Just for the record (and for a lot of the new people to this thread) there is a
DIFFERENT THREAD for discussing things like shipping and ordering the Ascent.
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So, I've now had a few days to try what
OF did with the glass-flowers. I am very impressed.
Before I was initially using the oil can to compress the bowl. This resulted in a tight puck at the bottom. (I never really had the issue of the puck being sucked up to the screen (and therefore away from the heat) more than just a few times.) Probably not the best idea for even airflow.
I wasn't able to tell from the photos, but those glass flowers have a stem on them that sticks up/out quite a bit. This gives even more surface area and allows the flower to "penetrate" the non-glass flower.
I've been throwing a few of the glass flowers on the bottom, with the stems sticking straight up. Then a few pinches on top, followed by a layer of glass-flowers on top, with stems sticking down into the non-glass flower.
This results in "teeth" of glass sticking into the material from both sides (like a set of teeth with upper and lower).
I suspect that, not only am I getting the benefit of better thermal retention throughout the bowl, I'm also getting better airflow through the product.
The results are dramatically improved extraction (longer sipping sessions) and a significantly reduced bowl (unless giant bowls are your thang).