Vito, you are a sage.
"Advice-
Polish her often.
Respect her.
Breath deeply of the vapors."
When I made the almost instant decision to send a few units out for Beta testing rather than sell them, I knew there would be some disappointment as everybody wants to be a Beta tester.(good to know the mods are watching our thread!) I had already picked two, mom and Vito, because they have "ongoing purchase orders for Zaps" you might say. Then Rumbleshorts had just returned his less than par performing RockZap1(it was under performing BTW, not his inexperience that caused the problem) so that was a no brainer to send him one to tide him over.
Three others were picked almost immediately. When I have to make a decision like this, I do it very quickly, almost impulsively. Like when I pick a front of a Zap for the led. Pick it, do it, no second guess.
I did not do 'favorites'(except mom and Vito) but I did rely on one of my favorite sayings to help me decide quickly. "Belly up to the bar" came to mind on all three. I also think they will be objective.
We do need this 'review' before the serious stuff. I am very confident our SSS closed bottom heatport works very well in the traditional wood only insulated log vape style. Those will always be available from us at a good price. I am getting the build process down to 95% done on the lathe. Perfect centers and alignment with no more leaning towers of pizza. New customers will also notice some top lathe work on the traditional Zap log. Nothing fancy but more rounded at the top with the top hole rounded out. I will be adding more wood tweaking as time goes on.
The insulated RockZap is another story. It is a new product and we have to confirm the performance is as it should be. Density of the concrete cup DOES matter, just like when wood is the insulator. The lighter, more airy mix runs warmer than standard concrete mix with sand only as the aggregate. I think that is what happened with RumbleShorts Myrtle. The problem with RockZap1 is they are basically non-disassembly-able. I may put it on a 13.5 and re-test. I DO NOT like the original top install design as it is too easy to burn your finners on that wide open heatport even if they look SS cool. The bottom install design that we will be using can be disassembled in minutes.
We are coming to some agreement on RockZap performance. It is very good and pulls and pulls. ABV medium/heavy brown, not dark dark brown. The design DOES insulate the wood, without a doubt. We are getting away with very little wood on these as the wood serves a different purpose than on the traditional log vape. That will mean very long lasting log vapes with no rattle and small too. I think all the beta testers will be surprised at the size of these things. In fact that is one thing we need to check. Do we have enough of a wood shell around the rock? They are very warm to hold, perhaps too warm for some. We also will be trying different finishes.
I will be working on the website this weekend. We will start with the original design with SSS heatport and SS stem tips, then add the rockZap when we have convinced ourselves it is ready to roll.
We only ship to US addresses. That could change far into the future. Our first job is the USA and that job is currently full time.
psyshaman got the lighter concrete cup. Closer to 50 grams. Stocker cup(stock concrete mix that we no longer use) is about 65 grams.