Iolite vaporiser

[rbrown13]

I hate to do this on my first post here but what gives with O&B I have emailed them at least 5 times in the last week with no response I just bought my iolite a couple weeks ago and was lovin it until the plastic tube connected to the stainless steel thread section cracked along with the white donut that the herb chamber centers in. when I read around the web what an ongoing problem this seems to be for the iolite I can't believe O&B can't seem to fix this problem on a $200+ item. I am looking very closely at the magic flight launch box now I think. sorry for the bitching.

 

[Keyser Soze]

I am not a representative of O&B.....but I believe they close down for 2 weeks, this time of year(its the one time a year, those guys take vacation).

If you bought the unit from an online retailer, I would suggest checking with that company, and see if they can help you out(if you havn't already). As B&O offers a 2 year manufacturer's warranty on all Iolites.

I would'nt apologize about that being your first post....everyone here is pretty cool, and open to sharing info whenever they can.

Welcome to the forum.

 

[rayski]

I hate to do this on my first post here but what gives with O&B I have emailed them at least 5 times in the last week with no response I just bought my iolite a couple weeks ago and was lovin it until the plastic tube connected to the stainless steel thread section cracked along with the white donut that the herb chamber centers in. when I read around the web what an ongoing problem this seems to be for the iolite I can't believe O&B can't seem to fix this problem on a $200+ item. I am looking very closely at the magic flight launch box now I think. sorry for the bitching.

Do you have the new mouthpiece with the stainless steel threads? If so, I think it's a new problem.

 

[Derf]

...the plastic tube connected to the stainless steel thread section cracked

It happens to all the plastic stems. Thats why O&B offers free upgrades to SS threaded stems. THey are on holiday right now, will be back in a few days. They sent mine out before they went on holiday, got here in less than 8 days, came as a 3-pack with all new 3-part stems. Very nice of them.

Don't fault them on the stems... its a known issue and they are fixing it.

 

[rbrown13]

I hate to do this on my first post here but what gives with O&B I have emailed them at least 5 times in the last week with no response I just bought my iolite a couple weeks ago and was lovin it until the plastic tube connected to the stainless steel thread section cracked along with the white donut that the herb chamber centers in. when I read around the web what an ongoing problem this seems to be for the iolite I can't believe O&B can't seem to fix this problem on a $200+ item. I am looking very closely at the magic flight launch box now I think. sorry for the bitching.

Do you have the new mouthpiece with the stainless steel threads? If so, I think it's a new problem.

mine has the stainless steel threaded insert and what is weird is it looks like the plastic cracked under pressure from expansion of the threaded metal piece because it cracked long ways from top to bottom on both sides and the tube fell into two halves. any idea where I could pick up a threaded nipple in SS to hook up a small silicone hose. I can't believe this broke in such a short period of time and I have been so careful to the point of being really anal and today when I went to load the herb chamber it seemed I wasn't picking up as much herb sucking it up through the mouthpiece and then I noticed why. I have a friend who has gone through two of the SS pieces and his answer is to just buy some spares which is a good idea but I would like to see the one that came on the $200+ unit last longer than a week or so. Again with the bitching

 

[rbrown13]

Oh and by the way I LOVE THIS PLACE!!!

 

[rbrown13]

I've looked around but couldn't find anything has anyone ever done any tests to see what the actual max temp of the latest version iolite would be? I have done several tests with an accurate laser thermometer and the highest I've seen was 137c with the unit very hot to the touch after a couple of loads I took the reading instantly after removing the herb chamber and I never saw anything close to the spec 190c

 

[Blazemonkey]

Yeah, good forum indeed. i wish i read more about the iolite here before i picked mine up friday. saturday afternoon i went to use the iolite, and the same thing happened to me. warmed it up and by the time i started hitting it, the first screw-in tip broke off. this is only after one night of use around the house, it wasnt dropped, banged or damaged in any way, so I can only assume the plastic some how melted. i only have 3 left, and i don't want to have to start ordering replacement parts constantly, otherwise i'll never use the thing. and if this plastic is melting, i'd rather just smoke joints. i'm about to send an email to the support staff to see if the metal replacements are any better.

 

[rbrown13]

Yeah, good forum indeed. i wish i read more about the iolite here before i picked mine up friday. saturday afternoon i went to use the iolite, and the same thing happened to me. warmed it up and by the time i started hitting it, the first screw-in tip broke off. this is only after one night of use around the house, it wasnt dropped, banged or damaged in any way, so I can only assume the plastic some how melted. i only have 3 left, and i don't want to have to start ordering replacement parts constantly, otherwise i'll never use the thing. and if this plastic is melting, i'd rather just smoke joints. i'm about to send an email to the support staff to see if the metal replacements are any better.

