MiniVAP Vaporizer

kimura

Well-Known Member
Are they planning on keeping the teflon cores as well then?

I read a post in this thread that suggested that Hermes may still produce both teflon and glass core units but I frankly have no idea

biohacker said:
Why have the MV's been failing? My patience (dont have alot to start) would be non-existent, if not only did a replacement fail, but also the replacement's replacement? lol

supposedly there were manufacturing issues related to a relocation of their facilities? some bad units got shipped. it appears to be limited to a certain batch (or a number batches) shipped last year, because many users with older units have reported no problems. at least Hermes has acknowledged the issue
 

mixchu69

Well-Known Member
it's been reported (by some FC members and Vapornation themselves) that the glass core adds some conductive heating to the MV as opposed to the teflon core which is/was nearly 100% convection. the two teflon units I had preserved flavor throughout the session, better than any other vape I have tried, and I could leave herb in a hot MV indefinitely and it would not "cook off" at all. If the conductive heating of the glass causes loss of flavor, or worse - cooks the load passively, I will be disappointed. however I will try to stay positive here and keep an open mind

the 4-5 month comment may have been slightly misleading. I received my first MV in September 2014. It failed in less than a month. then my first replacement failed in less than a month. I've been waiting over 2 months for this second replacement. so the whole process has taken 4-5 months at this point
That sucks and hope mv takes care of you by adding some extra goodies, like extra accessories.

I read in this forum about vaping Kief in the mv and getting great results. When I hit up my dispensary and spend over a $$$ amount, they will throw in an edible or joint. But this time I asked for Kief. So I can use the small Kief bowl with the concentrate pad over in the flexi and I should be good? I am curious how it works? Or should I put in a pinch of flowers and mostly Kief? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I never found Kief useful. I would sprinkle it on top of my bowls when combusting and didn't feel any difference.
 
mixchu69,
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Kommyknocker

Well-Known Member
Anyone else's AC cable ever fail. It has a dead point within the cable at a certain able now.
Warranty replacement dealage today I guess.

Kief IS the main bit is it not? As in made up mostly of what gets you there? Or have I been wrong all these year?
 
Kommyknocker,
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mixchu69

Well-Known Member
Anyone else's AC cable ever fail. It has a dead point within the cable at a certain able now.
Warranty replacement dealage today I guess.

Kief IS the main bit is it not? As in made up mostly of what gets you there? Or have I been wrong all these year?
I do not know the science behind it, but everyone tells me it is all the goodies from the flower. But I disagree, and my reason for buying the SCS 3 piece instead of the 4 piece. I never found Kief potent and it sells cheap at all dispensaries. Maybe I have not effectively used it. The advice I was given is sprinkle it on top of your flowers in the bowl. But I never felt the difference.

So I want to try a pure Kief experiemnt to see if it gets me medicated. Since it is a fine powder, I want to see how mv users utilize it. Minivap made a special bowl for it, so wanted to give it a try.
 

Kommyknocker

Well-Known Member
I have a space case 4 piece, however I find the grind to be a little to coarse and as such use my two piece mini santa cruz and tap into my bottom two space case sections. After that in super careful to manipulate the ground material as little as humanly possible. . It's purpose is two fold, I keep whatever Kief decides to stay with the material as I scoop a basket worth up.. And second, only allows the finest trichomes through the mesh. This is how the best hashes used to be made in essence.. Only without the grinding of the material. Big crystals, small crystals.
Hope I'm not making this up. :D
 

Sid

Member
I haven't wanted to join in with this as I'm reserving my judgement, but I have to agree with those who are reporting a 'spent' taste very early on.

I have a glass cored MV with the new firmware, delivered to me at the end of last year. It works very well in that the clouds it produces are consistently good and it always provides a hit, but the taste just isn't there. I also find it incredibly hot, so hot that using the plastic mouthpiece is impossible, as is using any of the standard mouthpieces without connecting some sort of glass to cool it down. That said, I still use the thing more than any other vape.

However, Hermes have promised that they'll be sending me the new Teflon Core unit in order for me to test the difference between the two, I've been waiting a long time for it to arrive and no sign yet, but I'm hopeful and very much looking forward to receiving it to try it out, as I'd then be one of the few people that have tried both glass and teflon with the newest firmware. Obviously as and when I receive the Teflon unit I'll be reporting my findings (after speaking with Hermes first of course!)
 

lazylathe

Almost there...
@mixchu69

I just use the small basket and load it with Kief, do not pack down just leave it nice and fluffy!
Cap with the flexicone and rip away!! Be prepared to be blown away!!! Huge, tasty clouds!!
Dry or through a WT it is great!!
I think I have a video up in the thread somewhere... On my phone at the moment.
 

