Beginner asks: Splinter Z or Stempod OG

['96-from_sofia]

Hello all,

Complete newcomer to dry herb vaping.. Have been smoking for half my life on daily basis and as affordable vaporizers have reached some decency in terms of performance, I've started considering giving vaporizing a go.
Please note: I did notice there was already a post about stempod vs splinter, however it was from 2019 with only 1 comment added, it didn't really cover much about the difference between the two and was aimed for a long time vaper, hence I decided to start this new one in seek of guidance rather than necro-bumping.

The reason I'm looking at these 2 particular atomizers is because online reviews tend to say they are both decent in terms of vapor production, are both on demand devices and most important are adjustable with any 510 mod. I already have a bunch of vape mods and e-liquid atomizers so buying one of these bad boys seems like a decent way to try out vaporizing.
I'm not entirely sure if that matters as both of these devices operate in a similar manner, however another thing I would like to know is which one does your herb last longer with?

In all fairness from what I've seen online I think the build quality and performance of the Splinter Z seems a bit superior over the Stempod OG, hence I'd like to go with the Splinter. My issue is I was told that the company producing the Splinter RBT does no longer exist? and if something was to go wrong with the atomizer I'm basically screwed so better off going with the Stempod. All of that naturally gets me quite confused as a complete beginner.

There is also a third manufacturer that I'm considering, however I can find very little information about their products and am not sure which model to choose as they have so many, these guys are Dreamwoods and particularly their Glow series.

That being said which one of the two(or three) would you guys suggest has the best build quality, vapor production, is best for beginners and it's money, etc.

Thanks,
me

 

[Vaporware]

The Imp and iHeat are similar and worth considering too.

My biggest problem with most of these 510 connected devices is how long the whole setup is once you put it and the stem on top of a mod. The Impcognito can be used with some side-by-side mods, but I’ve heard those mods aren’t the best, and the top mounted ones are too long to be easily portable in my opinion.

If you don’t need to stick it in your pocket when you go out any of these should be a good introduction to dry herb vaporizers, but if you’re expecting it to be as easy to carry around as an e-cig, I think the Impcognito’s the only one of the 510 attached group that would be a similar size...or maybe Alan (iHeat) or someone else has made a side-by-side compatible one I’m forgetting too?

If you really want pocketability you might want to check out the ones I mentioned and keep looking at others, and if you don’t need any portability, there are some amazing desktop units out there too! Otherwise this range of devices should be a good introduction to convection heated vaporizers.

 

[shopdognyc]

It is still possible to get a Splinter Z used. I believe they come up often.

There is a chance he may put up some, but have not heard any news. His Milana 3's are avaliable on his site now.

Imp, Impcognito are immediately available now. The Stempod OG and SI are immediately available now.

The Dreamwood can be ordered from Germany, but depending where you are, can take an eternity.

I will say the Stempod is sufficient. Some people complain, but I think its great. Stempod Si is about $60, a box mod set you back $30-$50. Can't beat it at all.

 

[Shit Snacks]

Vgoodiez sells Dreamwood Glow in the US, planetvape and vapefiend still have Splinter Z, maybe others.. I'd recommend an Imp too

 

[BestBuds]

@'96-from_sofia take a look at the TetraX by Lamart also for vapes that can be driven by a mod. It's basically the heater of the tetra p80 and if you take a look on this site, you'll see, it's a top tier vape as well.
You are starting off with a great vape no matter what. Just don't give up on the learning curve and you'll be happy you f'ed combustion haha

 

['96-from_sofia]

@VaporWare Portability isn't that much of a concern for myself at the time being. I smoke outside of home like ~3 times a month, also a lot of the times I smoke outside, I'm still somewhere with enough available space to do the whole set up and also carry the atomizer if needed.

I want to start with a 510 atomizer, however I also would like to get the decent product if that makes sense. I'd like to know it will last and perform well, satisfying an addicted smoker (usually 1.5-2g worth of joints a day)

 

[arb]

The stem pod is an excellent vaporizer and my favorite portable.
Jack-pods are compatible making portability that much better.
I can replace the coils or make them how I want them and fucking indestructible.
Pairs well with a male to male adapter and a bong to.

