Reload Vapor surprises us with a dripper for direct to lung vaping. It is 24mm in diameter and is easy to get to grips with. Huge clouds in the offing?... not quite.

The Essential RDA dripper is designed for fans of direct to lung vaping. However, the vapour is certainly energetic, but still under control. Forget huge cloud machines running at over 100W, but where you run the risk of a very hot result. Here’s everything you need to know!

Under the Essential RDA is engraved the name of the model, a serial number and the brand logo. The engravings are fine and well-executed. Our sample, in black, has a matte finish. A bottom feeder pin is included in the dripper box for squonk fans.

The Essential RDA is supplied with two proprietary drip tips. One has a flared shape and an inside opening 8.55mm in diameter, whilst the second cream-coloured drip tip is a little wider with an opening diameter of 8.65mm. In both cases, the mouthpieces are not very high and so are closer to the coils. An adapter completes the accessories to use an 810 drip tip of your choice for a slightly cooler vape. The barrel of the Essential RDA has two airflows positioned opposite each other.

Machining around the edge of the barrel gives good grip and makes it easier to rotate to adjust the airflow. Full marks once again. The finishes are excellent and it has a nice design. The dripper is visually understated and discreet. Weighing only 48g, the Essential RDA is an ideal companion for a mech tube.

The deck of the Essential RDA has four posts to fit the two coils it needs to operate. Access to the post screws poses no difficulty since a good quality screwdriver is included in the packaging.

A cap with a hole above the positive pole allows the liquid to flow when the BF pin is fitted. The juice flows on each side of the deck to feed the cotton. In this respect, the Essential RDA is effective and the cotton did not show any signs of dryness during our tests. Unless you press overly hard on the bottle of a bottom feeder box, it is unlikely that there will be any liquid overflowing through the airflows.

The air inlets on the side are angled downwards.

The airflow passes under the deck and exits via two parts composed of a main hole and eight smaller holes. The coils are cooled from below over their entire width.

The legs of the coils fit perfectly into their slots which are shaped to avoid them slipping outwards. The Essential RDA has plenty of little details that make it easy to handle once opened.

The part requiring the greatest care is choosing and fitting the coils. The space between the posts is not very big. Forget 3mm diameter coils for two reasons. The first is the difficulty of correctly fitting two complex coils into such a tight space, although it is possible. The second and major reason is the heat. During our various tests, we combined Framed Staples with a diameter of 3mm for a stabilised value of 0.12ohm. The vape is flavoursome but particularly hot, to the point of being unpleasant. During another test with 2.5mm coils, the results were more satisfactory but the vapour generated was still very hot. In this case, the coils need to be brought down close to the airflows, which is not especially practical.

We got the best results with two 2.5mm Micro Aliens and a value of 0.21ohms. The heat/flavour balance was excellent. Of course, you produce fantastic dense vapour full of aromas with these coils, especially using the drip tip supplied, the length of which lends itself well to this result. Below these values, the vapour is too hot. The Essential RDA is a very good dripper that delivers the aromatic spectrum of the liquid used beautifully. It is particularly suited to gourmet liquids.

Vapour production is there up to a reasonable limit of 75W. Above that you need to look for another model.

The airflow is easy to adjust. In the fully open configuration, the Essential RDA is perfect. Restricting the airflow can generate some unpleasant noise, but that is our only gripe.

  What we don’t like

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