Tiny Tony "Stealth" Mod: Impressions

Do you sometimes say to yourself “self, I wish I had a small e-cigarette that won’t draw attention but will perform like a big battery mod”?  If you do, people are probably staring at you because you talk to yourself, not because you’re toting around a large e-cigarette.  However, if you still insist you’re not crazy, the Tiny Tony from North Carolina Vapes may be of interest to you.

Design
Honestly, I was aware of stealth vaping for quite a while (you basically sneake a vape and hold or discretely exhale the vapor).  What I didn’t know was that there was a subcategory of e-cigarettes designed to not attract a lot of attention.  For the most part, these types of mods are usually small devices that lack any sort of lights or any other features that would make them stand out.

Got a light?

Since the Tiny Tony comes in an array of colors, it may not quite hit that last mark, but it’s small enough to hide in most people’s hands.  Tony is roughly the size of a cigarette lighter.  Of course that makes perfect sense since the thing was made from an actual cigarette lighter.

While the lighter form factor makes Tony a breeze to tote around in your pocket or bag, the maker does caution that the e-cigarette was never designed for constant use.  Despite the caveat, I found that the TT is a fairly hardy device. I could see the trigger eventually break, or the latches on the casing eventually wear out from constant opening and closing for swapping batteries and changing cartomizers.

Battery and recessed connector

The Tiny Tony opens by using a coin to pry apart the two halves of the body exposing the battery and atomizer connections.  The battery is naturally small and is a 10440 (roughly AAA sized).  Weighing in a 600mAh, you’ll get a good few hours out of a charge, but will definitely be opening Tony up at least a couple times per day.

Also very noticeable is that the 510 connector is recessed inside the battery compartment.  This minimizes the amount of excess length sticking out the top from your cartomizer or atmoizer, but does mean your choices of those items is limited to standard diamater hardware.  Installing the cartomizer into the box is tricky, and it’s recommended to attach the hardware to the 510 connector while the case is open.

While the Tony is opened up, it’s also clear that this is a purely mechanical design.  A simple spring sort of device attached to the switch makes contact with the battery completing the circuit and activating the atomizer.  There are no electrical switches or wires anywhere to be found inside the casing which should also help the TT last fairly long despite being designed for occasional use.

Experience
That mechanical switch is one of the defining traits of the Tiny Tony.  Rather than being a simple push button located at the bottom or top of the device, it is essentially a slider switch.  Activating the switch is fairly simple, but it requires a fair amount of strength to activate the switch.

Let’s see.. tab A. Slot B…

Finding the perfect method to get the switch to light up your cartomizer or atomizer may take a little practice, but it isn’t unmanageable once you find a comfortable position. While I often swap between the terms cartomizer and atomizer, in reality the Tiny Tony probably works best with cartomizer.  Primarily this is true because it’s sort of hard to pull out a bottle and drip into an atomizer while remaining inconspicuous.

XL carto adds some length

Using the TT as a stealthy unit to take around when you don’t want to use your normal gear worked well for me.  I found that Tony rode along in my pocket quite comfortably even with the extra length of my XL cartomizer and drip tip sticking up. The small size is comfortable to hold in the hand and is strong enough to not feel like it will fly apart if you squeeze it too hard.

The only other gotcha I noted with this device was to be careful of overfilling your cartomizer or over dripping your atomizer.  There’s nothing really sealing the atomizer connector from the rest of the thing, so excess juice has no place to go but inside the Tiny Tony.  Fortunately since it is all mechanical, it’s not a huge deal to just wipe out the excess and move on with your life.

Too Long; Didn’t Read
The Tiny Tony is a compact little mod ideal for those situations when you don’t want to cart the “big guns” along with you.  Clearly, the Tony appeals to the sort of person who has a whole collection of PVs rather than just a single e-cigarette.  The attractive design and simple mechanical design makes the Tiny Tony an intriguing alternative to your run of the mill small battery box mod.

Pros:

• Attractive design (in fashion colors)
• Compact
• Inexpensive
• Fairly solid despite its recommended part-time use