Any Downsides to the Vapcap? Anything you would change?

Most of the high temp O-rings on my woodie shredded on my first cleaning, the condenser has always been a little off centre & a really tight fit into the body so perhaps that had something to do with it. Ceramic screen cracked early on also when removing, I replaced the screen but I'd have to order the O-rings from the site. I thought it was kinda indestructible so didn't think about ordering spares at the time.
Not sure if my mouthpiece was supposed to spin either.
My main issue is I get very little visible vapor from mine & it has incredible draw restriction, & if I don't carb it I don't get any vapor.
Obviously I don't use it but yes I've seen the videos & it looks like some people get great results that I just can't seem to replicate.
I bought a Dynastash too, love the concept & the look of the product but for me functionality is lacking.

I have a Ti Woody. I don't like how hard it is to find the monkey flippin carb hole.
I don't like how loud butane torches are or how slow soft flames are.
I'm not a huge fan of what I look like while using it walking down the street...but I've been doing just that, walking right by cops using it with tobacco. No one really seems to notice if I act like "hey, this is normal man. I always use a torch to light my cigarette for up to 20 seconds while I'm walking down the street".

Ok, so my thoughts on the draw resistance... For me, it's closed carb for small puffs or with a water pipe, and open to partially open for long drags that go from click to click. Yes, it is restrictive when I close the carb, but I don't seem to notice the restriction with a freeflowing water bubbler. It milks so beautifully and it's not like sipping a Frosty from a straw. When using the vapcap native, I slowly realized I don't get less high with the carb open, I just get smooth vapor and really long pulls. But that's how I LIKE to do it. It's very free with almost no restriction, very cool, and pretty tasty. It's just not milky thick vapor. It's pretty thick, though.

biohacker said:

Is the click really "fool proof"?

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Almost, I only managed to combust at the beginning of my learning curve and only if heating too long after the click to milk a piece or aiming a single flame torch too low on the cap and/or twisting the Vapcap too slowly creating an hotspot.
I've used my Omni in a lot of different situations (including at concerts and similar noisy environments, or while drunk) and untill now it's been basically error proof.

Baron23 said:

some VC's will have you sucking your eyeballs inward

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I agree, one of the few things I don't like is the inconsistency you can find among various caps.

jackmormon said:

Non published O-Ring sizes: The O rings are Viton and could be replaced much more cost effectively than VC charges but do not know the sizes.

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This. I ordered a few replacements from Dynavap but if I'll ever need to buy more I'll definitely measure the orings with my caliper and try to find generic ones.

I don't like that the Vapcap rattles inside the storage tube (same as the Vapman in its egg) but it can be easily solved by sticking something under the tube cap.
I don't like that the only storage solutions are wood (with no glass lining for the herb chamber) and plastic, I would expect some custom metal thing from a company with similar machining capabilities. Same thing can be said for the glass adapter, wood is cool but I'll prefer something like the Lotus WPA.
I don't like how the inside of the cap can get dirty with burnt particles, I know that it can be solved by cutting a metal screen to fit inside the cap but mine it's already dirty and I'm having troubles to properly clean it.
The digger outer could be one milimeter longer as it can't reach the very bottom of my bowl if the ccd is set to the lower position.
The bowl could be a bit bigger.
Speaking about the functionality I don't really mind the restriction as I have an Omni and between the adjustable air flow and the carb hole I can always find my swwet spot. Vapor is a bit harsh especially at the end of the session but it's ok with a device so small. If used outdoor in less than ideal conditions it can be difficult to have good sessions as indoor but again, it's in the nature on how it works.

I use my tiwoody nearly everyday, once... Not many vapes can get you that high, that quick...
Like 15 secs is all I need and I can grab a sneaky hit, that will get me nicely high while I'm out... I don't ever use it at home though...

Why????

Because I have concerns regarding the chemical composition of the the vapour from the vapcap..
I can't help feeling that it's half smoke...
It's way too easy to get greedy and live on the limit, it's how the huge hits happen...

I'm certain that this vapour is not as healthy as a 12 o clock evo hit...

I know I could heat the vapcap less to get cleaner hits, But why bother wheni can use the evo, or even the solo... And get satisfying low temp hits...

There I just figured it out, to make the vc satisfying, I have to push it too far...
I much prefer the solo, I just don't have time to use it sometimes.. hence the vapcap..

Hey I think threads like these are a great idea they get away from the overly happy almost infectious nature of the large threads that inevitably devolve into shipping questions and gear shots.

