Gn0me - lighter based vaporizers

You should also work on design of the moutpiece's "screen" IMO.. At least you should have a version with finer screen or make it easy to insert a screen from the top.. When i have dry herb which crushes to dust .. it is likely that i eat some or the abv clogs the screen i have installed to prevent eating because there is space between the smile and the screen which gets filled.. Anyway that is not a huge pain.. I just pull out the mouthpiece and blow black to free the airflow and take hit again.. I also have success putting some damiana as a filter between the mouthpiece and the load but it also makes harm to airflow sometimes..

Video is up! I didn't go for a monster hit because I'm already pretty vaked. Also it's 55 degrees in here, so it takes a little longer to heat the Gnome, but I could probably speed that up if I wasn't so high and worried about overdoing it! Enjoy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsyaDwCIIDQ

Great video, great Floyd!

Been lurking for a long time, finally got around to making an account now that my gnome has shown up; I love it.
I just got it yesterday so I'll be posting a review once I get use to it. I'll post some pictures along with it.

So far it's great clean tasting vapor. You can also get some VERY large hits and if your not careful you may find yourself a bit over medicated like me on my first use.

I've been thinking about putting a screen or filter on it as you will get some tiny pieces of whatever your vaping from time to time if you inhale to hard. I don't have a bubbler but I will picking one up soon and that should help.

Also the customer service has been wonderful and Calin seems like an awesome guy making a good product.


Oh! For people using it be very careful of the part you heat. Already had one friend touch it by accident after use. He wasn't burned but it gave him a shock.

cheers and welcome NeverClever!! Yep, my buddy got branded pretty good... the Gnome is the thinking man's vape I think!! The classic fits in a 14mm GG female perfectly with a piece of silicon tubing on the end. 7th floor tubing works as well as various other pieces of hose I have kicking around. Why am I posting when I'm so vaked???!!! :-P
looking forward to your video NC.

Thank you! Yeah I have feeling that wont be the last time someone gets branded. Ehehe. Looks like your thinking!

I think I'm going to put my little octognome to work right now as well!

Thanks all for the reviews, just enjoyed my new gong gn0me. Definite big hitter, definitely....
Calen shipped to the East in 2 days. Custom color, quality work. IMHO the fastest butane powered,
all-glass vape out there. It rivals the Supreme because the torch time is far less. All the flavor comes
through . Well suited for the higher temp actives..

I've got a Gn0me in the mail thanks to the awesome generosity of Calin, its awesome inventor.

I'll make sure to post some pics showing it off and report on its performance! I've got high hopes and a new canister of Colibri!

@charliedontsurf: I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy it at least as much as I have, it's so much fun to play with fire again!
Only cons so far are burns and it looks like you're smoking crack. I have no problem with either... :-P

CHEERS!

Charlie did you got the Gong or the the classic ? IMO the classic gives better taste and it is easier to control heat + you can watch stuff changing color easily . The gong delivers more of a punch and can go till black if you overheat (happend once last night cuz i torched 40 + ) . Imo The gnomes raise temp very quickly and it is easy to manipulate cloud density.. So IMO retained heat method is not the best for taste and efficiency..
My favorite thing to do is to draw direct on low temp slowly raising temps or dropping. I can get 10 + visual tasty rips from 0.1 or less load.. It feels just like a joint.. to me ..or a fancy cigarrete holder.. .. Also the shotgun method (forced air) is kickin ass.. One of my buddies gave me a unused bag from his old vapir one.. And i managed to fill it will dense vapor under 1 minute ..

With the GonG vape, you can use retained heat, but the hit is a bit uneven, since the heat exchanger heats up and cools down quickly... I find it best to use it just like the classic vape, continuing to heat while breathing in. One helpful bit I've forgotten to mention is that you don't need to heat all sides of any of the vapes, especially when hitting it. Try this: heat as much of the rippled bit as you can in the beginning, moving the flame slowly across the glass rather than quickly, which allows the heat from the flame to soak into the glass. You don't have to spin the vape around, just try to hit two or three sides. Once the yellow appears in the flame, just a bit of heat is enough to keep it at the right temperature - with the GonG vape, that's like just shooting one side of the heat exchanger, and you still have a good deal of control over how intense the hit is. With the classic vape, moving the flame across just one side is enough. Allowing heat to soak in like this gives you the most even extraction.

