The Lotus Vaporizer

ollent said:

Still think I'm not preheating long enough though -- I'm not getting these massive "clouds" folks are talking about. Just sort of the same density I was getting out of my box.

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Massive clouds need some more herb in that chamber imo and of course good quality of them... I can get big clouds with shitty weed but it's done in 1-2 hits and it is charred!

natural farmer said:

Wow mate! I still haven't been able to get my pipe to uncomfortable temps even under the bowl... Respect for the size of vapor you can inhale in such a short time!

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I inhale over 15-20 seconds. I did some larger bowls today and combusted a bit. I think I'm inhaling too slow. Probably why the stem is getting so hot. I like your idea about cooling the stem. I'll try a bowl of ice.

ollent said:

I'd like to pick up an angled-neck dual flame torch, but the headshops around me are looking at me like I'm a nutter.

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I just bought this on ebay, but I haven't received it yet.

Be careful about using a dual flame torch and overheating your Lotus (though it is instant vaporization). The Lotus was designed for a single flame torch.

And gentle movements with a single torch.

I recently added some variance by working with a adjusted flame from blazer minitorch. This model provides a better operability over all yet less simple.

Particularly i tried to avoid radiant heat for the load by moving a soft and not axed blue flame to only heat the air admit chamber. medium results.

The good results come with a long distance axed flame i would say.

Vapodudule said:

Particularly i tried to avoid radiant heat for the load by moving a soft and not axed blue flame to only heat the air admit chamber. medium results.

The good results come with a long distance axed flame i would say.

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What else were you trying to heat before other than the small circle at the centre of the hot plate? Were you heating the whole flower? I agree about the long distance...

I have settled at exactly 5/8" flame myself from the original torch lighter, 2-3 sec preheating by touching the point of the bright blue part of the flame to the centre of the hot plate and then start inhaling while lifting the flame, moving it in small circles, still inside the small central circle, and touching it with the point of the light blue part of the flame. I can get very consistent and full hits this way, while preserving flavour and not scorching anything.
I just can't get enough! I wish I could make a trip to Amsterdam right now with a butane can and my Lotus in hand and taste every m*f* strain out there!!!

To reply i tried to heat the center of the plate but with a desaxed flame, to see if i cut the axial heat flux on the load.

My exact technique is beginning to hit and then put an axial fame by small movement, basically like your description but i begin to hit before putting the flame.

I'm sure anyone can get great results with different technics and this is part of the beauty of going full manual imo! And the Lotus is the most flexible vaporizer in my experience at giving you the exact hit you need every time, either lung busting or discreet...

One morning hit and 1 1/2 hour later with mediocre quality weed and my head feels so great... Oh boy...!

natural farmer said:

One morning hit and 1 1/2 hour later with mediocre quality weed and my head feels so great... Oh boy...!

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This.

I have had one bowl this morning, using two scoops ~0.06-0.08g and I still feel lifted two hours later

Efficiency on this thing is awesome...I usually only have one scoops worth and it gets me where I need to be!

I am thinking about doing some comparisons between the Lotus and the previous vapes I have owned or tested... Thorough ones...

Man, its great to see this vape getting some serious action! I sold my lotus before I really got a chance to appreciate it. Now every vape I own relies on wall power or batteries. All of these posts that celebrate the efficiency and ease of altitude adjustment prompted me to visit MT and order another Lotus. Good to see that they updated the bowl depth as well. Thanks for all the feedback fellow FC'ers. Now to wait on the mailman....

mephisto said:

Man, its great to see this vape getting some serious action! I sold my lotus before I really got a chance to appreciate it. Now every vape I own relies on wall power or batteries. All of these posts that celebrate the efficiency and ease of altitude adjustment prompted me to visit MT and order another Lotus. Good to see that they updated the bowl depth as well. Thanks for all the feedback fellow FC'ers. Now to wait on the mailman....

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Yeah bro! You'll love the new version! I hadn't appreciated my first Lotus too but the improvements on this one made it the perfect vape for me after all... I really can't find cons with this design and I have tried very hard to! All my past vapes pale in comparison!