Focusing more on quibbles, techniques and things to potentially make the vape better (something that George had fully embraced with the iterative improvements on the tip etc) thank god these vapes are almost fully modular.

kellya86 said:

I use my tiwoody nearly everyday, once... Not many vapes can get you that high, that quick...
Like 15 secs is all I need and I can grab a sneaky hit, that will get me nicely high while I'm out... I don't ever use it at home though...

Why????

Because I have concerns regarding the chemical composition of the the vapour from the vapcap..
I can't help feeling that it's half smoke...
It's way too easy to get greedy and live on the limit, it's how the huge hits happen...

I'm certain that this vapour is not as healthy as a 12 o clock evo hit...

I know I could heat the vapcap less to get cleaner hits, But why bother wheni can use the evo, or even the solo... And get satisfying low temp hits...

There I just figured it out, to make the vc satisfying, I have to push it too far...
I much prefer the solo, I just don't have time to use it sometimes.. hence the vapcap..

Click to expand...

I suspect its just the hot N' harsh nature of the vapor since the airpath is so short. Are you using it through a waterpiece?

steama said:

It's okay to be wrong. Everyone is at one time or another.

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Hey man this thread is supposed to be informative as possible, it isn't particularly helpful as an information resource if you don't provide reasoning and explanations.

I don't mean to come across as a dick I just want to maintain a level of discourse.

PsySijk said:

I suspect its just the hot N' harsh nature of the vapor since the airpath is so short. Are you using it through a waterpiece?



Hey man this thread is supposed to be informative as possible, it isn't particularly helpful as an information resource if you don't provide reasoning and explanations.

I don't mean to come across as a dick I just want to maintain a level of discourse.

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You may not, perhaps, be aware of the 100's of pages in the VC thread which all of the principals in the exchange you highlighted have been long time participants.

While I enjoy many (most really) people's input on the board, that does not mean I agree with them on everything. In this case, I agree with Steama. I have VCs and have had them for quite a while. If you combust, you know it. If you don't combust, then you didn't.

Cheers

Draw resistance on my og is too tight

Baron23 said:

You may not, perhaps, be aware of the 100's of pages in the VC thread which all of the principals in the exchange you highlighted have been long time participants.

While I enjoy many (most really) people's input on the board, that does not mean I agree with them on everything. In this case, I agree with Steama. I have VCs and have had them for quite a while. If you combust, you know it. If you don't combust, then you didn't.

Cheers

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Yeah no I agree with you, I can totally tell when I fuck up and combust from the crappy taste and carbonised black AVB. I was just saying Steama didn't offer up any response beyond "You're wrong" when this site is to explain away the myths and misconceptions about Vaping.

kellya86 said:

I much prefer the solo, I just don't have time to use it sometimes.. hence the vapcap..

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I agree with you @kellya86
I use often my tiwoody or my M, I like the quick hits and the ease of use, the cig-like shape, the touch of wood, and of course their efficiency!
but I'm not fan of the flavor... It's not bad... but there's better

I'd have to say draw restriction too, the newer models I can use full a fully closed carb but the draw is very restrictive still, with an open carb you get fantastic results and an easy draw. The idea of pulling in fresh air with your draw doesn't sit super well with me so I tend to close the carb and deal with it.

Also in a dimly lit room the carb can be a major pain to find, I normally just roll it around in my fingers as I draw till I feel the draw get restricted. I've considered a hi-vis reflective dot under the hole
Baring in mind these for me are very mild issues and the VC has been my daily driver for longer than any other vape.

Tommy10 said:

Also in a dimly lit room the carb can be a major pain to find, I normally just roll it around in my fingers as I draw till I feel the draw get restricted. I've considered a hi-vis reflective dot under the hole
Baring in mind these for me are very mild issues and the VC has been my daily driver for longer than any other vape.

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When you put the cap on, try lining up the "digger outer" with the hole. That way you can find the hole without looking for it, just keep an eye on the digger outer which is much more visible in those dim situations

mccringleberry said:

When you put the cap on, try lining up the "digger outer" with the hole. That way you can find the hole without looking for it, just keep an eye on the digger outer which is much more visible in those dim situations

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This is the best fix I could come up with too, problem being the positives of the VC are just how well it works so keeping track of positioning is difficult.

More than welcome @Puffers that was just over a year ago and is a 2nd gen tip, you can see my cheeks being sucked in as I pull on it. Custom carb size made for thick vapor.

@VAPEHUNTER you will enjoy the step up from the first gen tip, chalk and cheese.

@mccringleberry the cap is SS.

Due to my Woodshed I 'have skin in this game' but can see how the VC isn't for everyone.

