I quite like the fact that on the new versions the chamber screens they provide come out. I've actually stopped using SS screens in the bottom of the chamber now and use the ones that came with it, still with s standard SS screen on the top of the load. Then once you're done, you can just tap the abv out into your hand and the screen comes with it, give it a quick wipe, blow through the bottom of the unit to clean out any dust and start again.
FlowerMate Vapormax V/V5.0/V5.0S/V5 Pro
- Thread starter Shit Snacks
- Start date
throwawaytre3s
Well-Known Member
I think I got an older pro model from puffitup then. My pro bottom screen doesn't want to come out very easily. One of my biggest concerns with the pro is actally how it doesn't disassemble very easily at all. Is there a dedicated cleaning guide for the pro out there?
KeroZen
Chronic vapaholic
I dunno why you all insist to dismantle your devices! 
I'm the one having a FM5-Pro for the longest time here and I never had to clean the bottom screen so far. On my FM5-S, I did it once, maybe twice at most, and I got it for an even longer time. And I use both devices daily.
Just some ISO on a Q-tip while the bowl is luke-warm is enough for me to clean the screen. I used the metal tamping tool to scrape the bowl walls a few times, as they tended to develop a thin black film like in my Ascent. By gently scraping (this time when the device is cold) I was able to remove big flakes and the bowl was still a shiney white below.
The mouthpiece on the other hand is a whole different story! It needs frequent maintainance otherwise (and especially once you remove the screen here completely) you start getting balls of sticky resin mixed with some ABV bits and it's nasty really quick. I managed to completely clog it several times, with all 5 holes of the metal plate completely obstructed. But I prefer the airflow without this upper screen, even if it's a bit more tedious to clean this way.
I'm the one having a FM5-Pro for the longest time here and I never had to clean the bottom screen so far. On my FM5-S, I did it once, maybe twice at most, and I got it for an even longer time. And I use both devices daily.
Just some ISO on a Q-tip while the bowl is luke-warm is enough for me to clean the screen. I used the metal tamping tool to scrape the bowl walls a few times, as they tended to develop a thin black film like in my Ascent. By gently scraping (this time when the device is cold) I was able to remove big flakes and the bowl was still a shiney white below.
The mouthpiece on the other hand is a whole different story! It needs frequent maintainance otherwise (and especially once you remove the screen here completely) you start getting balls of sticky resin mixed with some ABV bits and it's nasty really quick. I managed to completely clog it several times, with all 5 holes of the metal plate completely obstructed. But I prefer the airflow without this upper screen, even if it's a bit more tedious to clean this way.
OF
Well-Known Member
I dunno why you all insist to dismantle your devices!
I'm the one having a FM5-Pro for the longest time here and I never had to clean the bottom screen so far.
The mouthpiece on the other hand is a whole different story! It needs frequent maintainance otherwise (and especially once you remove the screen here completely) you start getting balls of sticky resin mixed with some ABV bits and it's nasty really quick.
I'm with you on the bottom screen. It's an inlet and should not foul. I suspect what some guys have is a weed quality issue Before I draw fire I'm talking about cure not THC content. Too much water going in with the herb is generating steam early on which it pushed backwards between hits by the conduction heating still being added. There it condenses again on cooling. It's this water that's gumming up the works. I use well cured (dry) bud and also have had no problematic fouling of the lower screens in LOTS of use on a couple models (one Mini has a scary amount through it). I suspect your stash is well cured as well? That's a clue......
Cleaning the stems was a problem for sure before I shifted technique. Now I wash the assembled stems in a 'travel tube' from PV (soda bottle blank) with a dash of PBW. 5 or 10 minutes soaking hot with occasional agitation to ensure the fluid gets moved around inside the stem. This is followed by rinsing out (run tap water through it) and a blow out usually leaves them sparkling, if they were really nasty going it it might take a second wash. This is assembled. Even with the Mini with the fine screen installed inside, the normal ones I've even given up on unscrewing the cap and messing with the little bits.
Then I blow it out and then screw it on a warm FM (like after a session) to dry completely.
But yes it does foul on the output side of the oven, as do they all......but FM seems near the top of that list to me?
OF
throwawaytre3s
Well-Known Member
That's the problem. Most of the time it's well cured, but I have zero control over how it is when I get it. Is there a good way to dry it out after you pick up, in small quantities? For when it isn't? I don't ever have more than a half an ounce at a time.
Also my FM Pro has been fantastic so far! No fouling yet!
Also my FM Pro has been fantastic so far! No fouling yet!
