RDA Reviews

Rashomon 24mm RDA by Hop N Vape

by VapeMaster
Feb 1, 2017

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Rashomon 24mm RDA by Hop N Vape

The Rashomon is a 24mm diameter RDA that features fixed bottom airflow that is highly remiscent of the Geek Vape Tsunami RDA. This RDA can be set up for either dual or single coil builds, it has a 6.5mm deep well and quad staggered post terminals. The package includes a Squonk pin and a 510 drip tip adapter. What’s more the Rashomon is very reasonably priced so ideal for anyone who is on a budget and wants to get into drippers. So let’s take a good look at the Rashomon and see exactly what it has to offer!

Rashomon 24mm RDA features

24mm Diameter
Stainless Steel Construction
6.5mm Deep Juice Well
Dual 3mm x 7.5mm Airflow Slots
Squonk Ready
PEEK Insulator
PEEK Airflow Plug
Gold Plated Positive Contacts
316 Stainless Steel Construction
Quad Staggered Post Terminals
Top Clamping Posts Screws
Sloped Inner Top Cap for Better Flavour

What’s in the box?

1x Rashomon RDA by Hop N Vape
Wide Bore Delrin Drip Tip
510 Drip Tip Adapter
1x Hex Tool
1x Hollow Squonk Pink
1x PEEK Airflow Plug
Extra Set O-Rings and Screws

Rashomon styling and build quality

The Rashomon is a very attractive 24mm diamter RDA with a pleasing stream-lined design. The name of this particular RDA comes from Akira Kurosawa's movie Rashomon which is notable for featuring contradictory interpretations of the same event by different people causing what has become known as the Rashomon Effect.

All of the various parts are nicely machined and fit together well with no sharp edges present. The inside of the top cap is slightly domed and this is something that does help to produce better flavour. The included drip tip which is made from Delrin is nicely tapered which means it does feel comfortable on your lips when vaping. Should you prefer to use one of your own drip tips you simply unscrew the fitted drip tip and screw in the included 510 drip tip adapter.

Adorning the main barrel of the Rashomon is a stylised Japanese emblem which has been beautifully engraved. The 510 pin appears to be gold-plated and is adjustable. The O-rings are decent and hold the top cap securely enough but like a lot of RDA’s the cap does come off just a bit too easily when moisture builds up on the O-rings (rest assured it won’t drop off) but not as badly as my Apocalypse Gen 2 RDA which costs far more than the Rashomon.

In terms of its design the Rashomon seems to have a little bit of everything and has clearly borrowed quite a few features from other RDA’s. The post arrangement on the deck is similar to the Recoil with the negative posts raised up higher than the positive block and the airflow design is very much like the Tsunami. The posts feature vertical grub screws very much like the Recoil and the various Twisted Messes RDA’s.

What is interesting is that the designers have made all of these features work well together and where they have borrowed an idea from something else they have certainly thought about how to improve it. I particularly liked the fact the negative posts have a lot of space underneath them for your wicking whereas the ones on the Recoil are milled directly into the deck with no space at all. The advantage of this design is that you can use a slightly larger coil and have you wicking taper back down under the posts.

The Rashomon was completely free of machine oil and after a quick rinse I could use it right away.

Airflow

For anyone who prefers mouth to lung vapes you better stop reading now because the Rashomon has one type of airflow and that is a full on direct lung inhale with no possibility for adjustment. The two large airflow slots in the deck are very much like the ones on the Tsunami and the bottom airflow slots are reminiscent of both the Tsunami and the Kennedy.

If you make use of the included plug to block off one of the airflow slots on the deck the draw while still very airy does have a little bit of turbulence to it which makes it seem like an ever so slightly restricted lung inhale.

Ease of use

Building the Rashomon is very straightforward and it is unlikely that you will have any major problems. The post holes are reasonably large and you can certainly fit 3mm to 3.5mm ID Clapton/Fused Clapton coils. The screws work well and hold the wire securely. One thing you need to keep in mind is that your coils need to be long enough to cover the airflow slots and make sure that no cotton is anywhere near those slots or you will have leaking issues.

How does it vape?

I first tried the Rashomon in single coil mode and I placed the included plug in the opposite air hole. On this occasion I went for a 0.3ohm Clapton coil build which I wicked with cotton bacon. My juice of choice was Colonel Boom’s Key West from Plumeblu.

The vape certainly wasn’t that bad and I did get a reasonable amount of flavour from the juice even but it did seem somewhat washed out and that can be attributed to the huge airflow slots. It was apparent to me that if I could have just closed that airflow slot down by maybe 50% the flavour would have been significantly better and it is unfortunate that you are stuck with fixed airflow. Vapour production was pretty decent in this mode and would be acceptable enough for typical users.

Of course if you are new to rebuildables you might even consider the Rashomon to be reasonable enough in single coil mode, at least for a while until you are ready to attempt dual coil builds. For anyone who prefers single coil builds in my opinion you would be better off looking at other RDA’s.

However dual coil mode is a different story entirely and having ripped out the previous build I set the Rashomon up with dual fused Clapton coils that had a final Resistance of 0.3ohm. I continued to use Key West E-Liquid because I was really enjoying it and I have to say that in dual coil mode the Rashomon is a seriously good vape! Flavour was far better, much richer and I could certainly pick out the various notes in the juice. As you would expect vapour production was greater and while it doesn’t put out Kennedy levels of clouds things can still get a bit foggy.

For anyone taking just a casual glance at this RDA it may remind you a little of the Geek Vape Tsunami but since I have never tried that particular RDA I cannot tell you how they compare in terms of flavour and cloud production. Of course being a bottom airflow design just like the Tsunami and the Kennedy there is the potential for leaking if you carelessly over drip.

Conclusion

The Rashomon is an excellent bottom airflow RDA that is simple to build and offers great flavour and generous cloud production. The only failing of this RDA is that it simply is not as good a vape in single coil mode and I would recommend that you stick to using dual coil builds.

If you would like to purchase the Rashomon RDA you can get it from Grey Haze. Remember to use code POTV10 at the checkout for 10% off your order. Many thanks to Grey Haze who sent this RDA to Planet of the Vapes for us to review.

Grey Haze have asked us to give away the review item to one lucky winner so for your chance to win the Rashomon RDA please see our competition.