@gluemonkey how do you like it?
It's been about 24 hours since I picked it up, and here are my thoughts so far! Sorry for the giant post, I just wanted to get out as much information as I can on this thing as I could! I have a more limited experience with the variety of vaporizers I've used than I assume most people here have, and it will mostly be relative to my experiences with my Crafty+. There was a lot I went into this purchase unsure of, and a lot of thoughts I've had so far with it, so I'm hoping I can have answered some other people's questions, and some suggestions or inspiration for the dotLeaf team!
I'll start from the accessories, then the vape, then to using it, and finally my thoughts after using it; this writeup is much less formatted than I am making it sound. Enjoy!
The packaging is very nice, I really like the included case and it works really well with switching between the different accessories, which I'll touch more on later. It took me a minute to spot the grommet that hopefully makes it smellproof, which I know some people will appreciate. The included poker is fantastic and works very well with the bowl, I was worried with the long chamber that it'd be a pain to fill but I find pushing it in from the grinder with the poker and then packing it down with the wide end works well. The included brush works nice for cleaning, I haven't had to use it much so far. The included charging cable feels really cheap, but I've got plenty of USB-C cables anyways. The little bag with the green strip and the o-rings doesn't really have a good place for it, right now I have it horizontally in the slot the USB cable came in. I've done two modifications so far, I put a 3M poster strip on the top of the case so the foam won't fall out out when I open it, and I cut some of the foam that came in my battery's box to make the poker and brush slots higher and much easier to access.
The construction feels rock solid, it feels a bit surprisingly heavy for the size, but it's small enough to feel quality and not burdensome; it weighs 146g, my Oneplus 6T weighs 185g. The aluminum feels great with the slight beveling on the sides and the rounded door covers. It's a very attractive design and the battery mod influence doesn't read as "crazy nerd vape" which is something I miss about my PAX. Let's be honest, dry herb vaporizers aren't the most attractive pieces of hardware in the world, and I'd rather not be outside a club with a giant long mouthpiece or a bright blinking green light. The button is very pretty and feels quality while not being too stiff, and it's engraved, not a decal! I'm also loving the modular design, everything fits nicely and securely and being able to replace the battery is a huge, huge plus. I'm probably gonna pick up multiple chambers and swap them out when I want to refill on the go.
Coming from the Crafty+ this is a completely different experience. I really was not expecting how much of a difference heat up time makes, I like to taste the vapor during heat up and it really feels instant. It's great to sip, which is great compared to the long chugs I'd do with the Crafty+ (I'd set it on top of a mega pringles can on my desk so I could hit it without having to hold it the whole time). The sessions feel much more defined than they do on the Crafty+, and it doesn't feel like I'm spending forever extracting the endless vapor. It just feels like a smarter, snappier device, and it's making me realize how annoying the Crafty+ can be to use... I can also now understand the conduction taste difference, it reminds me of my old PAX 3, but its still very flavourful and the weed has personality. I've been using it at 200C (Temp 2) and I think two sessions with the same bowl is what I think is going to be my sweet spot for extraction and flavour. On my third bowl I put it to 210C (Temp 3) and I got a tiny fracture in the Ultem. I was expecting this to happen, and will be continuing to use it at 200C.
Both of the bowl adaptors fit excellent, If you push them in they will grip the glass, which means with the 14mm tip you can pull the downstem too and not just the vaporizer if you're using a bong like me. I wouldn't recommend pushing it in if you're using a piece without a downstem, the 18mm pops out if I push it into my bong's joint, which is to be expected. You really don't have to push it in unless you want to catch the downstem, the POM seals easily. As for the mouthpiece, I will probably get an aftermarket drip tip (I'm thinking ultem ;D ) when I pick up the tan chambers next month because I don't really like the lip at the bottom, and I also like to rub my tongue on the mouthpiece when very high and the inside rim hasn't got the smoothest edge. It wouldn't be a deal breaker if it didn't, but I'm happy I have the flexibility. There's also no plastic mouthpiece taste to worry about, though I am noticing it is the component that smells the most weedy after use.