OF
Well-Known Member
Yes, there's a fellow around here somewhere (Solo thread?) that made an artform out of it lately, using cast iron pans and heat lamps to warm it....... I usually coarse grind mine and put it in an uncapped vial on top of the router if it's not dry enough. It's warm there, and a few hours usually does it if it's not too deep in the vial (capping and shaking helps then).
The idea is to get the water out before it makes it into the vape.
Glad to hear you're enjoying the Pro, it's fun all right. Nice to have more control and need to charge less often than with the Mini.
OF
kellya86
Herb gardener...
I'm 2 days into using my new flowermate v5.0s, it has done 2 full battery burn offs but still doesn't taste pure to me. I'm used to my eq and Im not expecting that sort of quality, but the taste I'm still getting from the flowermate is very unpleasant. Will this go away. Or is this the price you pay for cheap vaping. Caus that's a unacceptable price if so. I would have thought more people would have moaned about this, maybe my device is dodgy. Any ideas on this, I'm clueless about the FM
OF
Well-Known Member
I would not worry about it. After a couple of loads all the important surfaces will be coated (and therefore sealed) with condensate. All you'll be able to taste/smell will be that, everything else will be sealed out of the vapor path.
Your unit could be contaminated, of course, but that would be very rare indeed. I have several (different models you know) all have had that 'new toaster' smell a bit, but nothing to worry about really.
I suggest you load it and get to the enjoying part?
OF
shaolinmilk
Well-Known Member
To be honest, my buddy has a rebranded version of the Flowermate (Zeus Smite) and this is exactly what I think about it as well (I have a Mighty so it's unfair to compare). The draw restriction is pretty strong and the taste of the vapor is really stale. But then again, you get what you paid for and a lot of people seems happy with it so there's that.
throwawaytre3s
Well-Known Member
That'll go away. I did a few dry runs and then hooked it up to my UFO. I have an EQ as well and love it! The flowermate is good for sitting on the couch or laying in bed, the EQ is good for my tabletop area! The water filtration makes it so it's like I'm not even inhaling anything, it's so smooth. I'm excited to try it with my EQ when I move back and get a GB-187 or D020-D!
kellya86
Herb gardener...
Thanks guys, I'll keep using it and hope it gets better.
@throwawaytre3s , nice to see you have FM and eq, and are satisfied with the FM. So I'm sure it will sort itself out. Jus don't remember my eq tasting like this new.
@throwawaytre3s , nice to see you have FM and eq, and are satisfied with the FM. So I'm sure it will sort itself out. Jus don't remember my eq tasting like this new.
Hubs88
Feeling The Buzz
This is my mp after about a month of daily use, do you think it needs cleaning?
I can honestly say I don't taste any difference than when it was new. I like the way it looks and going to leave it for awhile.
Stevenski
Enter the Dragon
This is my mp after about a month of daily use, do you think it needs cleaning?
I can only suggest you make a nice milky coffee or hot chocolate. Drop the stem in a mug of fulk fat milk (add some cream if you can). Microwave it to get it hot & leave it for 5 minutes stirring occasionally. Then heat it up a bit more & remove your now clean stem.
Drink your coffee, shut the fuck up & ride the rocket to Mars.
KeroZen
Chronic vapaholic
For the new device smell issues, it's due to the polyimide tape they use around the heater (it contains the resistive film heater and acts as an insulator, but it also has some silicone glue on it, at least when it's the 3M Kaptan brand but I suspect cheap copies use the same)
I required 2 to 3 entire battery discharges worth of empty burn-ins to reduce the smell to an acceptable level on the 4 devices I got from them, and that is while almost continuously blowing air into the mouthpiece. You need airflow to cure the glue and move the out-gassing away. Leaving your vape on with no airflow will take much longer and have less effect. If you can't blow, leave it next to a large fan.
Please try to (re)read the thread as it was covered in lenght a lot of times. In fact I feel I'm repeating myself so much here lately it's a bit tiring. Because the first and second times you write something, you try to do it right, but the 3rd and subsequent ones it becomes more of a pain...
But don't worry, once cured there's no other source of off-smell in these devices. The silicone ring on top of the bowl feels very neutral. The little bit inside the glass mouthpiece is very discreet too. The rest are inert materials (ceramic, glass, zinc/alu aloys)
I required 2 to 3 entire battery discharges worth of empty burn-ins to reduce the smell to an acceptable level on the 4 devices I got from them, and that is while almost continuously blowing air into the mouthpiece. You need airflow to cure the glue and move the out-gassing away. Leaving your vape on with no airflow will take much longer and have less effect. If you can't blow, leave it next to a large fan.
Please try to (re)read the thread as it was covered in lenght a lot of times. In fact I feel I'm repeating myself so much here lately it's a bit tiring. Because the first and second times you write something, you try to do it right, but the 3rd and subsequent ones it becomes more of a pain...
