Well done
@cannasoor this is great! Question: what’s the advantage of placing the basket screen “cup style”? Also, for the screen distance from the heater, do you use the long side of the e-pick to measure from the top of the stem to the bottom of the cup?
Thanks!
I don't know why I started inserting my screens cup style. I remember being completely flummoxed about it at the beginning (I may even have tried putting the herb on the side of the stem closer to the mouth, out of concern it would otherwise fall into the device. I think I took one draw and got a mouthful of herb that way.) But it took me a long time to even realize that others loaded "cap style". I tried that a few times and it seemed different in minor, difficult-to-describe ways ... but I ultimately preferred the cup style, perhaps just out of habit.
Re E-pick and measurements: I actually don't use the E-pick, either for measuring or for stirring (and I could never get mine to work right as a "stand" for the stem). I use a
(pleasedon'tthinklessofmehere) cherry wood "toothpick", actually a little longer & thicker, that I cut out of the same cherry dowel as for my tamper stick. It's *exceedingly* twee and such, I get that ... but it's very handy (to help coax fresh flower out of vials, to stir a bowl, to coax ground flower down the funnel into the vial, etc.). And re measurement, I just keep my screens' cup bottoms a sliver above the top of the stem guard, which I've adjusted so it'll put the cup top about 13mm away from the end of the stem. (The stem guards are pretty stable, but I occasionally have to re-adjust.)
I'm not sure where I got the 13mm figure from: I think I based it on a very nicely drawn out bowl I had, figuring whatever distance I was at for that one couldn't be too bad. But maybe based also on some pictures/charts I saw from very early in the thread.
I also like to be able to push the load as close to the heater as I want it. Using the screen dome-side up gives me more control over the distance between the material and the heater.
So I can actually adjust my cup-style screens
during a run, at least easily in the closer-to-the-heater direction: my tamper rod is long enough to go in the mouth end, and all the way up, to push the cup from below toward the heater end of the stem.
Adjusting
down away from the heater is a little trickier, but if I can catch the edge of the screen, where it's adjacent to the glass, I can usually push it some that way. (The tamper rod is basically the shape of a round chopstick, but not tapered. It's about 3/4 as big around as the inner diameter of the stem, thus very close to the inner diameter of the cup.)
I also use the tamper rod for "dry cleaning" of various degrees: swirl the rod around the inside of the stem, holding it flat and tight, to clean debris and even some oil (helps if the stem is hot); or use it to pop the screen for a quick brush; or both. And also for "wet cleaning": I use a rolled-up half tissue (it looks like a dental cotton roll or ... maybe a tampon?
); I dip the end in some Everclear (190 proof = 95% pure grain alcohol), insert it into the stem, and push it out through the other end (with the tamper). This saves alcohol over swishing a bunch around in the stem, and can also be done easily at my desk, with no trip to the sink. (I also soak the screens occasionally in EverClear and salt, shaking periodically, in another glass vial.)
I have probably thought way too much about tools and processes over the years, but I think I have optimized pretty well for flavor, convenience, style, discretion, and expense (in roughly that order). But I learn new things and am inspired to new heights all the time by stuff I see here on FC (and even on Reddit
).
Well, maybe also inspired to new heights by a couple o' good sativas in a couple o' Nano stems ... .
I'm a microdoser when it comes to my inhalation lung capacity or lack there of. With a .13g _ .15g bowl. I only get 4 - 6 hits.
Is 24 even possible?
So
@Summer, you have really got me pondering (and counting in my head, and taking notes, etc.), trying to figure out how our techniques could be so different. I always knew I was something of a "slow sipper", but these are pretty dramatic differences. I have to admit, I may be taking bowls further than I really need to: maybe I am chasing after effects that are just not there to find (and I admit I go a bit past the pale on flavor, despite how much it drives me on the front end).
I think I also take shorter "sips", perhaps? Especially short at the start (or I would be overwhelmed), but also later on, when I get distracted-and-diffused, I sometimes fall into absent-mindedly sipping with short pulses of 3-4 (?) seconds each (maybe?). But if I were to count every one of
those, when I get that way, I'm pretty sure I'd be into 40-plus hits-and-sips per 1/30th gr. stem.
Which seems just waaay different than your technique.
Do you take huge, lung-filling hits from the beginning? I tried to count & calibrate, and I draw at a rate that would fill my lungs pretty much to capacity (uncomfortable but not painful) at about 35-45 seconds of draw (well, just drawing air through pursed lips; I should try on the Nano, even though that's much bigger than my usual hits.)
Also, do you use a bubbler or similar, or a beaded stem? I don't use water-cooling or air-cooling much, usually just straight-up from a standard-length stem w/ adjustable/stainless-steel screen. I understand that people who use water (especially) can take much bigger hits, what with the cooling. (I have issues both of discretion and flavor loss with bubblers, and I'm lucky enough to be able to tolerate un-cooled stems.)
I also notice a phenomenon where I get renewed clouds, not quite as big or for as many hits, at the start of a second "sub-session". In other words, I take a few hits on a stem (then maybe round-robin the others), and then pause to bump temp, wait for 5-10 mins. to get up to heat, and stir again before going for another 8-12 hits. After that bump-pause-stir, I usually get another few hits with clouds. Again, not usually as big or for as many hits as at the very start, but significant, and often with a kind of deepening of the flavor. Not necessarily all the way to that caramelized/roasted point, but interesting new things usually come out there.
Well, I feel like I should write it all up ... and make diagrams! In fact, I found a sort of "time-series" diagram I sketched a couple years back when thinking about these issues. I'll post that rough draft here ... but now I want to re-visit it with more and better (and newer) information. (Hmm, even then I was noting that bump-pause-stir second-cloud phenomenon.)
These days I'd start a little lower on the cooler runs than I did back then; so maybe 5.3 compared to 5.5. And I need to systematize the shapes colors and positions of the clouds in the diagram to better reflect various parameters. Well, I'll work on a newer, updated version and let you all know.
Who knows, maybe we could come up with a way to illustrate session parameters that would help people communicate their technique and the results they get?
.) I guess I am a "slow sipper" kinda guy.
How much are you loading? I'm a microdoser when it comes to my inhalation lung capacity or lack there of. With a .13g _ .15g bowl. I only get 4 - 6 hits. 
did this last night, was so lit already hahaha and watching what we do in the shadows ..hilarious tv show btw.
