**Ball vape comparison megathread** Compare your balls.

[coolbreeze]

Interesting. Do we have presumptions why?

I can't give you a better answer than @invertedisdead 's own comments in the thread. I think he relentlessly worked at it til he knew how to get the results he wanted and tried that with a new material he grokked would work well, for great success. I can say though that I run mine 60-100 degrees lower than my B0 for a complete roast and excellent flavor. It even feels a little more comfortable heat-wise to shed some degrees.

 

[greenganja]

I have compared and tested Flower Pot B1 injector, Flower Pot B1 22 mm diffuser head and Old Head Freight Train Pro. As I would have thought they are pretty similar being that they are ball vapes. There are some marginal differences and when I say marginal I mean every so slight differences. So the B1 with 22mm diffuser head has the best even roast out of the three, which makes sense to me since the diffuser head has a wider airflow path due to the diffuser sitting just on top of the shovel head bowl. I give a slight nod in the flavor department to the Freight Train PRO. The FT Pro's injector is longer and maybe this has some effect on the flavor. After testing all three I would be hard pressed to recommend one over the other. It all depends on what the user is looking for in my opinion. I will say that I have been using the Freight Train Pro more than either one of the Flower Pot's. Also one thing I did notice while testing all of the vapes with different bowls, is that the Freight Train Pro does pair with the Ed's TNT Version 2.5 injector bowls better than the Flower Pot due to the length of the injector on the Freight Train Pro. The B1 injector will also work with Ed's TNT 2.5 injector bowl but sits on top of the bowl never making a totally air tight connection because the injector on the B1 is a bit shorter and wider than the injector on the Freight Train Pro. I have the Vgoodiez injector bowls in both sizes regular and XL. The regular sized Vgoodiez injector bowl pairs with the Freight Train Pro and the B1 injector. The XL Vgoodiez bowl is really made for the Herborizer and is not a good match for the FT Pro or the B1 because the XL bowl is deeper and taller so it puts the heat source too far away from the herb in my opinion. Although I suppose you could just turn up the temp on your pid to compensate for this. And I never experienced the FT Pro injector sticking in the bowl with any of the bowls that I tried it with. Out of the bowls I used including the FT bowl that comes with the kit, I prefer the Ed's TNT for micro dosing and the Freight Train bowl for large loads. The Vgoodiez injector bowls also work great with either the Flower Pot injector or the FT Pro injector. I prefer the Ed's TNT bowl because it doesn't hold as much herb in its recessed bowl, most of the time I want one hit extraction with decent flavor. The second hit out of any bowl is never going to be the same terpy flavor as the first hit. With Ed's bowl the herb chamber is counter sunk with a lip on the inside top of the bowl that keeps the injector from touching the herb. When I don't care about flavor and I'm just looking to get ripped then I will do back to back bowls with the Flower Pot B1 22mm diffuser and shovel head bowl. So to summarize my testing, If you like using injectors then go with Freight Train Pro due to the circumference and length of the injector it fit's different injector bowls a little bit better and in my experience never got stuck in any of the bowls and it produces slightly better flavor on the first hit. If you are looking for even extraction that doesn't require much stirring in between hits then go with the Flower Pot B1 or B2 with the standard 22 mm diffuser head. My favorite combination so far is the FT Pro and the Ed's TNT 2.5. Hope this might help someone looking to purchase any of these devices. I don't personally own one but I have taken a few rips from my friend's Qaroma and I can vouch for the Qaroma to say that it does produce better flavor than any of the ones that I own. I may just buy the Qaroma head assembly since I already have three PID's and various coils. The only thing that turned me off about the Qaroma was the really long handle made it a little unwieldy, and the recovery time in the Qaroma takes longer to get back up to temp versus the titanium heads on the Flower Pot or the Freight Train Pro.

 

[RedZep]

