Discontinued herbalAire

RUDE BOY said:

I always thought the HA was mainly convection in the first place . . .

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stickstones said:

I think there is a good amount of conduction going on as well. That little crucible comes out hot!

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There is definitely some conduction going on with the herbalAire although the convection oven style spiraling jets do an amazing job at penetrating and extracting. If you want to find out how much conduction there is just stick your pinky finger down there and you will know immediately . . .

t-dub said:

If you want to find out how much conduction there is just stick your pinky finger down there and you will know immediately . . .

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And we need a count of the burnt fingers. Did you forget who you were talking to?

421 said:

Conversely I've found that the HA works very well for more freshly cured weed, the kind of fresher, sticky, smelly weed that can be hard to grind up, or that some folks might recommend to let sit out and dry out so it is more usable for vaping. Thing is with the HA, it's usable as is! All the fresh terps ready for vaping.

Effects wise, I would describe the whole bud high as just a bit more sparkly than a ground high. Don't know how else to describe it, the difference to me feels sparkly. (If comparing drier material the difference is less pronounced.)

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Hey bud you seem to know the unit very well so I wanted to ask you if I was doing something wrong because I tried putting a cotton ball and a bit of kief in it and inside my herbalaire I couldn't see any visible vapor at 375 F and then I turned it up a bit but still no result. I took out the cotton ball from the crucible (the kief was pretty dark, it looked like it had been cooked but I never saw vapor!?!) and put it inside my GonG for my Solo and I tried on heat setting #7 and magically I was producing somewhat big clouds!

I need to be explained the extraction process with the HA, it doesn't seem as instant and for $180 on a website 2 months ago, I don't know if I'm happy yet

The HA is a flower vape, and a very good one at that. They never claimed to be good for concentrates, at least until lately. They now have a new crucible that is designed for concentrates, and that is what they suggest you use. It may be possible to use the current crucibles for concentrates, but people have generally gotten mixed results. I have personally never tried.

J_ackson said:

I tried putting a cotton ball and a bit of kief in it and inside my herbalaire I couldn't see any visible vapor at 375 F and then I turned it up a bit but still no result. I took out the cotton ball from the crucible (the kief was pretty dark, it looked like it had been cooked but I never saw vapor!?!) and put it inside my GonG for my Solo and I tried on heat setting #7 and magically I was producing somewhat big clouds!

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At first glance, I'd say it has to do with the difference in air flow through the actual actives stuck in the cotton ball. A big, wide air path won't give the same density of vapor because its distributed through a larger volume of air. That's really why using cloud size never really appealed to me as a way to determine how extraction is going, but .

FWIW, I've had good luck cleaning parts of the unit and using those cotton balls in the unit after smashing them down in the cruc, but you need a good amount of reclaim for the effects to last any decent amount of time.

J_ackson said:

Hey bud you seem to know the unit very well so I wanted to ask you if I was doing something wrong because I tried putting a cotton ball and a bit of kief in it and inside my herbalaire I couldn't see any visible vapor at 375 F and then I turned it up a bit but still no result. I took out the cotton ball from the crucible (the kief was pretty dark, it looked like it had been cooked but I never saw vapor!?!) and put it inside my GonG for my Solo and I tried on heat setting #7 and magically I was producing somewhat big clouds!

I need to be explained the extraction process with the HA, it doesn't seem as instant and for $180 on a website 2 months ago, I don't know if I'm happy yet

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Hmmm, yes I would agree with others. I haven't used kief in my HA, but I think it is possible. One tip might be to sandwich the load so it is more secure, some people use two fine screens. Oh I don't think you need the cotton ball either.

When I use concentrate oil in my HA, it's way less cloudy than a dab, rather its more spread out. It's hard to say but it does seem to vape the oil well. I do like putting oil in with my bud in the HA sometimes.

