The Lotus Vaporizer

I have noticed the end of my flame can "spray" over towards the edge of the plate if my torch is high, and angle is too far off. These jet lighters are pretty powerful, and can scorch the wood in a very short time if accidental contact is made. Not saying anyone isn't paying attention to where they aim, just that I have seen my jet deflect off the plate and spray out towards the edge at the wrong angles. Just one possibility to explain the mystery scorching... I guess heat could also be transferring through the pores in the wood, but that doesn't seem near as likely, and would probably cause a strong odor.

I combusted last night getting greedy at the end of the bowl...I gotta learn to let it go!

chrislangley4253 said:

It's almost always best to support the seller directly and it usually results in the best service, one way or another.

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I agree and did that with my HA, but the difference in price here is significant and right now money matters. They seem to have a relatively small stable of vendors so I suspect they are close to them.

Ratchett said:

When I received my Lotus, it wouldn't fit on my D020 without bending the stir stick at an angle. This caused my stir stick to become "lose" - I never let it fall out, but it was too loose for my comfort. I ended up using the smallest dab of clear 5-minute epoxy around and in the gap between the glue and the stick. I have no more movement, and stirring my WPA feels much better.

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Just so happened that I had a tube of Unibond 5 min epoxy for metal lying around... a tiny dab of that on the end of the stick, and re-inserted into the cap... Good as new (in fact probably better). Thanks

cybrguy said:

Sorry, I was kinda hoping it might be a "natural" phenomenon...

One last question. The folks who have needed and gotten excellent service/support on their Lotuses (Lotusi ?). Did you all buy direct from Mendocino, or did you buy from a reseller? Just wondering if I might lose some support quality if I buy elsewhere.

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Loti

I have one one bought direct and one thru retailer. I'm pretty sure any support needed will be forthcoming regardless of who you buy from. It's simple user level work for the most part though.


Looks like something my grampa would've carried on him......had he been a pothead. It's exactly what what I'm looking for and will be ordering one toot sweet. How about a tooled leather J hook holster for us gun slingers?

Max Jitter said:

Looks like it was accidentally hit by a torch. Other than that, I haven't a clue, especially the burn on the bottom edge.
But speaking of burns, or preventing them, we'll be selling these in a week.

Leather, spring top, made in the USA, $7.50, available in tan and gray.

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After a couple of weeks I wanted to share my review/experiences with my Lotus. I have to say, I love this thing. On top of doing a great job in extraction, I really enjoy the experience of using the Lotus. As well, its the only vape that I've used that I prefer without a water path. I pretty much only use the Lotus through my jhook. I don't find it too dry or harsh. I also like the jhook because I can see the density of vapour that is coming out so I can adjust accordingly.

I haven't used a flame based vape before, but this is quite easy to get a handle on (thanks to all of the people in this thread). I really like the "manual shift" aspect of using it. I can get pretty much any hit that I want, and I can get it immediately. If I want to sip and take it slowly, I can do that but if I want to finish the session quickly, I can do that too.

I have combusted a few times, but I am happy to say that I stopped inhaling immediately when I noticed smoke in the glass. It even cleaned up really easily after those incidents. Most of the times that I combusted, it was because I was trying to find the highest heat I should look for. I'm also happy that I ordered extra screens with my kit. I find they get clogged quickly and it has impact on performance. They are easily taken out and cleaned so it isn't a problem at all.

Thanks again to all of those in this thread that have shown a lot of love to the Lotus. Without all of your experiences I wouldn't have considered this awesome vape.

Got my Lotus today, and after filling the lighter, cleaning the stem and assembling, I did a trial heating of the assembled, empty unit. After the center of the plate glowed red for a few seconds I removed the heat. I noticed a brown ring around the heated spot, and a strange smell, which to me, smells like mold. I sure hope that burns off.

Ratchett said:

I've only seen oklahomie and flyinglow reporting issues, I wouldn't be too concerned right now.

Edit, a quick search of this thread reveals the following who've had issues with cracked plates:
@jimbob, @artist, @FlyingLow, @AdventurousMoustache, and @oklahomie - but otherwise, I haven't seen anyone else comment recently...

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I'll have to say that I am concerned about the cracking plates and am investigating possible causes. It may be simple over-heating but I am not assuming that.
In the meantime anyone's plate that is under a year old and hasn't been damaged by over-heating can be replaced under warranty. Send an email with a picture of your plate and your shipping info to
contact@mendovape.com

Why doesn't EZVapes carry the lotus? They have a huge following.

Unisonruss said:

Why doesn't EZVapes carry the lotus? They have a huge following.

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... They do carry it: http://ezvaporizers.com/portable-vaporizers/lotus/prod_552.html

Fenton Mewley said:

... They do carry it: http://ezvaporizers.com/portable-vaporizers/lotus/prod_552.html

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Wow it didn't even come up in my search results! And I tried several times. Must have been I wierd glitch with my iPad browser.