But don't worry, once cured there's no other source of off-smell in these devices. The silicone ring on top of the bowl feels very neutral. The little bit inside the glass mouthpiece is very discreet too. The rest are inert materials (ceramic, glass, zinc/alu aloys)
Stevenski
Enter the Dragon
I can understand why people keep asking the same questions. The best of threads are light on at best or non existent & it is daunting at best to try & search a thread. I am a huge believer in reading a thread thoroughly but when a thread is over 50 pages (the popular ones are are 250+ pages) of highly useful but fragmented data it can be challenging.
In a perfect word each thread would have a new first post with either links to the relevant post or an abridged version of things like
Top 10 questions & answers about this vape?
Is the air path safe & what about off gassing?
How can I get the best out of my beast & other tricks?
Best accessories for this vape
This would require a bunch of experienced subject matter experts to pool their relevant knowledge (via group PM?) on each particular vape but would provide significant long term benefits & a lot less of old mate here
In a perfect word each thread would have a new first post with either links to the relevant post or an abridged version of things like
Top 10 questions & answers about this vape?
Is the air path safe & what about off gassing?
How can I get the best out of my beast & other tricks?
Best accessories for this vape
This would require a bunch of experienced subject matter experts to pool their relevant knowledge (via group PM?) on each particular vape but would provide significant long term benefits & a lot less of old mate here
KeroZen
Chronic vapaholic
Yes this is a problem with forums in general. Past a certain size you can't expect people to read the entire threads, so the same questions are asked over and over. The oldschoolers invest a lot of energy at first to answer, but they eventually get tired of repeating themselves. Then newcomers take on that role...
...and it can become like that well known experiment with monkeys and a hanging banana: everytime a monkey tries to grab the banana, they all get an electrical shock through the cage floor. Quickly they learn not to touch the banana. You can then introduce new monkeys and when a new monkey tries to reach for the banana, the old monkeys immediatly beat him hard so that he stops, and to protect the group from getting a shock. The fun part comes when you continue the experiment and remove progressively all old monkeys: at some point no single monkey in the room knows what happens when someone touches the banana, yet they continue beating down anyone who might try!
And it's fun because after some time on old forums, threads are full of people who weren't there at the beginning, and they keep repeating the "old wisdom" sometimes without having a clue!
...and it can become like that well known experiment with monkeys and a hanging banana: everytime a monkey tries to grab the banana, they all get an electrical shock through the cage floor. Quickly they learn not to touch the banana. You can then introduce new monkeys and when a new monkey tries to reach for the banana, the old monkeys immediatly beat him hard so that he stops, and to protect the group from getting a shock. The fun part comes when you continue the experiment and remove progressively all old monkeys: at some point no single monkey in the room knows what happens when someone touches the banana, yet they continue beating down anyone who might try!
And it's fun because after some time on old forums, threads are full of people who weren't there at the beginning, and they keep repeating the "old wisdom" sometimes without having a clue!
Stevenski
Enter the Dragon
Exactly. In the Arizer Air thread a committed user @Bravesst has created a very good guide to using the Air. It may not be perfect but anytime someone has a basic user question on the Air all you need to do is refer to Bravesst's signature & the user has their question covered 90% of the time.
I am not saying someone should do the same for the other popular vapes but it would not be hard to achieve if 10 regular users put in 10-20 minutes of time into one joint post that is easily searchable.
KeroZen
Chronic vapaholic
No problem, if it really annoyed me I wouldn't have answered at all in the first place!
Without derailing the thread too much, as it would be best located in the "community discussion" section where we can talk about how to improve this place together, the main problem I see here and in nearly all other forums I frequent or did frequent in the past is, in short: a forum is a discussion board and not an information repository. The former is dynamical by nature while the latter is rather statical (even if it can evolve over time)
You can try to improve the situation by creating a "pages" or "wiki" part, here we have for instance the recently introduced "reviews" section, but we could have "summary" pages or whatever you call them... But in practice, and for reasons I don't fully explain, it doesn't seem to work well.
Reviews are best found on blogs and review sites, with a long article and fancy pictures, comments below etc. Technical factual information and summaries are best found in some sort of wiki or dedicated site, and so on... And live organic discussions on a forum or bulletin board!
The idea of updating the first thread post to reflect the latest "status quo"... meh... yeah it kindof works, but still yields a lot of "noob: ask noob question >> member: read the first post it's all there ffs!". Here we are limited by the "edit" button short expiration time, meaning the thread owner is not able (afaik) to edit the first post without mod intervention.
One thing is sure, it's no simple matter! Every solution I can imagine would introduce some challenges and potential pitfalls...
