Steam Crave Aromamizer Ragnar RDTA Advanced Kit
Introduction
The Steam Crave Aromamizer Ragnar RDTA is a 35mm diameter rebuildable dripping tank. It is compatible with other build decks in the Aromamizer range, using the included chamber reducer. This means you can choose to use the dual postless deck, a mesh deck, a single coil deck, a series deck, a velocity style deck and even switch it to an RDA and use it for dripping or squonking. I was sent the advanced kit for review which includes a dual postless deck, an additional mesh deck and a velocity style deck. In its standard configuration the Ragnar will hold 18ml of eliquid, which can be increased to 25ml with the included chimney extender and extension glass.
Box Contents
- Aromamizer Ragnar RDTA
- Spare 18ml glass
- Chamber Reducer
- Spare o-rings and Screws
- Allen Key T Tool
- Mesh Deck Kit
- Velocity Style Deck
- 25ml Conversion Chimney
- Two 25ml Glass
- Vape Band
Specifications
- 35mm Diameter
- 58mm Height (18ml Capacity Mode)
- 75mm Height (25ml Capacity Mode)
- Dual Coil Postless Deck
- Mesh Deck
- Velocity Deck
- Optional Single Coil Deck, Series Deck
- 18ml / 25ml Juice Capacity
- Side & Bottom Airflow
Disclaimer: The Ragnar was sent to me by Steam Crave for review.
Photo Album
Design & Build Quality
The Ragnar is a 35mm diameter RDTA which has an 18ml juice capacity in its standard configuration. You can increase the capacity to 25ml with the included glass and chimney converter.
It comes with a dual postless deck as standard and also includes an additional mesh deck in the advanced kit along with a velocity style deck.
You can use any of the other decks from the Aromamizer range too; single coil, series dual, velocity style deck and a new single coil deck which has recently been released.
The tank is available in either stainless steel, gunmetal or black.
You get a replacement 18ml glass in the box as well as two 25ml glasses.
A chamber reducer, which is also a deck adapter, is included for being able to use the additional Aromamizer decks.
The tank has an 810 steel and honeycomb resin drip tip, which has a wide 22mm bore. The drip tip is push fit and has an o-ring on the inside of the top cap. I found the drip tip to be very comfortable when in use, but you have the option of switching it out for your own drip tip. The o-rings are on the inside of the top cap so you can use drip tips which don’t have o-rings on them.
The top cap itself is a screw cap which turns smoothly, is nicely machined and has an engraving on the top with the tank name. It also has knurling all the way around to allow you to grip the cap when unscrewing.
When you remove the top cap you have two huge kidney shaped fill ports which sit in a trough a couple of millimetres below the rim of the top of the tank. I had no issues filling from a really chunky nozzle on a 250ml bottle of liquid.
The juice flow control ring sits below the glass section of the tank and turns nice and smoothly, has grips on either side and has a stopper at both the open and closed position.
The airflow control ring sits below the juice control ring. It has two rows of honeycomb style airflow holes which you can close down as you wish, and also has a punch hole airflow which is where the bottom airflow enters the deck. You can choose to have two rows open and the bottom airflow, two rows open without the bottom airflow, one row open with the bottom airflow and one row open without the bottom airflow. The airflow on the Ragnar is very smooth and not turbulent at all, even when fully open.
I found I enjoyed the airflow most with one row open and the bottom airflow hole open too.
The base of the tank has knurling all the way around to enable you to grip while unscrewing the base. The machining on the threads of the base is spot on, giving a very smooth turn when screwing or unscrewing the base.
Removing the base of the tank allows you to pull out the build deck. You can do this with a tank full of juice. By turning the tank upside down first, all the juice flows back into the tank. The deck can then be removed without spilling any liquid. This allows you to swap builds and decks at will.
Overall, the build quality of the Ragnar is exceptional. The threads are all smooth and the juice flow control ring and airflow control ring both have the right amount of resistance. It also feels really solid. It does have some weight to it too, I'd be more worried about damaging my floor at home rather than the tank if it was dropped. The drip tip is quite beautiful to look at, but is also very comfortable to use despite being very wide. It’s probably my favourite drip tip I’ve tried.
I love the look of the Ragnar too. It has the Steam Crave look to it, which I find to be appealing. Rather than overly flashy looks, it has a simple design to it and just lets its size do the talking instead.
