Thanks to www.vaporl.com who gave me a list of items they were looking to review. I have to admit that at first I thought the THC TAUREN RDA was something to vape bud, nope…just a normal RDA. The THC stands for ThunderHead Creations, not Tasty Hash Cakes.
Specs:
- Size: 24 x 29mm
- Material:304SS/Brass/Copper
- Drip Tip:810 PEI
- Connection:Regular gold-plated 510 pin and BF pin
- Coils Type: Dual coils
- Color:SS, Copper Black, Brass Black
Package Includes:
- Tauren RDA
- 510 BF pin (not included in the sample I received)
- Hexagon wrench
- Bag of extra screws & O-rings
- Aluminium alloy box with 510 base
Getting to know the THC Tauren RDA…THC not included
I picked the Tauren RDA as the Wotofo Recurve RDA had just came out and was generating a lot of buzz, this reminded me of it, just in a dual coil config. Looking at the pics it sure does look interesting and in person it is just that.
The packaging is actually pretty nice, an aluminum enclosure that screws together with a 510 in the base to keep the RDA secure. It is then placed in a velvet bag with a tag that tells you the color. A separate bag in the velvet bag houses the warranty card, allen wrench, spare o’rings and screws. Unfortunately they forgot to put a squonk pin in my package, was told it was because it was a sample but that still sucks for me.
Build quality is good with this RDA, not the best machining I have seen but for the price they did a nice job. The dual o’ring on the base holds the top cap on firmly enough to pick it up from the RDA while on a mod with no problems but is easy enough to remove, great o’ring tolerances. The inner o’ring for the 810 drip tips is also excellent, holds on firm to every 810 drip tip I tried but you don’t struggle to remove them.
I cleaned the RDA like I do most items I get in for review, a clean brush and dishwashing liquid with hot water. It has been a long time since that wasn’t good enough but WOW, it wasn’t even close to good enough with this RDA. Smelled fine after letting it dry but my first build tasted like machine oil bad, worst in a long time. I then removed the o’rings and dipped the base and top cap in vodka for about 30 minutes followed by a rinsing and 30 minutes in the ultrasonic. It was fine after that but this was the worst RDA I have ever received as far as machine oil out of the package. Funny thing was there was no visible machine oil and the sniff test didn’t just alert me to what I tasted, it was nasty.
Airflow on this is tight, if you have a Wotofo Recurve there almost identical, the Recurve maybe a tad more with builds. I had thought about drilling out the air flow but the steel is thick on this thing, didn’t want to chance breaking a bit inside which would make things worse.
There is also a notch on the Tauren, just like the Recurve which helps to adjust the airflow and aids in removing or installing the RDA as it will only go so far then the top cap stops. The Recurve uses 2 notches, you can install it either side, the Tauren only uses one side, does not make sense.
As you can see notch on one side in the deck and top cap, no notch on the other side. I really wish they would have added the same notch to the other side so you can line up the logo, I only had one mod where the logo lines up to the front, most were at the back of the mod. Doesn’t affect performance of course but a second notch would have been easy to add, makes no sense to exclude it. Here are some pics of where the logo winds up on 4 different mods.
I really gave some thought to just sanding down the top cap to remove the logo but it is deep enough laser engraving that it would be a pain.
Juice well is about 4mm deep and crowded so it doesn’t hold a lot of juice, I got about 25 to 30 drops with no problem. Not easy to leak due to the way the airflow is designed but I did get some leaks when tilted when I overdripped. This looks to be like the Recurve, better as a squonk RDA but since I didn’t get the squonk pin I am just guessing.
Builds and performance
I tried numerous builds, mostly dual coil but a couple single coil builds with the same build in the Recurve. I started with a dual parallel kanthal claptons dual 26g core/36g wrap 3mm ID that I use as one of my benchmark builds.
It sure did look huge in there but since it was already installed I went with it. I figured this would restrict airflow even more and I was right, too tight wide open for me but the flavor was not bad, decent but not great.
After a few more 3mm ID dual builds, fancy and single wire I decided to try 2.5mm ID coils starting with some quad core SS316L claptons.
Definitely better as the airflow opened up a little more and it allowed the air to pass all around the coil easier. Flavor improved as well, tasty vape and surprisingly it wasn’t spity like I was expecting.
Tried a dual single wire 2.5mm ID build and this was as good as the fancy build, still tight airflow full open but flavorful.
I tried 3 different single coil builds, the same in the Recurve and all 3 at various heights and ID size to try and improve the flavor on the Tauren. Here is just one example.
All 3 single coil builds the Recurve topped the Tauren, I got much better results with dual 2.5mm coils in the Tauren, single coil builds were below par. I don’t even consider the Recurve to be one of the better single coil RDA’s. The fact that the Tauren could not beat it in single coil mode just goes to show that it should only be used as a dual coil RDA. In dual coil mode I got better flavor than the Recurve in single coils mode.
The airflow is still tighter than the Recurve with builds in both, not a big difference but noticeable.
Pros:
- Very good flavor
- Excellent o’ring tolerances
- Top cap locks into place making the rda easier to unscrew
- Excellent grub screws
- Build quality is impressive for a $20 RDA
- Easy to build and wick
Cons:
- Tight airflow wide open and worse with big builds, works best with dual 2.5mm ID builds
- Only notched on one side of the deck so the top cap will only seat properly on that side
- Had machine oil so bad I had to use a vodka bath followed by ultrasonic cleaning
- Squonk pin was missing from my review sample
Final thoughts
Everyone has preferences and mine don’t happen to coincide with the tight airflow on the THC Tauren RDA. While writing this review I grabbed the Drop RDA and took a draw…ahhhh, that is the airflow I like. I am sure there are plenty who will love the tighter airflow though, you can close it off for a reasonable MTL vape as well. The tight airflow and the single notch which means the logo is gonna be facing the back of my mod at times are my biggest gripes. Sure you can just have the notch sit on top of the non notched side but then the bottom o’ring is visible, stuff like that bugs me.
I really feel if I can find a way to drill out the airflow then I would like it a LOT more. Not sure if it worth the effort though, I like it but don’t love it and I am missing the squonk pin anyway, I love squonking.
If you love the Wotofo Recurve but want a dual coil that is similar than the THC Tauren RDA would be a solid choice. I do prefer the flavor from the Tauren with a good dual build over the Recurve with a single.
www.vaporl.com does have it priced right though, $18.90 (Log in to your account for that price to show up) is a very fair price and can be found here: https://www.vaporl.com/thc-tauren-rda-tank-atomizer.html If you like a more restricted draw then I think you will be happy.
Check out how this stacks up to other tasty gear and meet the Steampugs team of reviewers. Your bound to have a good time and read up on some great products, not so great ones too http://www.steampugs.co.uk/
followed by a ultrasonic chaser.