 

[floribud]

I love the Splinter Z. I use it daily (not on walks, but at home). Having said that RBT is a bit like a cult and Ryan seems to enjoy creating a wild mad scientist sort of persona. https://www.rastabuddhatao.com/aboutus.asp

He goes in and out of business as the wind blows or whether he needs to load up his classic pickup with his classic dirtbike and venture out west with his Airstream in tow. Honestly I can't fault that business model ... I guess I'm an enabler lol

Any of your picks would be fine. I'm partial to wood, it feels nice when it gets warm, which is inevitable with hot coils or mesh. The Splinter Z mesh will probably last longer than coils, but the Splinter isn't designed to be taken apart... although you can with the right tools. Also the Z is has very stable Temp Control with TCR mods, this is why I use it over my Splinters. And lots of advice available from people actually using TCR mode with them.

I think it all come down to, do you like building coils? If so get a Stempod. If not you can probably find a cheapish Splinter Z on EntEx

 

[bossman]

I have a bunch of Splinter Zs, both custom and Chinese manufactured, and they are my most used portable. I haven't used any of the rebuildable 510 devices and I have a Tinymight if I need more portability. I recently discovered that the two Red Panda mods (the Wismec Ravage and the Joyetech Espion) are easy to pair with any Splinter for excellent on demand convection with quick heat up, consistent abv, and no hot spots. As a beginner getting the heater to behave and not scorch or create hot spots can take some finesse with a lot of 510 vapes so a tried and true mod pairing for consistent results is another Splinter plus.

 

[Vaporware]

@VaporWare Portability isn't that much of a concern for myself at the time being. I smoke outside of home like ~3 times a month, also a lot of the times I smoke outside, I'm still somewhere with enough available space to do the whole set up and also carry the atomizer if needed.

I want to start with a 510 atomizer, however I also would like to get the decent product if that makes sense. I'd like to know it will last and perform well, satisfying an addicted smoker (usually 1.5-2g worth of joints a day)

It does sound like any of these would work for you right now. I mostly use a NewVape FlowerPot (powerful desktop convection), so I know these types of heaters can be great. For very specific comparisons of the 510 stuff though, you’ll have to rely on @Shit Snacks and others who have used a lot of them.

 

[Summer]

First & foremost, the Herbie510 went up for sale today. Check it out.

The Splinter Z is top tier. But, yes, w/o a warranty, if the glass breaks or the wood cracks you've got a problem. That said, if mine were to break, I'd buy used in a heartbeat.

Stempod if you don't mind changing coils or like wrapping your own or just like experimenting with different types of coil wraps. SP is also great for modularity: portable, there's a torch attachment, desktop coming under DeskPod in the Upcoming thread). Fairly priced & highly durable.

And, yes, do take a look at the iHeat, Imp & the Neo by Prrl Labs for which you can buy the atomizer w/o the dedicated mod. I'm gonna check out the TetraX & Dreamwood Glow now.

 

[arb]

There seems to be some misperception regards stempod coils.
They are durable so if you like the stock coil it will last months of daily heavy use.
Prewrapped coils are available and very cheap.
Changing coils takes about 3 minutes after watching any of the available tutorial videos online.
They are compatible with any 19mm male joint.
Finally wrapping your own coils is actually really simple.
Not knocking any of the others mentioned they are all solid vales.
Dreamwood 18 is another great 510 coil based unit.
Mods are legion and fun to look at and see all the differences.
Gotta try them all to really know.

 

[bossman]

There seems to be some misperception regards stempod coils.
They are durable so if you like the stock coil it will last months of daily heavy use.
Prewrapped coils are available and very cheap.
Changing coils takes about 3 minutes after watching any of the available tutorial videos online

I haven't owned or even tried a stempod. I stayed away after seeing the guy who created it showing cloud clips on IG because his abv shots always looked scorched. Do you get even abv in wattage and TC with yours? For me half the point of on demand convection is the precision and control that let's you craft whatever hit you're after. The stempod always seemed more like the first entry in a contest to build a dry herb vape out of left over ecig parts.