HA is more of a precision vaporizing unit vs a more brute force approach (enables whole nug/no stir effect). You can still get clouds with it though, especially if using ground and with the load secured (I like a ceramic disc on top at least). Right now I really like vaping at ~370 with my bud sandwiched between two ceramic discs and sitting on top of a nano basket screen as a sort of convection spacer, unground bud and using the TonG. It's really nice I get full extraction (for my tastes, I stop when bitter) and using 370 temp I feel like the session goes for longer. I need to count how many clouds of visible vapor I get off say a load of .15g, I'd guess it's around 8-10.

mrfloopa said:

At first glance, I'd say it has to do with the difference in air flow through the actual actives stuck in the cotton ball. A big, wide air path won't give the same density of vapor because its distributed through a larger volume of air. That's really why using cloud size never really appealed to me as a way to determine how extraction is going, but .

FWIW, I've had good luck cleaning parts of the unit and using those cotton balls in the unit after smashing them down in the cruc, but you need a good amount of reclaim for the effects to last any decent amount of time.

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I use a small USB LED light to clearly see the vapor coming inside my bubbler, that way I can adjust how hard I'm pulling.

When I'm not using the HA I notice that some vapor is still coming out of the whip constantly, I'm assuming this is because the HA pushes hot air through?

421 said:

Hmmm, yes I would agree with others. I haven't used kief in my HA, but I think it is possible. One tip might be to sandwich the load so it is more secure, some people use two fine screens. Oh I don't think you need the cotton ball either.

When I use concentrate oil in my HA, it's way less cloudy than a dab, rather its more spread out. It's hard to say but it does seem to vape the oil well. I do like putting oil in with my bud in the HA sometimes.

HA is more of a precision vaporizing unit vs a more brute force approach (enables whole nug/no stir effect). You can still get clouds with it though, especially if using ground and with the load secured (I like a ceramic disc on top at least). Right now I really like vaping at ~370 with my bud sandwiched between two ceramic discs and sitting on top of a nano basket screen as a sort of convection spacer, unground bud and using the TonG. It's really nice I get full extraction (for my tastes, I stop when bitter) and using 370 temp I feel like the session goes for longer. I need to count how many clouds of visible vapor I get off say a load of .15g, I'd guess it's around 8-10.

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I'll have to try this again, so far I'm trying different things to get the most out of it but there isn't much resource out there..
Oil works great for you at ~ 400 Fahrenheit?

J_ackson said:

I use a small USB LED light to clearly see the vapor coming inside my bubbler, that way I can adjust how hard I'm pulling.

When I'm not using the HA I notice that some vapor is still coming out of the whip constantly, I'm assuming this is because the HA pushes hot air through?

I'll have to try this again, so far I'm trying different things to get the most out of it but there isn't much resource out there..
Oil works great for you at ~ 400 Fahrenheit?

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Oil works pretty decent at 400F. It's wispier hits for sure, but I do feel like I get dabbed out afterwards. If I was just doing one dab I would probably choose my ceramic nail over the HA. But sometimes I like to casually put some oil in with some flowers in the HA.

For vapor coming out of whip constantly, it's either some AVB gunk that's built up inside the oven and it's slowly giving off vapes, or it's the radiant heat from the HA giving off a bit of vapor. I have to say that since I started spacing out my loads from the bottom (with basket screen), I haven't really seen much loose radiant vapor.

So I've been doing A LOT of reading on this forum the past week and I ordered an herbalaire that should be delivered tomorrow. I've come to the conclusion that I am going to be starting my vape sessions at around 320 f and then raising the temp to around 365 f to finish off because what I'm always after is the thc head highs.

My two questions for now are:
1. When raising the temperature, do you just leave the crucible in the herbalaire until it gets to the new temperature and then continue or do you take it out until its at temperature?
2. How exactly do you know when at the lower temperature, your weed is "spent" and it's time to raise it? Do you just check it every now and then, is there no more vapor produced, etc.?

Thanks in advance for replies!

@The Stranger - I leave the crucible in when raising the temperature. The herbalAire gets hotter fast and that crucible is too hot to touch long before 320F. There wouldn't be any point to removal.

I usually just set it at 375F (but start sipping sooner because can taste vapor before seeing any) and stop when vapor does. ABV is always browned through. My preferred way of use is direct draw with the little straw in the mouthpiece because it's simplest.

Congratulations! I hope you love yours as much as I love mine.

