The Deep-Dive…

Here’s What Vape Tank Is Best For You Based on My 15+ Years Testing Them…

TL;DR: Which Type of Vape Tank Should You Get?

• If you want a cigarette-like draw, higher nicotine, and a tank that doesn’t need topping up every hour, get an MTL tank.
• If you want big clouds and thick flavour on high-VG juice, get a sub-ohm/DTL tank.
• Mesh isn’t a third category, it’s a coil upgrade that makes either type taste better and last longer.
• I’ve run all three for over a decade and the short version is this: match the tank to your juice and your draw, not the other way round.

The One Thing That Decides Everything: Coil Resistance

Every vape tank question comes back to one number: the resistance of the coil, measured in ohms.

• 1.0 ohm or above = MTL. Tight draw, low power, sips juice.
• Below 1.0 ohm = sub-ohm/DTL. Open draw, high power, drinks juice.

I’ve tested enough tanks to tell you that if you get this one distinction right before you buy, you’ll avoid 90% of the “why does my throat hurt” or “why is my juice gone in a day” complaints I see in our Facebook group.

MTL Tanks: Best for Ex-Smokers and Anyone Who Wants a Cigarette-Style Draw

Best for: people switching from cigarettes, nic salt users, anyone who wants a discreet, quiet vape.

MTL stands for mouth-to-lung. You pull vapour into your mouth first, then breathe it into your lungs, the same motion as pulling on a cigarette. That’s the whole appeal. If you’re coming off tobacco, this is the draw your brain already knows.

What that means in practice, from my own time running these tanks:

• Tight airflow, usually adjustable with a small ring or slots near the base
• Narrow drip tip, built for a small, controlled mouthful of vapour
• Coils sit at 1.0 ohm or higher, so they sip power and last longer between changes
• Best paired with nic salts or 50/50 e-liquid, since low-power coils don’t need high-VG juice to perform

Here’s the deal: MTL is the efficient option. Smaller clouds, smoother throat hit, and a tank that doesn’t leave you refilling every twenty minutes.

Sub-Ohm (DTL) Tanks: Best for Cloud and Flavour Chasers

Best for: vapers who want big clouds, intense flavour, and don’t mind refilling more often.

Sub-ohm means the coil resistance drops below 1.0 ohm. Less resistance means more power gets through, and more power means bigger clouds. Simple as that. DTL (direct-to-lung) describes the draw: one continuous pull straight into your lungs, no holding it in your mouth first.

From testing dozens of these over the years, the pattern holds every time:

• Wide-bore drip tips and much more open airflow, often with a large adjustable ring
• Needs real power behind it, so you’re looking at a proper mod or a higher-wattage pod system, not a basic starter kit
• Performs best with high-VG juice (70/30 VG/PG or shortfills), since low nicotine and thick juice is what these coils are built to vaporise
• Coils burn out faster because they’re working harder, so budget for more frequent swaps

I’m not going to pretend this is beginner-friendly. The vapour is warmer, denser, and the hit is stronger. If you’re new to vaping, start MTL and work up to this once you know what you actually want.

Mesh Coils: Not a Third Type, an Upgrade to Both

This is where I see the most confusion in comments and DMs.

Mesh isn’t a competing category to MTL or sub-ohm, it’s a coil design that shows up in both.

A mesh coil replaces the traditional round wire with a flat, perforated sheet of metal. That sheet heats more evenly across a bigger surface area, which is why mesh tanks consistently taste better and last longer than wire-coil equivalents at the same wattage, in my own side-by-side testing.

You’ll now find “mesh MTL” tanks and “mesh sub-ohm” tanks. If flavour and coil lifespan matter to you more than anything else, look for mesh in whichever resistance range you’ve already decided on.

Which Vape Tank Is Actually Best? My Verdict

There’s no single “best” tank, only the best tank for what you’re doing. Here’s how I’d point you, based on years of running all three setups back to back:

You want…	Get this	Why
A cigarette-like draw and to quit smoking	MTL tank, 1.0 ohm+	Restricted draw feels familiar, sips power, pairs with nic salts
Massive clouds and thick flavour	Sub-ohm/DTL tank, under 1.0 ohm	Wide airflow and high power built for high-VG juice
The best flavour and longest coil life, in either style	A mesh coil version of whichever tank above fits you	Even heat spread across a bigger wick contact area
An all-day, low-maintenance setup	MTL tank with mesh coil	Combines the sipping power draw with better flavour and less coil swapping

My honest take: most people who are still smoking or recently quit should start MTL. Most people chasing clouds already know it and don’t need convincing. And almost everyone benefits from picking a mesh option once they’ve settled on which draw style suits them.

UK Rules That Apply to Every Tank on This List

I cover this in every piece because if you’re in the UK, it genuinely changes what you can buy here, and it’s not going away:

• Every tank sold in the UK, MTL or sub-ohm, is capped at 2ml capacity under TPD/TRPR rules, regardless of what you might see marketed from outside the UK.
• Nicotine strength tops out at 20mg/ml.
• From 1 October 2026, the new Vaping Products Duty adds £2.20 per 10ml of e-liquid, which will push juice prices up regardless of which tank style you run. If you’re doing the maths on running costs, sub-ohm setups (which burn through high-VG juice faster) will feel that duty more than MTL setups will.