fucking wow!! That glaze is truly something else. What is the glaze on the ball? Beautiful choice man!
Thank you! I personally dont know but it seems like
@Shit Snacks helped you out with that, pretty sure hes the resident glaze expert. Helped me out a lot actually when I was trying to figure out what glazes I would be keeping an eye out for. Got some better pics of the ball and head (ayoo) below.
Gatdauuum Dude! I
LOVE
that orange lava glow!!!! Screw company, I'd walk out blowing clouds!!
Thanks man! I wanted to so bad but figured I should at least give the bandit the 1 on 1 attention it deserves... ended up rushing that later and it fought back
But this really worked out because I had basically decided if the first drop in 2021 didn't have something I loved, I would do a custom with a color scheme very similar (if not identical) to this
@BrianTL we're here with you man. For as long as it takes.
Well, actually about half an hour then I'm going to bed.
That cracked me up, "back up on the couch". Hope you're having success. You will get it dialed in quickly. I combusted like 5 times in the first 24 hours. Not once today. So... I'm 5 days in and my train don't stop at combustion junction no more. Btw... I settled in at 9.7
Haha thanks for the support! I managed to get that 3rd attempt to vape without burning so that was a good thing. But yeah, I was laying in bed pissed at myself (and also way too fucked, I remembered why I like vaping so much better than combusting for sure - for what ever reason combustion just doesn't agree with me) - said I better get back out there and beat this bandit tonight.
Ok so I'm not the best picture taker first off and second off I think my lense had a smudge on it looking at these now, but oh well. These pics really dont do this guy justice, and I'm sure thats the same for everybody elses too. It looks and feels so much cooler than I ever would have expected, its hard to capture that in an image.
This little guy really is a work of art. I'm glad I grabbed it because I had been waffling for a while over what glaze I would want, if I should grab a classic edition, which was my plan until I saw the first cobble stone glazes, so that fucked me up because I had to think about black glaze, white glaze, underlying glaze, etc.
Long story short I decided to hold out for the drop that had been talked about in early 2021, if I saw something I loved I would grab it, but if not I didn't want to settle so I would do a custom, most likely a black cobblestone, over a few choices: Wildfire (score), Firecracker, Tree Frog, Caprice, Sassy Orange, or Kiwi. Basically I was liking for something bold underneath a black cobble, I thought it would be a cool effect. Wildire was actually my first choice to get a lava looking thing going. A couple weeks ago I saw a video of
@Jaxel testing this guy and the other weed eat gang bandit, and I told myself if/when I see that go on the site, I'm getting it. It was exactly what I had in mind, save the little dude Hugo, wasn't sure how I felt about him but decided fuck it - I'll go for it.
Turns out I really like having Hugo up there. He's awesome and adds a different dimension to the bandit. Especially with the eye patch, really cool touch!
Again I think that its hard to capture these in a picture or describe with words, because I've looked at a ton of them and this truly surprised me. Everything about it, the appearance, handling it, texture, how it feels in your hands... probably sounds like I've been hitting it too much (which I havent today, yet) lol but yeah I could never have understood the attraction until actually getting one in my hands.
Anyway so my first night getting to know "Hugo" was less than stellar. My own fault though. After the in-laws left, I couldn't wait to give it a shot so I went and got the box - took it out got it set up filled it with water, testing a few different levels while its heat soaking. For whatever reason I had it in my head I needed to turn it on at 11.2v and let it settle. I think that settled in around 10.6v? After about 30-45 minutes. Got all excited, ready to go, loaded the little tray with some ground flower, and put enough in to basically the screen and go to the top of the little indent the screen sits in.
Hit one went well, had some good charring going on, so I thought for hit 2, I would do a shorter draw. Well, that combusted. I mean I had a cherry going in the ball and everything. It's been so long since I fully combusted like that I almost forgot what to do with burning ash lol. I was walking around my kitchen with a smoking ball in hand, pure panic. Got that cleaned up, went and laid down with the missus watching netflix waiting to see how I felt before making another attempt.
This just reminded me of why I love vaping so much more than combusting. Honestly combustion just doesn't agree with me. Something about it makes me feel pretty sick after only a couple of hits...I've always been very sensitive to the amount I could smoke. So if anything it was a nice reminder why I vape and how it makes me really appreciate MJ in a completely different and enjoyable way. Laying there the combustion high set in and I felt like complete shit. Eventually enough time had passed, she fell asleep, I started to feel better and thought I should make another attempt.
Most logical people at this point would probably double check their info, realizing the voltage was too high. Thick headed pollock I am, I couldn't be wrong about the voltage. I'm SURE I read somewhere like 11.2 - 11.5 starting voltage and let it settle. I have to be right about that. I must have loaded too much. Lets load one scoop in there not even enough to cover the screen fully.
I used all of my recently ground Gelato (I think thats what it was) in that first round, and was still feeling a little shitty from the smoke, so I went to grab my CBD just incase I combusted again I didnt want to get too fucked up. Turns out I was out of CBD also, so I had to grind something fresh. If I was going through the trouble of quietly retrieving my flower, grinder, tools, etc from around the bedroom without making too much noise, I sure as hell was going to grind something up that would be worth it. So I went for a new bag of Sour Sunset. Ground a little up and loaded a scoop.
Round 2, serious charring. Idk if I went to full on combustion or not, but probably a good smoldering and charring. Definitely got some smoke though. Didn't go for a second hit, tossed the scorched bud, and went back to bed defeated and disheartened. Went to brush my teeth again to get that nasty taste out and laid down waiting for the impending misery (I really forgot how much smoke doesn't agree with me) and it came soon enough. I felt like a bad of smashed assholes for a good while there. I had finally taken the time to check FC and look for some recent voltage recommendations and figured out I was running too hot for sure.
11:30 rolled around and I couldn't sleep, wasn't sure if it was because I felt like shit or because I was so mad at myself for striking out twice in a row. Went back out to the kitchen, plugged back in, dialed WAY down, ended up settling on 9.5 ish to be safe. I turned it on at 10.0 and that came down to 9.7 something, but I wanted to be extra cautious and reduced it again to 9.5. I couldnt go 3 back to back burns. Put another small scoop in, and finally had a successful vaporization. Took one hit and decided to call it there, didn't want to push it and ruin it with another combustion. Chilled on the couch for a bit and then went to bed.
So that's my story. Looking forward to figuring this thing out more between load size, draw speed (I think I was also going way too slow maybe), voltage, etc. Initial impressions are basically 10/10, so theres that, I just have to dial it in.