MiniVAP Vaporizer

[lazylightning]

I was just doing some online research to see if I could put together some less expensive filter baskets and screen discs for my MV.

After 1 trip to Spain without being repaired and 6 weeks of waiting to hear from Hermes about it since it was returned, I feel a little uncomfortable sending them more money. They seem lightning quick with new customers (like mythical Hermes) but considerably slower after that (like the mythical Tortoise).

I haven't found the replacement MV baskets I was looking for yet but I found the baskets that would fit in my dream Party MaxiVAP!

 

[Kommyknocker]

You have the smallest hands!

 

[lazylightning]

Haha...not my hands. I wish I actually had those baskets and a vape to fit them though.

 

[Kommyknocker]

Crazy thing is that's totally possible. Just... Only.. Not. Unless you got some cash for r&d.

 

[Mrmrmrmr]

Oh I think we are all ready to put all these bad units,poor customer service ,and lack of communication behind us. If only Hermes was on the same page !!! This vape is one of my favorites for flavor and effects and I just wish they would smooth out the rough edges that keep them from having a fucking GREAT product AND great customer service/communication.

 

[Edwardo]

I'm

Oh I think we are all ready to put all these bad units,poor customer service ,and lack of communication behind us. If only Hermes was on the same page !!! This vape is one of my favorites for flavor and effects and I just wish they would smooth out the rough edges that keep them from having a fucking GREAT product AND great customer service/communication.

I'm not sure the problems are behind them/us. My 3rd unit (2nd replacement) has worked great for a few weeks, but I'm sure in the last few days it has slumped - red isn't hot anymore (kind of like blue/blurple was like when new). Sometimes its hard to tell because my 'erb isn't consistent, and I always wander if I'm just imagining it. Im sure the next few weeks will tell whether i'm going crazy or not. If this unit fails I think I'm done with minivap! sad but true

 

[Mrmrmrmr]

I said I "hope". Obviously right now there are still many problems but I'm hoping this year will be the year everything starts running smoothly and the number of bad units drops significantly. That's all we can do at thispoint... Hope.

 

[xhexk]

Come on guys, lighten up, don't scare me like that after I've just put an order through.

 

[lwien]

How was the hit?

Great.

 

[Smknbud]

Oh I think we are all ready to put all these bad units,poor customer service ,and lack of communication behind us. If only Hermes was on the same page !!! This vape is one of my favorites for flavor and effects and I just wish they would smooth out the rough edges that keep them from having a fucking GREAT product AND great customer service/communication.

I can't speak for the communication part, which for me is inclusive of customer service, but I was under the impression that the bad units part of the equation was rectified. I mean, I'm sure a few duds will still make there way into people's hands, it's inevitable for any manufacture, but with the new heater cores the failure rate should be extremely low. Am I missing something? As Im not seeing evidence to contradict that.

Something must being going right as I see Vapornation is completely out of stock of inventory of the GcMV.

 

[MinnBobber]

lwien, Ratchett Song pics......

Took pics today to show two ways to use Ratchett Song:

With bubbler, just invert mV

With a hydratube style piece, place HT onto Song.
Note--piece is laying down to take pic, won't stand upright by itself

So many ways to use the mV......

 

[scottg402]

lwien, Ratchett Song pics......

Took pics today to show two ways to use Ratchett Song:

With bubbler, just invert mV

With a hydratube style piece, place HT onto Song.
Note--piece is laying down to take pic, won't stand upright by itself

So many ways to use the mV......

I have the 14 mm Hermes glass adapter and the 19 mm @Ratchett SonG. I much prefer the SonG. I typically start on blue with a mouthpiece and savor the taste with a half dozen dry pulls, then pull the mouthpiece off, slap the SonG on and bump up the heat for the rest of the session through water. Kicks ass and it's EASY!

 

[xhexk]

Oh I think we are all ready to put all these bad units,poor customer service ,and lack of communication behind us. If only Hermes was on the same page !!! This vape is one of my favorites for flavor and effects and I just wish they would smooth out the rough edges that keep them from having a fucking GREAT product AND great customer service/communication.

From my experience so far communication has been pretty good. I've emailed Hermes today and have recieved responses within 30 minutes of each other. They even gave me some free accessories because of some complications with my order! Let's just hope they can keep this up.

 

[Edwardo]

From my experience so far communication has been pretty good. I've emailed Hermes today and have recieved responses within 30 minutes of each other. They even gave me some free accessories because of some complications with my order! Let's just hope they can keep this up.

