Coilart Salt RTA Review | Not Just For Nic Salts

Coilart Salt RTA review

The Salt by Coilart is a single-coil mouth to lung rebuildable tank atomizer. It is also the first RTA designed specifically for use with nicotine salt based e-liquids. In order to accomplish that, Coilart made everything small on it: from atomizer diameter to build deck size, and from the build posts to the airflow holes. Everything about this RTA is engineered for use with higher strength e-liquid.

It comes with a capacity of 2 mL — that goes up to 3.5 mL with the included bubble glass – and six prebuilt coils. The coils come in three specs, each for a different kind of juice (low strength nic salts, high strength nic salts, and regular e-liquid.) Coilart lists five colors for the Salt RTA, but only the black and stainless steel editions are available for purchase right now.

Colors: Black, stainless steel, gun metal, blue, gold
Price: $29.99 (at VaporDNA)

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Specifications

• Dimensions: 18 mm x 47mm
• Top-fill tank
• 510 drip tip
• Juice capacity 2 mL (3.5 mL with bubble glass)
• M2.5×3 build screws
• SUS304 stainless steel construction
• Easy single coil build
• PEEK insulator
• Adjustable airflow

Kit Content

• Salt RTA
• Bubble glass
• Accessories bag
• Pre-cut cotton (5)
• Fused Clapton 0.65-ohm coils (2)
• Ni80 28-gauge 1.15-ohm coils (2)
• Ni80 30-gauge 1.6-ohm coils (2)

Build quality and design

The CoilArt Salt RTA has a simple, retro style to it. The first thing you notice is that it is only 18 mm in diameter; it reminds me a lot of the Nautilus Mini, minus some curves. The 2 mL capacity of the Salt RTA is impressive for a rebuildable tank of its size. To put it in perspective, the 24 mm Berserker RTA holds the same amount of e-liquid out of the box. Its construction is sturdy and metallic, and I appreciated the fact that the tank section is made out of glass. It gives some stylish points to it. Machining is on point and everything seems well put together.

There are some minor drawbacks though. One of the Salt RTAs I received came with a slightly worn-off gasket O-ring, but I found a replacement piece in the box, so that’s fine. And the ridges of the airflow ring might need some cleaning up every once in a while. Oh, and the replacement bubble glass that gives the Salt an extra 1.5 mL looks kinda funny on it – but that might just be me.

Airflow

The Salt RTA is an MTL atomizer and doesn’t pretend otherwise. It features an adjustable single hole airflow ring with seven airflow options, ranging from 0.6 to 2 mm. The ring doesn’t lock on each hole, but it does have stoppers on the smallest and largest airflow holes. The black airflow ring made it a bit hard to distinguish between the different airflow settings on the black Salt RTA, but I got used to it after a while. The bottom inside airflow measures somewhere between 1.2 and 1.5 mm and the tiny chamber reinforces the tight airflow of the tank.

While this might not be the most innovative airflow system, everything is very well thought out. Most importantly, the external airflow options are very close in diameter to the internal airflow hole, which ensures a smooth MTL experience. Just by looking at the airflow system I could already say that this will not be a tank for those after an airy vape. It might have seven airflow options, but all of them belong in the tight draw category.

Build deck and wicking

The two-post build deck is simple and minimalistic. It is a slightly raised GTA-style deck and reminded me a lot of the build deck of the 3CVAPE Savour RTA — although everything is much smaller on the Salt RTA. Building on it is very straightforward: one coil end on each post, move the coil close to the airflow, wick it up, and you are ready to go. I’d suggest using coils with up to a 2.5 mm ID. The wick holes are tiny and your wicks will need some combing to ensure that e-liquid will reach the coils freely, especially if you are using high VG e-liquids.

Given the size (and airflow) of the RTA, anything larger than MTL-style fused Claptons will be overkill. Regular round wire of the finer variety seems to be the best option, which makes total sense for an MTL RTA – especially one that is designed for use with nic salts.

Performance

I tried four builds on the Coilart Salt RTA, the three included coils and my go-to build for mouth to lung atomizers:

• 28 gauge Ni80 (included) with 20 mg nic salts.
• 30 gauge Ni80 (included) with 20 mg nic salts.
• MTL fused Claptons (included) with 6 mg freebase juice.
• 26 gauge Kanthal round wire with 6 mg freebase juice.

This one might be one of the smallest RTAs out there, but what it lacks in size it makes up with its performance. I got really good flavor out of all the builds I tried. The tiny chamber and bottom airflow helped a lot with the flavor and throat hit. In fact, I can say that I got comparable flavor to one of my favorite RTAs of all time, the Berserker Mini, which is not a small feat. On top of that, I had no leaking, condensation or flooding with the top-fill, some of the issues I have had in the past with various MTL RTAs.

The included round wire coils were a good fit for 20 mg nic salt e-liquid. I didn’t notice much of a difference between them, especially when I tested them at the lower end of their recommended wattages. I got a very satisfying vape out of these two coils and ended up installing the second 30-gauge coil when I finished testing the rest of the builds.

I am not the biggest fan of multi-strand coils for MTL vaping and I can’t say that the included fused Claptons changed my mind. They seem to be all the rage lately, but I somehow always end up having to spend time troubleshooting for gurgling. On top of that, the wattage recommendation for these coils is much higher than it should be, so keep that in mind if you use them. I spent one evening with this build and got an alright vape with the airflow completely open, but nothing special. I swapped these coils for my 26-gauge Kanthal wire and got the best out of my 6 mg freebase liquid.

The airflow is smooth all over the board. At its smallest hole it is one of the tightest MTLs I have ever had — I am not vaping on high-strength nic salts, but if I did I would probably start with this airflow option. Wide open it is still MTL, but of the airy variety. I’d say it’s just a tiny bit airier than the notoriously tight Berserker Mini at its larger hole. There is no way you can use this RTA for direct-lung inhales, so keep that in mind if that is what you are after.

Likes

• Good build quality
• Minimalistic design
• Very easy to build
• Wicks with no issues
• Proper MTL draw
• Really good flavor
• Defined throat hit
• Perfect fit for nic salts
• Comes with 6 pre-built coils

Dislikes

• May look a bit weird on larger mods
• Not for direct-lung inhales
• Included fused Claptons are overrated for wattage
• Airflow ring will need cleaning once in a while

Verdict

The Coilart Salt RTA was kind of a surprise to me, mainly due to its size. I don’t know why, but I didn’t think I’d get a very good vape out of an RTA that’s so small. But I did, and I’d recommend this one to anyone after an easy to build and hassle-free MTL rebuildable tank atomizer that can perform at a high level with both nic salts and freebase e-liquid.

Regardless of the liquid you plan on using with it, if you enjoy a tight MTL draw and don’t mind a smaller diameter atomizer, then you will love the Salt RTA. What do you think? Have you tried the Salt RTA? Let me know in the comment section.

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