What’s up vapers!
SirRisc here with another gear review!
On todays menu is something for the cloudchasers among us, an RDA from Cthulhumod: The Shuriken!
The Shuriken was sourced from Cthulhumod!
Premise.
It’s been a while since I’ve had any Cthulhumod products, the last one being the Cthulhu RTA V1 actually.
But a few weeks back they contacted me to see if I was interested in one of their new ventures.
A dripper that was geared towards the cloudchasers and coilbuilders among us, the Shuriken.
Seeing as I’ve been rediscovering my love for clapton builds and other exotic glowing artworks, this was an excellent way to combine reviewing and building.
So what’s special about the Shuriken that other drippers don’t offer?
Let’s have a look!
Specifications.
- Stainless steel
- 22mm diameter
- 31.6mm height including the widebore driptip
- Adjustable goldplated 510 screw
- Cthulhu posts designed by Pete Haddock (UK) and Cthulhumod (CN)
- 2 airflow rings included; one with small airholes, one with big airholes
- Supports both single and dual coil
Packaging.
The packaging of the Shuriken RDA is similar to the RTA is reviewed a long time ago.
A small plastic box with a foam insert holding the RDA, the 510 adapter and the second airflow ring.
On top of the RDA you’ll find a small plastic bag with spare o-rings and an allen key.
Performance.
The Shuriken is a cloudchasing RDA pur sang.
And though that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have the ability to produce some excellent flavor, it’s an RDA that is very clearly aimed at the builders and cloudchasers because of the way it’s built.
This starts with the obvious exterior features of the airflow.
The barrel is made up from a rather thin stainless steel with parthenon style airflow holes around 3/4th of the barrel.
The holes are very large and could cool even the bulkiest of builds, without any hinderance or hint of whistling.
Around the barrel is an airflow ring which has 4 of the same parthenon styled holes on each side, configurable in a way that allows for either dual or single coil builds.
If the airflow ring with the bigger holes is too much for you, you also get a secondary airflow ring in the box with smaller holes allowing for a more subtle configuration.
Personally I’ve used the smaller holes more often because the flavor is also more pronounced with this configuration.
One of the very few issues I’ve found with both these airflow rings is that you can’t use less than 4 holes on each side.
Twisting the airflow ring to have 3 holes on one side will leave 4 holes open on the other side. Twisting it even further to have only 1 hole on one side will leave 4 holes on the other side again.
This is slightly unfortunate because even with the smaller airflow ring the airflow is wide and very open, making regular macro builds a less viable option.
The Shuriken really comes into its own with claptons of the fused, staggered or even corrugated variety. A real builders RDA.
Another one of the signs that this is not your average day-to-day RDA is the driptip, or rather the topcap.
The Shuriken comes standard with a delrin widebore topcap installed that is tapered on top but open enough to drip straight onto the coils.
Despite the ease of use and being a widebore topcap I actually love using, Cthulhumod also includes a 510 driptip adapter in the package.
Then we come to the final and probably most attractive part of the Shuriken, the deck…
The deck is an impressive 6.5mm deep which means the Shuriken is capable of holding a lot of liquid.
This is a very important feature if you consider the fact that the RDA is meant to hold exotic builds that consume liquid equally fast as governments consume our money.
(obligatory Fuck the FDA! and Fuck the TPD! statement)
Though the deep deck is an impressive feature in itself, the posts is where things get interesting.
These posts are a somewhat unique design made by Pete Haddock from the UK and Cthulhumod themselves.
Two posts with a U shaped frame on top make sure you can fit pretty much any build onto the posts, and the notches on the side of the U frame make sure your builds can’t slip out while using the screw on top of the posts to secure everything.
Despite my statement that these posts are unique, there are RDAs out there that have similar systems to secure your coils.
For example the Goon RDA has a similar post design held in place by two screws per post, which does work very well but also takes away some of the space you could be filling with wire.
In that regard the posts on the Shuriken are a bit more forgiving without losing any functionality.
In my humble opinion a lot more RDAs should adopt this post design, it’s a similar design in terms of innovation as the well-known Velocity styled posts but offer even more room for comfortable use.
(Note: I know it’s not the prettiest staggered fused clapton build you’ve seen, but it vaped well and I was too lazy to build another one.)
Aesthetics.
The Shuriken looks simple on the outside, but hides a performance level that is very high.
The barrel and deck are stainless steel and are machined very well, though the alignment of the airflow holes could be slightly better.
On the side of the deck “Shuriken” is engraved, without being intrusive or tacky. It’s kept intentionally sober and clean.
Whether or not you’re a fan of tapered widebore topcaps is your own choice, but the delrin topcap included does work as intended and feels very comfortable on the lips.
The very big parthenon styled airflow holes on the side betray the nature of the Shuriken as being a cloudchaser at heart.
Pros and Cons.
Pro.
- Cthulhu posts are a joy to work on!
- Deep deck
- Delrin topcap is very well done
- 510 driptip adapter included
- Two airflow rings included for added configuration options
- Both dual and single coil
- Looks f’ing great!
Con.
- Airflow holes should be able to facilitate less than 4 holes on both sides
- Retains heat very long
- Package should contain an extra insulator (though I strongly believe this should be the case for ALL RDAs)
- Topcap sometimes loosens itself making the airflow ring spin
- O-rings could be slightly thicker
In conclusion.
Despite a few very small issues, the Shuriken is one of the best RDAs I’ve used in a while.
Comparing the Shuriken to the Velocity I would actually choose the Shuriken because of the post design.
It’s made to fit exotic builds very easily and works without issue, the deep deck holds a lot of liquid to ensure even the thickest build can be fed.
The only downside to the Shuriken for me is the airflow being so wide open all the time, it would’ve been great to be able to configure the airflow to 2 holes on each side.
Regardless of this small flaw, the Shuriken does come to its own with bigger builds which need bigger airflow so it makes sense.
Overall I’d say the Shuriken is one of those RDAs any builder should have in its collection.
A definite must-buy!
In closing I would like to thank Cthulhumod for sending me the Shuriken RDA for review!
Thanks for reading, join me next time as I take a look at yet another RDA, the Tesla Clapton RDA!
Need to reach me? Head over to my website.
Interested in what I vape daily? Check out my Instagram.
Want to know more about DIY? Head over to ELR.
#staycloudy !
SirRisc disappears in a cloud of strawberry cream scented vapor
DISCLAIMER: This review is based on personal opinions and is not intended as a promotion, endorsement or advertisement.
The publisher is not sponsored, affiliated or compensated in any way.