My friend was gonna pick up a Solo, to have a portable.. But based on what he was looking for in a portable, I said, "wait, first check out the Lotus".. After watching some you tube videos from some of you guys, he decided to go w/ the Lotus, and he couldn't be happier.. from what I've heard.

I have only had a very short time to play w/ it so far, but IMO it's really fucking sweet.. smaller than I realized too.. From my memory, it's ~2" Diameter, maybe even a little less.. I REALLY like it.. I'm gonna have to get one soon.. I would say it's my favorite flame powered vape that I have used... and I'm not one to really trip on flavor, but the flavor blew me away.. The hits were nice and smooth.. Awesome Vape IMO.

The serious challenger of lotus is the hammer Imo. if you love Lotus, you will love the hammer for sure.

Vapodudule said:

The serious challenger of lotus is the hammer Imo. if you love Lotus, you will love the hammer for sure.

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You are probably right.. But for something plastic, that is half torch lighter.. the price is off putting IMO.. Regardless of how well it works.. and I don't doubt it works well.

More things to go wrong with the Hammer too... And also more time to take a hit. Lotus can give clouds in 5 secs! Doesn't the Hammer need a lot of preheating?

EDIT:
Just finished some reading at TheHammer's thread after a long time of absence from there and watched couple of vids... There are some major cons compared to the Lotus as I saw it in the past and still do.

1) Lotus has a more sustainable construction. Wood and metal. No plastic...
2) Lotus has a more rugged design. Less things to go wrong.
3) Lotus needs 2 secs of preheating or none if you draw slow enough initially, Hammer needs 20+.
4) Lotus is more portable... No glass parts to break... Hammer has the same limitations that the Solo has with the glass stems. You can go wood but you will pay for it...
5) Hammer won't give you that "pipe feel" while using it... Holding it in between your fingers, caressing it, playing with it and pointing with it, tapping with it... It gets very intimate. Ask any pipe smoker...
6) Hammer is pricier.
7) From what I had read in the past and the last few thread pages the Hammer gets uncomfortably hot after use and you can't just toss on your pocket right after. Lotus cools down in a couple of seconds if you also give it a couple of blows.
8) Hammer can combust rather easier? I take it from thread's posts... The new lotus design makes it rather hard to do so and you also get such feedback it's easily avoidable even if you are asking for it.
9) Lotus is easier to service by yourself if something goes wrong. Get a hot plate replacement kit for cheap and it's new in secs...
10) If all goes wrong the Lotus can be used to stab someone or something (Zombies?), used as a small hammer (haha) and even be used to combust using just the pipe part!

I wasn't planning on writing so much but I am high and it keeps coming and coming!

I wasn't loading the pipe enough. My weed is nice and fluffy; loading it a bit more than 3/4's full fixed the problem. Thick clouds now, thanks.

ollent said:

I wasn't loading the pipe enough. My weed is nice and fluffy; loading it a bit more than 3/4's full fixed the problem. Thick clouds now, thanks.

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Weed might be nice and fluffy but also not well cured or dry, idk... I get huge clouds with just enough weed to cover the screen, minute quantities. Even with dry stuff at least two hits are large with such small quantities.

One thing I don't like about the hammer, right away, is how the torch is part of the vape.. rather than its own separate thing.. I see that as a downside.

Let me add cooler hits for the Lotus... Those little glass stems, no way they cool down vapor as well...

To close the debate of comparaison, i agree about almost all your points except for combustion in the hammer which occurs with big amounts or user big error i think.

I should have precise the category of the contest too:
waterpath, so no heat of vapor issue.
micro amounts of material.
Conservative consumption oriented so stretching the most.

IMHO and in this specific contest the hammer wins.

i find an advantage for the flame being in the unit so that the hammer provides a steady setting for flame so i extract 7+ hits 100% of the time, lotus is more user dependant.

The 7+ hits with lotus are rares, no matter you say i often sleep on the flame in between and vaporize it all (or scortch) or my tiny amount is totally extracted in 3 hits.

