Brass Screen Question

[ThomasDenny]

Hello, I've been using a brass screen in my Da Buddha vape whip for a few weeks now, but I've been a bit weary about using brass. I did a lot of reading, and the general consensus is that the brass would be needed to be heated to an incredibly high temperature(1950 degrees or so) for any toxins in the brass to be released.

Today, I took a screen out of the pack of screens I have(I bought around 10) and I decided to see what happens when I lit it with a lighter, seeing as how these same screens are used in pipes, not just vaporizers. When I lit the screen, smoke seemed to come off of it, and the color changed from bronze to a stainless steel.

This worries me, should it really change colors when I do this, and emit a bit of smoke? I did have the lighter turned all the way up and held it directly under the screen(something you wouldn't do even smoking out of a pipe).

With that being said, the brass screens that I use I purchased at a local headshop, and they are identical to these: http://www.amazon.com/Brass-Tobacco-Vaporizer-Screen-Screens/dp/B001J58P3O
That's a damn 500 pack of screens and I bet headshops buy them in bulk, so as I said mine looks EXACTLY like the ones in that picture so I think they're the same.

Any insight to this is greatly appreciated -- a lot of people use these particular screens(and by a lot, I means tens of thousands most likely).

 

[Nycdeisel]

sounds like you got the screen to at least the temperature that would offgas lead and crap.

why not just use the same screens it comes with? those last a long time in fact a member on here named Vitolo is still on his original SSV screen!

screens are cheap and dont need to be actually replaced very often for these units.

brass screens for SMOKING is even worse as you clearly know now that you have effectively burned a brass screen.

 

[Sour Deez]

When i used to combust all i used was brass screens, i dont know the science behind it but i always heard stainless steel is the way to go.

I have 5 screens ive been using in my SSV for about a year now. A screen lasts me about a week until it gets gunked up. When they all get that way, I do a quick iso wash and they all look brand new.

 

[djonkoman]

got a pack of brass screens with my stone (combustion) pipe, always burned them before using by giving it a quick heating with a torch lighter so that the color changed, just to be sure
but I like stainless steel way better, my first brass screen I used I accident;y burned a hole in because I kept the torch flame on it just a bit too long, while with the stainless ones I've never burned a hole in it, with combustion if the screen is full of resin I also burn it clean with a torch, with a brass one this would be harder since the burning required to clean it is usually longer as what produced the hole in that first brass one

still using the stainless screens I got with my VG over a year ago, while all the brass ones are already gone(wich was a pack of 5)
so IMO stainless are worth the few extra cents, will pay for themselves in time

 

[ThomasDenny]

sounds like you got the screen to at least the temperature that would offgas lead and crap.

why not just use the same screens it comes with? those last a long time in fact a member on here named Vitolo is still on his original SSV screen!

screens are cheap and dont need to be actually replaced very often for these units.

brass screens for SMOKING is even worse as you clearly know now that you have effectively burned a brass screen.

DBV screens I find pretty hard to replace, at least when you're doing it for your first time. I messed up the screen that was in my whip with the sharp stirring object that comes with DBV, so I took it out and tried to replace it using the 3 replacement screens DBV comes with. All 3 of them I royally messed up, they're hard to get in there perfectly!

It's weird too, at my local headshop they give you around 10 screens for 1$(way cheaper than DBV's website) and the only small ones they had were bronze, so I grabbed a few stainless steel ones as well. The thing is, I THOUGHT they were stainless steel -- when you try to bend them, they bend as easily as the brass screens I bought, and from what I understand stainless steel doesn't bend nearly as easy as brass.

 

[ThomasDenny]

got a pack of brass screens with my stone (combustion) pipe, always burned them before using by giving it a quick heating with a torch lighter so that the color changed, just to be sure
but I like stainless steel way better, my first brass screen I used I accident;y burned a hole in because I kept the torch flame on it just a bit too long, while with the stainless ones I've never burned a hole in it, with combustion if the screen is full of resin I also burn it clean with a torch, with a brass one this would be harder since the burning required to clean it is usually longer as what produced the hole in that first brass one

still using the stainless screens I got with my VG over a year ago, while all the brass ones are already gone(wich was a pack of 5)
so IMO stainless are worth the few extra cents, will pay for themselves in time

Ah, good to know that the color on your brass screens changed too. I'm not sure how people can use these for pipes, but they're widely manufactured.

 

[Nycdeisel]

just cause something is everywhere doesnt mean its alright, we are surrounded by plenty of bad things...



theres a video on youtube showing how to replace screens for dbv and ssv, PLUS with all of the information here, theres really no excuse.

Buy more steel screens, they arent expensive.

 

[djonkoman]

got a pack of brass screens with my stone (combustion) pipe, always burned them before using by giving it a quick heating with a torch lighter so that the color changed, just to be sure
but I like stainless steel way better, my first brass screen I used I accident;y burned a hole in because I kept the torch flame on it just a bit too long, while with the stainless ones I've never burned a hole in it, with combustion if the screen is full of resin I also burn it clean with a torch, with a brass one this would be harder since the burning required to clean it is usually longer as what produced the hole in that first brass one

still using the stainless screens I got with my VG over a year ago, while all the brass ones are already gone(wich was a pack of 5)
so IMO stainless are worth the few extra cents, will pay for themselves in time

Ah, good to know that the color on your brass screens changed too. I'm not sure how people can use these for pipes, but they're widely manufactured.

the steel ones also change color btw

 

[VaporNation]

I generally tried to use glass jacks as my screen back in the day when I would smoke on the regular, found that those little glass screens produced the best tasting smoke... but I do recall a friend who used metal screens and whenever he would toss a new one in his piece, he would use a lighter to "burn off" anything prior to use, causing the metal to change colors. Also made me skeptical, but I would still partake if it were offered... whatta ya gonna do, eh?

 

[djonkoman]

changing color doesn't bother me that much, if you light steelwool it also changes color(wich is similar to the colorchange in the steel screens btw) and that's just oxidizing it
so colorchange doesn't have to be bad