Sorry, is this all in regards to the stempod si? Again, its not an all glass vapor path (the body is silicone) so its maybe not relevant here but a couple of points that I think could be clarified as I've also looked into the Stempod as something that could take a beating (the only glass is the stem, and conceivably you could buy a DDave water wand or a wooden option if you wanted to remove that as a point of failure).
First, unless I'm missing something it doesn't come in a fancy wooden box, just a normal cardboard/foam affair. They do sell a wooden stash to carry everything but the mod-- are you perhaps confusing this for their normal packaging? Its not included with the Stempod by default in any case.
Second, you definitely don't have to build your own coils. You can go to any smoke/vape shop that carries e cig parts and source whatever kind of coils you want, or buy them online. The advantage of building your own is ostensibly that its easy and that for the price of a handful of pre-built coils you can buy a roll of the appropriate gauge steel and essentially be set for life. My understanding is also that if you go SS you can also set up temp control on the Stempod, and their blog mentions the possibility of using AF, Tubo, or surmyevic firmware.
Finally, not sure if there's a definite answer here, but on the notion that joint packs are easier to evenly roast than a basket screen wouldn't that depend how much you pack in the joint? This is something that has been discussed in the Tetra P80 thread some, and most users believe that the joint packs are harder to roast evenly, but there isn't much comment on how much was used (the equivalent of a basket screen packed in the joint vs half the joint vs the full joint would be wildly different amounts). In my usage I've found that both can provide an even roast with minimal hotspotting depending on the temp you use. Once you go way up there in temps its been my experience that it doesn't matter how you pack it, the exposed surface of the flower that is making first contact with the blast of hot air is going to be roasted darker than everything else, but if you accept that the rest of the avb still ends up being pretty even when dumped onto a paper towel (I recently posted some photos in the TP80 thread if you care to look through the last page or two).
All that said, I've taken some superficial looks at the stempod si for the durability reasons I mentioned, so I'd be interested in photos of your avb and info on making your own coils
@arb. Lots of folks say its super easy, just curious if that checks out or its former ecig users who were already making their own coils thinking its nbd as they wind their 100th coil
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