RDA Reviews

Vinegar Works Antiquity V2

We had the pleasure to try out the Antiquity V2 RDA from Vinegar Works, a stunningly beautiful high end dripper for all you flavour hounds

by Michelle (Purplefowler)
Aug 22, 2022

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As an e-liquid reviewer, flavour is everything to me so I am always on the hunt for the very best atomisers to provide the ultimate feedback when it comes testing the mixing skills of the various juice makers who send their products in for us to try, so I was very excited when I was put in touch with Vinegar Works, especially as they specialise in high end MTL (mouth to lung) vaping.

I have a bit of a love affair with all things Japanese. As a self-confessed audiophile, I naturally associate “made in Japan” with high quality products and outstanding build quality, so I have always been surprised that there are not more Japanese made vaping products. Looking a bit deeper, it looks like vaping is quite common in Japan, but e-liquids containing nicotine are not allowed and heat not burn products seem to be the popular choice. Whilst I am happy people have access to any alternative to smoking, it is a real shame that the culture doesn’t encourage more craft vaping options as I am sure they would be a massive hit with the more discerning vapers among us.

So now we come to Vinegar Works who make high end drippers and RDTAs. They are not a household name yet over here, but those who know, know, and they have developed a dedicated cult following with lovers of beautifully crafted vape gear with a leaning towards MTL vaping and flavour production. This is totally my personal sweet spot, sure mesh coils and cloud chucking tanks are fun, but it really isn’t my style. I much prefer to be able to taste every nuance of my e-liquid, refined flavour is key. Of course it doesn’t hurt to have something that is a work of art to look at and is incredibly easy to build on!

Vinegar Works Antiquity V2

The Specs and First Impressions

My Antiquity V2 arrived quickly from Japan, I think it took less than a week (why don’t my Japanese jazz records arrive that fast?) to drop through my door. One thing that seems to be the same across the board is that the better the gear, the more basic the presentation is, I guess the products speak for themselves and they don’t need a ton of flashy packaging. The Antiquity V2 is no exception, it comes in a small white box with a basic picture of the dripper and the name on the front, and “The Dripper” printed on the side, and that is it. Opening things up, you are presented with a black foam tray containing the RDA and a little bag of spares (O-rings, two post screws, and a squonk pin), and that is all you get, no flashy instructions or any bells or whistles. To be fair, you don’t need any more, and if you are buying something like this, there is a good chance you know what you are doing already. The simplicity of the presentation also seems to highlight the simple beauty of the Antiquity V2, in this minimal packaging, you can really appreciate the clean lines and design.

Now if I was buying this for myself, this would be enough. But as this is a review, I was also sent the specs:

Material: SS316L
Drip tip material: SS316L
Connection method: 510
Atomizer diameter: 22mm
Atomizer height: 16.5mm
Airflow: 0.8x0.8mm~3.5x1.2mm
Accessories: BF PIN, O-ring,screw

From this, you can already tell that this is a tiny wonder, it is really cute, and it makes such a refreshing change to see an old school dripper that isn’t a behemoth. I am also not into big mods, so this really appeals to me. The flip side is that you like large dual battery devices, it might look a little lost on top, but that is just a personal style preference.

Taking it out of the foam gave me the first chance to really check things out and man, this is a thing of beauty. On the bottom you will just find the 510 connector and the Vinegar Works logo. This is where the little details start to show, the bottom pin has a slightly wider and deeper groove than most of my other tanks and drippers which means it is easier to find a decent fit for your screwdriver when you want to unscrew it either for cleaning or swapping out to the squonk pin. Then we come to the threading and silky smooth doesn’t even come close to how nice it feels to screw this down. It is like butter, deeply satisfying to mount on your mod. Once screwed on, there is no gap at all, it is just a perfect fit on every mod I tried it on.

Vinegar Works Antiquity V2 on Dicodes Danibox

Moving up to the cap, this is a simple push on design, but the fit is really nice, tight without having to fight to get it on. It has a reassuringly firm feel to it, and you know when you’ve got it in place. On the outside there are some rounded grooves which go around the middle, this is a nice detail which shows the quality of the machining, as you turn it round in your hand, the light reflects and shows absolutely no imperfections. I have spent way more time than I should just admiring it on my mod! Halfway up is the outer airflow hole, but I will come on to that later.

Vinegar Works Antiquity V2 top cap inner

On top things get a bit weird and at first I wasn’t sure if I liked it. You see there is what looks like a well that goes around the drip tip, it looked a bit different, but I didn’t really see the point until I started to use it. But it turns out that this is really useful as it acts as a channel for your lips. Now I don’t deep throat my drip tip, but I do tend to get up close and personal so often I find my lips touching the top of the cap, especially if I am using a shorter tip, so this channel just gives things a bit more space which really adds to the comfort. Nobody likes to burn their lips on a hot top cap, and with such a tiny chamber, things can get pretty warm.

Finally, the drip tip. This could be the bit that splits opinion, for a MTL drip tip, it has a pretty wide bore. Obviously this makes dripping easier, but it isn’t traditionally what you would expect. It is comfortable enough to use though, but I would class it more as geared towards tight DTL tip. You can of course swap over to your own tip, but it will need to have a shorter section where the O-rings sit, most of mine were too long so I ended up sticking with the original one. Cosmetically, this is the only thing that has room for improvement, but drip tips are highly personal.

