Just got my herbalaire today and really like it with some caveats.
The efficiency angle is no empty boast, this thing creates a more uniformly browned product than anything I've ever seen. Far more than the volcano or anything else I've ever personally used - just, like, damn. Beautiful ABV. Bags blow very dense and very nice, I think I have the improved pump, not the old crap one and not the super high powered one - it is reasonably quick but a little sluggish by volcano standards. Direct draw is actually awesome, I can get deep, dense, great hits with little trouble, with or without the straw, which I understand some people have complained it constricts airflow too much - this wasn't the case for me. Bags have a great vapor to air ratio and are, at this limited point in my experience, equal or superior to the volcano bags. It is practically very tough, with no easily broken pieces at all.
My biggest problem is taste. I've noticed this latest batch of material is a little flavorless, but still, not alot of falvor. This requires further experimentation but taste does not seem stellar. Second problem is how the material sits on a HOT ass chamber and continues to vape even when inhalation is not present, something that was not really a problem in any other vape I have except the Iolite, where it is also quite a big problem in my book. Guess w7hat? I also think the iolite has inferior taste despite delivering very nice clouds (once the "moisture condenser' is removed from the mouthpiece). I think this is because tasty compunds go off immediately at a lower temperature, and if the material gets to just sit and mellow at a high temp while the unit preheats, then you're completely cheated out of flavor as well as active ingredient! Why does the MFLB taste way, way better than the iolite, at least in my experience? Just this reason - the mflb reaches vaping temperatures in seconds while you are already inhaling with proper technique, flavor is thusly preserved. Iolite heats up for 60 to 120 seconds to 370ish degrees while tasty stuff goes up in smoke, I think herbalaire may suffer a similar fate. Also, I don't think volcano patented the one way valve, why isn't there one for the mouthpiece? They should at least provide little foam plugs. The tube diameter for the whip is ludicrously narrow too, but 7th floor tubing is too narrow to fit on the big mouthpiece and too big to fit on the small mouthpiece. Guess I can try soaking it in hot water and slip it on the first? Another 50 degrees of vape temp would be nice too.
That sounds like alot of drawbacks but I've used alot of vapes and am expecting alot. If it were my first vape I'd be tripping out about how fantastic this thing is. With how great the direct draw is and how efficient the Herbalaire is... And given its capabilities as a whip and also bag blowing unit... I don't see why anyone would buy a log vape. Very little premium gets you a far more versatile vape which seems just as efficient.
A simple glass stem mouthpiece for direct draw would make it twice as enjoyable, for me at least. And is there really any reason to use the crucible?
Herbalaire, at its current ebay price of like 170 of whatever, and especially as a first or one-and-only vaporizer, gets an easy A- in my use.
Edit: wow, operation herbalaire Vape-bong is GO. This thing works very well, heat needs to be cranked a little over normal and I think finer grind (versus coarse, or NO grind, which does indeed work fine in the HA) works better. The pump is well-able to force air through a 14mm downstem and can indeed fill your tubes for you which is crazy. You could just fill them, then stop the pump and empty them. Can the extreme's air assist do that?