As for the performance, this is an awesome little box! I did three bowls (one with kief on top) yesterday to put it through its paces, and I barely pulled myself out from greening out, which I haven't had to do in a while! This is a hard hitting little box that makes very thick clouds. It's more of a sipper than a real chugger like the Crafty+ was, I saw a 2-6 second draw number in this thread and that's usually what I hit it for, and there's always a nice fog and consistent fog. It has pretty decent flavour, though I can understand what people mean by conduction taste now since the taste makes me nostalgic for my old PAX 3. The roof of my mouth gets a little dry and warm, but it's nothing bad.
It seems to favour better weed and a medium grind with a slightly firm pack, I'm putting in around 0.2g right now and I'm definitely still figuring it out. Any recommendations or techniques for the packing or weed humidity would be very appreciated! I get higher per session with this than with my Crafty+, and its much faster and easier to use and maintain. I'm also still experimenting with this, but I think for great performance through glass you need to turn the temperature up, which I will wait for the tan chambers to do. It was a fog machine in the bong when I had the kief in there though, that gave some really great milk, though I was a bit too high to be very scientific and only hit it once or twice well. I'm very excited to potentially use this for twaxing since I've seen great results with the kief and the elongated and removeable chamber would be great for it. It's gonna take a little longer for me to figure out the exact best way, but when the pack is right this thing makes some very thick vapor for a very tiny box.
If I was just going to bring it for a day out I'd probably get another oven or two and keep them in some sort of sealed bag or container, or maybe they'd fit with the vape in a Desce bag that I'll probably also pick up from Enushi when I get the tan chambers and drip tip. I was hoping there'd be somewhere in the case I could cut out and slot in a chamber or two for storage, but there're nowhere that would fit. Maybe a chamber caddy that could be carried on its own or loop onto the right of the case would be a nice accessory to offer. I'd pay up to 40 CAD for a premium chamber caddy that matches the device body or case and holds 2-4 ovens (I'd want 3 personally).
I charged after each session as my Crafty+ had so engrained in me, so it took me a minute to learn that it'll have a green/blue/red light depending on how much battery it has when in use. I initially thought there wasn't any way to check the battery without plugging it in, so that's awesome and is a pretty well thought out system. The battery is almost as big of a shocker as the heat up time compared to the Crafty+, I've yet to discharge it to red. I don't think another battery for swapping on the go would be needed unless you were looking to sesh this with a lot of people.
So far, I really like the dotLeaf. Fantastic form factor, great to use, and when you get the pack right, super good vapor production. Seems like the maintenance should be pretty light, and I think it's going to be a pretty flexible device too. I don't think I'd recommend this as someone's first vape unless you have someone to walk you through it as the packing requires a bit of knowledge, but otherwise its a very easy to use device. It's really great to see something new and great from a big manufacturer, I know people here love their artisan vaporizers but for us in countries with protectionist import laws and/or absurd shipping costs the number we pay can end up being double the number Americans see. With a battery it comes out to around $250CAD here. making it the cheapest vape I've bought since my Pulsar APX, and its a fantastic value.
tl;dr I really like it so far, especially the size, vapor production, modularity, battery capacity and accessories. It's really nicely designed, and is really good for the price. My only issues with it so far are that I need to learn to pack it better, and I want to get a more comfortable drip tip. I wouldn't buy this if its your first vape and you don't want to have to learn to pack it right, if you are turned off by the accessory box because you definitely will be using it at least for storage, or if you aren't a fan of the conduction taste. If you can't buy the tan chambers in yet or and are unsure if you want to buy now or wait for them to come with the tan chambers, from my initial impressions I would say this: If you want to really push its limits or use it to its best ability through glass and don't want to wait for the tan chambers, wait a month, but if you're fine to baby it to March I'd take the plunge.
Definitely avoiding using this with the bong, at least until the tan chambers and maybe some kind of fix comes out. Also, avoid using finer ground weed! All but one of my combusts was with this flavourful and cheap preground stuff here that's a little finer than my normal grind, which sucks because that's like half of the weed on me at this point :/
