Anvil by Vestratto
- Thread starter PlanetHaze
- Start date
leanpubpackage
Well-Known Member
at home, the anvil is the only thing I reach for. it’s the device with the longest honeymoon period (still honeymooning many months later) and i’ve gone through a ton of devices.
TM2 is my go to travel device
TM2 is my go to travel device
Mndeadhead
Well-Known Member
same boat. for me, this plus the inductor have rendered my portables as just that...portables when i am out and about. If I am home, the anvil gets all of my love. The Hammer i always on, and less than a 10ft walk, but more often than not, the Hammer starts the evening off, and the Anvil keeps me going the rest of the evening, save an occasional dab. i keep thinking the honeymoon is gonna wear off, but it hasn't yet.
Perhaps the Forge will change things. Vestratto's Instagram has a video of a crash test robot working hard.
Shorner
Well-Known Member
I sold my TM2 it doesn't compete with the Anvil for potency and I prefer the thicker more robust vapor the Anvil puts out not as tasty as TM2 but more satisfying for me.
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Anvil_help_420
New Member
I’m seriously hoping you guys can help me, I’m at my wits end with this vape!
So I’ve been a long time anvil user, since march ‘22. Absolutely no issues, was my DD up until the TA drop and then I sold my anvil.
Decided I wasn’t really into convection dominant vapes, so sold the TA and luckily got my OG anvil.
Now for the shit.
I got it back, and no matter what I did I’d either under cook the load or get a noticeable charred taste despite the AVB being nowhere near black. I tried some brand new bowls, same issue. Tried a new torch, many in fact. The Firefox, a triple flame, the RONXS in both modes, random Ali jobbies. Same again.
Okay.
Must be the oven?
Get a new duracore anvil. Same issue.
I’m heating the exact same as I always have? I’ve tried using the oven and various points on it to make the flame lengths consistent. Still the same damn issue!
Tried moving up the oven, okay, now it’s just mad undercooked.
PLEASE help me, this vape was my gold standard. For information sake, I don’t have this issue with any of my other butane vapes. Have come back to them from a hiatus and had to spend a week at best re dialling heating tech.
So I’ve been a long time anvil user, since march ‘22. Absolutely no issues, was my DD up until the TA drop and then I sold my anvil.
Decided I wasn’t really into convection dominant vapes, so sold the TA and luckily got my OG anvil.
Now for the shit.
I got it back, and no matter what I did I’d either under cook the load or get a noticeable charred taste despite the AVB being nowhere near black. I tried some brand new bowls, same issue. Tried a new torch, many in fact. The Firefox, a triple flame, the RONXS in both modes, random Ali jobbies. Same again.
Okay.
Must be the oven?
Get a new duracore anvil. Same issue.
I’m heating the exact same as I always have? I’ve tried using the oven and various points on it to make the flame lengths consistent. Still the same damn issue!
Tried moving up the oven, okay, now it’s just mad undercooked.
PLEASE help me, this vape was my gold standard. For information sake, I don’t have this issue with any of my other butane vapes. Have come back to them from a hiatus and had to spend a week at best re dialling heating tech.
Vehmic
Bogwood Ent
Similar to coffee you want to standardize variables and then tweak them one at a time. For my anvil I think of humidity of flower, grind size, length of flame, position of flame on oven, and the total extraction time (TET).
My best suggestion as a starting point is to use a single flame torch with a half inch inner blue flame tip making a quarter inch bright copper spot centred on the lower heat distribution ring (light roast) or the thermal battery (dark roast) with clicks at about 30 seconds.
Anvil_help_420
New Member
This is more or less what I’ve been doing if you read my post back. I’ll add that I am using the grind I’ve always used with anvil and had no issue with, and tried a few different strains. Tried hand breaking too for a more coarse, convection friendly load.
I’m usually a very methodical troubleshooter, which is why this issue has me so stumped!
Only thing I’ve not tried is humidity, so I’ll look at that in between trying to get a solid grip on @RedZep TIT tech
Seems to be, 25-35 seconds - charred taste.
This happens independently of AVB being black or not, which is something I’ve not had before. BROWN AVB with a charred taste.
Tried deep cleaning, assuming it was old gunk charring - nada.
>35 seconds - underpowered extraction.
This is all very strange. 30 seconds with the Firefox on thermal battery was my bread and butter RTL heat up for my entire first anvil stint.
I also used to be able to use a blazer big buddy on the lowest setting, and get easy mode RTL hits at home. This beloved tech is causing the worst flavour of all now!
I’m beginning to think the humidity must have some effect, as it’s the only variable I haven’t played with. It was never an issue before though, or with my other vapes.