Keep those torches full and the vapes hot, y'all

Here is code "red", I am near a mountain and the snow level is near the rooftops of the autos on the street.. I enjoyed very much vaping in the snow.. There is nobody outside.. it is fullmoon .. and i am hitting big rips in my big ass bong filled with fresh snow.. mmm It so good that torches are wireless ..

Hey gn0me,
Great work with the vape. I sure appreciate the quality and the speed that you shipped it
to the East Coast. Calen was also kind enough to hook me up w/ the classic to match my
gong gn0me. I am pretty sure I only paid for the gong. Thanks!!@!! This vape does the trick
and how.

Hi mephisto.. ! Gnomes are awesome aren't they . Do you use screens ? I find it a must with dry herb .
I use either screen or i carry a pouch of damiana leaves which create a herb filter !

Heya Meph,

That was the cobalt blue one, right? The package should have included 1 heat exchanger, 1 mouthpiece, and 1 adapter for 19mm to 14mm - was there a classic vape in the box too? If so, what color? lol xD

Hello AV,
I will be using your suggestion and going with a tiny little screen. Then I will also enjoy using some
damiana as well. This is a great vape, far better than the vapo-bowl I picked up.

Calen
I guess I just thought there was an extra. I did not expect the mouthpiece to come w/ the gong
gn0me. I just stuck the 19mm side into the bubbler and put the HX on the end. Off to the races...
Anyhow, thanks again!!! Great work...

Dog will hunt. I'm very impressed with my Gnome so far! This is a highly effective, pure-convection, 100% glass design from a small, American glass blower. No exaggeration, and no surprise, the Gnome tastes about as good as any other vape I've used. It's as delicious as the Vapocane with retained heat method or the Vapolution with the AIWB, and as good as the VXC will likely taste. The Gnome classic is easy to use in its natural state or is easily mated to a 14mm GonG joint by a small piece of DBV tubing. O-rings would probably make it usable with a number of other connections. The learning curve is relatively gentle, and Calin's included instruction card would be very informative and useful to the novice vaporist.

I give it a 9/10 at its price point. This kind of vapor purity is impressive when the price is taken into account, and the whole device is sturdily and artfully crafted, and the vape is adapted effortlessly to different uses, even blowing bags as Absymal has mentioned.

My only issues are the glass screen, which could do more "screening" in my opinion. I added a small steel screen within two uses because otherwise you need a very, very rough grind. Some part of me would like a modified Gnome with a broader bowl, made to take a screen, which could make an airtight seal with the heater portion. Because the seal is not air tight between the heater portion and the mouthpiece, we always have air leaking in, threatening an otherwise epic vapor to air ratio. Those two things are my only complaints, and they are minor.

At the end of the day, I think the Gn0me is an awesome, versatile addition to almost any Vaporist's collection. There was some discussion about the Vapocane, and I can say that the Gn0me vapor density through glass is equal as is the flavor, while the Gn0me can also be used as a great stand-alone vape - the Vapocane has a more convenient bowl system and that would be its main advantage, as well as a smaller form factor.

Edit: I think I'm going to pick up a GonG Gnome as well so we'll see how it compares. I should of also noted that the shipping was super fast and the container was packaged with alot of cushion for a safe journey.

Charlie i am glad you like it. The gong gnome delivers more of a punch you will see and screen placing is very easy due to the 3 glass pin screen system . I've found myself becoming very good at placing screen on the gnome classic.. First i was placing round screens and there was a bit space from inside which was clogging with abv.. then i started just to tuck in the screen in the smile . I will go and take a pic cuz it looks like a gnome juggernaut/ cyberpunk gnome
And to add pic ...

Cheers! The Gnome is not my primary vape, but I don't think I have one anymore, I use them all! I've toyed with screens, came up with a 3-sided pyramid shape. My camera stinks so it's shaped similar to this tent:



Pretend there's no floor on the tent and it's very tiny. The long end goes down into the tube and the flap end goes over the little face's nose to keep from sliding down. I read that sentence a few times and I can't do any better right now...

