Played around some more with wax.
I threw the ALP into session mode. Taking advice from the thread (THANKS fogbank), I turned the device on and set it to heat on max temp. After a minute or so, I drew through the empty chamber to get things warmed up nicely, then I opened it up and put a very small dot of wax on the pad (smaller than a BB) and let it melt in. It was vaporizing with the door open so I shut things down and gave it a moment to soak into the pad, then went at it.
I ended up sipping instead of taking huge draws off the device because it was putting off a ridiculous amount of vapor. Spent the whole ten minutes taking small sips. It ran the whole session before I'd managed to cash the wax out. Good times.
The ALP does get pretty hot when you do this. I found myself holding it by the hemp material because the other parts of the vape were starting to get a bit toasty. The vapor is still relatively cool out of the device (compared to the cheap wax dab pens I've tried), even at the highest temp, but I felt enough discomfort that I am going to order the water piece attachment and see how that works. I'll report back once I've got the little water piece and have a chance to try it out. I might also try running it through some larger glass just for giggles.
I also tried kicking temps down to 430 to see how that worked. I didn't see much difference in vapor feel/quantity/quality, so I ran that for the last few minutes. I might just run at that temp for the whole session next time I try this.
I do find myself wondering if I could load the device with some wax and sip it over the course of an afternoon with the on-demand feature instead of cashing it out over ten minutes with the session mode (and getting waaaaaaay too medicated). Might also be more comfortable that way (the device won't have time for the exterior to get hot to the touch). Not sure if it'll work, though. That'll be my next experiment.
Then again... I might stick with dry herb just to avoid over-medication. The ALP gives me EXACTLY what I want from flower.
Still happy with the device, even if the silly mouthpiece keeps falling out
.