cybrguy
Putin is a War Criminal
Do you stop heating when it clicks? If you respect the click you shouldn't be getting combustion. If the goods under the cap are brown rather than black you are not combusting you are getting good extraction. If it is black than something is going wrong but I can't tell what from your description.
Just to be clear, you never heat the VC while you are hitting it. You heat it to the click, stop heating and take your hits until it clicks again. Then heat it again until the click, etc.I also tend to get a good pull and then I stop cooking the bowl.