I finally got some concentrates and tried out the new concentrate crucible...nice! It hits like you think it should...nice and easy for a good session. I probably got about 20 pulls out of a medium sized ball of wax. I let the unit heat up to 400F, put the ball in the crucible and loaded it into the unit. I watched for about ten seconds as it slowly started to heat up. Then it just quickly melted into the screens and started to produce vapor. I loaded the TonG and mouthpiece and started sipping for what was at least 20 minutes, maybe 30.

This morning I checked the crucible and it was almost spotless...just a little smell to remind me of what was there. But the screens looked just like before using them and I knew when the session was done when the vapor stopped flowing. I used another crucible a couple of weeks ago with some nasty, particulate-full reclaim and it worked too, but the nastiness was just left built up on the screen for me to clean. The pure stuff works flawlessly.

Like all other desktop vapes that don't go above 455, this is not dabbing. Rather, it is efficiently making clean use of your concentrates over a longer session. Me likey!

ajadbe said:

@The Stranger - I leave the crucible in when raising the temperature. The herbalAire gets hotter fast and that crucible is too hot to touch long before 320F. There wouldn't be any point to removal.

I usually just set it at 375F (but start sipping sooner because can taste vapor before seeing any) and stop when vapor does. ABV is always browned through. My preferred way of use is direct draw with the little straw in the mouthpiece because it's simplest.

Congratulations! I hope you love yours as much as I love mine.

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Thanks for the reply buddy! I am sure I am going to fall in love with it and I absolutely cannot wait for it to be delivered! I've even taken a t break this past week just for the occasion!

stickstones said:

I finally got some concentrates and tried out the new concentrate crucible...nice! It hits like you think it should...nice and easy for a good session. I probably got about 20 pulls out of a medium sized ball of wax. I let the unit heat up to 400F, put the ball in the crucible and loaded it into the unit. I watched for about ten seconds as it slowly started to heat up. Then it just quickly melted into the screens and started to produce vapor. I loaded the TonG and mouthpiece and started sipping for what was at least 20 minutes, maybe 30.

This morning I checked the crucible and it was almost spotless...just a little smell to remind me of what was there. But the screens looked just like before using them and I knew when the session was done when the vapor stopped flowing. I used another crucible a couple of weeks ago with some nasty, particulate-full reclaim and it worked too, but the nastiness was just left built up on the screen for me to clean. The pure stuff works flawlessly.

Like all other desktop vapes that don't go above 455, this is not dabbing. Rather, it is efficiently making clean use of your concentrates over a longer session. Me likey!

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I saw you tried reclaim, was it the ha reclaim? I was wondering if the reclaim from my ha was too runny to use. I've just been doing bho and shatter. I love the idea of putting the reclaim right back in there and vaping it. I'm still surprised when there's no mess under the crucible after a session, I'm always thinking this time is the time it happens.

Found some links about what I'd use for a HA TonG setup for a friend, figured would be good to share here too:

OK got some links for ya, here's what I'd do for a nice setup with TonG.

1. http://www.vaporwarehouse.com/site/vaporbrothers-whip-screens-ceramic.html

Ceramic disc screens, they fit perfectly in the HA and will allow you to use the TonG with a "ceramic crucible" of sorts. Or you could cut down a regular cruc to fit with TonG and use that.

2. http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-8-ID-x-1-...214?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f265d38ae

Silicone tubing to use as a whip. Actually this isn't necessary for a TonG setup at all, but now that I've gotten the link I might as well share it I use this stuff to fit around the top of the mushroom head of the stock MP, fits great and then I connect it to a 14mm male micro recycler.

3. https://epicvape.com/product/basket-screens/

E-Nano basket screens. I use one on the bottom as a "convection spacer", to help reduce the effect of conduction and radiation on the load. This is my personal preference, but I do believe it lessens the "cooking effect". You'll notice if you use it, that it will take longer to start producing vapor this way, a good sign that it is increasing convective effect.

You could always space the load from bottom in a different way as well, or make your own basket screens. I think a bit of steel wool bunched up could make a decent spacer.

So then basically the setup is: basket screen in first (I like to have the flat side on the bottom), then a ceramic disc screen, then unground or ground flowers (probably can fit ~.25g max), then another ceramic disc on top + TonG.

Another benefit to the discs is you can take out the screen from your TonG, less maintenance keeping it unclogged this way.