Building on the Ragnar: Mesh Deck
When using the mesh deck, or any of the additional Aromamizer decks, you need to use the chamber reducer which also acts as a deck converter. This is because the additional decks are smaller than the postless deck of the Ragnar.
The mesh deck has two spring loaded clamps to install your mesh strip. Each clamp is secured with a Phillips head screw. You get a coil bending tool in the box to help you shape your mesh strip.
Once the mesh has been wrapped around the tool you just slide the mesh strip into the clamps and tighten down. A quick dry burn at a low wattage will clean any impurities off the mesh and ensure there are no hot spots.
You can use the included shoelace cotton as wicking or your own cotton. Once the cotton has been inserted underneath the mesh strip you can thin the tails and trim the excess from the ends. Finally tuck the cotton tails into the wells on either side. You can check you have covered the wicking port holes sufficiently by looking on the bottom of the build deck. You should see your cotton covering all of the holes.
You can now saturate your cotton and give the coil a pulse.
The deck is then pushed back into the bottom of the tank and the base screwed back into place.
I found the building on the mesh deck to be very straight forward.
Building on the Ragnar: Postless Deck
The postless deck has two hex screws on either side to unscrew and insert your coil legs. The coil leg holes are plenty big enough for some bigger coils. When I installed a build I decided to try my hand at braiding some coils. These ended up as quite chunky coils, but two of them fit fine on the postless deck.
Installing the coils is simple to do. Unscrew the hex screws on either side, trim your coil legs to length, drop your coils into the deck, tighten the screws. Dry burn your coils, pinch and strum to remove hotspots, insert your wicks, trim and fluff, tuck the ends into the wicking wells.
The building process is very straight forward on either of the decks.
Performance
I have been using the Ragnar on the Hadron 220 mod, which I will be reviewing separately. Obviously being a big tank, the choice of mod that you pair it with is going to come into account.
I’ve been using the Ragnar at home every day over my two week testing period, but haven’t taken it to work with me due to the size of the setup.
Flavour on the mesh deck has been great, I haven’t experienced any muted or dry hits at all. I prefer mesh decks over coils, due to me not getting on with warmer vapes at higher wattages. 65W on the mesh deck was perfect for me, nice flavour and warmth. Cloud production is through the roof. Seriously thick, voluminous clouds.
On the postless deck I thought I'd try something a little different first. I made up some braided coils and installed two of them, but the warmth was too hot for me. I took one coil out and ran it as a single coil, where flavour was good, but not quite as good as I was getting with the mesh deck. I also tried dual micro coils which performed well, but I just couldn’t push the wattage up high enough to reach the full flavour potential. I can’t do the postless deck justice as I just can’t handle wrapped coils. If you like vaping big, dual coil builds the Ragnar will be right up your street.
I just have to make do with the mesh deck, which was great for me anyway and I was more than happy with it.
Also no leaking from the tank itself. Obviously wicking will come into play with this and if you wick it incorrectly you could end up having 18ml of juice flowing out the airflow slots, but I would suspect if you are looking at getting a tank as big as the Ragnar then you will at least have some experience with rebuildables and will be fine with wicking.
I haven’t tried the 25ml glass extension as 18ml of juice was plenty of capacity for me, but having the option to extend the capacity of the Ragnar is there if needed.
I did use the Ragnar in RDA mode while testing out the squonk backpack of the Hadron. It is really simple to change to RDA mode. Unscrew the top of the tank, remove the glass and chimney extension, screw back on the top, swap in the squonk pin. Flavour is the same as you get out of the Ragnar in RDTA mode.
Verdict
Overall, I really like the Ragnar. Flavour, build quality, tank capacity and large choice of decks to suit your vaping style. Tank or RDA. The only deciding factor is whether you will find a tank as large as the Ragnar practical. It needs a big mod to sit on top of. If you like big tanks, you’ll know if you want one. For me, I don’t drive a car but ride a motorcycle, so taking it to work was not practical. It’s being used as an at home tank on top of the Hadron.
What I did find though, is that while in work all I could think about was getting home so I could switch over to using the Ragnar. For me that spoke volumes to what I thought about it.
Pros
- Very versatile tank, lot’s of deck options
- Great flavour production
- Insane cloud production
- No leaking issues
- Very well built
Cons
- Not a con of the tank itself, but the size means consideration is needed as to what mod you will pair it with and whether you will find it practical to take out or just use at home or at a desk.
Thank you for reading and thank you to Steam Crave for sending me the Ragnar for review.