OnCloud8

Vapor Vixen
I only used with MV whip and didn't even tried standard mp, but the taste was frequently bitter, unpleasant spent taste were there very soon, and the session seems finishes less than 4~5 minutes and no more vapor production even I crank all the way up.


The bitter taste there, at least in my experience and I think a few others (*with teflon core*), is from the short dry vapor path of the stock whip (flexicone+). Try an upgrade to a Herbalizer whip (or probably any longer whip-or water tool) and taste is amazing with every hit, also very cool. Without the longer herbie whip I couldn't really get "clouds", just tasty puffs. With the short vapor path of the flexicone+ I found all long draws had that sorta bitter taste that is caused by hot, dry vapor frying the taste buds (a theory a few of us came up with discussing it earlier in the thread). When I had this issue it got worse as I progressed through a session, and went away if I drank water between each draw.

You will get best results if you let the unit heat up a few minutes past it first reaching a solid light for a lower vaping temp (blue or pink) when you first turn it on for the day. Another way to handle this is to load it, heat it up to red and then dial down to pink before starting, and then work your way upward through the temps. If you want a middle ground, the fastest tasty results can be had by initially heating up to green and just starting there, pretty much instant clouds with lots of flavor.

Also, saw you said earlier that sometimes it would switch temps to quickly, sometimes that happens...easy fix is if you notice it does that, unclick battery and reclick to reboot, should flash as much as expected then and hit the right temp, software can be a little buggy there.
 
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kimura

Well-Known Member
I haven't wanted to join in with this as I'm reserving my judgement, but I have to agree with those who are reporting a 'spent' taste very early on.

I have a glass cored MV with the new firmware, delivered to me at the end of last year. It works very well in that the clouds it produces are consistently good and it always provides a hit, but the taste just isn't there. I also find it incredibly hot, so hot that using the plastic mouthpiece is impossible, as is using any of the standard mouthpieces without connecting some sort of glass to cool it down. That said, I still use the thing more than any other vape.

However, Hermes have promised that they'll be sending me the new Teflon Core unit in order for me to test the difference between the two, I've been waiting a long time for it to arrive and no sign yet, but I'm hopeful and very much looking forward to receiving it to try it out, as I'd then be one of the few people that have tried both glass and teflon with the newest firmware. Obviously as and when I receive the Teflon unit I'll be reporting my findings (after speaking with Hermes first of course!)

interesting, thanks for sharing.

are you getting the "spent" taste even on the lower heat settings? (blue & pink)

also, are you getting the spent taste even when you don't use the lid, such that the herb is only exposed to heat during a draw?
 
kimura,

I.b.vaping

Well-Known Member
I do not know the science behind it, but everyone tells me it is all the goodies from the flower. But I disagree, and my reason for buying the SCS 3 piece instead of the 4 piece. I never found Kief potent and it sells cheap at all dispensaries. Maybe I have not effectively used it. The advice I was given is sprinkle it on top of your flowers in the bowl. But I never felt the difference.

So I want to try a pure Kief experiemnt to see if it gets me medicated. Since it is a fine powder, I want to see how mv users utilize it. Minivap made a special bowl for it, so wanted to give it a try.
 
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I.b.vaping,

poonman

Well-Known Member
I hope Hermes doesn't discontinue the Teflon core and will
produce both MV versions . It was the reviews of some well
respected members that tweaked my interest in the MV .
And they were all with the Teflon cores . Remember when
Coke came out with New Coke and found out later people
preferred the Original Coke ( Coke Classic ) better .
Maybe Hermes will have a MV Classic too .

As for kief , love it !!!
I like to separate my kief strains ...
sFkuQm5.jpg
 

mixchu69

Well-Known Member
I hope Hermes doesn't discontinue the Teflon core and will
produce both MV versions . It was the reviews of some well
respected members that tweaked my interest in the MV .
And they were all with the Teflon cores . Remember when
Coke came out with New Coke and found out later people
preferred the Original Coke ( Coke Classic ) better .
Maybe Hermes will have a MV Classic too .

As for kief , love it !!!
I like to separate my kief strains ...
sFkuQm5.jpg
Can I have the 2 bottles on the right? It looks like sticky goodness. Like the Kief setup.
 

PPN

Volute of Vapor
Yes, the AC cable gets a lot of stress getting used up, I have been through a couple of them.