Yea, communication has been pretty good from Hermes as far as I'm concerned. However, since last july(2014) I have had a total of about 3 weeks in which my minivap has worked as it should. This was down to several factors including shipping delays; cycles of returns because Hermes insisted on 'fixing' rather than replacing on several occasions; delays at my end whilst I tried to figure out if my unit was slowly failing or if I was just imagining it.

My initial outlay of £400 has stopped me being able to get a backup vape, so in the last year I have had no chance of fucking combustion, and my health has gotten worse. Hermes did very kindly give me some accessories, but what good are they when the heating unit perpetually breaks down? The three hours of battery life is an absolute myth as well. The battery is decent relative to other vapes I believe, but you don't get 3 hours, and it doesn't seem great considering its size/weight.

This forum seems to be about aiding and informing people who are making the difficult transition from smoking (joints, probably with tobacco) to consuming in another way, specifically vaping. However there is little chat in general about how important reliability of your vaporiser is! A failed unit will probably lead to combusting, then you run the risk of being back to square 1 in a matter days (hours even?). I have 'given up' smoking about 6 times in the last year and its difficult not to mention emotionally taxing and probably worse my my health overall than just continuing to smoke! This is because I made the fatal mistake of putting all my eggs (£400) into one basket (the minivap).

When I first looked into vapes, I really wanted to avoid the volcano - big, cumbersome, impossible to take to friends houses, had very little resemblance to the act of 'smoking'. But with my minivap experience, I am beginning to see the allure of a rock-solid machine, and almost willing to start putting up with sucking vapour out of a big bag, like some kind of solvent abuser.

My long rambling point is: if your serious about fu••ing combustion, then reliability should be at the top of your concerns. And a back-up vape is essential - though this may be difficult for some who have spent over £400 on their primary unit!

Anyway, I hope my minivap somehow comes back to life a bit - maybe its just got the flu?

 

[lwien]

Ok, so after eliminating some air leaks that was my fault in the initial analysis, here's what is happening.

Purple...........no visible vapor but some incredible taste.
Green...........some visible vapor
Red..............some nice clouds but even when finishing the bowl on red, there is still enough goodies in the ABV (med brown) that I could get another good hit in the LSV before it starts to taste nasty.

Do you guys think it's running too cool and that I should send it back for a bit of tweaking?

From a logical standpoint, it may be correctly calibrated in that I'm going to assume that the temps were calibrated as such with the bud being directly put into the bowl. When using the small basket in the flixicone, we are pulling the bud up from the bottom of the bowl a few hundred percent (considering how shallow the basket is) plus we are adding metal in the form of the basket and the screen that both soak up some of the heat, so with this in mind, the temp calibration kinda makes sense, eh?

Thoughts?

 

[Sid]

It's shame that that has been your experience @Edwardo, and you've made a really good point regarding the consequences of vapes breaking down. I'm fortunate in that I gave up tobacco around 10 years ago and smoked neat joints up until getting into vaping, so the baccy addiction doesn't come into play, but I totally sympathise with you and it's a real shame that you haven't been able to have a clear run with the MV to get you off combustion completely.

It's weird, because my journey with the MV really hasn't been smooth, I've other vapes that have been rock solid, but none of them pack the punch that the MV does, when it's on form nothing comes close which is why I put up with the poor communication etc.

As others have said, deep down I believe that the guys at Hermes are decent people, but I think that they're struggling to keep every aspect of their business at the highest level. As a businessman myself, I can understand this, as I've struggled with certain aspects of my businesses in the past, which has resulted in me either having to reach out for help by either taking on staff or bringing in consultants, both expensive options which can be difficult to put into place when your business is young, as much as the MV has been around for a while it takes a lot of money to get a product ready for retail, hats off to anyone who achieves this.

Another thing that might be worth taking into account, is that this is a marijuana based product, so you're probably dealing with stoners, mixed with the laid back 'manyana' attitude of our Spanish friends, I think that this might come into play with some of the instances of lack of communication etc

I hope you get your unit sorted, I've had my GC now since December and my wife and I use it heavily (wife is a medical user, and I'm a pot-head!) at least 6 sessions a day, every day, and to be fair it's been rock sold for me, however, the TC I have (which I much prefer) lasted around 3-4 weeks before fading out, so I do understand your frustration.

 

[MinnBobber]

PBW and the flexicone???

Hi, it's time to try to clean my flexicone and I'm thinking of using PBW (powdered brewery wash).
Has anyone done this and how did it work??

My MFLB water whip is also getting sticky at the vaporizer end so thinking of PBW for it too.

