cosimo
Well-Known Member
OK, I guess I am just an old-school, OG E-Nano kinda guy, but I don't get how the XL stems work. (I'm looking at @cosimo 's picture above loaded up with 5 times too much herb and assuming that's an XL stem.)
I understand that screens are put above and below the weed, unlike my little ol' OG unit. And @cosimo has left out the "upper" screen here (not upper in the picture, but upper after the stem pictured would be inverted and placed on the device).
And, finally, I have heard that the lower screens (like the one pictured here) are the "top hat" style, with a rim.
But how does the stem sit on the "stalk" at the core of the Nano, then? Does the top hat screen "engulf" the tip of the stalk? It seems like it would wobble waaay too much if that were the case, just due to the screen being a bit bumpy, and maybe also not enough depth. And the metal-on-metal of screen to stalk would bother me (like nails on a chalkboard, but without the sound, if that makes sense).
Is this what people are talking about with XL screens from Epic not quite fitting well?
I feel like I'm missing something obvious here (despite my recent PhD in weed, see above ).
I have heard of several people now, here and on /r/vaporents, say that they use only one screen on the XL rather than two, without any issues. I certainly have never had any problem on my OG with just the one screen. Maybe twice in 7 years or so I have found a flake resting on the tip of the "stalk", and perhaps every other week I see something smaller-than-a-typical-pepper-flake sitting way down, at the bottom of the the inside of the log (a quick blow and/or a little "tap" with the unit upside-down usually clears it just fine).
Thanks for any enlightenment that you (@cosimo or whoever) can provide!
(Be careful drawing any diagrams, though: tough room!)
Many XL stems (mostly Ice stems) have an interior diameter that is too wide so the fit of the stem's tip on to the heater is too loose and allows fresh air to come into them stem from above the heater. So, if you skip the cap screen and use those stems as you would do with the OG or NXT, you would get very whispy hits or no vapor at all. With the cap, the stems fit more snug and seal better and vapor production improves... and yes, in the case of WPA or if you want to leave the stem on the vape, the cap helps it wobble way less.
But it seems not all cap screens work properly to seal by themselves and thats why some add the oring. It also seems some stems seal well enough without the cap.
Does this clear thins up?