[url]http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/2725/dscn2157.th.jpg[/url]

Well the metal one is the one I'm having trouble with and I don't think I'm the only one, like I said a friend of mine is on his second or maybe third stainless steel one and he just keeps buying new ones I want O&B to take care of this I shouldn't have to shell out more money after spending over $200 to make their device work properly. I really don't mean to make this a bitch fest but it really pains me when companies seem to use us the general public as beta testers and then a year or two down the road they finally have most of the bugs worked out and you own a pretty good version 3 and a crappy version 2 and an even crappier version 1, I know some of this is just how things are done I just wish more companies stood behind their products and I still have to wait and see what O&B will do about this.

 

[tdavie]

@rbrown13 and others. I bought my Iolite on December 11th/09, and with the exception of December 13th, have used it every day (several times per day on occasion). I've noticed several things.

1) After as little as a week, the mouthpiece gets 'sticky' in the threads, I figure this is because of condensed vapor/THC/Cannabinoids.

2) If I remove the mouthpiece right after vaping, no problem.

3) If I forget and try to remove the mouthpiece the next morning is when there is a 'sticky' problem.

It's my opinion that a threaded screw isn't all that good on a vapor unit where there is a significantly elevated temperature, certainly not if potentially pliable plastic is involved. The metal threaded mouthpieces seem better, but then they will conduct heat to other non metal parts of the unit.

Tom

 

[rbrown13]

I don't know if you can see the crack in the pic but it is like this on both sides it looks to me like it gets so hot at the union of SS and plastic (some type of a bakelite I imagine)and being heat resistant to a degree at some point something has to give and it's not going to be the SS.


P.s. Sorry for the crappy iphone pic I will get a better one tomorrow

 

[rbrown13]

and in light of my last post where can you get one of these (the knurled threaded SS fitting) I think it would work well with a short piece of med grade silicone tubing and a small mouthpiece.

 

[rbrown13]

I don't think I'm a fan of the suction loading method. :/ My lungs are not meant to act like a vacuum cleaner like Mrs Conehead. I'm not too nervous about inhaling something because my herb isn't ground up like crushed pepper, its out of a grinder and is like rough saw dust. I believe that how dry your herb is affects how fine you can grind it, and mine is never like crypt dust. Still, I don't like this hoover action much. Maybe I'll get used to it, I dunno.


As to the user who wanted to know about "stands" for the Iolite ( I think that was you, LO, on page 77)... This is what I've fashioned to hold mine up. Note that you don't need a stand, and I actually made this to hold my iphone at an angle while watching videos... but it works for the iolite as well. Take a large Binder Clip, take out the metal prongs one one side, cut down the metal ends so it isn't as long, and re-bend the metal to the same shape to fit back into the black spring clip part.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2685/4282302831_fe0b6aa889_b.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4063/4282312767_d74904f79d_b.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4018/4282314851_ca99ba678e_b.jpg

I love the stand, I have something similar for my iphone.

 

[Jonah Hex]

and in light of my last post where can you get one of these (the knurled threaded SS fitting) I think it would work well with a short piece of med grade silicone tubing and a small mouthpiece.


http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e341/rbrown13/Untitled.jpg

Something like you show here would be perfect. I would prefer the tubing to be shorter, but still flexible. (One can make it any length prefered) Would not have a breakage problem. Actually, you can just make it with the new stainless fitting from a new or broken Iolite stainless mouth piece. Then attach some high temp food grade silicon tubing to the end of the stainless piece where it was attached before to the hard plastic tube. I'll do this myself once all my 5 current spares break.

 

[rbrown13]

and in light of my last post where can you get one of these (the knurled threaded SS fitting) I think it would work well with a short piece of med grade silicone tubing and a small mouthpiece.


http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e341/rbrown13/Untitled.jpg

Something like you show here would be perfect. I would prefer the tubing to be shorter, but still flexible. (One can make it any length prefered) Would not have a breakage problem. Actually, you can just make it with the new stainless fitting from a new or broken Iolite stainless mouth piece. Then attach some high temp food grade silicon tubing to the end of the stainless piece where it was attached before to the hard plastic tube. I'll do this myself once all my 5 current spares break.

yep I've already fashioned one from a piece of med grade silicone tubing.

 

[DevoTheStrange]

and in light of my last post where can you get one of these (the knurled threaded SS fitting) I think it would work well with a short piece of med grade silicone tubing and a small mouthpiece.


http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e341/rbrown13/Untitled.jpg

I do believe you can find those on Ebay... it's where I have seen them.
What I use is just throw some tight fitting tubing on your extra white mouth piece, that way you can switch the two if you want too use a whip.
I will take a picture when I get too work too show what I mean.