Vinegar Works Antiquity V2 drip tip bore

First Build

Popping the cap off, you can really see how small everything is, so you are only going to get a single coil build here. You could possibly push things up to a 3mm build but I found 2.5mm was perfect. Coil wrapped (I went with seven wraps of .28 kanthal which came out at exactly 1oHm), it was time to attach it to the deck. Due to the compact chamber, it could have been really easy to have wire hanging out and touching places it shouldn’t, but Vinegar Works have thought it through. Instead to the traditional method of wrapping the wire around the outside of the screws, this is better if you take the wire in through the centre and then follow it around and out inside so the ends are facing out. Not only does this keep things tidy and safe, it also means it is perfect for micro coils. Spaced coils need a bit more tweaking to get things to fit properly. Thankfully I am all about the micro coil, so I was more than happy with this design.

Vinegar Works Antiquity V2 coil placement

Wicking is just as forgiving, you just need to trim your cotton so you can tuck it in and under, thin is out a little and that is about it. I tried a few different lengths and it didn't really make much difference. The shape of the deck and juice wells are so easy to work with and it is designed to be a user friendly as possible. I got no dry hits or strangled cotton no matter what configuration I tried.

Vinegar Works Antiquity V2 wicking

I would say my first build was effortless, it really couldn’t have been easier. If I am being picky, I should have made the legs slightly longer so the coil was closer to the airhole, I went more for a centred position. It still vaped beautifully though, and it looked good. But it is all about making things work as well as possible in the small space, so there was room for a bit of fine tuning. Although things are tight, everything is so well laid out that there is a surprising amount of space to work.

Vinegar Works Antiquity V2 test burn

Airflow and Chamber

Next it was time to vape but here is where I came temporarily to a standstill. I went to adjust the airflow, so I turned the cap and nothing moved. Hmmm, this was strange. So, I kept looking which gave me time to really admire the beauty of the chamber. It has a pleasing symmetry with a cog like design around the base and another one halfway into the cap. Once again, the machining is just stunning, the way the light reflects off is just a work of art. You can also see how small the chamber is which helps to amplify the flavour. But this wasn’t helping me sort out the airflow and, in the end, I had to turn to google for help. It turns out I was massively trying to over complicate things as the trick is to stick your finger in the chamber and push up which separated the inner cap and the outer cap (it turns out that cog design isn’t just cosmetic). Once split, you can see the different air holes. Pick the one you want and then line up the wave lines, click it back together and you are set. As well as being beautiful to look at, it also means nothing can spin or change so once you have things dialled in, it stays put. There are plenty of options too which are smartly concealed in the two parts of the top cap:

3.5x1.2
3.0x1.2
2.5x1.2
2.0x1.2
1.6x1.2
1.2x1.2
1.0x1.0
0.8x0.8

I tried them all out and decided my favourite setting was also the largest which provided a loose MTL vape, airy but with a smooth resistance. But if you like a full on cheek pulling draw, you will be more than happy with the smallest setting.

Vinegar Works Antiquity V2 grooves

The Flavour

As I said in the intro, I am all about flavour, and the Antiquity V2 delivers it in buckets. Every note, every subtle hint and twist, you can taste it all. It is intense and will have no trouble letting you know if your juice hasn’t been masterfully blended. If you really want to get the very best from your juice, this is a great piece of kit to do just that. It has become my go to tool for my juice reviews now (although obviously I also test in tanks and pods for performance purposes). For pure flavour, this will take some beating.

To Squonk or not to Squonk

The final part of my testing involved swapping over the bottom pin to the included squonk pin. I really enjoy a good squonk but often things are let down by subpar drippers. This took things to the next level and gave me a consistently delicious vape with every pull. The only thing to watch out for is the internal size, it is quite easy to over squonk and flood things. Once you get the feel for the capacity, it isn’t a problem, but it is something to be aware of. Cosmetically you will also want to pair it with a smaller mod too, this is where I really missed my mini Sunbox!

Vinegar Works Antiquity V2 squonk mode

Final Thoughts

The Antiquity V2 is a fantastic little dripper which looks and feels fantastic but also delivers in the performance department. The photos really don’t do it justice and I can spend far longer than I should just admiring the workmanship that has gone into the design and build, it really is a thing of beautiful. For those who really like the finer things in life and don’t mind paying a little more for it, I think you will be very happy with this little beauty. There are a few Vinegar Works stockists dotted around but the best bet is check out the Vinegar Works Facebook group. It costs ¥11,935 which is approximately £74 plus shipping and fees. If you like to customise your gear, there are also various optional extras such as different top caps and drip tips so it is worth having a look around the page to see what appeals to you.

Many thanks to Vinegar Works for sending the Antiquity V2 in for review.

Michelle (Purplefowler)

Reviewer at POTV

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When her usual forum closed, Michelle found herself in a brave new world full of excitement that something fresh and new was happening. A few days later she somehow found herself on the moderating team and is still not really sure how that happened. Even stranger, she slowly worked her way up to admin and now helps behind the scenes, liasing with vendors and coordinating social media but she can still be found making smutty comments on the forum. If all that wasn't enough, she also is a proud member of the Potv review team specialising in E-liquid reviews for the discerning vaper.