The Nomad From Morwood

virtualpurple

Well-Known Member
I’m not planning to debut mine until it arrives at my door. It may not appeal to everyone, but I think it speaks absolute volumes to @Dan Morrison’s skill and dedication to art. It’s been ready for a bit now, but it’ll make its way here when it’s supposed to. I’m still on a break so I am in no rush!
 

Ramahs

Fucking Combustion (mostly) Since February 2017
Woo-Hoo! I'm lovin' this new Nomad porn!

giphy.webp
 
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Ramahs,
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Dan Morrison

Well-Known Member
Manufacturer
Hey everyone!

I still keep tabs on this thread almost every day, I've just been in grind mode the last...oh man, feels like months, haha. So I haven't had much time to post!

Been trying out a new stem idea, really loving it so far.

Since coming up with the wooden chamber liner, I haven't gone back to the glass-only chamber. I find that the wooden chamber walls give better heat up time so that you can get nice thick vapor on the first draw without any pre-heat. With the glass-only chamber, I find the same vapor quality arrives on the second draw, when the glass is heated up a bit more. I think this is just a limitation of physics...

...If you started off with a higher temperature, you can quickly heat up the glass chamber walls, but at the expense of exposing the center of the herb load to higher starting temperatures.

I think it's much more effective to keep the starting temp on the lower side, but also use a chamber material that has both very high insulation properties and low thermal mass. This is also going to give you the most efficiency as far as battery use goes.

Wood is pretty much the perfect material here... it's safe, strong, machinable, and relatively inexpensive. High insulation properties, low mass.

The only issues is that it's dimensionally unstable, porous, and has a woody taste.

Back to the chamber liners... I find them to be slightly fiddly to use, and the bowl size is significantly decreased compared to the stock all-glass chamber option.

So, I've been trying to come up with a new wooden stem that gives better performance vs. the glass stem, but without the downsides commonly associated with wood.

So far I've got two options in the works. The first is this bamboo stem.

This isn't any ol' piece of bamboo, however, I've done a number of things that make this a pretty neat little stem.

First, the size... bamboo grows in a tube shape... but the outer most layers are the strongest and most densely packed fibers. These strong outer fibers are what I wanted to use as the outer walls. So I found a piece of bamboo cane that was almost the perfect size, only sanding off the outer "skin" to make this stem. That way I can make the walls as thin as possible without compromising the strength.

Second, I roasted the bamboo at 450 degrees. A lot of the volatile compounds that give wood it's "woody" smell, are driven off by the heat, and the sugars in the cane are caramelized to produce a harder, less moisture sensitive, material.

The stem will still smell like roasted bamboo, which smells a lot like caramel to me. But not for very long, after a handful of uses, it's pretty much on par with the glass stem in terms of flavor.

The roasted bamboo can also be cleaned with acetone on the inside walls to remove future smells.

The internal diameter can be greater than the stock glass, about 5% larger. And a whopping 27% larger than the glass stem with wooden insert. This gives some real noticeable differences in vapor quality.

As a bonus, the wood holds onto metal screens very well, so if you insert a screen, it doesn't go anywhere. By tapering the opening of the chamber slightly, it's possible to fit a basket screen in the tip so that it doesn't easily pop out... but isn't so deep as to be difficult to remove with your finger tips. This is a big advantage over the glass stems.

The outside surface glides against the o-rings, making for a much smoother stem insertion/removal. The glass has a little more friction against the silicone o-rings.

And, by roasting the bamboo (and the nature of bamboo itself), you don't have any stability issues, it won't shrink or grow with changes in humidity.

The one big downside is that finding bamboo that is perfectly round, and the correct size, is extremely difficult for me in Canada. You pretty much get one or two stems out of a bundle of cane. I'd need to special order hand selected bundles from China/Japan/west coast if I wanted to make these for sale.

But, I have a strong suspicion that boiled and then roasted straight grain dense hardwoods would be equally suited, but easier to source the raw materials.

Boiling will remove resins/oils etc.. and make the wood taste more neutral, where the roasting will give it more stability/hardness.

Anyhow, here is the bamboo prototype.

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I love the look as well, very organic feeling.