 

[Lo]

Well I'd like to add that I had 2 of the SS pieces break on me this past week. One minute they're fine and the next minute the plastic is off and the threads are stuck in the hot Iolite! Bummer as I thought this problem was solved

 

[DevoTheStrange]

I don't see why they just go with the original stems that came out in the beginning, I still have those. They have not broke. Every design they come out with since seems too eventually fail. Why not go back too what was working?
either that or make the piece that screws into the bowl entirely out of metal, and make the black stem that slides into it able too withstand the heat. have the pieces that touch the metal no longer have threading on them. And dont have a plastic jacket around the SS threads like the newest stems.

 

[rbrown13]

I hate the fact that on a $200+ device only a week after I purchased it I find myself in a hardware store trying to piece something together to make "the next generation in vaporizers" function. Don't get me wrong I think the idea and general execution of the design are quite good but the fact that O&B have allowed this cool design to be marred by a tiny piece of plastic I now wish I had gone with the magic flight launch box I think it's it true that simple is better.

 

[Progress]

I also hope that O&B get the stem issue resolved (and some other minor bugs worked out), as the portability of the catalytic converter is an extremely impressive and novel idea.
I (as well as most iolite owners I know) have never had any broken stems.
I also have not seen the stainless-steel-threaded stems (as they were not sent to any of the beta testers I know, and none of my friends have needed to order any).
I donlt see why it is not an option to use the stainless steel stems and coat the outside of the tube with some silicone (like that which protects one from getting burned by the top half of the Cyclone bowl on the Extreme).
As far as filling the bowl, a travel shampoo container, glass oil jar, etc. may have a small enough opening to fit into the metal bowl for neat filling (a small funnel may be helpful for filling the bottle). Also, a shallow container (ex. a altoids minis container, a small buzz butter tin from the PD kit, etc.).
Hopefully we will hear from one of the Iolite reps again at some point (please do try to be respectful of their position & time if so).
Toke it easy, all!

 

[DevoTheStrange]

I use a stash case that the whole bowl fits into the mouth... stick it in and suck up my bowl. The stash case I use is the same size as the one Space Case sells... the long skinny one. The entire mouthpiece slides right in.
I either do that, or when it gets too deep I will put the ground herb in my hand and suck it up without touching the metal too my hand.

 

[Derf]

O&B have stated that the plastic they use is a heat-resistant plastic, so I'm wondering why this fails. I think the main cause of breakage comes from the fact that the plastic is sitting in a metal sleeve, and the heating/cooling of the iolite causes thermal stress. Perhaps because the metal expands and contracts during the heating and cooling at a different rate than the plastic. As the why the SS threaded plastic pipes fail, I am at a loss - maybe the plastic doesn't join very well with metal?

O&B have discouraged use of the knurled SS pipe insert, mostly I think because it would conduct heat and burn you if you touched it. However, given that both their plastic and metal threaded plastic pipes fail, I'm leaning toward a fix such as this if I go through my 3 SS threaded complimentary replacements.

I may experiment with making something myself as well; if it looks good and works I might help out the community by making more of them. I have access to a machine shop, lab grade silicone tubing, and glass work shop. I can probably fabricate something.

 

[rbrown13]

O&B have stated that the plastic they use is a heat-resistant plastic, so I'm wondering why this fails. I think the main cause of breakage comes from the fact that the plastic is sitting in a metal sleeve, and the heating/cooling of the iolite causes thermal stress. Perhaps because the metal expands and contracts during the heating and cooling at a different rate than the plastic. As the why the SS threaded plastic pipes fail, I am at a loss - maybe the plastic doesn't join very well with metal?

O&B have discouraged use of the knurled SS pipe insert, mostly I think because it would conduct heat and burn you if you touched it. However, given that both their plastic and metal threaded plastic pipes fail, I'm leaning toward a fix such as this if I go through my 3 SS threaded complimentary replacements.

I may experiment with making something myself as well; if it looks good and works I might help out the community by making more of them. I have access to a machine shop, lab grade silicone tubing, and glass work shop. I can probably fabricate something.

Yes the plastics thermal threshold has a lot to do with how hard and inflexible it is and I think over a short period of time with expansion and contraction of the SS piece however minuscule it is I think this is the cause of all if not some of the breakage.

 

[Raf007]

I just called them, to ask for a new mouthpiece, and they were really friendly and accepted right away to send me a new one in France !

So thx Dominique ( I think it's the name of the guy i talked to) !!

 

[rbrown13]

I just called them, to ask for a new mouthpiece, and they were really friendly and accepted right away to send me a new one in France !

So thx Dominique ( I think it's the name of the guy i talked to) !!

Does O&B have an 800 phone number or do I have to make a call from the US to Ireland? I have emailed them several times now with no response, I am not a happy customer right now and it doesn't seem like O&B really cares.