I have a Crafty on the way. I picked it based on the great reviews it has received here on FC and elsewhere. But I am now having second thoughts on whether it was the best choice for my needs.
I almost always vape alone, and I tend to take only one or two hits. Now that I have read further in depth about the Crafty, I am concerned that I will be wasting material and getting sub-par results given my needs. As I understand it, the entire bowl of material should be used in one session; this is not a vape that lends itself to taking a hit, waiting several hours or days, then taking another hit.
A few posters had some ideas of how to make this vape more micro dose friendly. One technique that seems to have a few followers is to put in a small pinch and use the liquid pad to take up the rest of the space of the bowl. I have some questions about this technique:
1. Is this just to keep the material from shifting during carrying/use? Would you still need to use the pad if you loaded the Crafty upright and kept it still while using it? How long do the pads last under such use? Are the cleanable?
2. One poster has experimented with turning the heat off half way through a hit, thus cooling the chamber so that, in theory, your material won't continue to bake afterward. If this technique works, then you could load the bowl normally and use for several days. But I have only heard one poster talk about this, and I have to wonder if enough heat will be removed to really stop the process sufficiently to avoid waste. I also have to wonder if the lack of heat during the hit will interfere with the quality and taste. So much of the positive attributes of the Crafty seem to center on the nice, steady, even heat it produces.
I guess avoiding waste and being able to have small dosage are my priorities. And in retrospect, there may be other vapes that fit that bill better. But I was so taken by the reviews and comments that I jumped in. In many ways, everything is a compromise. I am just hoping find the best techniques for my new Crafty that will help me use it the way I would like.
As always, thank you all for you thoughts and input
Bogart
You can definitely load a smaller bowl then normal. Some people put the liquid pad in, but I usually don't (but I don't load small bowls all that often, either). The liquid pad helps keep things a little compacted, I'm assuming to help with some of the conductive heating that's applied through the walls of the bowl. So the hits might be a little lighter without the liquid pad added, but I imagine it will be due to the decrease of conduction heating on your herb. You can easily soak the liquid pad in ISO to clean it, not an issue.
You can also split bowls between sessions, without much degradation. There will be a slight decrease in quality of taste, but I don't find it much. In an effort to combat that, you can definitely turn the unit off immediately after finishing your hit. You can then continue to take hits on it, even after it's turned off. This in effect is cooling down your herb, so it doesn't heat anymore then needed. Continue puffing on it for a few minutes, and you should help save a great amount of your flavor.
I think with a few modified techniques, you'll be able to be quite happy with your purchase.
Good luck!
Do you REALLY find it to be half the battery life of the mighty?
In my expereience Once the crafty gets to two bars performance suffers greatly and the mighty goes to the end.
The crafty gets about 4 bowls for me and the mighty around 10ish, more before the update.
Maybe not exactly half, but pretty close to it. I don't use a Mighty nearly as much as my Crafty, but I thought I remember the Mighty slowing down a bit towards the end of its battery life too.
Really??? I was hoping to buy an evo soon...i thought I would be way better...now I'm reconsidering.
They're different beasts. I'd never want to give up my EVO. But if you're comparing strictly in terms of complete extraction, taste, and hit size, I feel they are comparable. I would give the slight edge to the EVO in taste and hit size though, extraction being fairly equal between the two.
You can really milk up a bong load with the EVO, but you can get some monster hits with the Crafty/Mighty as well. And the taste is definitely better in the EVO, but it's not leaps and bounds ahead.
I only use the Crafty when I'm out and about, if I'm at home, the EVO is on and ready and go. I like to take long session vapes and enjoy it. The EVO (or any desktop) allows that since you don't have a battery to worry about. It's also much better if you have more then 1 person. I find the Crafty to be best as a 1 or maybe 2 person vape. The EVO can keep a giant crowd stoned to the bone without flinching.
And then you have to consider the EVO's ability for concentrates too. The Crafty doesn't even come close there. I never bother using concentrates in my Crafty, not worth it. The EVO's basically like a torchless nail, just using hot air and glass to dab with.
So comparable in certain aspects, but very different in others. I still love my EVO and would likely purchase another quickly if something ever happened to this one.