Gold Bar Disposable Vapes Product Review

Gold Bar Disposable Vapes Product Review

Additional Testing By:  
Afreen,   Trevor,   Victoria

In a swerve away from the common brightly-coloured plastic disposable vapes, Gold Bars promise a product combining elegance and class. Read our review and find out if these vapes deliver on expectations...

Vape Gold, the brand behind the Gold Bar disposables range, currently have a somewhat elusive reputation. Rumoured to be based in the UAE, their recently released vape range has piqued the interest of curious UK vapers, with sales growing from those hoping to discover the next big thing in disposables.

Despite the secrecy, the Gold Bar range is approved and legally available for purchase in the UK, so we're taking a closer look to see how they compare against other disposables in the market.

The device

Upon opening, the first impression is, as promised, of something different - classier, maybe. Inspired (as the name suggests) by bars of gold, the clever packaging is bullion-styled and angular, with a satin gold sleeve from which you slide out the main box. The internal packaging mirrors the ingot style in shape and features the necessary safety warnings, ingredients and a QR code to check authenticity. It features a black and gold colour scheme with just a pop of coloured text detailing the flavour on the side panel.

The Gold Bar itself is a cuboid pen-style device with a brushed metal feel and a satin gold colour. It has a contrasting black shiny mouthpiece and base and delicate detailing showing the brand logo and flavour/strength. It feels weighty in your hand and well-made.

The brushed gold look of the device is the same across the whole flavour range - there's none of the usual electric blue or candy pink plastics in evidence here. With this aesthetic, Vape Gold have chosen a more 'grown up' looking theme for their Gold Bar range.

Vape Gold Gold Bar disposable vape with gold oreVape Gold Gold Bar disposable vape box packaging
Vape Gold Gold Bar disposable vape with wrapper
Vape Gold Gold Bar disposable vape held in a hand

This is a well-constructed, non-rechargeable disposable vape. Internally you find a standard-sized battery and a pre-filled tank containing 2ml of nic-salt-based e-liquid at a 20mg nicotine strength. As with most vapes, the device is sealed in a foil wrapper to preserve flavour and protect it from outside elements until used. The quoted specifications promise up to 600 puffs from each device, with 12 flavour options to choose from.

These options seem well thought out and tasteful, much like the Gold Bar's appearance. They include the up-market sounding Strawberry Parfait, Peach Pear, and one called Oasis, along with some staple favourites like Banana Ice, Spearmint and Pink Lemonade.

Testing

When testing the Gold Bars, I found they have quite a tight draw compared to other devices, which I prefer. Like any disposable, the first few puffs seem strong but then settle into a better taste and vapour production with continued use.

All 12 flavours are recognisable, and although I did not find them too overpowering, some may find them slightly too sweet (aside from the spearmint, which I found overly sweet).

Besides the Banana Ice, which I found lovely and nothing like I imagined, I did feel the flavours could have been a bit better. Maybe I'm comparing too harshly against alternatives like the Dragbar, where the flavour recipes are so well developed that they are super-realistic, but I don't feel that the best feature of Gold Bars is the taste.

Stylistically, there's a world of difference between them and competitor offerings from brands such as Elf, Geek and Voopoo. The latter's products shout loudly with garish colours and bold packaging, while the Gold Bars are understated and are the least 'disposable-looking' disposable I have come across.

These devices would be appropriate for vaping outside a wedding, a nice hotel, or whipping out at a garden party. They don't look like something you would purchase at 2 am from a nightclub.

If Vape Gold intended to create a product that outclasses the rest and appeals to adult smokers who don't fancy brandishing a luminous green plastic vape in public, they definitely achieved this with the Gold Bar.

Performance

From a performance perspective, a Gold Bar lasted me well over a day with fairly heavy usage. Each bar performed consistently, and the flavours did not fade too much with use. Of those I tried, the battery died before the e-liquid depleted, so I experienced no dry hits. Despite the battery's demise, they lasted the promised 600 puffs, if not more.

Alternatives

With all of the above in mind, the only comparable product on the market right now in terms of performance and appearance would be the Altisc NOTUS 600. Having said that, the up-market Altisc is crafted from natural recycled wood (and looks stunning), but it is far more expensive than the Gold Bar.

