Flum vs RELX: Sugar-First Disposables Against the Anti-Candy Pod System

Why Flum vs RELX Is Really a Format Question

Most brand-versus-brand articles on this site compare two disposable makers. Our RAZ vs Geek Bar comparison is a good example: two brands, the same product category, a straight flavor fight. Flum vs RELX is different, and the difference matters more than any single flavor score. Flum only makes disposables. RELX makes a refillable pod system first and disposables second. Before you weigh Mango Ice against Lemon Tea, you need to decide whether you want to throw the whole device away when it is empty or keep a battery and buy pods.

The second thing to understand is that these two brands sit at opposite ends of our sweetness scale. Flum's 77 average is the highest we have recorded; RELX's 63 is the lowest. Fourteen points on the same scale, judged by the same panel, is a gulf you will notice on the first draw. A vaper who loves one brand will very likely find the other either bland or cloying. That is not a knock on either. It is the reason this comparison exists.

Brand Profiles at a Glance

A note on the two shop pages, because the formats confuse people. Everything Flum sells is on the Flum brand page, and because every Flum is a sealed disposable, the Flum vape refill collection is where you go to restock a device you already like rather than to buy pods. RELX is split: the RELX brand page carries both formats, while the RELX vape refill page lists only the pods and batteries, compared against every other refillable system we stock.

Flum vs RELX Device and System Comparison

The table below uses only the numbers from our own guides. Where a figure is not something we have measured or published, the cell says so rather than guessing.

The Flum Device Families Explained

Flum's range is easier to understand once you know it is two families under one badge. The UT Bar side is the dual-flavor line. The UT Bar Pro 50K is the flagship at 50,000 puffs with 43 options, and most of those options are pairings such as Blue Razz / Lemonade, Strawnana / Gelato and Tobacco / Gold Tobacco, where a switch on the body toggles between the two flavors. The Clear Tank 50K keeps the 50,000-puff capacity but drops to a single flavor and adds a see-through pod so you can watch the e-liquid level. The UT Bar Pro 25K is the compact option at 25,000 puffs with 20 single flavors. In total the UT Bar menu runs to roughly 70 flavors, all covered in our UT Bar flavors guide.

The Mello and Float side is the dessert-leaning family. The Mello 20K is the compact 20,000-puff device with the deepest menu in the family, 32 flavors, and it is where the named signature blends live: Rome, Velvet, Milano Adore, Vienna Bliss, Blossom. The Float Mello Pro 50K is the 50,000-puff flagship with a tighter 13-flavor list that leans fruit and ice, led by Straw Guava. The original Flum Float is the device that started the line, and the earlier Flum Pebble sits in the same compact single-flavor tradition. The whole family is mapped in the Flum Mello and Float flavors guide.

What every Flum shares is the philosophy. Whether it is a 20K or a 50K, a dual or a single, the liquid inside is tuned for sugar first. That consistency is useful: if you like one Flum flavor, you will almost certainly like the same recipe on a different Flum device.

The RELX Device Families Explained

RELX is what people mean when they say "pod system", and the phrase "RELX flavors" really means RELX pod flavors. The refillable side is the one the brand is known for. You buy an Infinity 2 Plus once, or the newer Ultra, then top up with RELX Pro Pods from a large flavor library. The Creator 35K battery works the same way with its own Creator refill pods. The point of this format is that a flavor change costs you a pod, not a device.

The disposable side runs the same recipes in sealed form. The Nova 30K uses the SilkMesh coil and is where our top RELX pick, Fresh Red, comes from. The Pocket 30K matches it on rated puffs in a slimmer body, and the Crystal 15K is the small one. Because the flavor library is shared, a Longjing Ice Tea you tried in a Crystal is also available for the Creator, the Nova and the Pocket. Our RELX vape flavors guide lists which devices carry each flavor.

If you are choosing between formats inside RELX, the honest guidance is this: the disposables are the easy way to sample the flavor library, and the refillable systems are the cheaper-per-flavor way to live with it once you know what you like. Both are on the RELX brand page; the refillable half is broken out on the RELX refill page.

Flavor Category Breakdown, Scored by the Same Panel

Every score below comes from our six-dimension blind protocol: Sweetness, Cooling, Accuracy (how close the flavor lands to its real-world source), Aftertaste, Throat Hit and Aroma. Flum's catalog splits 38 percent fruit-ice, 22 percent pure fruit and tropical, 15 percent candy and sour, 12 percent beverage and mixed, 8 percent dessert, 3 percent mint and 2 percent tobacco. RELX's splits 35 percent tea and beverage, 24 percent fruit-ice, 16 percent tropical fruit, 14 percent Asian dessert, 8 percent mint and herbal, and 3 percent neutral. Those two pie charts already tell most of the story.

Read across those six cards and a pattern emerges. Where the two brands make the same flavor, the numbers finish within a point or two of each other: Watermelon Ice 70 versus 69, Cool Mint 64 versus 67, the two vanillas at 66 each. What differs is the sweetness column underneath. Flum's Watermelon Ice is 80 sweet; RELX's is 68. Flum's vanilla is 84; RELX's is 71. Same target, same overall score, entirely different amount of sugar to get there. That is why we keep saying the overall tie hides the real decision.