Thanks again for your service Max! I got my piece back and am falling in love all over again
Hopefully the cracked plates are a thing of the past.

So I did a couple of sessions with mine last night, the brown color on the cap seems to be fading into purple now. But the smell, which seems to be coming form the wood, is still present, although less. Has anyone else noticed this? It doesn't smell like wood to me.

I get a kiss of wood flavor during an extended session, but it is very subtle and I like it and kinda welcome it


@Max Jitter ~ how did the Lotus come about? What is the history?

Max Jitter said:

I'll have to say that I am concerned about the cracking plates and am investigating possible causes. It may be simple over-heating but I am not assuming that.
In the meantime anyone's plate that is under a year old and hasn't been damaged by over-heating can be replaced under warranty. Send an email with a picture of your plate and your shipping info to
contact@mendovape.com

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Didn't you mention that a heavy duty plate was in the works a while back? Maybe I imagined reading it because my search yielded nothing.

Anyway, from the pictures that I've seen, it looks like the cracked ones have had a harder life than mine. All this talk of occasional combusting or near combusting using the Lotus leads me to believe that some really are pushing their units to the limits. Multiple flame and "bench" type torches too seem to be asking a lot from a thin piece of metal.

Has anyone cracked a plate using an Honest sized torch? I doubt it.

My first plate cracked using only the Honest.
Theory shot

Second plate was with a combination of lighters, but broke in identical spots that went all the way around the dimple.

Third is young but going strong

same here, my plate cracked after 9 days of normal use with the honest lighter that came with the lotus, the plate was not so much discoloured but the crack did happen, from the first day on there was only a dark spot that came on the circle around the center (not the small circle in the middle but the circle around that one approx. 1cm dia. ), then the spot whent longer and darker each day and finally after 9 days, while vaping on the lotus, the ring cracked, if you look at @FlyingLow 's pictures from his cracked plated, the crack looks quite exactly the same how mine was?!? unfortunately i returned mine and did not make a pic.... now hoping the new plate i got last friday, will make it, it already is becoming blueish on the edges of the circle but not black like before, one other thing, is that, on the first one and on the new one, the inner circle is slightly deforming since the first use/heating like it is lower on/nearer to the bottom on one half of the center of the plate?! maybe that is causing steess on the plate, maybe the holes of the screws are a bit to far away, one of the other and are stretching the plate when heating/cooling etc,,,, maybe, i wondered, it could also be the og honest lighter, because sometimes the flame is growing fatter when using, even newly filled with extre torch lighter gas,,,?! questions over questions my fellow vaporists :-) lets medicate over this issue :-) prayers and medication :-) lotus calling......

pigfoot said:

So I did a couple of sessions with mine last night, the brown color on the cap seems to be fading into purple now. But the smell, which seems to be coming form the wood, is still present, although less. Has anyone else noticed this? It doesn't smell like wood to me.

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The wood smell if it's sort of cedar wood smell it goes after a week or so

pigfoot said:

So I did a couple of sessions with mine last night, the brown color on the cap seems to be fading into purple now. But the smell, which seems to be coming form the wood, is still present, although less. Has anyone else noticed this? It doesn't smell like wood to me.

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I think that the brown color is from impurities in the butane. The plate is pure nickel. If anyone takes the plate off and looks at the underside, it isn't the same color as the top. I guess that a lot of the color is due to crud (scientific name) in the butane. Any smell is probably from the wood finish, which is Danish Oil.
As to how the Lotus got made, thanks are due to the great state of California and its unemployment benefits. They gave me breathing room so I could develop the Lotus. The Vapor Genie also inspired me. When I started Lotus development that was the only flame based vape. I like the concept but couldn't stand the idea of breathing in the butane fumes. Fifteen prototypes later the Lotus arrived. I thought that it was finalized 2 or 3 models ago. Now I realize it will never really be completed. That's the short version of the story.

Max Jitter said:

I think that the brown color is from impurities in the butane. The plate is pure nickel. If anyone takes the plate off and looks at the underside, it isn't the same color as the top. I guess that a lot of the color is due to crud (scientific name) in the butane. Any smell is probably from the wood finish, which is Danish Oil.
As to how the Lotus got made, thanks are due to the great state of California and its unemployment benefits. They gave me breathing room so I could develop the Lotus. The Vapor Genie also inspired me. When I started Lotus development that was the only flame based vape. I like the concept but couldn't stand the idea of breathing in the butane fumes. Fifteen prototypes later the Lotus arrived. I thought that it was finalized 2 or 3 models ago. Now I realize it will never really be completed. That's the short version of the story.

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Thank you for the insight. I hadn't thought of the crud in the butane as the cause, I simply assumed it was caused by the fast and high heat used to obtain the vaporization. Looks like I'm going to try switching to a higher quality butane when/if I ever need to replace my plate with a spare.

