Nord 5 replacement coil. SMOK have never made one. What those listings contain is the RPM 3 coil under a different name, and at least one of them admits as much in its own description.
Ask for RPM 3, and you will get the right part every time. The pod is a separate purchase, SMOK Nord 5 Replacement Pods, and it outlasts several coils.
The coils settle the liquid question.n
There is no mouth-to-lung coil for this device, which settles the liquid question before you ask it: 70/30 freebase, three milligrams or six. High-strength salt through a 0.15 ohm mesh coil at eighty watts is a quantity of nicotine nobody should be aiming for, and thin 50/50 liquid will weep through the pod besides.
The E-Liquids shelf is the right one. A 100ml or 120ml bottle makes sense here: Doozy Vape Co 100ml and Ultimate Juice 120ml are both 70/30 and both at strengths built for coils in this range. A five-millilitre pod at eighty watts empties faster than anything else on the pod shelf.
What SMOK do not publish, and one figure to distrust
SMOK name no chipset and publish no charge time. The charging current is variously quoted at 1.2 amps throughout, and at 1.2 for one chassis and 1.5 for the other, with nothing from SMOK to settle it. The quoted weights differ by about six grams.
One number on the replacement-pod listing here reads two millilitres. SMOK’s Nord 5 pod is five millilitres, and this device’s own page says so. Take the five.
The only RPM device on the shelf
It is the only SMOK pod mod here and the only device in the collection on the RPM platform. Against the VOOPOO pod mods,s it trades a wide choice of coil resistances for a simpler decision: two coils, both direct lung, pick by wattage.
SMOK have since released a Nord 6, and nothing crosses over to it. That device moved to the RPM 4 coil and a wider pod of its own, so a Nord 5 owner gains nothing from Nord 6 stock and loses nothing by staying put. RPM 3 remains its own family.
Out of the box
Two coils in the box, an eight-second cut-off, and pod detection so it will not fire empty. There is nothing to learn beyond setting a wattage inside the coil’s range.
A five-millilitre pod is generous, and at eighty watts you will need it. Buy liquid in a size that matches. This is a device that justifies the larger bottles sold in Kenya over the ten-millilitre ones.
Fitting an RPM 3 coil and priming it
Press the coil into the pod, put two or three drops of liquid directly onto the cotton showing through the side ports, then fill and leave the pod standing for five minutes. A mesh coil this low in resistance heats fast enough to scorch dry cotton on the first puff.
Start at the bottom of the coil’s range and climb (forty watts on the 0.15 ohm, twenty on the 0.23) rather than beginning at the top. SMOK publish no life figure, but a coil started gently and kept wet is the one that lasts.
Delivery to your county
Vapesoko Nairobi delivers the same day inside Nairobi and the towns around it, and in 1 to 2 business days elsewhere in Kenya by courier.
Best for
- Eighty watts in a pocket device
- A five-millilitre pod
- RPM 3 coils, two resistances
- Built for direct lung, start to finish
- Two coils, and the wattage picks itself
Specifications
- Category: Pod Mods
- Device class: Pod mod, sealed internal battery
- Battery: 2000mAh
- Power: 5–80W, adjustable with two buttons
- Pod it takes: Nord 5 pod, 5ml, side fill
- Replacement pod: SMOK Nord 5 Replacement Pods
- Coil family: SMOK RPM 3 mesh, 0.15 ohm and 0.23 ohm
- Replacement coils: SMOK RPM 3 Replacement Coils
- Screen: A 0.69-inch OLED with wattage, battery, resistance and a puff counter
- Airflow: A sliding switch with dual side inlets
- Liquid formats and strengths stocked: 3mg freebase at 70/30, and 6mg is the ceiling. Both coils are sub-ohm, and neither suits a salt.
- Refillable: Yes, you supply the e-liquids.d
- Who it is for: Adult smokers and vapers, 18+. Not suitable for non-smokers or for anyone who has never used nicotine.
- E-liquid not included: Sold as hardware only
- Charging port: USB Type-C
- Delivery: Same day in Nairobi and nearby towns on an early dispatch; typically 1 to 2 business days elsewhere in Kenya