 

[arb]

I use the whole joint not a basket screen.
Wattage mode and in function it is very much like a lsv.
Giant tasty hits with no scorching.

 

[Shit Snacks]

I haven't owned or even tried a stempod. I stayed away after seeing the guy who created it showing cloud clips on IG because his abv shots always looked scorched. Do you get even abv in wattage and TC with yours? For me half the point of on demand convection is the precision and control that let's you craft whatever hit you're after. The stempod always seemed more like the first entry in a contest to build a dry herb vape out of left over ecig parts.

It actually came out of the first design, mod pod, after speaking with RBT he developed stem pod as a cheaper alternative (less parts to fabricate and test) to build funds for the mod pod in the future... It's just a little more open-source DIY style than the other mod-based vapes is all, more user control.

 

[Summer]

@Shit Snacks, correct ^^: not RBT, (shredder)Dan. Everyone seems stoned today.

 

[Shit Snacks]

@Shit Snacks, correct ^^: not RBT, (shredder)Dan. Everyone seems stoned today.

Haha somehow I actually haven't even vaped yet today, I think it is you who seems stoned! Since as I said, RBT spoke with Dan early on, to help guide him toward the stem pod design to build his funds for the mod pod!

 

[arb]

You all are missing the point here.............stempod ROCKS!

 

['96-from_sofia]

Hello all,

I intentionally didn't respond back straight away as I wanted to see how I feel after using the SplinterZ on daily basis for over 2 weeks now, and oh boy am I happy with my purchase.. But first let me also share why I chose the Splinter over the Stempod.

Usually I'm quite the DIY kinda guy (I fix my broken phones/laptops, run my own network, build my own e-cig coild and wick my RT/DAs, maintenance of my bicycle, etc..) so hearing out how everybody was describing the Stempod, it seemed as the better fit for somebody like myself. However as somebody who enjoys fixing/building things, I knew that I can't be fixing/building maintainging something I have no clue about like vaporizing. That being as a complete beginner in the vaporizing world and based on people's description of the 2 products, the Splinter seemed like the low-maintenance hassle-free choice the novice user should go with. Additionally I also respect original ideas and considering that the Splinter was the original idea and the Stempod was something that came from that idea is another thing that made my like it more.

To begin with the product itself. I ordered the Splinter Z Canary US Custom edition. The vendor I purchased this from sent it in the old hemp made bag with a wooden mixing tool (basically a thick toothpick lol), 2 short glass stems and 3 replacements screens. In all fairness eventho the reviews for this vendor had some pretty solid feedback online, I'm quite adamant the product was maybe used before (I noticed a scratch on the inside of the glass, and the metal base around the 510 connector was a bit dirty), however the device did function properly and got me stoned so I couldn't bother to complain.
The build quility itself is very impressive. Eventho this particular one was hand made by the man himself, this doesn't feel like a DIY project at all.. The wood is cut and shined finely, the glass is properly glued and feels like high quality one and the way the stem secures in the glass chamber is so satisfying.

As I've been vaping my nictine for some time now, I did have a few mods when the Splinter initially came. The first ~10 days I used it with my Wismec Tinker 2 @40W but wasn't too happy with how it was burning my ganja. I then tried to use my VandyVape Swell with TC, however the TCR setting on this mod are quite poor as well and the lowest I could find for TCR value was 1200.. so TC didn't really work with the mods I had and I went to using the Splinter @44W with the Swell.
Then I started looking for a mod that has more than the convetional 2x18650 batteries and eventho everybody on this planet seems to be using the Splinter with a Realux RX* or an eVic, the mod I decided to go with was the Joyetech Cuboid 200W. The device has been discontinued now, however I managed to find the last one left from a local e-cig store. One of my criteria's for choosing a mod was so I can put the myevic firmware on it from ClockSelect. Unfortunately I think the project has been abandoned as I couldn't compite the firmware follwing the github instructions and I attempted this on both Archilinux and Fedora32 with different kernels and all dependencies installed... I then decided to put ArcticFox on my Cuboid200 and oh boy.. that's something else. Something else that made my fall in love with the Cuboid is the fact it's screen is on the top of the mod, meaning while you vape you acually get to monitor the temp, ohms, wattage everything.. I couldn't achieve this with the Tinker2 or Swell due to the position and size of their screens.