How Flum and RELX Compare to JUUL, NJOY, OXVA, Uwell, Blu, Elux, SMOK, iJoy and Lost Vape

The other names that show up in searches next to Flum and RELX are a mixed group, so it helps to sort them by product category before comparing anything else. We only describe these brands in general terms here; we do not stock most of them and we have not panel-scored their flavors, so no numbers follow.

JUUL and NJOY are closed pod systems in the same broad family as the refillable RELX line: a small reusable battery and prefilled pods you snap in. JUUL's pod menu is built around tobacco and menthol. NJOY's ACE follows the same closed-pod formula. Against RELX, the format is the same but the flavor library is not: RELX's pod list runs to teas, taro, lychee and warm mango, while the JUUL and NJOY menus stay narrow. Against Flum, the comparison is disposable versus pod: a Flum 50K runs far longer per unit than a single pod, but a pod battery is reused while a Flum is thrown away.

OXVA and Uwell are refillable open pod systems. You buy bottled e-liquid, fill the pod yourself and replace pods or coils over time. That gives you full control over flavor and nicotine strength, at the cost of some maintenance. RELX's refillable line is the closed version of the same idea (prefilled pods, no bottles), and Flum is at the far end of the convenience spectrum with nothing to fill and nothing to replace. If open systems interest you, every refillable device we carry is on the refillable vapes collection, and RELX's pods are compared there against them.

Blu sells closed pods and small disposables, historically leaning toward tobacco and menthol with a modest fruit list. It is a lighter, simpler product than either brand here. Compared with Flum, the Blu disposable format is smaller and shorter-running; compared with RELX, the closed-pod idea is shared but the flavor breadth is narrower.

Elux, SMOK, iJoy and Lost Vape are disposable and pod-system makers with wide, fruit-heavy menus. Elux and iJoy are best known for big-puff disposables in the same category as Flum's UT Bar and Mello lines, so the comparison there is flavor style: Flum is sweeter and more candy-forward than most of that field. SMOK and Lost Vape both make refillable pod systems and disposables. Lost Vape is a brand we do stock, and its Orion Bar line sits on our Lost Vape brand page with a full Lost Vape flavors guide if you want a scored third option in the big-puff disposable category.

The short version for each pairing: if you are searching "JUUL vs Flum" or "Blu vs Flum", you are comparing a compact pod or small disposable with a big-puff disposable, and Flum will run much longer per unit with a far sweeter flavor menu. If you are searching "Uwell vs Flum" or "OXVA vs RELX", you are comparing open refillable systems with prefilled products, and the question is whether you want to fill your own pods. If you are searching "RELX vs NJOY" or "Blu vs RELX", you are comparing closed pod systems, and RELX has the broader and more unusual pod library. Elux, SMOK, iJoy and Lost Vape all belong in the same big-puff disposable field as Flum, and Flum stands out from them on sweetness rather than on hardware.

Draw, Ice and Throat Hit: What the Panel Felt

Cooling is the dimension people expect to separate the two brands, and it barely does. Flum averages 48 and RELX averages 41. Neither is an ice brand. Flum's ice variants sit between 66 and 70 on cooling, which our panel describes as a cool breeze rather than a frost blast; only Cool Mint, at 76, goes cold. RELX's fruit-ice flavors land in the low 60s, and its tea and dessert flavors are deliberately served warm, with cooling readings as low as 3 on French Vanilla. If arctic menthol is what you want, neither brand is the right answer, and our mint vs menthol vs ice explainer points to brands that do it harder.

Throat hit is where the two split. Flum averages 58, a medium, slightly firm draw that the panel calls smooth but present. RELX averages 51, the softest of any brand we test, and French Vanilla drops to 47. That silkiness is the SilkMesh coil doing its job, and it is the reason RELX suits long, unhurried sessions. Ex-smokers who want a draw that pushes back tend to prefer Flum; vapers who want the draw to disappear tend to prefer RELX.

Aroma is Flum's quiet win. At 78, every Flum puff fills the room, and the panel's "candy store effect" describes the way you smell a Flum before you taste it. RELX's 75 is close behind, but it is a different kind of aroma: tea leaf, ripe peach, custard. Aftertaste tilts the other way, 73 for RELX against 66 for Flum. RELX flavors linger, with French Vanilla and Lemon Tea persisting 15 to 20 seconds, while most Flum flavors fade quickly apart from Vanilla Ice Cream and Gummy Bear.

Who Should Buy Which

Our Recommendation

If you came here for a single winner, take the honest version: buy Flum if you want sweetness, aroma and the longest-running sealed disposables, and buy RELX if you want accuracy, a soft draw and the freedom to keep a battery and change pods. Both averaged 68 in front of the same blind panel. The only way to get the wrong one is to ignore the sweetness gap.

A practical way to sample both cheaply is to start with the smaller device on each side. The Mello 20K carries the widest Flum menu at 32 flavors, so it shows the brand's dessert and signature side, and the RELX Crystal 15K runs the same pod recipes as the refillable line, so a flavor you like there translates directly to an Infinity pod later. Both brands are stocked at TopVapeFlavors from direct US distribution, and orders ship within one business day.

Frequently Asked Questions