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Xclerk

The Universe is our endless supply
Really digging the bamboo. If there's a bamboo stem list out me on it. I think I have like 3 or 4 spares added but a wood stem seems like a nice touch. I just received my nipple stem today so something to ease my waiting pains. Idk how you do it. The had made brass components, heaters and painted and papered sleeves. The attention to detail is incredible. Seeing the updates come in is pretty cool. So glad to be a part of batch 4. And excited to see where and what batch the 2 get me. Seeing the 2 let's the wood speak for itself I'm def wanting a burl w lots of sexy eyes
 

Vaporware

Well-Known Member
@Dan Morrison Great stuff as usual! I’m interested too if you end up making some more. :)

I’m guessing you haven’t tried to break them, but how do you expect them to be on the durability front?

My not-very-educated guess is that it would hold up if dropped by itself or inside the Nomad except maybe if it it directly hit a hard surface while in the Nomad? It might be tough enough to handle that too though...? :shrug:

I don’t think there’s a need to test it and ruin the stems you made, just wondered how you’d expect them to hold up. :)
 
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SquirrelMaster

Well-Known Member
Hi guys how do I get put on a waiting list for the nomad 2. What is new with the Nomad 2?
Send a Dan a private message to be added to the list.

Nomad II design differences compared to Nomad I:
· No paper sleeve
· Rare earth magnetic bottom plate for easier access to battery/heater module
· Improved locking mechanism
· Improved feel in the hand and balanced weight

https://m.imgur.com/a/BuDxIe1
https://m.imgur.com/a/TRRqbgO
 

vapeaveli420

Well-Known Member

Stonedbadger

Well-Known Member
They look amazing, I love the contrasts that occur with the different woods - and can't wait to play about with the options when my time is up!

And I love the look of the bamboo stem, sign me up!
 

Jill NYC

Portable Hoarder
Damn its been so long that i forgot i was in batch 3. Mine is one of the african blackwoods with african blackwood stem collar and lichen button.
You mean batch 4 (shipping soon) or did you already receive one from the last batch?
 
Jill NYC,
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Jill NYC

Portable Hoarder
Have not received mine as of yet. Working on the sleeve. I could be in batch 4. Nomad 082 is my number
Yeah, I am pretty sure you are in batch 4 - otherwise, it would be really, really late.
Not that the batch number really matters. Bottom line, you will be getting your Nomad SOON! (As will I, #93).

The wait is becoming excruciating. Sort of like the last leg of a 10 hour flight. I slept through the first 7 hours, but now I can’t fall back asleep. Oh well. It will get here when it gets here.
 
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hoyo77

Well-Known Member
Yeah, I am pretty sure you are in batch 4 - otherwise, it would be really, really late.
Not that the batch number really matters. Bottom line, you will be getting your Nomad SOON! (As will I, #93).

The wait it becoming excruciating. Sort of like the last leg of a 10 hour flight. I slept through the first 7 hours, but now I can’t fall back asleep. Oh well. It will get here when it gets here.
I ordered so long ago and basically forgot about it. I dont even remember my sleeve design. I guess i could go thru my emails and see. I am anxious to see how she hits. Heard it can be a long buster!!
 
hoyo77,
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rnartian

Earthling flora is... fascinating.
I took the same approach :)

I was Nomad #100 but I've since gone Nomad II. Now I dont know who I am any more :)
Hearing you guys talk about them is making me so excited! Can't wait to see the first batch of Nomad II vapes! I've been squirreling away my savings in anticipation for my name to show up in probably half a year. Until then, I'll relax and watch on in awe.:zzz:
 

namasteIII

Well-Known Member
Yeah, I am pretty sure you are in batch 4 - otherwise, it would be really, really late.
Not that the batch number really matters. Bottom line, you will be getting your Nomad SOON! (As will I, #93).

The wait is becoming excruciating. Sort of like the last leg of a 10 hour flight. I slept through the first 7 hours, but now I can’t fall back asleep. Oh well. It will get here when it gets here.

I'm batch 3 and still waiting too. I don't think all the custom paint sleeves are done yet from that batch.

Mine seems really close though. Might be time to buy batteries.
 
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