Hey everyone, long time lurker here. I just posted this over on Reddit but perhaps the more seasoned FC veterans can better clarify if I'm wrong here. Did a search in this thread but I haven't found any clear info on what follows.
"I'm a huge fan of the CF - had mine for close to three months now and I've done the ELB mod and gotten the glass S&B mouthpiece for it. While I use my Solo II at home, the CF has been my reliable outdoors daily driver.
Out of curiosity I decided to check out Puff it Up's teardown of the CFX and I noticed something potentially disturbing. The heating element is apparently made of aluminum and while the airpath is definitely isolated from the electronics (a solid steel pipe passes the air into the heating chamber from the bottom of the units), the air then passes directly through the aluminum heating spiral before entering into the upper chamber where the herb sits.
This means the very last contact the air has is with heated aluminum, if I'm not mistaken.
Here are the pics in question:
http://blog.puffitup.com/wp-content...RTABLE-VAPORIZER-convection-ceramic-cover.jpg
http://blog.puffitup.com/wp-content...ABLE-VAPORIZER-convection-element-heater-.jpg
"
Just wanted to add to this that I watched a Crafty tear down which reveals a critical design difference. Their aluminum heating element functions as a heat exchanger, surrounding the steel piping that conducts air up into the chamber. This means (in theory at least) that the air won't come into contact with heated aluminum at any point along the path:
Anyways, long story short - if this is correct then I can't imagine it's ideal to breathe in air that's been directly heated by aluminum.