So I'm no expert, but I received a Firewood 2.1 two months ago in a trade, and have used it a bunch, and I definitely get visible vapor/clouds/good hits. It requires a little finesse for me to achieve this, but not much.
I get better hits when I give it a solid minute to heat so that it's all the way ready before I start to draw, whereas if I get antsy and try to draw too early, then I feel like my hits aren't as good once it is hot enough (though I'm not sure if that's actually the case or just a perception that I have). It might not need a full minute, but that's about the amount of time I give it to be sure that it will be where I want it/produce a good hit from the start.
I didn't really need to experiment with various ways of manipulating the mouthpiece or filling the capsule to achieve this. I fill it really minimally and loosely with ground herb, and a load for me fits in the screen itself. This is not because of anything to do with the FW particularly, but I like to get as much as possible out of as little as possible; with all my vapes I load as I little as I need for them to work well (which seems to be most efficient and produce the best functioning anyway, and the FW is really efficient for me if I use it well). I use a slowish/steady/solid draw. I ride the button based on how long I'm using/how hot it's getting. How I use the button varies but in general I think I can release once I feel I've started to take in a successful hit, though I often hold it throughout most of the hit anyway. I release between hits and try to give it a few seconds back on the button before I draw the next hit (or more if there was a more substantial pause). A few hits in, I have to lay off the button more or risk combustion. The only time I ever combusted (for a split second before I realized) was when I was sharing the FW with a friend (so I can blame their technique). I get a pretty uniform, medium brown ABV.
I don't know how others use it, but this has been working for me. Though yours sounds potentially defective given that heat up time; I feel like your not being able to extract anything before that point doesn't sound like a technique issue. Hope this helps.
Very helpful, man. Thanks! I think maybe I've just been approaching it wrong. I've been loading more than that, more like half full. I just tried your method, and gotta say it worked damn well.
I loaded just enough to cover the screen tamped very lightly. I used an
online timer to time how long I held the button before draw.
1st draw - 1 minute: slow draw for about 20-30 seconds. Tasty vapors and light cloud.
2nd draw - 40 seconds: slow draw for about 30-45 seconds, letting button off last 5 seconds or so. Light tasty vapors with decent cloud.
3rd draw - same as the 2nd
4th draw - same as the 3rd but with slightly less cloud
5th draw - 1.5 mutes, slow draw for about 45 seconds. Wispy cloud.
ABV is light brown. Could pull more from it with another vape, but the hits from there would be popcorn and harsh anyway. I'm happy with the way it performed following your method. I bought this specifically for a personal use concert vape, so a 5-hit capsule is actually just right. I'm pretty high right now. Some of that has to do with the two shots of Maker's Mark, but then I also have that with me at shows. lol.
I think I was overfilling and perhaps not holding the button as long as I thought I was. Using the timer, a minute seems like a long damn time. lol.