For kief, since I grind with scissors inside a small pyrex container, I just use a toothbrush every ten grinds or so and I can claim almost a small bowl full of magic dust. It does produces the sickest clouds...
I quasi-never unplugged it since I only own the single version and except if I twist too much the cable I don't get any issues.

I would like to heard your fedback about the glass core,is there a lost of taste consensus?

I noticed a difference of taste between decarb kit and teflon although it doesn't cook the load between hits.
 

Sid

Member
interesting, thanks for sharing.

are you getting the "spent" taste even on the lower heat settings? (blue & pink)

also, are you getting the spent taste even when you don't use the lid, such that the herb is only exposed to heat during a draw?

Yes the spent taste is with any heat setting, but I haven't tried it without the lid, I'll give it a go.

I should also mention that my unit definitely cooks the load between hits, I only ever use the basket rather than load straight into the chamber, but still it seems to cook the herb, I think all round it's sounding like the glass cores retain their heat and as such run hotter and stay hotter.

Another element I'm looking forward to testing is how long it takes to heat up with the Teflon core, as with the glass it takes a pretty long time.
 

trontreez

Well-Known Member
Hi just a post about my experience with the MiniVAP. I found I could not get sufficiently medicated using the unit. It's definitely better in terms of draw resistance than the Solo and gets me much more medicated than the Solo but still doesn't get me where I need to be. I'm an ex recreational smoker and I guess maybe even what you guys call a cloud chaser. It doesn't hold a candle compared to my Herborizer XL sphere where I can dump a large load in the hearth and it gets me nicely medicated every time and sometimes can even take me into outer space if I have too much. Possibly I was expecting too much from a portable but I'm a little disappointed to be honest considering the price. I'm actually taking a break from MJ all together but will give it another go in a few months maybe with the decarb kit and let you know how it goes.

My biggest gripe was actually with the MV lid itself. The white plastic component was not flush against the anodized aluminum (gold in my case) on arrival. After a few uses on high temp. the two components became separated exposing glue and a blu-tac like substance. I contacted MiniVAP direct and they were somewhat reluctant to replace the lid and instead gave me more blu-tac adhesive and a few accessories. It's a bit concerning health-wise considering an interlocking design could easily eliminate the need for any glue or adhesives. Did anyone else experience this problem too with the lid or am I the only lucky one?
 

biohacker

H.R.E.A.M
That's odd, I thought that this was a medical device with some cerifications that only the Volcano has? Maybe i'm confusing this with another vape though. I used to own the Herborizer, but didn't have the XL version. I found the preheat time long, and lots of priming pulls required. Now you have me interested in the Herborizer again! lol However I feel that my LSV is a similar kind of vape/setup, where I can just plop it on top of a double male adapter, and still get that glass purity, without the risk of breaking the Herborizer, or its expensive proprietary bowl.
 

I.b.vaping

Well-Known Member
Anyone else's AC cable ever fail. It has a dead point within the cable at a certain able now.
Warranty replacement dealage today I guess.

Kief IS the main bit is it not? As in made up mostly of what gets you there? Or have I been wrong all these year?
Yep!
 
I.b.vaping,

Kommyknocker

Well-Known Member
Hi just a post about my experience with the MiniVAP. I found I could not get sufficiently medicated using the unit. It's definitely better in terms of draw resistance than the Solo and gets me much more medicated than the Solo but still doesn't get me where I need to be. I'm an ex recreational smoker and I guess maybe even what you guys call a cloud chaser. It doesn't hold a candle compared to my Herborizer XL sphere where I can dump a large load in the hearth and it gets me nicely medicated every time and sometimes can even take me into outer space if I have too much. Possibly I was expecting too much from a portable but I'm a little disappointed to be honest considering the price. I'm actually taking a break from MJ all together but will give it another go in a few months maybe with the decarb kit and let you know how it goes.

My biggest gripe was actually with the MV lid itself. The white plastic component was not flush against the anodized aluminum (gold in my case) on arrival. After a few uses on high temp. the two components became separated exposing glue and a blu-tac like substance. I contacted MiniVAP direct and they were somewhat reluctant to replace the lid and instead gave me more blu-tac adhesive and a few accessories. It's a bit concerning health-wise considering an interlocking design could easily eliminate the need for any glue or adhesives. Did anyone else experience this problem too with the lid or am I the only lucky one?
My lid separated into its two parts after too much tinkering with straw mods. Easy fixed with some glue. Also just want to say, the air path is isolated from the lid altogether so the adhesive used is really by the by imo.
Secondly, I went straight to the MV from the EQ then the Solo. Never imagined vapor could taste so much cleaner.. Purer.. If they are the right word.
I'd seen the Herborizer but it never took my fancy much. Cool enough looking device though.
 
