If there's one thing the vaping industry has proven, it's that there’s no end to the creativity and innovation of the community and manufacturers.
While some of the industry's greatest achievements are focused around new, more advanced devices, one invention, in particular, is as simple as it gets. Drip tips, despite their basic design and usage, can dramatically improve your vaping experience. While it does take some familiarity with vaping, using these handy accessories doesn't require the same expertise as dripping or squonking. If you want to have a little fun and try your hand at simple dripping, then a drip tip might just be the choice for you.
What is a VapeDrip Tip?
Some people like to simply refer to drip tips as "mouth pieces," because that's what they essentially are. But that's only part of their job.
A drip tip can turn any conventional vape into a makeshift dripping device. You simply fit the drip tip over your atomizer, effectively removing the need for a tank.
In most cases, good drip tips are made of metal (stainless steel), Pyrex glass or ceramic. Lower quality ones are plastic, but it's best to steer clear of these if possible.
The design and material have an impact on the overall experience. Stainless steel drip tips with long stems, for instance, tend to cool the vapor.
Cheaper, shorter ones, on the other hand, tend to heat up. This is especially the case if you use a powerful device, such as a box mod or high-wattage sub-ohm vape.
Overall, a drip tip is a great stepping stone for intermediate vapers to try their hand at dripping, without investing in a complicated and pricey RDA. If you happen to own a vape with a removable mouthpiece, then we have good news. That piece can double as a drip tip. If your tank's mouthpiece is permanently fastened on, then you'll have to drop a few bucks on one that fits your vape.
How to Use a Drip Tip
Unlike conventional dripping, using a drip tip is surprisingly easy. Just place the drip tip over your atomizer. This creates a direct channel from the mouthpiece to the cotton wick in your coil.
Next, drip a small amount of e-liquid into the opening, taking care to ensure that the coil is well saturated. This is arguably the most - if not the only - challenging aspect of drip tips.
Since you can't see exactly how saturated the wick is, it turns the dripping into a guessing game. Too little e-juice and you burn the wick, leading to a nasty dry hit and a ruined coil. Too much liquid, however, leads to messy overflowing.
You also need to consider the coil you're using. Even within each make and model, coils could vary in terms of thickness and design. This impacts the number of times you need to drip, the amount of liquid needed and the rate of saturation.
The good news is that if you stick with it, you'll eventually (through trial and error) figure out the right balance, making it almost second nature.
Taking Care of Your Drip Tip
Since drip tips are just individual pieces of material, they're surprisingly easy to clean. This is good because cleaning them is absolutely essential. Pretty much everything that touches the drip tip leaves behind a little piece of itself. Things like skin, food particles, excess e-liquid, dust, lint - anything could conceivably touch that little mouthpiece.
It's best to make cleaning a frequent habit. Just run the piece under warm water and dry it with a cloth or just leave it out for a bit. If you're a bit of a procrastinator, a lot of that gunk could get stuck to the drip tip. In this case, some isopropyl alcohol, followed by a good rinse in warm water, works wonders at breaking up that excess buildup.
Advantages and Disadvantages
No form of vaping is perfect. It's important to know what makes drip tips great and where they fall flat, lest you make the wrong decision.
Advantages
There are lots of great reasons to try using a drip tip. Although a little more challenging than conventional vaping, it's way easier than normal dripping.
Drip tips are also very cheap. We'e talking a few dollars here. Compare that with an RDA, which can easily run you into the $50 range, plus the cost of cotton.
Speaking of cotton, conventional RDAs require you to wick manually, which is an ordeal in and of itself. Drip tips work with your atomizer's current coils, so just replace the coils as normal.
Using a drip tip also makes for a whole new experience. For one thing, it definitely improves the flavor of your e-liquid. It also creates some serious vapor, so cloud-chasers will really appreciate these tiny accessories.
Vape drip tips are also great because you can quickly switch between flavors. Once you've vaped away the liquid in your coils, just drip a different one in and you're good to go. While there still might be some flavor ghosting, it won’t be nearly as bad as what gets left behind when you’re using a standard tank.
Disadvantages
Vape drip tips aren't for everyone, so let's look at why some people might be turned off by them.
First off, drip tips are inconvenient. Since they don't use a tank, you have to stay on top of feeding the e-juice into them. This usually happens after only a few drags, so it can get annoying.
Vapers who want long sessions and aren't to concerned about using the same flavor really don't need a drip tip.
Drip tips can also be quite messy, especially if you're new and haven't figured out the right e-liquid balance for your coil.
On the other end of the spectrum, it's just as easy to fry a perfectly good coil if you don't drip enough.