Iolite Portable Vaporizer
The Iolite was early in the portable vaporizer game and the models have only improved over time. The unit itself is about the size of a cell phone or walkie-talkie, and the stem coming out of it actually helps disguise what it is because the stem looks like a phone antenna. Here is what it is - it is a set-temperature butane powered device that turns a flame on/off onto a heating chamber which is sealed but constitutes the "bowl" if you will - the area heated up is a chamber. Product is not placed in that chamber. The Product is placed inside a nice bowl attached to the stem-housing, which then is inserted into the heating chamber. The heat from the chamber is pulled through the product as you inhale, and what isn't pulled up in your inhale is contained in the stem system waiting for your next hit. The unit fits nicely into your hand, and using it is natural. To use, you turn a switch to ON and press a spark generator. You will hear a hissing and should see a light coming on at the same time. Hissing = flame. If you fill the filling bowl and start the unit and leave the unit on, you can easily get 3 powerful sessions before any need to refill the butane. Some speak of 1 hour plus and it partially depends on how often you are making it spark up as you cool the device in sucking heat out of it. I can and do go through several bowls in one fill. I pretty much keep it going and keep on using it from morning to night. Filling it - I guess let it cool after operation a bit so you don't start flames, fill it with good, high-quality fuel can't be overstressed, let it sit a bit after filling to let the butane raise closer to outside temperatures, and spark up again. Couple fills maybe, entire afternoon spent.
It does make a hissing noise while heating the heating chamber. People will hear it. That may be a bother, maybe a deal breaker (or maybe you need a better toolkit of vaporizing tools to accomplish the job you set out to do). It lets me know when it's starting to run dry because it slows down the cycles, so there is an actual positive to the noise. Unless you want silent. This is not silent.
Apparently it isn't really suited to high elevations (Rocky Mtn) and maybe not cold either. It does work really well as a handwarmer in the winter, thus serving double duty.
Within your first try, assuming you are using dry finely ground product, you will be getting nice clouds to see you're doing something. It's been written that it operates at about 190C so you may be getting a more euphoric, less couch-locked trip. It can be very economical in use of product - some report using 1/2 as much as via combustion. I find it about the same as those little 1-hitters that look like cigarettes - about that efficient. Efficient.
Clean-up is relatively easy. The tip unscrews from the chamber assembly, letting you remove the chamber assembly where there is a screen, a cooling vent, more screen, all held down at the place the chamber meets the tube you draw through, by a little round metal clip to keep everything where it's supposed to be. For cleaning, it is easy to unscrew the mouth tip, free up the metal bowl from the plastic holder, and dunk that betal bowl into iso to get it cleaned up. So, Startup, Use and Cleanup are really simple. The learning curve is very curvy and for the most part it is self-explanatory when you have it in your hand and can see the chamber, the bowl, the tip. I have found that to unscrew the tip from the bowl, the Iolite must be on/hot. If that happens, you can clean the screw-in part of the tip and you will next time be able to remove it even if cold.
The Iolite is not really useful to pass around. People can get a hit, but I find the best way to use it is just keep taking little tastes over 10-15 minutes, occasionally adding a touch during that time. Careful about grabbing the device from the stem as they have occasionally let loose allowing the Iolite to fall, spillage, a mess. After use you may find it bonds together nicely. It is a high tech device and does what it does well. Some users have experienced problems from using low quality butane. Some units have been returned but it appears that as long as you have your receipt from when you bought it, Iolite will accept returns within 2 years of purchase and make it right. Perhaps because of a fear of possible failure, many Iolite owners have more than one. That speaks well for its quality and usefulness that they want coverage all the time.
It is not totally stealthy. If you are out and about it is possible someone will smell it. I have put mine in a big-gulp cup, ran the big-gulp straw over my stem, and walked through department stores with perhaps only a glance or two. You need to carry fuel with any portable, whether it is a plug, extra batteries, or in the case of the Iolite, a small can of butane, when you go out and about.
Many people use the Iolite as their daily driver. Others save it for walks in the park. And there are those who just hate the thing for reasons rational or otherwise.
If you are looking for a handy dandy, easy-to-use, no-brainer device when out and about, where you can put it in your pocket and take hits from time to time, over a long period of time if you chose and pack enough, this is a good vaporizer to look at.