I have compared and tested Flower Pot B1 injector, Flower Pot B1 22 mm diffuser head and Old Head Freight Train Pro. As I would have thought they are pretty similar being that they are ball vapes. There are some marginal differences and when I say marginal I mean every so slight differences. So the B1 with 22mm diffuser head has the best even roast out of the three, which makes sense to me since the diffuser head has a wider airflow path due to the diffuser sitting just on top of the shovel head bowl. I give a slight nod in the flavor department to the Freight Train PRO. The FT Pro's injector is longer and maybe this has some effect on the flavor. After testing all three I would be hard pressed to recommend one over the other. It all depends on what the user is looking for in my opinion. I will say that I have been using the Freight Train Pro more than either one of the Flower Pot's. Also one thing I did notice while testing all of the vapes with different bowls, is that the Freight Train Pro does pair with the Ed's TNT Version 2.5 injector bowls better than the Flower Pot due to the length of the injector on the Freight Train Pro. The B1 injector will also work with Ed's TNT 2.5 injector bowl but sits on top of the bowl never making a totally air tight connection because the injector on the B1 is a bit shorter and wider than the injector on the Freight Train Pro. I have the Vgoodiez injector bowls in both sizes regular and XL. The regular sized Vgoodiez injector bowl pairs with the Freight Train Pro and the B1 injector. The XL Vgoodiez bowl is really made for the Herborizer and is not a good match for the FT Pro or the B1 because the XL bowl is deeper and taller so it puts the heat source too far away from the herb in my opinion. Although I suppose you could just turn up the temp on your pid to compensate for this. And I never experienced the FT Pro injector sticking in the bowl with any of the bowls that I tried it with. Out of the bowls I used including the FT bowl that comes with the kit, I prefer the Ed's TNT for micro dosing and the Freight Train bowl for large loads. The Vgoodiez injector bowls also work great with either the Flower Pot injector or the FT Pro injector. I prefer the Ed's TNT bowl because it doesn't hold as much herb in its recessed bowl, most of the time I want one hit extraction with decent flavor. The second hit out of any bowl is never going to be the same terpy flavor as the first hit. With Ed's bowl the herb chamber is counter sunk with a lip on the inside top of the bowl that keeps the injector from touching the herb. When I don't care about flavor and I'm just looking to get ripped then I will do back to back bowls with the Flower Pot B1 22mm diffuser and shovel head bowl. So to summarize my testing, If you like using injectors then go with Freight Train Pro due to the circumference and length of the injector it fit's different injector bowls a little bit better and in my experience never got stuck in any of the bowls and it produces slightly better flavor on the first hit. If you are looking for even extraction that doesn't require much stirring in between hits then go with the Flower Pot B1 or B2 with the standard 22 mm diffuser head. My favorite combination so far is the FT Pro and the Ed's TNT 2.5. Hope this might help someone looking to purchase any of these devices. I don't personally own one but I have taken a few rips from my friend's Qaroma and I can vouch for the Qaroma to say that it does produce better flavor than any of the ones that I own. I may just buy the Qaroma head assembly since I already have three PID's and various coils. The only thing that turned me off about the Qaroma was the really long handle made it a little unwieldy, and the recovery time in the Qaroma takes longer to get back up to temp versus the titanium heads on the Flower Pot or the Freight Train Pro.

Thanks for taking the time to write this up. Very helpful. How do B1 injector and FT pro compare when vaping with a low slow inhale? Jerry mentioned this is why he loves his FT pro.

 

[greenganja]

Thanks for taking the time to write this up. Very helpful. How do B1 injector and FT pro compare when vaping with a low slow inhale? Jerry mentioned this is why he loves his FT pro.

I'm not sure who Jerry is. But he is correct in his observation. The B1 injector is a little more airy than the FT Pro. And to.be perfectly honest I didn't think that I would like the Freight Train Pro because I kept hearing that it has a bit more restriction than the B1, and I thought I preferred a more open air flow. But now that I have both and compare side by side I prefer the FT Pro a little more because it does have the slightest restriction and a tight seal in the injector bowl, therefore you can do a slow inhale if you prefer and this technique works better with FT Pro than with B1 injector. I think it's because of the design on the FT Pro injector being longer and more narrow than the open air flow of the B1. But don't get me wrong the B1 is still a very good ball vape and you can do slow inhales with the B1 as well, but it takes a few seconds longer to get the vapor built up in the glass versus the FT Pro is like two or three seconds to get the bong milky white with vapor. By no means am I trying to throw shade on the B1. As I said the B1 is still a very capable vape that will do what you need it to do. The difference in the inhale speed is marginal one, you are only talking about a few seconds of difference between the two. And the B1 with the 22 mm diffuser and shovel head bowl is a lethal combination for sure because you get the little bit of conduction from the shovel head bowl (if you let the diffuser sit on top of the shovel head bowl for about 30 seconds to one minute before you hit it.)

 

[felvapes]

XL Tiodw from B2cvape has been knocking my socks off
Can blow through huge amounts of weed in no time
Talk about dab like hits from flower - there's been a bit of wall staring after back to back big bowls testing

The adjustable titanium bowls they sell are also very good for regular sized baller heads
Nice hybrid action with a heatsoak and you can choose the bowl size

Haven't tried it but they have a light version now that looks the same as my Taroma lite
Under $50aud for a titanium baller is some crazy value
My Tlite runs the lowest temps of all my ballers (except one of my diy glass/ruby heads)

 

[tinctorus]

The Glass Symphony rules them all

I've got/built a Pinky, Flowerpot 18mm post, B0, B1, B2, G43, Glass Symphonies in 19/26 24/29 24/40 and MA2/3 adapters, a Life Sabre log with 2.5mm balls, a few logs like the Highlighter and Silver Surfer with 3mm balls, DC Elev8R, Sand Castles, DiY Atlases, and a few other DiY efforts along the same lines

The Pinky surprised me the most. I think that's because there is little extra material being heated with the balls

Damn man you need a new friend?

