I know you may not be feeling buying another adaptor, but I wonder if the little extension with fins that came with the Jet Pack designed for the Tectonic stems might help here.
Take your Shell-shock/Tectonic Stem to a new level! Material: Stainless Steel Contents: x1 510 Tip Base x1 Long Threaded Tip x1 Short Threaded Tip x1 "Silencer" Stem Extension *Stem in pic not included. Shown for example only.
510mod.com
But certainly a disappointing report on something many of us were very excited about.
How is the heat transfer from Anvil to these stems? I think that has been my biggest concern considering how much more heat is being pumped into the Anvil.
I caved and ended up trying it with the double crown
@mrb titanium stem (3rd from the right in the pic from my previous post). No condenser and a v3 Omni mouthpiece. Seems apparent now why John went with the heatshield option, the stem gets very hot. Manageable but uncomfortable, particularly beyond the mid-point of the stem. I've not tried a wood one yet.
It doesn't get hot at all while heating up. I can hold the stem one millimetre below the adapter comfortably with very minimal heat transfer happening until, and well beyond the click. It's only when you start to pull the heated vapour through the device that it really starts to warm up. If memory serves, I'd say after the 2nd or 3rd pull is when it started to get uncomfortable.
Beyond handling, it was actually a pretty nice experience to be honest, the vapour was still comfortably cooled and the familiarity of the Omni mouthpiece is a plus for me.
The Jet Pack adapter looks like a good solution, but I'd probably just go without a condenser before spending any more money.
I've tried it with a few DV stems (with condenser & cooling unit) and haven't had any issues yet.
Maybe I'm just being picky, but it seems like yours has the same issue mine does:
Shouldn't that gap be closed completely like in the 2nd pic? It still works, but it doesn't feel right to me, and looks a little off.
When the 8mm USA was designed it was to work with many of the 3rd party makers who use the standard 8mm size - in particular glass and wood makers. If you have a particular stem that is not working with the USA, we'd love to know and if you could send john the particulars at
info@vestratto.com Subject Line USA Interface [Insert Stem Here] we will see if a modification can be made to the USA to accommodate the extended condensers.
Admin at Vestratto
It's not a current generation model, but here's what happens with my v3 Omni with the condenser installed in the shortest possible configuration:
I get that the condenser function of the Omni is redundant with the airflow control on the adapter, but if you just wanted to run it through a condenser for some added restriction or cooling you still run into this fit issue.
Edit: I just tried it with my 2017m stem. I realize it's 5 years old at this point, but there still seems to be some definite fit issues:
The top image is the standard M with Dynavap Tip installed. The bottom image is the M with the USA and Copper core oven. You can definitely see it pushing up against the condenser significantly more.
Edit: Taking a look at what was written on the discord channel it seems what I'm pointing out here is by design?
Vestratto on Discord said:
The airflow control on the Omni is DynaVap proprietary,
if you want the USA to work with an Omni or similar stem you will need to pull the mouthpiece back approx 1mm. This will still provide a perfect seal (based on the Omni John owns). When the 8mm USA was designed it was to work with many of the 3rd party makers who use the standard 8mm size. If you have a particular stem that is not working with the USA, we'd love to know and if you could send john the particulars at
info@vestratto.com Subject Line USA Interface [Insert Stem Here] we will see if a modification can be made to the USA to accommodate the extended condensers
I think this is what's being described here. Maybe it's just me, but it I think looks a little strange.