Aspire Nautilus Mini Review: The Mouth-to-Lung Master

The Aspire Nautilus Mini is just one variation on the popular Aspire Nautilus tank. The original Nautilus was the catalyst behind the mouth-to-lung vaping style and introduced a whole generation to vaping. The Nautilus Mini is not so different from the original design. The Mini uses a Pyrex glass and stainless steel construction.

It has a 2ml e-juice capacity and features the BVC (bottom vertical coils) that made the original a hit with new vapers. The Mini also has the same bottom airflow control ring that uses four air holes that can be left open or covered.

Table of Contents

• General Overview
• What’s Inside the Box
• Working the Nautilus Mini
• Flavor and Vapor Quality
• Coil Performance
• Filling the Tank
• Competing Tanks
• Aspire Nautilus Mini Specifications
• Pros and Cons
• Closing Thoughts

A Closer Look at the Aspire Nautilus Mini

The Aspire Nautilus Mini stands at 73mm tall (2.8”) and has a diameter of 19mm (0.7”). The tank features the Pyrex glass middle section with the stainless steel base, top cap, and mouthpiece. The tank is made up of five central pieces: the drip tip, the top cap, the glass section, the coil, and the coil base. The drip tip is removable and features two o-rings at its base to keep it in place.

The Pyrex glass piece has a bell-jar form factor and is reinforced. The glass piece also features the minimal branding to be found on the tank, with the “Aspire Nautilus Mini” stamped on its side. The top cap features a coil cap that slides over the BVC coil to prevent gurgling and spit-back. This design is unique to the Nautilus tank as it limits the amount of e-juice that absorbs into the coil.

The coil base is where users install the BVC coils. The coils are threaded so users need to screw them into place. The base also doubles as the airflow control ring that also has a design unique to the Nautilus series of tanks. There is a series of airflow holes of varying sizes punched into the ring. Users can adjust the ring so that it allows more or less air into the central tank centrifuge.

The base also features the 510-connection where users can install the device onto any compatible mod. The Nautilus tank is a mouth-to-lung device so it is most compatible with low-wattage, single-cell devices that have slim builds and low-profiles. It also has a removable top cap, which exposes the entire tank so users have an easier time filling the tank.

Kit Contents

The Aspire Nautilus Mini is a very simple atomizer that has few moving parts, so the kit contents are sparse but contain the essentials.

As the tank recalls a bygone era of vaping, the kit does not include a replacement glass piece, should the original crack or break. For those who want to protect their glass piece, Aspire does sell several stainless steel sleeves to protect the glass section.

Using the Aspire Nautilus Mini

The Nautilus Mini has the same easy operating style that the original had. The top cap and coil base have knurling around them, which allows users to get an easy grip when unscrewing it. Except, the tank is not a top-fill.

Unscrewing the top cap leaves only a small opening, which makes it harder to insert a bottle nozzle. Unscrewing the coil base gives users more room. Only, they should still use a Gorilla-style nozzle tip because typical droppers will have a harder time squeezing into the side. There are fill lines on the glass so users can stop filling when they reach the line.

Once the tank is full, users can screw back the coil base after priming their coils with a few drops of e-liquid. The BVC coils have juice ports for users to drip a few drops onto the cotton, which primes them for vaping. Users can then reattach the base but they should not screw it on too tightly. The drip tip is also removable but stays in place when needed.

Vapor Quality

There is not much difference between the original tank and the mini version except for two things: the size and the BVC coils. The BVC coils or bottom vertical coils use bottom-fed airflow to up the cloud size and flavor quality, as the air passes the coil, then goes up the chimney. Other coil types use top airflow, where the air goes down into the tank and back up again.

The resulting vapor from these coil types is very high-quality. The coil has plenty of e-juice holes to wick easily. The high-resistance of the coils does not mean that you will get as much cloud as with sub-ohm coils, but the flavor profiles of every juice come out clear and crisp when using either of the 1.8ohm coils in the kit.

There is a 1.6ohm coil option also available for the tank, but there is little difference between them. The airflow ring at the bottom of the tank also pairs well with the coils and they give users a lot of options on how best to control their airflow.

Coil Performance

The BVC coils Aspire Nautilus have a slightly longer vape life than the previous BDC that Aspire released with the original Nautilus. Either coil can last for up to two weeks with low to moderate usage or even a week with heavy usage.

The coils are meant for low-wattage and the range for both is between 3.3V-4.2V for the 1.6ohm coil and the range for the 1.8ohm coil is 4.2V-5.0V, which allows vapers to use a little more power. With these low-power ranges, it will be very hard to burn out the coils Aspire Nautilus. The low power output also lets users get the full life of the coil while providing for exceptional flavor production.

Filling Method

The Aspire Nautilus Mini is a bottom-fill tank like the original. Users could conceivably fill the tank from the top but it would be difficult. The glass section narrows at the top so there is very little room to fill it from the top.

The opening at the top is for the chimney and is not a fill port. Users should unscrew the coil base gently, turn the tank section upside down and fill along the sides of the metal chimney, NOT into the chimney. There are max fill lines painted onto the side, which is important to follow because going past them will lead to leaking when users replace the coil base, as all that juice is displaced.

The Competition

Aspire Nautilus 2

The Nautilus 2 is the heir apparent to the original Nautilus tank. The new version features a wholly-revised design structure with an all-stainless steel top cap that fits over the glass section, acting as cover for the glass. This tank is top-fill, as users need only screw-off the top section (which is all one piece and includes a drip tip) to reveal the tank section.

This Aspire tank also has a small e-juice capacity as it can hold only 2ml. The new version of the tank also comes with a new 0.7ohm sub-ohm coil and features a new take on the airflow control ring with four fully-exposed bottom airflow holes that users can adjust.

Aspire K3

The K3 tank is a 55mm tall (2.1”) atomizer and has a diameter of 18mm (0.7”). The tank has an all-Pyrex glass mid-section and has only a thin, metal top and bottom. This tank also uses the proprietary BVC coils that are common for tanks from this brand.

The K3 uses a removable 510-drip tip up top that comes in two different colors, like with the tank itself, steel and black.

Pros and Cons

Closing Thoughts: Aspire Nautilus Mini Review: A Tank for the Ages

There is not much to separate the Nautilus Mini from the original tank. They have the same form factor and structure from the narrow top-section to the knurling along the top and bottom cap. The Mini also has the same airflow control ring and its four air intake holes. The new tank also performs at the same level and is a great introduction to vaping for new vapers.

The BVC coils are the only thing that the Mini brings to the table. They offer a longer vape life and can produce larger amounts of cloud (at least the 1.8ohm coils). The coils are excellent for mouth-to-lung vaping and should make any former smokers happy with its emphasis on flavor production.