Without derailing the thread too much, as it would be best located in the "community discussion" section where we can talk about how to improve this place together, the main problem I see here and in nearly all other forums I frequent or did frequent in the past is, in short: a forum is a discussion board and not an information repository. The former is dynamical by nature while the latter is rather statical (even if it can evolve over time)
You can try to improve the situation by creating a "pages" or "wiki" part, here we have for instance the recently introduced "reviews" section, but we could have "summary" pages or whatever you call them... But in practice, and for reasons I don't fully explain, it doesn't seem to work well.
Reviews are best found on blogs and review sites, with a long article and fancy pictures, comments below etc. Technical factual information and summaries are best found in some sort of wiki or dedicated site, and so on... And live organic discussions on a forum or bulletin board!
The idea of updating the first thread post to reflect the latest "status quo"... meh... yeah it kindof works, but still yields a lot of "noob: ask noob question >> member: read the first post it's all there ffs!". Here we are limited by the "edit" button short expiration time, meaning the thread owner is not able (afaik) to edit the first post without mod intervention.
One thing is sure, it's no simple matter! Every solution I can imagine would introduce some challenges and potential pitfalls...
Hey Stevinski,
My AA guide, originally took me about 2 or 3 days to get done (about 6 or so hours). I keep adding to it, so all in all, probably about 8 hours. My issue was I don't want to give BAD information. I think people tend to feel "shy" sometimes about sharing what works for fear it will be rejected. I kinda don't care, especially if so many can benefit. I hope they will put my AA guide in the 'best of' thread, and yes, every popular vape should have a practical user guide.
love the chronic vapaholic...
I've been thinking about the Flowermate line up - just to change things up. As an AA lover, would I like this vape?
OF
Well-Known Member
I think that's true. While we all agreed to the rule when we joined:
Lurk before posting. Please search and read before posting to see if your topic is already covered.
That can be a daunting task for sure. Still the rule is there for a reason, many threads would be considerably shorter if the same questions weren't asked over and over.
CK often suggests reading the last 25 or so pages, IMO a reasonable compromise? Still, many many obviously don't do even that. It's pretty popular to resort to 'I'll just ask it on the web' and expect others to do for you. How many "please" and "thank yous" do you recall for that? I'm afraid few appreciate others efforts on their behalf these days.
Many is the time I've answered the same question shortly before, several times in the day before, sometimes on the same page! The sad conclusion here is some just make no effort at all?
Indeed. And keeping that up to date is yet another problem.
I too wish this Forum to be a source of concise, reliable and hopefully 'backed up' advice folks can depend on. Opinions are great, in fact critical, but when they're stated as fact with nothing to support them I think they loose value fast. I've come to the point where I'll spend the time to carefully compose a new response in the name of getting the information out again. My call of course, but to be honest sometimes I regret it.
It depends on you of course. I found the Mini replaced the Air in a LOT of cases. Much smaller and easier to use in the field I think. More stealthy by a wide margin as well I think. Definitely fits in the pocket better and carries it's stem inside for ready access. I recommend considering it. There's a Pro (variable temp version) coming out soon. I find the 3 presets to be fine for most cases.
OF
GetLeft
Well-Known Member
The issues brought up here the past couple of pages are the ones I found and the ones that led m pretty quickly to abandon my Mini. Uncured herb isn't always the problem for the clogging. Well cured but resiny herb clogs after every session. I'm not about to toast my high quality material and lose valuable terps etc. in the process. And the smell? Some may think a lower price for having to run numerous burn-offs is an acceptable trade off. Not me. Tape or whatever, it's a manufacturer shortcoming that the consumer has to pay for in ways other than cash.
Also, with a starting temp that's higher than the starting temp of other vapes that are available, and a sizable conduction chamber, the Mini is not super conservative with the flowers.
I might pull out the mini at some point again before too long. And I might not.
And yeah, it was @Bravesst in the Air thread who covers drying comprehensively.
Gotta chill with complaining about repeated questions guys and gals. If you're here to help, help.
Says I.
Also, with a starting temp that's higher than the starting temp of other vapes that are available, and a sizable conduction chamber, the Mini is not super conservative with the flowers.
I might pull out the mini at some point again before too long. And I might not.
And yeah, it was @Bravesst in the Air thread who covers drying comprehensively.
Gotta chill with complaining about repeated questions guys and gals. If you're here to help, help.
Says I.
OF
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the reference, sorry you don't like FMs, many do, it's your call of course.
And thanks for the advice, please excuse my ignoring it. I'll stand on my record of helping folks out, how's yours? My opinion stands. If you think I'm out of line, please report me.
OF