smokum said:
^^ friggin tease ^^
<-- from a guy with no BM accnt
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@High Sigh I was looking at that slime bubbler earlier today. Very sick stuff. I love those leaf style "horns", or whatever you'd like to call them. Been seeing a slightly more refined version of the same style of flourishes on a lot of recent Royal DI oilers and I really dig the way it looks. That's a great set; GL with the acquisition!
I just picked up some new glass of my own a few weeks back. I was cleaning it up sparkly fresh tonight so I thought it was a good time to take some quick pictures. The new pieces are both Mobius Ion Bubblers, one Matrix and one Reti. Both were made in 2011 and these are the first Moby's I've ever owned (or hit for that matter). I've got to admit that I am seriously impressed overall. Price was a little steep but I purchased from ALT and I find they're always a little steep. I think if I'd been more patient I could have spent a little less for the same gear. They're gorgeous pieces of masterfully functional glass and worth every penny anyway, I dare say.
I generally perfer clean, "scientific" glass styles over "heady" glass styles, so these bubblers would catch my eye regardless, but there is really something next level about the design on these pieces. I realize they are considered production pieces and they certainly aren't rare but none the less I feel privlidged to own them. They are just the right size for vaporizing flowers, they hit like a dream (the promise of "zero drag" is truly fulfilled), and they are a total pleasure to look at and hold: clean welds, clean lines, solid and balanced construction. Some people gripe about the sandblasted logos but I actually really like them and for the most part they feel really deep and well etched. After having parts of a Leisure logo flake off a LW 15 arm recently from nothing more than looking at the damn thing I find that blasting has all sorts of appeal besides just looking pretty
The amount of logos on these bubblers are borderline overkill however. I really like the way they look on these particular Ion bubblers but I think on the standard size Matrix and Reti bubblers it's a little less tasteful. To each their own with that stuff of course.
These pieces are both really meant to be hit while being kept perfectly straight up and down, so I find sitting the bubs on a flat surface to hit them works best (a table top or the like). You can definitely cup the whole base in your hand and balance it like a straight tube, but I just prefer the way each of these bubs hits while it's being kept stationary and perfectly erect (tee-hee).
The diffusion is pretty much exactly what it looks like/what people have been saying it is: the Matrix stacks like an all-night waffle house, the Reti bubbles like mad in its own right but it chugs a little rather than purring the way the Matrix does. Both clear near instantaneously and with no effort. Although the
feel of the hits are really completely different, I would (IMO and my experience only of course) compare the level of diffusion achieved by each piece as follows: the Reti diffuses about as much as a LW 15 arm and the Matrix diffuses almost as much as a SG gridline (up-grid). Again I am only trying to describe the level of diffusion and not the feeling of the hit.
Finally although the bubbler family is the same (these are both Mobius Ions), the Reti bubbler can is a little taller than the Matrix bubbler can. I'm not sure if this is intentional or just natural variance, but if it is intentional it is very advantageous: although the total capacity of the body of each bubbler is a little different--the Reti having the greater capacity--the Reti requires a little more water than the Matrix to hit properly (IMO), so the effective capacity of the bubblers works out to be the same once they're filled with water. Smart
The biggest complaint I could see others having is with the mouthpiece bore size: I'm not sure exactly what size it is, but it's small. I know it's smaller than average. These are however "mini-bubs" (under 12", closer to 10") so I think it works. I find the mouthpieces comfortable to use and since these are both primarily vapor pieces for me I see the compactness of every aspect of these bubblers to be a positive feature.
A comment about the pictures: sorry that the glass is still a little foggy...I literally just finished cleaning these before I snapped the pictures. I normally let my pieces air dry when I do a thorough clean but I just ran the hair dryer over them quickly tonight so I could get some pictures and I'm afraid they weren't perfectly dry. Between that and using a camera phone it kind of ended up obscuring the close up of the Reit perc, which is really hard to see anyway. Its really easy to see IRL but it just doesn't come out well in pictures for some reason... Also, there is a shot of the bottom of each perc: only after taking these shots did I notice that the gridding on the Matrix looks really uneven (one-sided) from the underside. I can assure you it has absolutely no effect on the hit. Like I said I didn't even notice until I saw the pics haha!
Here's the boro-porn
Impressions of the diffusion: I love the way these bubblers hit, but I do think it might be a little bit overkill for vapor. The Reti does seem just right (haven't run enough strains through it to judge 100% for sure), and the slight "chug" it has seems to help with maintaing a good pull speed for use with vaporizers. The Matrix certainly does the job but it's almost too smooth for vapor: I feel like it'd be awesome for smoke but yeah it might be just a little too much for vapor. With the Matrix I tend to pull softly so that I'm not firing as many holes, and that works just fine. I plan to try the Matrix out with low grade oils (2nd runs, reclaim, ABV BHO etc.) and see how it makes out with that. Again, I LOVE both these bubblers and think Circle completely nailed the design, but they're definitely tailored to smokers (like most glass) so there might be a tad too much diffusion if you're picky about that, such as I am.
Any questions or requests please let me know! Also I am awaiting a replacement VHW currently but once I get that unit I will hopefully post a video showing these two bubblers making tasty blue vapor side by side!
Edit: Re-uploaded the photos to a new host and updated this post with the new links.
Edit No. 2: I realized I'm a moron. I was complaining previously in this post about the way the Matrix perc looks from the underside, saying that it looks "uneven." Well I was using the piece today and realized there is a dimple that runs perfectly around the bottom of the perc at the bottom of the can. Basically the bottom of the can just isn't perfectly flat, since it doesn't ever touch the ground it's puffed out a little, and this distorts the image of the percs if looked at from the underside. I'm so smart! Haha sorry guys. The Matrix is basically a gridded puck and the gridding IS even, I just can't take a picture worth shit.
http://boromarket.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21441
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