How was your experience with the new pods OF?
Gentle friends, after this mornings positive results with the concentrate pod I decided to press on with the herb version. After fumbling with it for a few minutes when I first got it and finding the herb pod very difficult to load without making a big old mess I ordered FM's new grinder/loading tool, "Load-X":
http://www.puffitup.com/Flowermate-LoadX-Grinder-Loader-p/fm.108_grind.htm
While (as so often happens) the literature leaves a guy scratching his head the product itself is very well designed and made IMO. It comes with two pods which the literature says are two sizes, one 9.3mm for normal loads, the other 12mm for larger loads. The literature also says the loader loads either size but says you have to load both sides with the same size.
Sounds interesting, but that's not what happened. The two supplied are identical, both 9.3mm matching the one that came with the V3. No way 12mm would fit the loader or the vape. I haven't any idea what's up here, perhaps some future vape.....but this loader won't cover it.
The loader is well designed I think, it grinds like the Volcano grinder does, with triangular 'dragon teeth' that shred rather than chop, in the normal manner (magnetically latched). You put two pods (or one and the supplied rubber plug to prevent leaks) in the bottom and screw it on. A shutter opens with the last 30 degrees or so of rotation automatically. Ground herb is then placed into the top of the center section (from the top which is half the grinder). The floor of the middle section has two shallow funnels leading to the open pods through the shutter. You poke them both full with the provided tool stored in the top section. Unscrewing the bottom again closes the sutter than opens up so you can pluck the full pods out and put the caps on. The bottom and sides of the pods are perforated, vapor has an easy way out but heating is slow since there's no good conduction path (the pod rattles).
That's the good part, the pods are easy to load with the aftermarket loader. The bad part is they don't really work all that well. They hold about 1/8 gram, .264 grams per pair, about what the oven normally holds. So the loads are now half size. And the recovery time between hits is much longer (like a full minute) which makes the session slow and long and eats up the battery. And it it up it does. It takes me 3 full five minutes cycles to exhaust the pod, ten or 12 pretty thin hits spaced way apart. Then again, what would you expect from a tiny load with poor heat transfer? I'm wondering how they do with bubble hash.....the Thermovape Cear LL cart was gangbusters with bubble.....
It is fast at reloads of course, provided you have an asbestos glove on your hand, remember it's 400F and made of stainless steel. Pick it up when hot and you'll put it back down fast. You might get away say dumping it in a shirt pocket? Loading a fresh cool one is safe enough of course.
V3 has a modest battery, 1300mAh. 3 sessions on low heat uses up about 530mAh so you can do two but not 3 pods on a charge. 1/4 gram total, not much. The Mini should do four pods with it's 2300 or so mAh, the larger ones twice that.....give or take. OK, but not great? You could easily do twice as much total herb in that time/charge without the pods. Not only would the hits be denser but you can take them closer together.
The real star is the concentrate pod I think. It can hold several sessions worth and provided there's no extra screen it fits nice and snug. Very fast conversion from herb to concentrate and back? If you don't burn yourself.
BTW bumping the temperature up spoiled the taste but didn't do much for shortening the recovery time as you might expect. It's just slow recovering since conduction basically breaks down and we fall back on convection to heat. The herb roasts slowly but uniformly.
More testing is in order, but right now I'm recommending the concentrate cart for your consideration but while the Load-X is nice you're unlikely to be using it much.....those tiny pods just aren't that useful IMO. At least not yet.
Merry Christmas to all our readers, wherever you are.
OF
and I actually agree with your comments about comparison to the aair. My roommate has one and they are very comparable. Even tho I think the FM heats up faster and has a better battery life. Both are great vapes!
