Ok guys, I may need your help. My solo finally came today, and I've just had two bowls through it. I'm fairly experienced when it comes to vapor (used MFLB, Volcano, EQ, VG, SSV, DBV, LSV, Vapor Brothers, EasyVape), but I feel like I'm doing something wrong. I seem to be getting conduction heating *only*, and this is with Ed's TNT stem. I have no other stem yet, but next week should have a PVHES 18mm for glass. I haven't used Ed's stem with glass, still might tonight. Here was my procedure
After charging unit completely, I turned it to it's max position (7) to get rid of any oils in the process. I smelled no robot fart or anything of the sort. After auto-shutoff I powered it back on and set it to 4. I then proceeded to load my stem just below the notches at the end, so close to full. This is bud that seems to produce heavy vapor in particular through my LSV (in comparison to other bud I have, which still produce lovely clouds). I was able to insert the stem while twisting without too much difficulty, but it was very tight, and while the unit was cool I seemed unable to get it in (prior to first use). I did this with the unit upside down to make sure no herb spilled and was level while I started my first inhale. I inhaled for a good 10 seconds, and exhaled no visible vapor but got a decent taste. The second hit there was some whispy visible vapor. Same with the third and fourth. After a couple more very small hits I opened it up to see what it looked like. The herb was a medium brown, but *only* on the top layer, closest to the heater. It looked almost finished, whereas the herb in the rest of the bowl was very green, almost fresh looking. I proceeded to stir and try again, and experienced a similar occurrence. After trying the unit on a higher heat while inhaling faster, I unfortunately still experienced the same.
I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, but I'm not getting very thick hits, but if I went higher I'm sure I'd combust, and it's far more uneven than any experience I've read. This certainly seems like I've just vaped two bowls completely conduction style heating, and convection was taken out of the mix. I thought Ed's TNT stems would make it more convection, reducing the conduction aspect. It seems like the opposite has occurred (not that I have regular stems to compare).
This may have been a bit longer than necessary, but I am still a bit baked and if you guys could help I'd really appreciate it! Especially if I want satisfying bong rips.