Hi everyone
After months of saving and waiting, I finally got my iolite yesterday. I think it's pretty nice, got it for $200 plus a free grinder and a free 320ml bottle of Vector fuel.
Having a fascination with mechanical engineering, and after reading all 36 pages of this thread, I thought I'd add my observations after one (1) day of use.
The herb chamber (detachable part) is shaped like an octogon, the bowl is cylindrical. The herb chamber is shorter than the bowl, and with the lower screen installed, the rim of the herb chamber rests on the lower screen. Air apparently is drawn from the top of the unit, down around the outside of the walls of the herb chamber passes through the screen and then travels through the inside of the herb chamber and up the mouthpiece.
If you remove the lower screen, you have to be careful not to pack the bowl too tightly or when the pin pushes into the center of the bowl, the displaced herb can get packed under the lower rim of the herb chamber and the bottom of the bowl.
The CO generation appears to be part of the Startup cycle of the catalyst disk. If my logic is correct the subsequent catalytic reactons should be almost CO free. It's like this. Platinum as a catalyst will only work after the element is heated to operating temperature. A catalyst by definition is something that reduces the amount of energy required to initiate a reaction, but does not remove the need for energy alltogether. Here is what happens (IMO) when the unit is first ignited.
Turning the switch to on releases the gas. Clicking the piezo igniter actually ignites the fuel into flame. This is the blue "light" you see at first. It is actually a blue flame, like on those torch lighters. In fact I am willing to guess that the fuel jet is very similar to the nozzle/venturi setup on those torch lighters. OK, so what is happening on the inital start up is that this blue flame is heating the catalyst disk to operating temp. The disk is at operating temp when you see the orange "light" which is actually the catalyst disk glowing red hot. However during the inital startup cycle, the little blue flame is still lit. You just can't see it because the disk is glowing more brightly than the flame. The flame does not go out until the inital startup cycle is complete and the fuel supply to the FLAME is shut off. Subsequent heating with the orange glow is the catalyst acting as it should. So FWIW, if, during the inital startup cycle there is a constant open flame, then obviously there would be a significant amount of CO generated. I wonder if 4:20 tested the CO levels after the first cycle.
The reason I feel so sure of this is because I have a portable propane powered catalytic tent heater. It is safe to use in a closed tent as it only generates CO2 and H2O, but it does require an open flame from a lighter to initally ignite the propane and bring the catalyst to operating temp.
Overall, after one day of use, I really like this iolite. I have found that loosely packed herbs with a slow steady draw on the mouthpiece produces the best clouds.
Great forum BTW =)
**Edit** Which got me to thinking about something else. CO and expecially butane are heavier than air. Even hot CO is heavier than air, which is why smog tends to sit low. Since the iolite seems to draw air for the vapor chamber from the top of the unit, and the exhaust is on the side, I would think that any harmful byproducts would go down, hmm, an idea ......
Ok, just confirmed something, I don't suggest you try it as I have now found out that incense smoke tastes horrible
Lit a stick of incense and held it near the iolite (cold/off) then drew through the mouthpiece as hard as I could. If you look at where the herb chamber meets the body of the iolite, you will see a gap that blends in with the ribbing. This is the gap that the iolite draws vapor path air from. This gap is located almost an inch above the top of the exhaust port, and actually the exhaust port is recessed below a solid ledge that protrudes over said exhaust port. This makes me feel much better about not inhaling any CO or butane, whether it exists or not.