 

[checkyourlibido]

Damn man you need a new friend?

53 members online right now, we can all hang at @tinctorus and still have vapes left over

 

[Zuhdj]

I have the b2, b0, highlighter, dce, Z8, and a supreme and I've used a ssv43 before selling it. The b-2 and z8 are the ones that stand out most. My b2 is set at around 666 on my DC controller and I love the wide open airflow and the amount of herb I can consume at once. On the downside, I don't like how much herb I HAVE to consume to get a real milky hit. The z8 is not as open as the b2 but it's set at 450 and give me the same, milky satisfaction with much less herb and only one hit per bowl.

The supreme runs at 475 on the DC controller and still hits the hardest of all but the form factor sucks. The z8 is pretty much on par with the 'preme if I turn the temp up and it tastes better and heats faster and has safer materials etc.

I think the real thing to take away here is that a 14mm injector will be "more efficient" for milking because of the smaller surface area of the screen.

I'm finding that, if screens are covered I get dense vapor no matter what, even if it's for a shorter hit.

 

[RedZep]

I'm not sure who Jerry is. But he is correct in his observation. The B1 injector is a little more airy than the FT Pro. And to.be perfectly honest I didn't think that I would like the Freight Train Pro because I kept hearing that it has a bit more restriction than the B1, and I thought I preferred a more open air flow. But now that I have both and compare side by side I prefer the FT Pro a little more because it does have the slightest restriction and a tight seal in the injector bowl, therefore you can do a slow inhale if you prefer and this technique works better with FT Pro than with B1 injector. I think it's because of the design on the FT Pro injector being longer and more narrow than the open air flow of the B1. But don't get me wrong the B1 is still a very good ball vape and you can do slow inhales with the B1 as well, but it takes a few seconds longer to get the vapor built up in the glass versus the FT Pro is like two or three seconds to get the bong milky white with vapor. By no means am I trying to throw shade on the B1. As I said the B1 is still a very capable vape that will do what you need it to do. The difference in the inhale speed is marginal one, you are only talking about a few seconds of difference between the two. And the B1 with the 22 mm diffuser and shovel head bowl is a lethal combination for sure because you get the little bit of conduction from the shovel head bowl (if you let the diffuser sit on top of the shovel head bowl for about 30 seconds to one minute before you hit it.)

I feel like the longer, tapered injector on the FT pro would better suit the wooden bowls you now see from Sticky Brick labs etc. It seemed the B0 tested over the top of the opening, and the bowl in is quite deep, which does not lend itself to efficiency with this set up. I'm hoping FT pro allows to get closer to the herb in cases like that.

 

[GratefulDread]

New 18mm injector bowl from Goo Roo/Cannabis Hardware.

 

[greenganja]

I feel like the longer, tapered injector on the FT pro would better suit the wooden bowls you now see from Sticky Brick labs etc. It seemed the B0 tested over the top of the opening, and the bowl in is quite deep, which does not lend itself to efficiency with this set up. I'm hoping FT pro allows to get closer to the herb in cases like that.

RedZep: yes the longer injector of the FT Pro does help with this. As I stated in the previous post the Ed's TNT Version 2.5 injector works great with the FT Pro but not as good with the B0 due to the short wide injector head on the B0.

Grateful Dread: That is a sweet looking injector bowl.

Zudhji: Yes when the screens are covered you are going to ge a better hit. Most of my pieces are 18mm. The Ed's TNT bowl that I have is 18mm but the herb chamber doesn't take as much herb to cover the screen so it is a good micro dosing bowl for that reason. The Freight Train bowl herb chamber s much larger so you have to put more herb in that one if you want a good strong hit.

 

[ontopofclouds]

New 18mm injector bowl from Goo Roo/Cannabis Hardware.

 

[felvapes]

Cheapest baller option going
Tlite clone
Both made in china

AU $47.59 35%OFF | 100% Grade 2 Titanium Tiodw Mini Housing with 18mm Male Joint Fit 20mm Heating Coil

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mNbf9wm

 

[Grass Yes]

Cheapest baller option going
Tlite clone
Both made in china

AU $47.59 35%OFF | 100% Grade 2 Titanium Tiodw Mini Housing with 18mm Male Joint Fit 20mm Heating Coil

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mNbf9wm

Isn't the Ceroma only like $30 USD?