Curious and curiouser
Clean Anvil, brown AVB, and charred taste? No idea. I can't replicate it.Seems to be, 25-35 seconds - charred taste.
This happens independently of AVB being black or not, which is something I’ve not had before. BROWN AVB with a charred taste.
Curious and curiouser
Anvil_help_420
New Member
Yes, it’s very strange. I made this account just to ask about it, as I’ve not seen a single account of my issue either here or Reddit.
Brown AVB with a charred taste is something I had no idea was even possible.
I know I’m not going crazy, because I can “RTL” both my Dani and AC’d dynavap without the taste and a darker AVB. Just not the same hit as that perfect RTL on anvil though.
I haven't had a vape that out performs the Anvil at higher temp extraction. I always thought TM2 strength was low temp tasty hits. I had both at one point and I thought they were an excellent pair to have.
For me, the charred, combustion flavor is nasty. If I over bake my Anvil, I just stop, empty it and get is started on the iso soak. I have 3 ovens and other parts, so I always have a back up. I wonder if replacing your o-rings might help. Also a serious cleaning of the parts with some lightly abrasive paste of some sort. I haven’t had to resort to any o-ring replacement or deep cleaning on mine and it’s been used daily for over a year, so I really just guessing on the cause here,
Anvil_help_420
New Member
I’ll have a go! Actually have an O-ring mega pack. My new duracore is a month old but you never know!
I’ve also heard that the airflow setting can affect extraction. As in, lower airflow can roast harder than a more open one. I keep mine open permanently, so maybe I’m creating a bottleneck somewhere. Heating for an open airflow but overpowering it as it’s not actually open.
There is some variable here I need to tweak, I just cannot find which it is.
You cannot go from having this thing on lock for a year, to having two with the exact same issue - one being brand new.
It’s definitely something I’m doing or not doing.
Today I’m going to try different bowl packs, anyone know if this has much effect?
Anvil_help_420
New Member
If you read my first post you’ll see I’ve bought extra bowls. In fact, a bought a whole new anvil.
I’ve really done everything I can to explore and tick off every possible hardware variable.
I have actually damaged a clicker from an ISO soak before, so I know exactly what you mean.
Current theories are - It’s either my heating tech, herb humidity, bowl pack, or some other as yet untested variable
leanpubpackage
Well-Known Member
You may just not enjoy the anvil signature, which is roasty. The top of the bowl is almost always darker for me, and could add to the roasty taste, even if the rest of the bowl doesn’t look that dark. I’d argue the anvil is for cloud chasers vs. flavor chasers because flavor is inversely related to cloud production
Otherwise, looks like you’ve done everything right.
As far as I know, the clickers are bimetallic disk, I don’t know how iso could hurt them. Over heating them could be a problem though. I have 7 bowls, and I soak them in iso all the time. Of the 7, one has a faint first click, but the others are fine after a year of use.
Anvil_help_420
New Member
Read my first post, you’ll see I DD’d the anvil for a year. I also stated I didn’t like convection vapes, am a big fan of a roasty signature
My current DD is a dynavap with AC, for reference.What this is, is charring. Not the roasty taste I know and love. Weird, annoyingly hard to isolate charring at that!
@Knewt
What happens, from reading, is the residual ISO can expand on heating and slightly deform the clickers. I don’t know if that’s really it, but I’ve definitely broken a bowl’s clickers this way before. Water rinse is absolutely fine though, that seems to come out as steam without issue.
Now, I’ll clean and run a spare dry bowl. Let the other dry out naturally.
I usually get an even extraction and I've been thinking about what could cause the top of the load to be darker than the rest. And it could either be conduction from the condenser head somehow getting too hot or convection from the bowl being poorly sealed with the condenser allowing the hot air to enter the top of the bowl and probably leaving the rest of the bowl underdone. And isopropyl alcohol can't harm the snap discs if you rinse with water or allow the alcohol to evaporate before heating the bowl.
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Anvil_help_420
New Member
Is that a thing that happens?
I’ve only had the issue of the top of the load being undercooked relative to the bottom.
The anvil naturally has a gradient in AVB colour that John spoke about in this thread, back when he participated. It’s also noticeable in the Dani fusion, a vape that I find performs remarkably similar to the anvil anyways.