The OG was/is a turn off for me, I've used and enjoyed one but I don't like the 'crack pipe' look.

I've used one of my stems in a beer garden and my triple torch did turn a head or 2 when I fired it up but no one passed any bad comments and they were intrigued once I explained what I was doing.

@Poostuff 'ceramic screen' points to an earlier version tip which took some effort to draw on, new tip is much better.

Cons.

Hurts real bad if you put the hot cap on your lips by mistake.

Torches can be problematic and noisy enough to cause issues for people with hearing problems.

Butane can be expensive in some countries and poor quality everywhere.

You need a certain amount of dexterity to use one.

Some find the learning curve a bit steeper than others.

Fiddly to replace O rings, spares of which are a must.

Not a big enough bowl for some users.

Solutions are or will be available to address nearly all the cons.

I have an OG glass VC and omnivap.

I really, really, REALLY don't like dealing with the screen, I've replaced it a few times in my glass VC and getting it in place was a trial and a half, eventually resulting in broken glass bodies. Pain in my fucking ass. That said, I don't know how I would improve it, perhaps make it out of something less pliable (some of mine have a few wings/flanges out of plane with the rest and I can't correct em).

I also don't like how I need 3-5 heating sessions to exhaust my herb. I would greatly prefer a one-hitter or similar, I dread using this in public.

This thread sounds like a surreptitiously set up focus group

This thread has completely blown my mind considering the cult following... but there have been complaints so the title has been changed.

steama said:

It's okay to be wrong. Everyone is at one time or another.

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Baron23 said:

If you combust, you know it. If you don't combust, then you didn't.

Click to expand...

What about smoke/vapour hybrids? Yes, it is possible to get so close to that fine line of combustion with pyrolysis that it can be more "smoke" than vapour IMO, this has been discussed before somewhere on the forum. I suppose everyone has different limits for their own personal tolerance to what they feel their vapour should be like, but I know exactly what you mean @kellya86 ..... so I appreciate your feedback, more so than the ones that don't help or "know it all".

The rest of this thread is for you guys....i'm outta here! Thanks again for helping me in my decision, I appreciated 99% of the posts!

Mods feel free to shut down this bitch if it's too inflammatory. Clearly some are breaking forum rules and don't know how to be respectful. I thought it was great while it lasted.

davesmith said:

Draw resistance on my og is too tight

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Me too, I think my restriction problem is in excicution not in design of the OG. I sort of wish I had waited for the M but but on the other hand I have spent more on much worse vapes.

My main complaint was coming from Aussie smoking culture where you load a cone, and smoke that in one go per person. So the whole vaping scene of multiple hits per bowl is not what me or my friends are use to. VC is a great extracter but I could get two heat cycles from even a small load (multiple hits per cycle is okay but over here you don't apply heat to a bowl twice just not how it goes)
So this is what I did change, and personally it works wonders for myself to get single heat cycle full extraction.
Still, overall the VC is the closest thing to my perfect vape I'm yet to discover.... And considering the OP I know I should try a supreme but I just know I'll hate the big torch.

Yeah, if I didn't have to break out the plumbers torch for a 45-60 second scorching, the Supreme would be right up top I think. Largest smoothest hits I think your lungs can possibly take. That being said, I find the GH gets used more often in the same function (atop a water piece) because it is more convenient, and... just rips so damn hard. Not as smooth though.

steama said:

The VC like the Vapman are conduction vapes and the nature of conduction vapor is different than convection produced vapor. To say that the VC is half smoke or whatever along those lines is a specific claim that can be checked with a few tests. Heat to the 'click' and then dump the herb to check for scorching, burning, or smoking. There will be clear signs of the beginnings of combustion if the vape was really smoking. In my experience I have always been able to tell when a vape has combusted - it's not a mystery. I have combusted with my vapcap omni and nobody that knows would argue that there is a difference between vapcap smoke and vapcap vapor.

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Your missing my point... my fault I didn't make it properly...
I mean that I think If analysed, the vc vapour would contain more benzene and other undesirable compounds that have high boiling points..
It's much closer to smoke in my opinion, and it's all too easy to slightly char the edges of your load....
I never get an even extraction...
It is what it is, and I'm sure it's not as clean as some others..

I would probably buy another VapCap but it would be to use it with my WS. They make some beautiful pieces. I liked @Pipes gadget that heats up the VC. I might be interested in that. I know a lot of folks like using the butane lighter but it's not my thing right now. It's easy to burn yourself on the hot unit. It would be easy to lose the cap so having extras are a must.