Note: I use an Elite MP (longer) in 2.2 HA. With standard 2.2 TonG in 2.2 HA, might want to add a disc or two to make sure the load is secure. Using the basket + 2 discs for me, I almost always smoosh my load down, and it comes out as a thick weed disc.

Part 2 - Glass choice: HA TonG can be used with either 14mm or 19mm female fitting. One thing to remember is the HA has a large base, so when put it into a standard dewar bubb like GB-187, the base will end up being right in your face as you hit and thus requiring a head turn to use. Not terrible as I frequently turn my head to hit to look at the hit anyways.

So a sidecar bubb would be good. FC-187 v2 or GB-187-S could work very well.

The PNWT could be nice too. Or similarly, a hydratube, but that will be more expensive. The TonG is also nice to use without water, and just use with a 19mm female MP.

Personally I want a nice 19mm female recycler... D-Cycler is close but not female.

Part 3 - Usage: I love using the HA as a precision extraction device that doesn't over-roast, and instead vapes the load gradually yet still extracting thoroughly. On other vapes, it's up to the user to not over-roast with proper technique (hard to do with consistency IMO). With the HA you can use a lower effective vaping temperature with HA's combo of convection, radiation, conduction, multi-jet airflow, insulation, precise temp control. This lets one creep up to the finishing point of a bowl (for me, this is light brown) rather than try to get to the finishing point by sprinting and trying to stop on a dime.

So I recommend starting at something like 362.5, half-way between 350 and 375. And try doing the whole session from that temperature. Stop when the taste gets bitter (probably a hit or two after visible vapor goes away). I also recommend using a light when vaping... as the HA will make clouds even on 362.5 and unground nugs, just that they are clouds that are harder to see

That's just a recommendation and starting point. I usually vape between 362.5 - 380, sometimes 400 if the weed needs it. One might like higher temp vapes more than I do, personally I find this obscures flavor with a chocolatey or burnt popcorn taste (tho this is more of an issue on other vapes than HA).

stickstones said:

I finally got some concentrates and tried out the new concentrate crucible...nice! It hits like you think it should...nice and easy for a good session. I probably got about 20 pulls out of a medium sized ball of wax. I let the unit heat up to 400F, put the ball in the crucible and loaded it into the unit. I watched for about ten seconds as it slowly started to heat up. Then it just quickly melted into the screens and started to produce vapor. I loaded the TonG and mouthpiece and started sipping for what was at least 20 minutes, maybe 30.

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So, what about turning the HA over into glass? Do you overturn the cruc or cover it with another screen? I would think just turning it over you might lose goods when it liquifies...

I'll try it later for you. But I can tell you now that once it melts it will stay in place. If it was gonna fall out it would fall while right side up since the screens are suspended in the crucible.

Been missing this setup (broke the glass MP) so I ordered a new one from OGB. Pics and mini-review of new MP to come. Also got the carbed adapter to pair with, so I won't have to pull the MP off between hits.

Bags are great when your tongue and throat are getting dry. My system was feeling a little worn out last night so I went with the bags for my nightcap. My first bag session a few months ago with this thing didn't give me many bags of vapor, but last night I got a good four bags of satisfying vapor before it started to taper off. This is a solid choice for a vape. It's versatile and different enough that I use it regularly, even in the presence of at least four other $500+ vapes.

herbalAire One Hitter Technique:

-Heat HA (I like 362.5), once heated...
-Insert material and TonG or MP
-Rip 2 or 3 times until visible vapor (using a light)
-Turn HA off!
-Rip a few more times off residual heat, there will be a good number of visible vapor hits
-Once visible vapor stops, remove TonG/MP and remove material.

The HA has great heat retention, and this allows the powered off hits to still produce visible vapor and be nice. I think of it like using a Lotus, get the cap glowing and then stop heating and draw off the residual heat. It makes for an interesting heat curve to the hits.

The powered off hits also serve to cool the load and TonG. The TonG is easier to pull out and nothing is wasted in the cooling down process of the load.

Also, using ceramic discs help the powered off hits last for longer, I believe because the ceramic holds heat for longer. My setup is basket spacer, disc sandwich, TonG.

I'm finding this is a nice way to split my sessions in half.

