I'm curious if others are getting a looser stem. If you've only used the Air stems and noticing it's looser when inserting the Air stock stems could you give us a shout out?
Does the oven entrance stretch out naturally?
It definitely is easier to insert a stem when it's warmed up. I've been vaping in cold cars or my overly drafty Canadian basement (I gotta get less lazy and learn how to fix these things), and yeah, it's rough getting it in when things are cold.
It feels like it is stretching and it may well be that the tolerances between the outer diameter of the glass tube and the entrance to the chamber do actually give a bit. Kinda like when you soak a membrane in hot water and are able to slide it off easier / fit it back on. I can't actually verify that it is stretching (and I think that's maybe not the right word -- more like flexing? easing?), but it does make a difference.
After inserting the solo-like stem that came with air the mp stems do feel a little wobbly. It doesn't come close to falling out when tipped over, though.
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I don't mind packing it a couple times, FWIW I pour it in my palm, scoop it, and give it a light pinky pack.
Gonna test this out now. I find that rotating the stem in the tube alters the airflow. maybe I need to clean my stems / unit, haven't bothered yet since I bought this as more of a "maintenance free" piece, which is what made me set aside other models like the FireFly and Pax -- both of which I want to try out at some point in the semi-near future.
haha, I do the pinky pack too! although I keep reaching for my chapstick to try that trick out. about half the time I have it, but I always forget to use it, so I just jam my pinky in the end of the Solo-style stem.
Be sure not to pack it too tightly. It'll still work, it just sucks to use if you don't pack it right. (caveat: I'm still pretty noob when it comes to vaporizers.) I cannot overstate how critical this is. It is the difference between getting pleasantly lifted on the lower settings (this morning, mostly blue / white, a touch of green to preheat the bowl, then dropped down to lower temps). If I pack it too tightly, it gets pretty roasted and I think "ehh, I'm gonna have to crank this to yellow / red. this tastes pretty blech."
Does the air start to irritate anyone's throat? Lol. I normally don't ever go over green and yellow.
Yeah it does a bit, but once again, I think this really has to do with how you pack it. It's a completely different experience if you pack it lightly but use much less material. I find if I've accidentally tamped it down too much, I basically have to do the old milkshake suck, and it just doesn't work as well. (guess this is that "convection combination" thing at work.)
Btw, my stems did fit tightly at first as well a.and have become wobbly only when heated I believe. Will check again when I go out for a break lol
Just put an Air short stem back in. Works like a charm. Tastes pretty similar to the long stem, vapor may be a bit warmer of course. It doesn't fit as tightly as the Solo, but I think that may simply be a difference in the manufacturing tolerances or the production run of long vs. short stems. Might improve in time.
One thing I find really silly about the design is that there's no feedback when I turn it on... You hold the button down, but it won't light up til you release it? As someone with some experience in programming, I think they'd claim "that's not a bug, it's a feature! um, super stealth mode!" but really, I'd like to see it blink before I release the button. (pretty minor nitpick, but I'm kinda picky about user interface design.)
EDIT: of course I start hitting the short stem after I post. draw resistance for me is pretty much the same as the larger one. Again, I think it depends on how you pack it, and the nice thing about the short stem is that it doesn't require as much, and it's a smaller space, so you can pack it loosely and it's still close to the heating element.
I get the feeling Arizer did this for the Air to attempt to give you a good basic aftermarket experience (differences in stem length, bowl size, etc.) so you'll like it that much more if you prefer one over the other. Before I even bought the bloody thing, I was looking at GonG adapters since I knew I'd want to tailor this to my liking.
FWIW, I'm not sure which of the two plastic tipped stems I'm using right now, but it's smooth as hell. Dunno if the fact that there's less volume / cooling of vapor before it hits my mouth, but it sure seems to irritate my throat a lot more. If that's bugging you, try the long stem. I have no issues with any of them fitting or swapping it out. I don't pull it in and out chronically to stir though, so YMMV.