I just wanted it easily removable so I can still pop some fresh stuff in there and get the all-glass path. Getting much better with the torch, realized soon enough that turning isn't necessary. I should make another video, because now I can get her up to temp in 15 seconds or less. Also, I found if you only need to take a few hits with you, just get the mouthpiece all gooed up and take that and a torch with you, WOOHOO! lol
Argh, the torch I ordered is on back order. Thanks for letting me know DealExtreme... NOT! How can anyone complain about them really. Anyway I cancelled it and ordered one like yours, Abysmal. I'm not even sure if the expensive one had the air-adjustment for flame shape. Oh, I had no trouble selling my extra Gnome, I got it for one friend but another snagged it first! I'm thinking the Gnome and a torch might be a good Birthday and Christmas gift this year!

The gong setup that I just got does not have the smiley. Instead, the glass has been indented
into the airpath. Just like the heating area on the heat exchanger. I did not try and fit a screen.
Although the damiana is very good thru this piece. This is the cleanest tasting vape I have used.
It is easy to get greedy and combust, a little. Not choking clouds of smoke, just the additional
heaviness on the palate when you exhale. Again I say, great work gn0me!

+1 to the gong gnome love. Just was devastated with a direct draw hit.. ..
You will get the master of it mephisto.. My torch can increase flame power very rapidly and decrease it as fast.. and it is very comfortable to do so.
It feels likeWalk along the razor's edge .
Cluffy .. you did good . It takes so much butane.. I reload twice a week if i use it more often than 10 times a day ..

I've used nothing but the Gnome classic today and just love it. It's super clean and easy.

I've added two screens at this point, on to the Gnome "face" portion to keep material out of the mouthpiece, and one in the heater portion on the bowl end, right up where the narrowed section that's heated begins. This way I can simply shake vigorously to stir contents and not have material get up into the heated section.

Hey Calen, how long have you been producing the Gnome total? Did you go through alot of designs? Have you been using the Gnome for the last decade? I'm curious how to place it on the Vape timeline.

Funnily, my vape's rather new - I've been making the Classic vape the longest, at about a year and 9 months... there have been several iterations, starting with point handles (bits of scrap glass left after making another blown object - thin and tapered) which is how I first tested the concept. I figured that a smaller tube would stop somewhere in the taper, and the space forward of that could be used as a chamber, followed by the heat exchanging section. None of the ones built on point handles were sold, since they were long, thin, not 100% consistent, and fragile.

In the end I opted for tube-in-a-tube, since all the good boro tubing available (I use primarily Simax lab glass from the Czech Republic) comes to exacting standards of size and chemistry, and cutting lengths of tube would be more consistent and otherwise viable. The first model made similar to the ones I'm making today had 1mm thick walls for the heat exchanger, which heated up faster, yet broke more easily. Coincidentally, I soon changed to 1.5mm thick walls, for a better balance of durability and heat-up time. One strange thing is that the thicker you go with glass, the less well it tolerates being heated to torch temperatures and cooled again - with thin walls, the glass cools evenly and doesn't become stressed with repeated heating and cooling. Another bonus was being able to get tubing for the heat exchangers which allowed me to make the mouthpiece the same size as most glass slides. I think from now on I'll start calling it the Slider vape instead, to reference the fact that it both slides together and turns any glass that uses standard slides into a vape as well.

Of course, one of the main comments many people have had is that they wished it had a friction fit together, like a ground glass joint - thus, the GonG vape came about. It's built on 1.8mm thick glass which is one of the reasons it takes longer to heat up. I only use joints made on quality labglass - Asian ground glass joints cost a lot less, but the glass is more prone to stress from the heating and cooling. Ground glass joints increase the materials cost of the vapes by a great deal, just like they do with everything else, so many people go with the classic - that and it's so incredibly pocketable (especially with the cases I've got in the works).

The oil vape is pretty recent, dating back only 8 or so months. It was borne on a night when some friends had just picked up an Eclipse, and I wondered to myself why it couldn't just be made entirely of glass, without the fragile dram vials, and with an all glass airpath. The version ABV picked up (Mister Dabby) is likely to join the lineup, as long as it continues holding together... I'm sure I'll offer replacement dab globes just in case one breaks. The nice thing is that even if it does wear out after a while, picking up a new globe shouldn't cost an arm and a leg.

