The Bishop MTL RTA by Ambition Mods is an atomizer produced in collaboration with The Vaping Gentlemen Club. It’s designed exclusively for indirect inhalation, or mouth to lung. We were surprised by some of this atomizer’s old-school features, but also by the vape quality it delivers. Here’s our review of a UFO in the MTL universe.
The build of the Bishop MTL RTA is surprising. It’s an uncompromising atomizer. Either you’ll love it immediately for the quality of its vape and its ability to deliver flavour, or you’ll hate it for its awkwardness and old-school build. When it comes to MTL vaping, the simplest vapes are often the best. But it’s 2021 – can’t we find a solution that’s both simple and practical? In any case, everybody will have an opinion about the Bishop MTL RTA.
The most surprising thing about the Bishop MTL RTA is its top cap. It looks well made. Its design is unfussy. The notches around the edge give you the impression that unscrewing it will be easy. Nope!
You can’t unscrew the top cap from the chimney it’s mounted on. This fixed component certainly affects how you fill it, but more on that later. It comes with a fairly long, narrow 510 drip tip, and this standard sizing means you can replace it with any standard model. It feels pleasant to use, although we’d prefer a slightly shorter drip to get better flavour.
A serial number and the name of the atomizer are engraved underneath the Bishop MTL RTA. The engraving is precise and clear. The 510 pin is long enough that you could consider using it on a mech hybrid mod. What is unusual is the hexagonal shape of the mounting plate that’s set into the base of the atomizer.
It’s what makes this RTA so original. The deck just slots into the rest of the atomizer and is held in place by seals. There are no rings to screw in to reinforce the hold. This can be both good and bad. It’s extremely easy to access the assembly and wick. If you pull up the top of the Bishop MTL RTA, you can check the condition of your coil at a glance. This is really handy for everyday use. On the other hand, if you’re on the go, this easy access can cause you problems. The tank holds onto the base well, but once it’s in your bag or pocket it doesn’t take long for the tank to come off its base. We’ve seen much better and safer before.
Anyway, we we already mentioned, the top cap is fixed. So you fill it from the bottom, with the atomizer drip tip pointing downwards. The capacity of the 4ml tank is fine for a 22mm MTL atomizer. It’s not fiddly to fill, but as we’ve already said, there are easier, more user-friendly systems available now.
There are two air intakes to cool the coil. These are positioned on opposite sides of the atomizer base. There’s no rotating ring to reveal any little vents. Instead, you adjust the airflow via two drilled intakes of different widths. The only way to vary the flow is to replace the intakes. It may surprise you that there are only two fixed-width vents, but in reality anything more is unnecessary. The Bishop MTL RTA does the job superbly well.
The Bishop MTL RTA comes with 3 pairs of drilled inserts in varying widths. The smallest pair is drilled at 0.8mm, the next one up is 1mm and the biggest is 1.2mm. There’s another completely closed insert if you want to restrict the air supply to the coil by using just one of the two available openings.
Installing the air intakes is pretty easy. First, remove the top of the atomizer to access the atomizing chamber. When you push the insert from the inside of the atomizer, it just pops out. But once they’re fitted they won’t budge. They’re held in place perfectly by two seals. Of course, this step is like the atomizer: a bit dated. You’ll also soon find you’ve got some liquid on your hands. But with an MTL atomizer, once you’ve got it set up the way you want, you’ll almost never change the air intakes. Two tiny holes at the top channel the liquid from the tank directly onto the wick. They are tiny but are the perfect size to soak the wick.
The plate might also surprise you. Apart from the two posts, there are two grooves and two openings. They allow you to optimally position your coil and to insert your wick correctly. When you fit the wick, make sure you cut off any wick that goes past the outside edge of the grooves. It might seem a bit short, but it’ll be enough. The two openings catch any excess liquid if it drips onto the wick. In reality this system works perfectly. Throughout our tests we saw no seepage, leakage or liquid clogging.
The posts are traditional in their design and take some looking after. There are no stops on the poles to hold the coil in place. If you’re using a micro coil this isn’t a big problem. But if you’re using a more complex coil, the coil tabs tend to move out of place. Make sure you don’t use a coil that’s too big or it could take a while to get it right. Even so, in the model we tested we used a 2.5mm diameter micro-fused coil without any problems. The best size to use is a 2.5 or 2mm diameter coil, but no bigger. If you use a larger coil, you may have problems when it comes to soaking the wick. A 3mm coil needs more wick inside it, which means it needs more liquid to soak it than a smaller one does. Once you go beyond 3mm coils, you risk running dry.
When it comes to vaping, the Bishop MTL RTA is fantastic. This atomizer is bound to please any fan of MTL. The flavours it delivers are delicious – true, precise and full. This is genuine, hardcore MTL vaping that reminds us of the original atomizers. If you use the two widest intakes you might just get away with a DL draw, but only in name. The Bishop MTL RTA is designed for MTL – real MTL that makes you pull so hard your cheeks go hollow.
Combining the smallest intake and the totally closed intake gives an ultra tight draw and a very smooth vape at low power. Using different assemblies, we got better results vaping with the 1mm intakes around 18W. We agree – the Bishop MTL RTA is not the most practical of vapes. We probably wouldn’t recommended it to anyone new to rebuildables because of its excessively “retro” character. It’s easy to fill but you have to dismantle it. And its mounting plate certainly isn’t the best we’ve seen when it comes to staying put on the atomizer. But we love it for the quality of the vape it gives, and the fact that you can access the coil and wick any time.
It’s a quiet atomizer that delivers a smooth but richly flavoured vape. The tiny liquid intakes do their job perfectly, and the wick is always well soaked. Even when we chain puffed we didn’t notice any signs of a dry hit. The Bishop MTL RTA is not the most practical device ever, but it delivers a truly first-class vape.
What we don’t like
Get all the latest news in your inbox every Friday. Politics, science, reviews, you won't miss anything.