That's exactly what i'm doing
although I don't know about working my way up. I'm sure journey of upgrading is fun, but for something like this I'm kinda having a "buy nice or buy twice" sort of feeling...although I'll probably get caught up in the "lego-ness" at some point.
This is exactly what I was thinking is is just go with the premium big dawg version right away. get a fat cap to try it with bubblers and see how it goes and then if i love it probably lego my ass off later for fun.
This is good info to consider. I was thinking exactly like you suggested of having both stems. That's why I was asking if there was much difference in usage between the Ti sleeve vs wood in either config. But if they both hit roughly the same I love the way Ti XL sleeve looks...If a fat cap will adapt the Ti XL to work basically the same as a vong sleeve, i'll probably just go with the Ti XL and keep an eye out for updating to cool exocit vong sleeve if I end up using it frequently with the bubbler.
Is it possible to make your own custom stem? that would probably be bad ass crafty-time project.