E-cigarettes can be a strange pastime on occasion. A month or two ago I would have never imagined I would pay 13 bucks for a small aluminium tube. I especially wouldn’t have thought it was the best damn 13 bucks I ever spent. Yet, the Drip Shield from EmpireMods.com may very well be the best $12.99 I’ve spent in a long time. It even comes with its own little velvet carrying pouch.
What is it?
The Drip Shield basically converted dripping juice directly from a dreaded task I do for the sake of writing reviews to something I actually do when I don’t even have to. The premise is fairly simple, the shield slides over the atomizer and past the threads, sealing your e-liquid’s escape path. When you over-drip, the juice stays inside the shield instead of getting all over your battery and hands.
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| The bottom shelf |
The shield is a tube of aluminium with two rubber gaskets on the inside top and bottom. The gaskets are what prevents the liquid from flowing out by forming a seal between the battery connector and the atomizer. One end of the drip shield has two small pinholes to allow air draw into the atomizer. The other end is sort of indented for the battery connector.
The Drip Shield was originally designed for use with the Empire Mod e-cigarette. The Empire uses a 901 connector and atomizers. Naturally, the Drip Shield is also designed to accomodate the 901 style devices. If you are a 510 user like I am, there may be some adapters in your future.
With the exception of the eGo which is a perfect fit for the Drip Shield (another reason eGos are handy), you will need an adapter so the bottom gasket in the drip shield will extend past the air holes in your atomizer. Empire sells a combined 510-901 – 901-510 set of adapters that provide the perfect height to your atomizer to match the drip shield.
The Drip Shield is available in a number of different styles and anodized colors. I ended up with a plain silver model, mostly because the fancy styles with the ridges were out of stock, and I wanted something classic that would go with anything. The shields are very light weight, so it won’t add a lot of heft to your setup, just a little bit of girth at the top.
Does it Work?
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| Attached to an eGo |
From a performance standpoint the shields work as advertised. I over dripped my juice like a madman, and while the atomizer gurgled, no juice spilled out of the shield. This was particularly useful for the Smart Vapes atomizer. While that atomizer performs well, it has an unfortunate combination of leaking when overfilled and delivering very unpleasant dry hits when under filled.
Once I no longer had to worry about getting e-liquid all over the place, I was able to keep the Smart Vapes atomizer happy, which results in a very nice vaping experience. The Drip Shield also has a second use. Because it basically seals the air cutoff and has a much smaller air path via the holes at the top, the result is a stiffer draw.
This extra stiffness in the draw isn’t as pronounced as I would have imagined. It does help with airy cartos, but it doesn’t make the draw so stiff you feel like you’re sucking the jelly out of a donut with a straw or anything. The result with most atomizers is a nice, moderate draw.
You do have to be careful when removing the shield. The e-liquid doesn’t disappear to the same place Clark Kent’s street clothes goes to when he changes into the Superman suit after all. Depending on how long you have the shield riding shotgun, you may be treated to quite a dousing of errant juice when you pull off the shield.
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| Sliding the shield onto an atomizer |
Too Long; Didn’t Read
The EmpireMods Drip Shield is an aluminum tube with gaskets on either end of the inside. When placed over a 901 (or 510 with adapter) atomizer it traps e-liquid, preventing it from making a drooly mess all over your hand. This allows you to make sure your favorite atomizer is properly lubricated with your favorite juice without needing to tote napkins around.
Pros:
- Keeps excess juice off your hands
- Can tighten up looser drawing atomizers
- Might pretty things up
- Needs an adapter for 510 atomizers
- Trapped juice can be messy upon disassembly