Brand:

Gold Bars by Vape Gold

Flavours in Range:

12 (at time of writing)

Specifications:

  • Battery:  400mAh integrated
  • Re-chargeable:  No
  • Puffs:  Up to 600
  • Eliquid:  2ml Nic Salt
  • Nicotine Strength:  2% (20mg)
  • Refillable:  No
  • Coil:  Hyper-mesh
  • Manufactured in:  China

Who is this product best for:

Adult vapers wanting a visibly different vape, or an occasion-vape to accessorise a gold outfit!

Comparable Products:

Altisc NOTUS 600, SKE Crystal Bar, Voopoo Dragbar Z700 SE, IVG Crystal

Do I recommend this product?

Yes, to those looking for a visibly stand-out vape

Reasons for buying this product:

  • Extremely well designed
  • Unique look and feel of both device and packaging
  • Ultra-smooth vape experience
  • Competitively priced
  • The style and flavour range has been developed for the more 'grown up' adult vaper
  • UK legal

Scores:

Taste:
Performance:
Battery Life:
Design & Build:
Features:

Overall Score:

4.1 out of 5

Test Panel Reviews

* The views of the panel are entirely their own and may not reflect the views of Vapourcore

Trevor

Trevor's Review

I think people are already excited by the Gold bar disposable from Vape Gold, it seems to have a buzz around it. It is advertised as a premium product and the packaging gives you a little extra with it's double layers. Let me explain it to you this way, you know when you buy a CD or a Blu-ray and the box has an outer sleeve? Well, they have done something similar here.

You open the gold box to find inside another box which is black and gold and then you get the vape itself, packed as you would usually find it. It's all a bit like pass the parcel!

The vape unit is gold with a black mouthpiece. It has a hard, matt and solid feel to it and the blue LED light comes through two small holes on the black base. The flavour of the vape is discreetly printed on the front.

I used the Gold bar for over 24hours for each flavour before they ran out of battery, this was medium to heavy usage. The 600 puffs would last for longer with lighter use. I did feel that the gold bar went on a little longer than most disposables.

My overall impression of the Gold bar is very good. The sweet and satisfying draw that it delivered and the strong flavours really do make it taste premium. It has a classic gold design that should appeal to most.

Pros:

  • A great coloured disposable with a smart finish.
  • A deluxe range of fruity and sweet flavours delivered via a mesh coil.
  • Easy to use with a good draw and plenty of flavour.
  • 500mAh battery with 600 puffs, 24/48 hours (depending on usage).

Cons:

  • Only comes in gold.

Scores:

Taste:
Performance:
Battery Life:
Design & Build:
Features:

Overall Score:

5.0 out of 5
Afreen

Afreen's Review

My opinion of the Gold Bar vapes is that the packaging of it looks brilliant. It gives the illusion of a real gold bar with the shape, look, and colour, and it definitely stands out from competitors.

The gold exterior box is just a cover and encases an inner box which contains the actual vape. On the packaging, it contains information such as the brand, logo, the flavour, the percentage of nicotine, and most importantly, the warning label that it contains a highly addictive substance.

The vape itself looks like it's been covered in gold wrap or paint, and it has a very classy look to it. I love how on the front side of the vape it's got the flavour written in small print with "2 %" on the bottom, with the top showing the brand name and logo. Then, on the back at the bottom, there's an icon showing the flavour. The little icons really impressed me. I found them to be a really nice touch.

The pros I'd say for the Gold bars are that they've really nailed the look of it and I can say for sure it stands out from competitors. They have got a great battery life and I have no concerns about its safety features. The only con I'd like to mention is that in terms of its flavours, I do believe they could be better as I feel like there are other brands that have better-tasting vapes such as Voopo DragBars or ElfBars. Overall, I think it's got great potential to be even better if they improve their flavours.

Pros:

  • They've really nailed the look of it and I can say for sure it stands out from competitors.
  • Great battery life.
  • No concerns about safety features.

Cons:

  • Flavours could be better

Scores:

Taste:
Performance:
Battery Life:
Design & Build:
Features:

Overall Score:

4.6 out of 5
Victoria

Victoria's Review

I was pretty curious to try out the Gold Bar disposable vapes as they look a bit different to most of what is on the market at the moment.

The packaging is designed, would you believe it, to look like a bar of gold, with a gold cardboard sleeve slipped over a second cardboard box inside, the second box is black and gold and has a picture of the vape printed on it. The aesthetic kind of makes me think of old fashioned tobacco products.

The vape itself is prefilled with 2ml of flavoured eliquid (20mg nicotine), has a mesh coil, and features a 400mAh battery which they estimate will provide 600+ puffs.

