willieR, i was just going by the stats on the info sheet.... and in theory anyways, it shouldnt cause a problem because of the 426 F softening temp for the plastic and if the temp was fluctuating as much as you say, i would think you would start seeing the herb burning, although, of course there is going to be a temp variance from iolite to iolite, as well as the temp cycling hot and cooling, but, i dont think there is a huge variance on the temps, i believe the "melting" that was occurring was due to a manufacture fault, not inject molding it correctly or whatever, because the other stems i bought on ebay were made of the identical material and i havent had any problems yet with them (no softening....at least none i could see) but all that said, yes, i just dont like the idea that if i accidentally hit it on something that i run the risk of snapping the plastic... whether or not it can handle the heat is one thing, but just the fact of it being plastic, lends itself to easier breakage....i was going to put a metal hose barb on mine as soon as i can find the exact metric size of the threads....(although i ll keep the regular stems for when i want to go stealth mode and want the black "antennae" look) i guess im going to have to take the stem piece down to the local home depot and start screwing into different shit until i find the right size.
I just ordered some from vapenow the other day that are old stock thankfully!!