Your Lotus has inspired several of my friends to reconsider vaporizing (which never impressed them previously).

I'm happy to hear you are still working on the design and improving it. I look forward to being a "beta tester" for the next revision as soon as it's released!

cityslang said:

The wood smell if it's sort of cedar wood smell it goes after a week or so

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It doesn't smell like cedar to me, I'm familiar with that smell. It smell kinda like mold. I'm not saying it IS moldy, just a similar smell. It is fading, but I don't like inhaling from something that smells like that.

Max Jitter said:

I think that the brown color is from impurities in the butane. The plate is pure nickel. If anyone takes the plate off and looks at the underside, it isn't the same color as the top. I guess that a lot of the color is due to crud (scientific name) in the butane. Any smell is probably from the wood finish, which is Danish Oil.

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Thanks for replying. I'm not sure I agree with you about the brown color, for 2 reasons. 1) The brown color was darker initially, and is now fading into purple, almost like it was burning OFF a coating on the plate. Is there a coating, or oil applied to the plate? If it was deposits from the butane, wouldn't it get darker with use? 2) I'm using Xikar butane, which is supposed to be pretty good. I'm not familiar with the smell of danish oil, so I can't comment on that one.

I hit the Lotus too hard last week and got a strong smell of linseed oil, which I think is in the Danish oil. The smell was quite nice to me but beauty is in the nose of the smeller of course. Upon removing the plate, I discovered that a small spot on the wood just under the plate was charred a little. I was concerned that the device would continue to emit the linseed smell but it has faded after a few sessions.

Thanks Max, after reading so much of this thread, I had to ask
cool to know the history!

Artist~ You found the words to describe what I have gone through as well... I could not describe it before but that is exactly the process mine went through. My new one has not changed color much (minimal), but it has started to deform slightly. I am hoping that is just the break in process, as I have been especially cautious since receiving the fresh plate. I keep it at home, cap on bowl, and away from anything that might knock, dent, puncture, or otherwise damage the plate.

I have been running Iolite Butane which is supposed to be a 10x butane, but it left a lot of color residue on my previous plates. I am going to switch butanes immediately though and try something else.

Do y'all think there is any chance a my butane might be eroding or damaging the nickel plate?

pigfoot said:

It doesn't smell like cedar to me, I'm familiar with that smell. It smell kinda like mold. I'm not saying it IS moldy, just a similar smell. It is fading, but I don't like inhaling from something that smells like that.



Thanks for replying. I'm not sure I agree with you about the brown color, for 2 reasons. 1) The brown color was darker initially, and is now fading into purple, almost like it was burning OFF a coating on the plate. Is there a coating, or oil applied to the plate? If it was deposits from the butane, wouldn't it get darker with use? 2) I'm using Xikar butane, which is supposed to be pretty good. I'm not familiar with the smell of danish oil, so I can't comment on that one.

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There is a coating that is put on the plate and should have been washed off. We'll check the parts more closely to make sure they are as clean as they should be.
I hesitate to go into a lot of detail because there are Chinese copy cats that are probably reading this too. They already have a knock-off of Lotus v1 for sale. Jambagal bought one to check it out. Wasn't too impressed.
@FlyingLow I don't think there is any chance of the butane affecting the nickel plate. It's pretty much chemically indestructible.

FlyingLow said:

My first plate cracked using only the Honest.
Theory shot

Second plate was with a combination of lighters, but broke in identical spots that went all the way around the dimple.

Third is young but going strong

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artist said:

same here, my plate cracked after 9 days of normal use with the honest lighter that came with the lotus, the plate was not so much discoloured but the crack did happen, from the first day on there was only a dark spot that came on the circle around the center (not the small circle in the middle but the circle around that one approx. 1cm dia. ), then the spot whent longer and darker each day and finally after 9 days, while vaping on the lotus, the ring cracked, if you look at @FlyingLow 's pictures from his cracked plated, the crack looks quite exactly the same how mine was?!? unfortunately i returned mine and did not make a pic.... now hoping the new plate i got last friday, will make it, it already is becoming blueish on the edges of the circle but not black like before, one other thing, is that, on the first one and on the new one, the inner circle is slightly deforming since the first use/heating like it is lower on/nearer to the bottom on one half of the center of the plate?! maybe that is causing steess on the plate, maybe the holes of the screws are a bit to far away, one of the other and are stretching the plate when heating/cooling etc,,,, maybe, i wondered, it could also be the og honest lighter, because sometimes the flame is growing fatter when using, even newly filled with extre torch lighter gas,,,?! questions over questions my fellow vaporists :-) lets medicate over this issue :-) prayers and medication :-) lotus calling......

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Well, so much for that theory.


A couple of people had mentioned stress fracturing due to the heating process and it's relationship to the screws. That seems like a plausible theory too. Maybe back the screws out a bit so the plate has more room to expand & contract?

I'm just grateful that it hasn't happened to me...knocking on wood.