Yeah I'd say the lighter is definitely the biggest downside to the VapCap. Don't get me wrong, I love my VCs but it would be nice not to have to deal with the damn lighter all the time. They're always needing to be refilled, or they don't want to light properly, or they need to be adjusted all the time... The induction heaters that some people here are making have really caught my eye. I like the look of the WS too, I have to look into that one more...

And I've had more than one friend of mine grab the hot end by accident during group sessions...

PsySijk said:

I suspect its just the hot N' harsh nature of the vapor since the airpath is so short. Are you using it through a waterpiece?

Click to expand...

steama said:

The VC like the Vapman are conduction vapes and the nature of conduction vapor is different than convection produced vapor.

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This, my main vapes are an Omnivap and a couple of Vapmans and the conduction nature and tiny size of both units creates just the same kind of harshness. If you keep the temperature lower (by heating higher on the cap on the Omni and heating the Vapman for a shorter time) the problem is mostly solved while running them through water makes the vapor smoother as with any other device.

biohacker said:

What about smoke/vapour hybrids? Yes, it is possible to get so close to that fine line of combustion with pyrolysis that it can be more "smoke" than vapour IMO, this has been discussed before somewhere on the forum.

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I'd say that if you reach a temperature high enough to obtain charring (that's basically combustion that doesn't substain by itself) you start mixing unwanted chemicals to your vapor but still far from smoke. In my experience this happens only when going for high temperature hits, especially at the end of a bowl so it's sufficient to keep your flame a bit higher on the cap and respecting the click to avoid this issue.

phattpiggie said:

I've used one of my stems in a beer garden and my triple torch did turn a head or 2 when I fired it up but no one passed any bad comments and they were intrigued once I explained what I was doing.

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I've used my Omni in several outdoor/public occasions and in my experience is more the torch than the vape itself to draw attention. I prefer to use an Honest single flame torch than my triples because is smaller and less noisy.

phattpiggie said:

Hurts real bad if you put the hot cap on your lips by mistake.

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I understand it must be painful but I can't honestly imagine how this could happen unless shitface drunk.

seaofgreens said:

Yeah, if I didn't have to break out the plumbers torch for a 45-60 second scorching, the Supreme would be right up top I think.

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What about a nice compact GB-2001? Very precise flame too.

seaofgreens said:

Largest smoothest hits I think your lungs can possibly take.

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Especially when you don't grind! I still think it's the most advanced heat exchanger technology in the industry as @Mister G says in his signature!

seaofgreens said:

That being said, I find the GH gets used more often in the same function (atop a water piece) because it is more convenient,

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I used to think so too, but you know my storey Near exclusively with a water tool as well, on temp 5. Do be careful.

The Beagle said:

I'd say that if you reach a temperature high enough to obtain charring (that's basically combustion that doesn't substain by itself) you start mixing unwanted chemicals to your vapor but still far from smoke.

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I guess it's all what you define as smoke. If there is charring, and you see smoke coming off the bowl, I think it's smoke, even if there is no combustion cherry.

From Wikipedia:

Smoke is a collection of airborne solid and liquid particulates and gases[1] emitted when a material undergoes combustion or pyrolysis, together with the quantity of air that is entrained or otherwise mixed into the mass.

As you can see, you don't NEED combustion to produce smoke. The changing of solid into gas is enough to create "smoke".

Otherwise we're just talking semantics here, and that's not really the point of this thread.

So many vapes can be overheated to produce "combustion notes", you can taste them clearly, so I don't think the VC stands out from the others here in that respect. Even the Solo would cause a load to go black if you let it sit at 210c for a heat cycle.

biohacker said:

Otherwise we're just talking semantics here, and that's not really the point of this thread.

So many vapes can be overheated to produce "combustion notes", you can taste them clearly, so I don't think the VC stands out from the others here in that respect.

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I agree with you on this.

The Beagle said:

I agree with you on this.

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And what about the pyrolysis and smoke?

I also wanted to add that some people are just more sensitive than others. For example, with a finer grind in the Mighty, if I ramp up right to top temp of 210c, I can detect these notes of combustion in just the taste, and find it rather offputting. And that's the Mighty! It's convection with a conduction ring, but when material makes contact with that hot ring, that conduction causes pyrolysis even on a micro level that you can't see, but I can certainly taste.

This is why I greatly prefer convection and radiant heat vapes. Dirtyduction ain't healthy IMO, unless lower on the temp spectrum.

Fuck, now i'm going off topic..... but truth is, many VC owners say the same thing as Kelly, and even huge fans say it's the closest thing to "smoking", however does not necessarily mean you HAVE to take it to the brink.