With the Cuboid 200 mod and ArcticFox firmware I've set up the below TCR profiles and man that's a true game changer.. I basically use only the TCR-LOW profile and TCR-MID profile at the end of my session so I can kill any left greenness from my ABV lol. TCRVLOW is too low for me and TCR is quite high. I've not yet tried the POWER profile as I rather stick to the TCR.

TCRVLOW
- TCR: 135
- OHM: 0.44 (locked)
- Temp: 190C
- Pow: 30W

TCR-LOW
- TCR: 170
- OHM: 0.44 (locked)
- Temp: 190C
- Pow: 40W

TCR-MID
- TCR: 177
- OHM: 0.44 (locked)
- Temp: 193C
- Pow: 45W

TCR
- TCR: 185
- OHM: 0.44 (locked)
- Temp: 196C
- Pow: 50W

POWER
- OHM: 0.44 (locked)
- Pow: 40W

Anyways, I wanted to share my experience with you guys here and I appreciate all of your feedback as you helped me making the choice of my virst vaporizer! End of this month I will be buying the XL38 large cooling stem and a decent grinder for my her. From Dec salary, I'm thinking of purchasing a Dreamwood Glow 14 so I have something more discrete when out and about in town.

Thanks,
me

 

[arb]

Hello all,

I intentionally didn't respond back straight away as I wanted to see how I feel after using the SplinterZ on daily basis for over 2 weeks now, and oh boy am I happy with my purchase.. But first let me also share why I chose the Splinter over the Stempod.

Usually I'm quite the DIY kinda guy (I fix my broken phones/laptops, run my own network, build my own e-cig coild and wick my RT/DAs, maintenance of my bicycle, etc..) so hearing out how everybody was describing the Stempod, it seemed as the better fit for somebody like myself. However as somebody who enjoys fixing/building things, I knew that I can't be fixing/building maintainging something I have no clue about like vaporizing. That being as a complete beginner in the vaporizing world and based on people's description of the 2 products, the Splinter seemed like the low-maintenance hassle-free choice the novice user should go with. Additionally I also respect original ideas and considering that the Splinter was the original idea and the Stempod was something that came from that idea is another thing that made my like it more.

To begin with the product itself. I ordered the Splinter Z Canary US Custom edition. The vendor I purchased this from sent it in the old hemp made bag with a wooden mixing tool (basically a thick toothpick lol), 2 short glass stems and 3 replacements screens. In all fairness eventho the reviews for this vendor had some pretty solid feedback online, I'm quite adamant the product was maybe used before (I noticed a scratch on the inside of the glass, and the metal base around the 510 connector was a bit dirty), however the device did function properly and got me stoned so I couldn't bother to complain.
The build quility itself is very impressive. Eventho this particular one was hand made by the man himself, this doesn't feel like a DIY project at all.. The wood is cut and shined finely, the glass is properly glued and feels like high quality one and the way the stem secures in the glass chamber is so satisfying.

As I've been vaping my nictine for some time now, I did have a few mods when the Splinter initially came. The first ~10 days I used it with my Wismec Tinker 2 @40W but wasn't too happy with how it was burning my ganja. I then tried to use my VandyVape Swell with TC, however the TCR setting on this mod are quite poor as well and the lowest I could find for TCR value was 1200.. so TC didn't really work with the mods I had and I went to using the Splinter @44W with the Swell.
Then I started looking for a mod that has more than the convetional 2x18650 batteries and eventho everybody on this planet seems to be using the Splinter with a Realux RX* or an eVic, the mod I decided to go with was the Joyetech Cuboid 200W. The device has been discontinued now, however I managed to find the last one left from a local e-cig store. One of my criteria's for choosing a mod was so I can put the myevic firmware on it from ClockSelect. Unfortunately I think the project has been abandoned as I couldn't compite the firmware follwing the github instructions and I attempted this on both Archilinux and Fedora32 with different kernels and all dependencies installed... I then decided to put ArcticFox on my Cuboid200 and oh boy.. that's something else. Something else that made my fall in love with the Cuboid is the fact it's screen is on the top of the mod, meaning while you vape you acually get to monitor the temp, ohms, wattage everything.. I couldn't achieve this with the Tinker2 or Swell due to the position and size of their screens.