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trontreez

Well-Known Member
That's odd, I thought that this was a medical device with some cerifications that only the Volcano has? Maybe i'm confusing this with another vape though. I used to own the Herborizer, but didn't have the XL version. I found the preheat time long, and lots of priming pulls required. Now you have me interested in the Herborizer again! lol However I feel that my LSV is a similar kind of vape/setup, where I can just plop it on top of a double male adapter, and still get that glass purity, without the risk of breaking the Herborizer, or its expensive proprietary bowl.

The MiniVAP use to advertise RoHS certification but I no longer see that mentioned on the product or website. Yeah the 10min warm-up time on the XL sphere is a bit excessive but if you have the patience it's 3mins of pure joy for me thereafter with only one primer pull. I am putting large amounts in the hearth however 0.2 - 0.3g. But still seemed to get similar results with 0.1g.

My lid separated into its two parts after too much tinkering with straw mods. Easy fixed with some glue. Also just want to say, the air path is isolated from the lid altogether so the adhesive used is really by the by imo.
Secondly, I went straight to the MV from the EQ then the Solo. Never imagined vapor could taste so much cleaner.. Purer.. If they are the right word.
I'd seen the Herborizer but it never took my fancy much. Cool enough looking device though.

Yes the air path is isolated from the the lid when in use. But possibly when cleaning or after use some glue or adhesive may drop into the air path and go unnoticed for next times use. I'm sure it is special heat resistant and non-toxic material but an interlocking design would have been so easy to develop and would eliminate the need for any glues and keep the health conscious (OK paranoid) people like myself happy.
 

OnCloud8

Vapor Vixen
The MiniVAP use to advertise RoHS certification but I no longer see that mentioned on the product or website.

The path to reach it (can't link directly for some reason) is minivap.com -> More Information Button -> scroll down -> click 3 Quality and Safety under the Specifications Heading. Listed there as having RoSH and CE certifications.
 

trontreez

Well-Known Member
The path to reach it (can't link directly for some reason) is minivap.com -> More Information Button -> scroll down -> click 3 Quality and Safety under the Specifications Heading. Listed there as having RoSH and CE certifications.

Sorry my bad. Yes the website still has RoSH and CE listed for the MiniVAP. My unit just has CE marks on the core heater and battery however. Did anyone with an older unit have a RoSH mark? I'm just having a quick look online and these certifications are not really a big deal in the EU since pretty much all electrical products require to conform to both CE and RoSH standards. I'm not sure the certification the Volcano has but they send it to an independent laboratory to test for harmful substances and off-gassing I believe and passed with flying colors. I'm not saying the MiniVAP or any other vaporizer for that matter has any toxic products inside but we'll never know for sure until the manufacturers send away for independent testing like the Volocano.
 

mixchu69

Well-Known Member
Hi just a post about my experience with the MiniVAP. I found I could not get sufficiently medicated using the unit. It's definitely better in terms of draw resistance than the Solo and gets me much more medicated than the Solo but still doesn't get me where I need to be. I'm an ex recreational smoker and I guess maybe even what you guys call a cloud chaser. It doesn't hold a candle compared to my Herborizer XL sphere where I can dump a large load in the hearth and it gets me nicely medicated every time and sometimes can even take me into outer space if I have too much. Possibly I was expecting too much from a portable but I'm a little disappointed to be honest considering the price. I'm actually taking a break from MJ all together but will give it another go in a few months maybe with the decarb kit and let you know how it goes.

My biggest gripe was actually with the MV lid itself. The white plastic component was not flush against the anodized aluminum (gold in my case) on arrival. After a few uses on high temp. the two components became separated exposing glue and a blu-tac like substance. I contacted MiniVAP direct and they were somewhat reluctant to replace the lid and instead gave me more blu-tac adhesive and a few accessories. It's a bit concerning health-wise considering an interlocking design could easily eliminate the need for any glue or adhesives. Did anyone else experience this problem too with the lid or am I the only lucky one?
That is why I love the fact that there are so many new vaporizers coming out and everyone has a choice. Minivap might not be for you and you might need a conduction or conduction/convection vaporizer. My second choice behind the mv is the mighty. That machine hits hard. But I get more elevated with the minivap because I have huge lung capacity. I think the last third of my draw from my minivap produces serious vapor. I would recommend the mighty if minivap is not right for you.
 
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