I had never even heard of the Vapocane or Glass Vape before making the Slider... I guess I wasn't really looking, since it looks like they've been around a bit longer than I. I still think mine's better, though - I'm happy to leave out the screens, especially with water filtration, and the Slider is just so tiny - I keep mine in my pockets all the time. I'm working on a version with an ABV catcher section, since that is one of the downfalls of the smiley glass screen (unless your herb is fresh or humidified, in which case it serves fine - I opt not to use an herb grinder, instead just lightly crumbling it with fingers).

At any rate, the 'net is serving to be a great medium of distribution. I'm thrilled to have my glass enjoyed on a larger scale... it's cool having things I made get all over the world. A new website, with a bunch of pictures and some video will be coming up soon, and pocket pouches for the GonG and Slider vapes... both of which you can put a hot Gnome into without damage, and without burning yourself. A pouch set with a stash jar is in the works as well, of which I should have some pictures up shortly.

See you all soon!

For anybody having trouble with Ronson JETLITE lighters, some of them come badly adjusted. There is a stop on the adjustment screw, made of metal, with a soft plastic stop. If you can't seem to get a good flame out of it, you may benefit from the following:

Make sure you're working on an empty lighter, just for safety's sake. Using a medium flathead screwdriver, just turn the flame adjustment screw counterclockwise, and continue past the ordinary stopping point. There's a small phillips head screw on the underside of the lighter - if you remove it, you can take the lighter out of its housing to perform this step with a larger screwdriver, while allowing you to see the small plastic recess the adjustment screw is going through. Turn it up 'till the bright center cone of the flame is 17-20mm long. When using this for heating operations, use the part of the flame just beyond this point - that center cone looks like a laser, but it's really just unburned gas, and is the coldest part of the flame. Instead, position the tip of the center cone near, but not touching the glass. When the glass warms, you'll see the flame wrapping around the vape body.

Also, while we're talking torches, those of the culinary variety are particularly outstanding for home use. The can serves as the fuel tank as well, using standardized butane cartridges - the same kind as used on camping stoves. In fact, replacement cartridges can usually be purchased at sporting goods stores - you can't use them to fill lighters without an adapter (you can often use the adapters off of other brands of butane, though) and there's a foul scent added, so no essential oil extracting, but it burns just the same. I wouldn't use it regularly in other appliances, without knowing if the internals can handle it. It's probably the least filtered out there (lots more paraffin waxes etc). Check out: this torch. Video! Sexy!

Calen.. You've done great work with both design and glassblowing on your vapes. You said you started to do gnomes from scrap glass.. Where that scrap glass comes from ? Do you do glassblowing for a living ? I can easily believe you are a glass blower artist seeing all that stuff and magnificent bubbler you have blown (with the octopus).
Are familiar with scientific bubblers/tubes and their various crazy percs ? Honeycomb,showerdome,ufo slit, multi-arm,tree perc,shotgun,reti,matrix.... etc. ? Do you have your own percolator ideas if you are into pipes ?
+ I am using some of the gongs as stems for my UD (log vape) and they are very comfortable.. I am seeing myself ordering some at your price range.. (which is awesome) just to use for that purpose.. No to mention Epicvape-1 and HI which have gong connections to their heaters.. I can imagine even angled gong wands for DBV/SSV that connect directly to your waterpipe . elimination the need of tubing and making the experience totally handsfree . >
Anyway this is my best buy ever.. I got all purpose clean airpath vapes with a great artistic design and the possibility of doubling as connections,wands,stems.. etc.. with the numerous vapes you own .. It is truly a purists dream and covers pro's favorites : Portability,All glass clean airpath, quick heatup, easy to manipulate temp, can last a while and you can vape a lot with one refill of your torch,(i still havent finished my first can of butane.. but i have gone trough roughly 30 g with the gnome classic and the gong.. and played mostly with the oil gnome .. , not to forget artistic looks and the price range... + custom options.. (which even the most expensive vaporizers does not offer, or is limited to a change of color.. )