With the Cuboid 200 mod and ArcticFox firmware I've set up the below TCR profiles and man that's a true game changer.. I basically use only the TCR-LOW profile and TCR-MID profile at the end of my session so I can kill any left greenness from my ABV lol. TCRVLOW is too low for me and TCR is quite high. I've not yet tried the POWER profile as I rather stick to the TCR.

TCRVLOW
- TCR: 135
- OHM: 0.44 (locked)
- Temp: 190C
- Pow: 30W

TCR-LOW
- TCR: 170
- OHM: 0.44 (locked)
- Temp: 190C
- Pow: 40W

TCR-MID
- TCR: 177
- OHM: 0.44 (locked)
- Temp: 193C
- Pow: 45W

TCR
- TCR: 185
- OHM: 0.44 (locked)
- Temp: 196C
- Pow: 50W

POWER
- OHM: 0.44 (locked)
- Pow: 40W

Anyways, I wanted to share my experience with you guys here and I appreciate all of your feedback as you helped me making the choice of my virst vaporizer! End of this month I will be buying the XL38 large cooling stem and a decent grinder for my her. From Dec salary, I'm thinking of purchasing a Dreamwood Glow 14 so I have something more discrete when out and about in town.

Thanks,
me

The 14 is a finicky unit to get the hang of and has the same rebuildible coil deck as a stempod.
I would suggest the glow 18 as it works far better and is jackpod compatible making portability that much easier.

 

['96-from_sofia]

Hi @arb I always thought 14 and 18 is referring to some kind of measurement unit and lower number implies smaller in size?
Basically the reason I'm looking into a Glow is cause I'd like to take it out every now and then and be a bit more dicreet compared to the Splinter.
Besides the Glow from @Summer suggestions I kinda like the Imp and Herbie510, however I can't seem to find the latter anywhere for sale..

 

[shopdognyc]

Hi @arb I always thought 14 and 18 is referring to some kind of measurement unit and lower number implies smaller in size?
Basically the reason I'm looking into a Glow is cause I'd like to take it out every now and then and be a bit more dicreet compared to the Splinter.
Besides the Glow from @Summer suggestions I kinda like the Imp and Herbie510, however I can't seem to find the latter anywhere for sale..

Herbie510 is on their site, will ship regular mail.

Impcognito gets a lot of strong votes, very discrete in size.

I don't know if a Glow RCV 18 will be discrete since it stands tall. The RCV 14 is a bit chubby and short.

 

[Shit Snacks]

Hi @arb I always thought 14 and 18 is referring to some kind of measurement unit and lower number implies smaller in size?
Basically the reason I'm looking into a Glow is cause I'd like to take it out every now and then and be a bit more dicreet compared to the Splinter.
Besides the Glow from @Summer suggestions I kinda like the Imp and Herbie510, however I can't seem to find the latter anywhere for sale..

Yeah I'd highly recommend the Imp/cognito as your out and about stealth option, its nicely built with secure stems and is suuuper tiny!

 

['96-from_sofia]

Nice, I still have some time to figure out until next paycheck.. Thanks for the input guys.
Yeah, I also found out they sell the herbie on their website.

 

[Shit Snacks]

Nice, I still have some time to figure out until next paycheck.. Thanks for the input guys.
Yeah, I also found out they sell the herbie on their website.

Herbie sounds like the opposite of a complete ready to go vape out of the box, like judging by earlier reviews in the thread, it was aaaallllllll coil tinkering etc.