 

[Abele Rizieri Ferrari]

This comes with the beads

 

[GratefulDread]

Wow yeah comes with 140pcs x 3mm and 60pcs x 4mm. Definitely a good deal.
Just don't know about the metal quality.

 

[Abele Rizieri Ferrari]

Probably boro though, I expect. Still if I wanted a ti ball head I'd probably go for it

 

[felvapes]

Isn't the Ceroma only like $30 USD?

Same price but one is Titanium and doesn't charge loads for shipping

 

[LesPlenty]

This comes with the beads

I believe they are just telling you what it will hold so you know what to order to fill it.

 

[Abele Rizieri Ferrari]

I believe they are just telling you what it will hold so you know what to order to fill it.

You're right. In the app it looks like its included because of the formatting.

So around 60€ shipped for the ruby filled titanium ball head. Decent price, but titanium is the material I'm least interested in

 

[felvapes]

You're right. In the app it looks like its included because of the formatting.

So around 60€ shipped for the ruby filled titanium ball head. Decent price, but titanium is the material I'm least interested in

They do have a ceramic coming out soon that is a similar shape to the Ti lite one they just brought out
It will be even cheaper

On the Ti bowls, I do think they are okay for a bit of conduction, but the screen is a little too low at the highest point and the inner post should have a larger ID so the screen sits on a smaller ledge promoting better airflow

I like having one to use for a change up
But think I prefer the glass injector bowl more
I fully extract with it anyway and can heatsoak it also

 

[My_50p_worth]

Wow yeah comes with 140pcs x 3mm and 60pcs x 4mm. Definitely a good deal.
Just don't know about the metal quality.

It’s just Ti, like most of the other metal baller heads. Behaves and patinas like it, too. No idea what grade it is though

I’ve always found metal hits harder than the other choice of material for heads due to the conduction it brings to the table. “Pure” convection highs are always too heady for me and don’t last that long. I tend to feel like something is missing and need to add a cheeky DV/VM hit in there to feel right

Talk is, that guy on Ali does a lot of the Taroma manufacturing as well. How true that is I do not know.

Don’t use the Agate balls that he sells though, them shits crack under heat. Synthetic ones are just fine, no issues with those

 

[Choices]

I’ve moved into the “fixed income” stage of life, (retired). I have a terp torch that seems to function quite well in that it does the job with little to no spotting or scorching and great flavor and clouds. Am I getting a similar vapor end result to the Old Head? My understanding is the Terp Torch was sort of an early on proof of concept wrt the Old Head line of gear. What gets better using a ball vape besides my Terp Torch? Just seeing if it is worth considering something different…

 

[snackmaster]

I’ve moved into the “fixed income” stage of life, (retired). I have a terp torch that seems to function quite well in that it does the job with little to no spotting or scorching and great flavor and clouds. Am I getting a similar vapor end result to the Old Head? My understanding is the Terp Torch was sort of an early on proof of concept wrt the Old Head line of gear. What gets better using a ball vape besides my Terp Torch? Just seeing if it is worth considering something different…

I don't see the need to replace the TT right away if you're happy with it, but ball vapes built on enails are more ergonomic, easier to change temps, and once you have a coil/PID it's relatively cheap to try heads from different manufacturers if you want. Coils/PIDs are widely available, so lifespan on those vapes will be longer than something like a hot rod or TT.

 

[coolbreeze]

I’ve moved into the “fixed income” stage of life, (retired). I have a terp torch that seems to function quite well in that it does the job with little to no spotting or scorching and great flavor and clouds. Am I getting a similar vapor end result to the Old Head? My understanding is the Terp Torch was sort of an early on proof of concept wrt the Old Head line of gear. What gets better using a ball vape besides my Terp Torch? Just seeing if it is worth considering something different…

I have the Hot Rod, which is sort of the updated Terp Torch, iiuc, and I have a couple ball vapes. For me, the Hot Rod is a bit of a different beast in that it's lower-powered comparatively. In everyday usage it's a meaningless distinction because I have never had a problem with the HR roasting a bowl or recovering for the next one. It works just as well as the others. There are limits, however. I have a CDXX Pipes Convectorium where a thick glass joint holds the injector over an inch away from the herbs. With one of the enail-powered injectors, it's no issue, they have more than enough power to roast unhindered, but between the distance and the glass pulling heat out of the head, the Hot Rod will do a light-medium roast and no more. This is the only circumstance where I've seen the HR overwhelmed.

Upshot: if you are not noticing a shortfall in your roasting power, you're good. On the other hand, there are a nice handful of cheaper options out there currently (see Inverted's SX; the B0; Ti Ti, Pinky, Sandcastle, etc.). And if you really love the TT, DDave has a home-build kit to make your own!