On removing the copious amounts of packaging I was a little underwhelmed by the look of the vape inside. I think the brand image led me to expect something a little more sleek and sophisticated looking. The device is very square and chunky, with a dull matt gold finish. The vapes aren't coloured according to their flavour as most tend to be, they are very much leaning into the 'gold bar' idea. The flavour of the vape is printed in a fancy looking font on the front and represented by small fruit symbols on the back also.

I decided to try the Banana Ice flavour first, since Banana Ice is one of my favourite go to flavours in both the Elf Bar and SKE Crystal Bar range. The flavour was very strong. Definitely Banana, but not a lot of Ice. The throat hit was good, and the air flow gives a similar draw experience to the Elf Bar. I used it for a while hoping that the flavour would start to be a little less intense eventually and that the Menthol might kick in, but after using it for half the day I had to give it a break and move on to a different flavour. The strong Banana flavour just became intolerable.

I swapped it out for the Oasis flavour, which seems to be, according to the fruit symbols, a mixture of tropical fruit flavours. This was a lot less overpowering and more to my taste. I was able to use it consistently enough to get a sense of how long it lasted. I think I would say it met the 600 puff mark, possibly even a little more than that. The flavour managed to be pretty consistent for the most part, although the throat hit and the amount of vapour started to wane a little towards the end.

The liquid ran out before the battery actually did, which gave me a bit of a nasty dry hit, but to be fair, I think it had easily provided me with more than 600 puffs by that point.

Pros:

  • Affordable
  • Good range of interesting flavours
  • Good battery life
  • Good throat hit

Cons:

  • Not very attractive
  • Flavours are just too strong
  • Battery indicator light is hard to see when you're using the device
  • Not easy to recycle

Scores:

Taste:
Performance:
Battery Life:
Design & Build:
Features:

Overall Score:

3.2 out of 5

Product Taste Tests:

Banana Ice
Banana Ice
2.0 out of 5

Very strong, although slightly artificial Banana taste. Not very much Ice to balance it out unfortunately. The flavour was consistent, but unfortunately much too strong for me to use it for very long. I didn't actually finish this one

5.0 out of 5

Always a favourite for me because I loved banana milkshake when I was a kid. This Banana Ice did not disappoint, it was bursting with flavour and had a cool icy exhale.

4.5 out of 5

I believe this is the best one out of the bunch. It tastes more like Banana Milk. It definitely has a strong Banana flavour, but there's not much Ice to it, therefore, the deduction of 0.5. Still, a really nice flavour regardless.

Overall Score:

3.8 out of 5
Spearmint
Spearmint
3.0 out of 5

This was great if you like Mint. Very strong Mint flavour, with a slight hint of sweetness, which was welcome. A little overwhelmingly chilly on the throat for me. As with the other flavours in this range, this was also pretty strong. But not bad, pretty nice as a flavour.

5.0 out of 5

A very nice Menthol taste to this one, but it also has some mystery fruitiness to it. Creamy, smooth and cool all at the same time.

2.0 out of 5

I wasn't too much of a fan of the flavour with this one. It felt like it got too sickly at times. The flavour seemed too intense. I did have a second reviewer test this and they agreed with me on this one.

Overall Score:

3.3 out of 5
Oasis
Oasis
4.0 out of 5

This was a really pleasantly fruity taste. A mixture of tropical fruits, quite similar to a tropical fruit drink. The dominant flavour seemed to be Pineapple but was balanced nicely with other fruits and made for a nice vaping experience.

5.0 out of 5

I mentioned above that the flavour of the vape was discreetly printed on the front of the unit. In fact, it is also discrete on the box. So much so that at first I misread Oasis as Cassis, and I was writing a review about that instead in my head from the first puff: "Exactly like a bottle of Cassis that you might add to your glass of fizz"... Then I noticed the correct name! I can only tell you that for me either name would do because I got a strong Blackcurrant and Blackberry taste, with a sweet cool exhale.

3.0 out of 5

I wasn't a fan of this flavour for the same reasons as above, so I got a second and third opinion, and they thought it was alright. They said "It tastes like Shisha". Personally, I think it tastes more like Strawberry Lemonade flavour than Oasis flavour.

Overall Score:

4.0 out of 5
Peach Pear
Peach Pear
3.5 out of 5

This has a pleasant flavour, predominantly Peach at first but you definitely get the Pear as an aftertaste. I think it's a good balance and a nice flavour combination but again the overall flavour was just a bit too strong for my taste, and I couldn't use it for long before needing a break from it.

