herbivore21
Well-Known Member
SiC is not fragile my friend, if you break a SiC component, you've really tried to do so!In the market for the next level nail and think I have it down to the SiC Liger or Halo, but damn this is tricky.
I don't think I can justify the cost of a sapphire Halo or Liger insert, yet. Especially considering how fragile they are.
But dnail offers a sapphire ring insert for $40, I could be convinced to drop that if it would offer similar taste. My dabs are small, so don't need huge surface area and their carb cap gets raves, compared to what I read hear.
I like the banger design better and think a fragile dish would be safer in the Liger than on the dnail.
Sapphire crucibles are available at reasonable prices from lab supply places, but I do not see dimensions of any of the Ligers or inserts on the CCA site to compare.
Would probably be perfectly happy with SiC for quite a while, but the choices made now affect my options for upgrade later. I am not one to re-sell my gear.
https://www.advaluetech.com/products/sapphire/polycrystalline-sapphire-sample-pans
If you intend to torch the nail at all ever, get the SiC halo. You don't wanna be torching through titanium to heat a SiC insert, that is gonna fuck up the finish on the titanium and take longer to heat up (and IME SiC takes longer torch heating than other materials).
Given you are not taking large dabs, I would heartily recommend the SiC halo which will should last a lifetime.
As for the sapphire inserts, I have owned each iteration that d-nail ever released. Sapphire inserts are best used on the v1 flat coil titanium nail (or perhaps the 1.4 dish) - that is, where you are dabbing onto the sapphire surface directly rather than using it convectively by placing it in a halo with the oil already on the insert. The abovementioned nails for the sapphire insert will make sure that your dab vaporizes on the sapphire so long as it is not too big. However, if you dab moderate sized dabs, your dab will overflow to the side and hit the titanium which is obviously gonna be less tasty.
If you are not sure that your dabs are small enough not to spill onto titanium, then get the SiC.
The SiC liger is very good, but I find that the Liger generally vaporizes more slowly than the halo dishes (I believe this is cap design related!). This is not such an issue if your dabs are small

Hopefully this helps man!