421 said:

herbalAire One Hitter Technique:

-Heat HA (I like 362.5), once heated...
-Insert material and TonG or MP
-Rip 2 or 3 times until visible vapor (using a light)
-Turn HA off!
-Rip a few more times off residual heat, there will be a good number of visible vapor hits
-Once visible vapor stops, remove TonG/MP and remove material.

The HA has great heat retention, and this allows the powered off hits to still produce visible vapor and be nice. I think of it like using a Lotus, get the cap glowing and then stop heating and draw off the residual heat. It makes for an interesting heat curve to the hits.

The powered off hits also serve to cool the load and TonG. The TonG is easier to pull out and nothing is wasted in the cooling down process of the load.

Also, using ceramic discs help the powered off hits last for longer, I believe because the ceramic holds heat for longer. My setup is basket spacer, disc sandwich, TonG.

I'm finding this is a nice way to split my sessions in half.

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This is basically exactly how I use mine. Even if I'm not using it as a one hitter I always turn it off a couple hits before I really want to stop and take my last few hits as it continues to cool.

Finally have another Herbie on the way. I've missed having an HA greatly since I gave mine away(it went to a good and deserving home) so gave in and picked a new one up from Vapornation using the FC21 code which took $42 off the cost, couldn't pass it up on this sunny Sunday morning.

... Peace and Enjoy Y'all.

Welcome back, Rude Boy!

I believe that if you haven't tried the HA, you cannot appreciate it for how effective it is, how well it is designed and functions overall, how rugged & versatile it really is, and how different it works from most other vapes (as @stickstones mentioned). Oh, and it can be had for < $150 these days.

The Stranger said:

This is basically exactly how I use mine. Even if I'm not using it as a one hitter I always turn it off a couple hits before I really want to stop and take my last few hits as it continues to cool.

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Awesome. Yeah I've mainly been using the HA like this. I did discover that the last step, removing the material, does not make that big of a difference.

I did the one hitter technique, and instead of taking it out I let the load sit there for 20 minutes while the HA cooled off completely. Then I examined the load... still green and nice, looked pretty much just like if I had taken it out. Skipping that step makes it that much easier to just leave it all in there and simply turn the HA back on again to continue the session.

Now I'm testing a larger load with the one-hitter method, 0.25g. I'm going to see how many "one-hitter" sessions I can get out of it, and also won't be removing the load.

"Now I'm testing a larger load with the one-hitter method, 0.25g. I'm going to see how many "one-hitter" sessions I can get out of it."

^ Ended up getting about 3.5 sessions out of this... got much better results starting at 325/335 and then moving up 5-10 degrees every few pulls, usually stopping around 375 at the highest. I like doing this for regular session too, I move the temp up when I feel like it needs more vape density.

I just got 10 good sized cloud hits (aerosol) of ~7 seconds each from 0.19g @ 362.5. I could get more with the other method, but sometimes just like to relax at one temp.

So I got a couple of concentrate crucibles to try out that are going to be released soon. One is a triple screen crucible that has the three screens near the top. You put your concentrate on the screen and watch it melt into the metal matrix...then hit it until done. I tried this and thought it worked pretty well. There is also a bottom screen, so if you wanted to put some dry herbs in the bottom and some concentrate on top, you could!

Then I got the second one which is a crucible with a bottom screen and a top screen, with a bunch of glass beads in the middle. You heat up the unit with the crucible in it, then add your concentrate and watch it melt in. wait a minute and hit. I thought this worked pretty well, too.

Then I was directed to use the beaded one with the pump and bags. mind blown!! it seems to make endless bags as the concentrate just gets thinner and thinner over an amazing amount of surface area. I ended up stopping after four bags and I had just started to detect some thinning. I'll continue that same crucible later tonight for a nightcap. this beaded setup with the HA bags is by far my favorite setup for concentrates (not dabbing). So what is already a great, versatile and unique vape just got more so!

I've been told they will be available in August, but that they will take orders from fc members for early release crucibles if you contact them directly. I recommend them for anyone who likes to vape their concentrates at flower temps, or for the vaporist who only occasionally gets a hold of concentrates and would like to be able to enjoy them without getting a full on dab rig.