4.0 out of 5

This is a hard flavour to describe - they could have called it anything and I would have believed them. It does have a good quality taste to it and there may be Pear and Peach present, but it has other interesting notes like Pomegranate and even a hint of Pepper. If you want something different with a touch of Ice then try this one.

2.0 out of 5

Again I just found the flavours too intense, too sweet, and almost sickly. It was more Pear than Peach, and the initial hit was nice, but I couldn't vape it consistently.

Overall Score:

3.2 out of 5
Strawberry Parfait
Strawberry Parfait
3.0 out of 5

The Strawberry flavour is strong and it's a good Strawberry taste, but unfortunately there isn't any noticeable Biscuit or Cream like flavour there to justify the 'Parfait' in the name. If you like Strawberry flavour however, you will probably like this.

4.0 out of 5

This is an interesting take on Strawberry because it also has a Candy, Cake taste to it, and also a hint of cool wet cut grass.

2.0 out of 5

This one was probably my least favourite out of the bunch. It does definitely taste like Strawberries, but it was just too overly sweet and sickening.

Overall Score:

3.0 out of 5

Conclusion

Gold Bars are certainly an attractive disposable vape with their stand-out brushed gold look and metallic feel. They also deliver a smooth inhale and seem to last the promised 600 puffs.

Our tasting panel (and I) had differing opinions on their flavour profiles which on paper sound decadent but, in reality, could be so much more. There is a sweetness to the flavours that can be overwhelming, the Spearmint is extremely sweet, and although I know of vapers who would prefer that to a cooler Mint, I am not one.

Banana Ice had some fans amongst our panel. It really is quite unique. I tasted foam banana sweets; others tasted banana milk. It is one to try, though, even if it's one you wouldn't usually choose. Oasis came out as the favourite flavour of those sampled but again had mixed reviews. This happened across all the flavours tested.

Overall, a Gold Bar will get you noticed, and for the right reasons. Many adult vapers are not fans of neon plastic vapes, which look (and can be) slightly cheaper. You may well see this range marketed as 'occasion vapes' or 'party favours for the adult smoker' on wedding tables in the future. There they would certainly shine.

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10 comments

Bit bemused by how they came up with the name Bora Bora but saw it on your Instagram so now waiting for mine to arrive. All the others I’ve had so far have been great and it’s nice to see some variety outside of the usual suspects. There are so many varieties of Blueberry out there!! Peach Pear is particularly lush

Frankie Black Thursday, 13 July 2023 | 09:54

I’m glad to see they’ve launched new flavours. I got some when they first came out and really enjoyed them. So glad to see the company going from strength to strength. Waiting eagerly for my latest order to arrive so I can try the new flavours.

Iain Thursday, 13 July 2023 | 09:54

Just saw your newsletter and that the Gold Bar vapes have some new flavours that looked intriguing. So was happy to see you had this as well so I could see if it was worth giving into temptation and getting some. I think I will try some they have some nice summery flavours to take on holiday.

Hamish Wednesday, 5 July 2023 | 10:21

Great little Vape , really enjoying mine . Could be a new favourite.

George Jenkins Monday, 3 July 2023 | 13:35

These are cracking little vapes. They really stand out from the crowd. Love the packaging and the whole gold ingot conceit.

Seamus Monday, 3 July 2023 | 13:35

The Matt colour gold is nice. I think if it had been Glossy it would have made it look a bit cheap. It’s nice that they have some different flavours instead of the same old stuff you see everywhere. Peach Pear sounds intriguing as you don’t often see a Pear in a disposable vape.

Anonymous Tuesday, 13 June 2023 | 16:01

This looks very stylish and classic. So different from the usual disposable Vape. I’m looking forward to trying one when my order arrives.

Amina Khan Tuesday, 13 June 2023 | 16:01

Mine just arrived on Saturday. It does look good compared to the garish colours of some vapes, very classy. the packaging design is so clever too. The perfect little mini ingot.

Anonymous Wednesday, 7 June 2023 | 16:40

Such a valuable resource. I’m going to check on here to see if their is a review every time, I see a new one I fancy. Keep up the good work.

Anonymous Tuesday, 13 June 2023 | 16:01

These are stunning, looking forward to trying the banana one when it arrives. Thanks for another informative review x

Clara Thursday, 1 June 2023 | 13:29

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