That is usually remedied by a coarse grind or loose pack. The XL bowl isn’t so fussy in my experience, the extra conduction sees to that fairly well
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leanpubpackage said "the top of the bowl is almost always darker for me" and I assumed that referred to the open top of the bowl. And if you actually have charring then at least some of your brown AVB must be almost black (top or bottom). So I thought perhaps the top of your load is overheating, or if none of your AVB is too dark the charred taste must be residual. But deep cleaning is not difficult and if there is no possible residue then I still have no answer, and charring without charring makes no sense to me. And my AVB has always been evenly roasted so I can't understand that an uneven roast is normal for the Anvil. John described what can sometimes happen, but again that's not my experience. Perhaps if it's too tightly packed the airflow will be insufficient to fully penetrate the load, leaving the base of the bowl darker. The slight gradient mentioned by John would be worse (for the reason he suggested) in the XL if it didn't have a slight conduction boost, although the extra conduction is only at the base, which would (if the normal roast is darker at the bottom and all else is equal) make the base of the bowl even darker. But again, my XL bowl roasts evenly if I complete it. And despite the clouds the Anvil and the Dani don't work in exactly the same way, so I wouldn't heat them the same (especially not heating beyond the clicks). I have no problem whatsoever with my Anvil, and I'm just trying to help you with yours.
Anvil_help_420
New Member
@bhasma
Your response seems to have a slight defensive tone. Just to clarify, I wasn’t attacking your opinion, just adding context and my own experience. And that of the inventor themselves. Maybe it didn’t come across well, apologies if so.
And to answer with regards to my issue, we might have progress on this front! I will update later. I think another poster was right about humidity. That seems to be the variable that’s changed the tide. I’m also now experimenting with a much looser pack (we’re talking half the bowl filled) than I ever remember needing to do, and that’s helping the flavour on the back end of the hit where it started going from roasty to “oh shit not again”
AVB looks the same, but the taste and throat feel are back to where it was in my first anvil stint.
Now I’ve got a baseline for a good hit that I can repeat, I will push the boat out and start experimenting to get the great hits again.
I will add, I also think that there is more OVERALL conduction on the XL bowl as well as that lovely hash patch where the screen would be on the others. Of course that’s subjective though. Other can and have disagreed on this.
Don’t forget we also heat the XL bowl less, which is why it’s not necessarily darker on the bottom as you theorise - we’ve already accounted for it in our heat up.
And I didn’t say the Dani and anvil worked or heated the same way, read it back. Merely that they perform remarkably similar.
This can be seen in side by side vapour production videos, and also from owning both and having sufficient heating tech.
I will say, the Dani fusion is more convection forward though. Particularly if you heat the air inlets via the lowest steel/ti (I can’t remember which it is) ring. The anvil hits me harder, which I personally feel is the added conduction/radiation. Both of which are evidence to your point.
Both exhibit the gradient when over packed as well, that is something I’ve noticed consistently.
Going over the click is not relevant to that discussion, and a personal taste thing. But like many others I do wish it was calibrated to a higher temp and not requiring overheating. I’ve never understood this design choice. For a £120 vape though, I’ll forgive a few warts
Your response seems to have a slight defensive tone. Just to clarify, I wasn’t attacking your opinion, just adding context and my own experience. And that of the inventor themselves. Maybe it didn’t come across well, apologies if so.
And to answer with regards to my issue, we might have progress on this front! I will update later. I think another poster was right about humidity. That seems to be the variable that’s changed the tide. I’m also now experimenting with a much looser pack (we’re talking half the bowl filled) than I ever remember needing to do, and that’s helping the flavour on the back end of the hit where it started going from roasty to “oh shit not again”
AVB looks the same, but the taste and throat feel are back to where it was in my first anvil stint.
Now I’ve got a baseline for a good hit that I can repeat, I will push the boat out and start experimenting to get the great hits again.
Which is what I said, it happens but that it can be remedied with a loose pack or the XL bowl. If you search this thread, there’s actually posts asking about the top being less roasted - with advice to pack less
I will add, I also think that there is more OVERALL conduction on the XL bowl as well as that lovely hash patch where the screen would be on the others. Of course that’s subjective though. Other can and have disagreed on this.
Don’t forget we also heat the XL bowl less, which is why it’s not necessarily darker on the bottom as you theorise - we’ve already accounted for it in our heat up.
And I didn’t say the Dani and anvil worked or heated the same way, read it back. Merely that they perform remarkably similar.
This can be seen in side by side vapour production videos, and also from owning both and having sufficient heating tech.
I will say, the Dani fusion is more convection forward though. Particularly if you heat the air inlets via the lowest steel/ti (I can’t remember which it is) ring. The anvil hits me harder, which I personally feel is the added conduction/radiation. Both of which are evidence to your point.
Both exhibit the gradient when over packed as well, that is something I’ve noticed consistently.
Going over the click is not relevant to that discussion, and a personal taste thing. But like many others I do wish it was calibrated to a higher temp and not requiring overheating. I’ve never understood this design choice. For a £120 vape though, I’ll forgive a few warts
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