But the lotus wins with other contest and points you are right.

Cheers mate.

Vapodudule said:

To close the debate of comparaison, i agree about almost all your points except for combustion in the hammer which occurs with big amounts or user big error i think.

I should have precise the category of the contest too:
waterpath, so no heat of vapor issue.
micro amounts of material.
Conservative consumption oriented so stretching the most.

IMHO and in this specific contest the hammer wins.

i find an advantage for the flame being in the unit so that the hammer provides a steady setting for flame so i extract 7+ hits 100% of the time, lotus is more user dependant.

The 7+ hits with lotus are rares, no matter you say i often sleep on the flame in between and vaporize it all (or scortch) or my tiny amount is totally extracted in 3 hits.

But the lotus wins with other contest and points you are right.

Cheers mate.

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Comparisons are so fun mate! It brings info and people get to know products better and pick what better suits their needs!

I am sure the Hammer as well as the Vapman or the VG, they all have their pros too. I'm gonna do all the comparisons I can with the ones I know and tested and make some points about the ones I only read about. After all those years with electronic vapes I have finally found bliss in the way I consume some of nature's gifts and I feel the need to pass the word to this wonderful community that changed my life to the better!

I'd love to get my hands on a Hammer eventually... I'm sure it will be fun too! Many drawbacks for me but it could be a god sent gift for someone with low dexterity or someone who needs to do more things with their hands while vaping. Hammer can also be used with one hand, right? With the lock-on stems? I find the Hammer to be like a child of the Lotus and the Solo... And there is definitely a market there!!
Oh, and yeah, you can stretch a bowl easy with the Lotus too... 7+ hits with good quality weed? Done that, that's why I also recommend it as a slow sipper. By moving the torch in little circles but faster, you can control the temps even better and really stretch a load. Steady flame or slow circles, the flame too low or too hot and you get some hot spots. It's not radiant heat that does that. It's unevenly heated hot plate and of course air stream...

For the temperature of vape and harshness of dry hits, lotus and his nuclear resistent pipe wins over a tiny piece of glass for sure.

For fuel/butane also, hammer spend more fuel for sure. I had to rerange the valve too when i first received it, but soon as the power feature of thehammer stands on the integration of the disposable torch in it and a precious fuel setting to have more objective control.

May be my tolerance rocketted so bad or i lost the mojo for blue flame lotus or chasing the dragons of thehammer is my time.

natural farmer said:

Weed might be nice and fluffy but also not well cured or dry, idk... I get huge clouds with just enough weed to cover the screen, minute quantities. Even with dry stuff at least two hits are large with such small quantities.

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I'm buying mid-shelf from a medical dispensary that's consistently been high grade (in fact, there are a few strains, one of which I'm smoking, for which they should be charging top-shelf prices). However, I do think the cure could be improved a bit. Leaving it sit in the grinder instead of scooping immediately helps a bit too.

But just sprinkled across the screen? Nah, never had "huge clouds" from that. Either that, or you and I have a difference of opinion as to what "huge" or "clouds" are

Like I say, still easily comparable to a properly running VaporBox, so maybe I don't know what the kids these days are calling clouds. XD

ollent said:

I'm buying mid-shelf from a medical dispensary that's consistently been high grade (in fact, there are a few strains, one of which I'm smoking, for which they should be charging top-shelf prices). However, I do think the cure could be improved a bit. Leaving it sit in the grinder instead of scooping immediately helps a bit too.

But just sprinkled across the screen? Nah, never had "huge clouds" from that. Either that, or you and I have a difference of opinion as to what "huge" or "clouds" are

Like I say, still easily comparable to a properly running VaporBox, so maybe I don't know what the kids these days are calling clouds. XD

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By clouds I usually mean a hit that I feel in my lungs (a just before coughing sensation) and it fogs the area around me when there is the proper lighting to be able to see it (my living room with sun coming from the window for instance).

I used to suck on my Solo for 1+ mins to get such hits...