Any experiences/ results?

Thanks

 

[Smknbud]

Ok, so after eliminating some air leaks that was my fault in the initial analysis, here's what is happening.

Purple...........no visible vapor but some incredible taste.
Green...........some visible vapor
Red..............some nice clouds but even when finishing the bowl on red, there is still enough goodies in the ABV (med brown) that I could get another good hit in the LSV before it starts to taste nasty.

Do you guys think it's running too cool and that I should send it back for a bit of tweaking?

From a logical standpoint, it may be correctly calibrated in that I'm going to assume that the temps were calibrated as such with the bud being directly put into the bowl. When using the small basket in the flixicone, we are pulling the bud up from the bottom of the bowl a few hundred percent (considering how shallow the basket is) plus we are adding metal in the form of the basket and the screen that both soak up some of the heat, so with this in mind, the temp calibration kinda makes sense, eh?

Thoughts?

I know you prefer very small loads, and that's fine, but any chance that you can completely fill the small basket with just a little compaction and see if you get better clouds this way? With the mostly convection TcMV you have you should be able to do this without wasting precious herb, and if you want to make sure nothing is wasted, go ahead and pull the flexicone with basket of herb right after your session to make sure nothing will continue to cook from any residual heat. Some here have also used a basket within a basket to keep small loads from 'floating'.

 

[Mrmrmrmr]

@lwien if your not getting clouds on green or even pink after it heats up I would consider contacting whoever you got it from. I get clouds of blue vapor on blue if that tells to anything.

 

[lwien]

@lwien if your not getting clouds on green or even pink after it heats up I would consider contacting whoever you got it from. I get clouds of blue vapor on blue if that tells to anything.

I get very visible vapor on green. I wouldn't call them LSV type clouds though.

Being that you get clouds on blue and I don't get any clouds on purple, either mine is running too cool or yours is running too hot. Not quite sure which is which especially if you take into consideration what I posted above as the possible reasons for this, eh?

 

[mixchu69]

Yea, communication has been pretty good from Hermes as far as I'm concerned. However, since last july(2014) I have had a total of about 3 weeks in which my minivap has worked as it should. This was down to several factors including shipping delays; cycles of returns because Hermes insisted on 'fixing' rather than replacing on several occasions; delays at my end whilst I tried to figure out if my unit was slowly failing or if I was just imagining it.

My initial outlay of £400 has stopped me being able to get a backup vape, so in the last year I have had no chance of fucking combustion, and my health has gotten worse. Hermes did very kindly give me some accessories, but what good are they when the heating unit perpetually breaks down? The three hours of battery life is an absolute myth as well. The battery is decent relative to other vapes I believe, but you don't get 3 hours, and it doesn't seem great considering its size/weight.

This forum seems to be about aiding and informing people who are making the difficult transition from smoking (joints, probably with tobacco) to consuming in another way, specifically vaping. However there is little chat in general about how important reliability of your vaporiser is! A failed unit will probably lead to combusting, then you run the risk of being back to square 1 in a matter days (hours even?). I have 'given up' smoking about 6 times in the last year and its difficult not to mention emotionally taxing and probably worse my my health overall than just continuing to smoke! This is because I made the fatal mistake of putting all my eggs (£400) into one basket (the minivap).

When I first looked into vapes, I really wanted to avoid the volcano - big, cumbersome, impossible to take to friends houses, had very little resemblance to the act of 'smoking'. But with my minivap experience, I am beginning to see the allure of a rock-solid machine, and almost willing to start putting up with sucking vapour out of a big bag, like some kind of solvent abuser.

My long rambling point is: if your serious about fu••ing combustion, then reliability should be at the top of your concerns. And a back-up vape is essential - though this may be difficult for some who have spent over £400 on their primary unit!

Anyway, I hope my minivap somehow comes back to life a bit - maybe its just got the flu?

Hope it works out for you. Must be very frustrating but good things come to those who wait.

 

[Smknbud]

PBW and the flexicone???

Hi, it's time to try to clean my flexicone and I'm thinking of using PBW (powdered brewery wash).
Has anyone done this and how did it work??

My MFLB water whip is also getting sticky at the vaporizer end so thinking of PBW for it too.

Any experiences/ results?

Thanks

Never used PBW, just a short soak in ISO for my flexicone. Seems to be working just fine. The yellowing is still there, but no residue.

 

[lazylathe]

@lwien
Do you have the TC or the GC version?
I have the Teflon version and on:
Blue - very slightly visible whisps in correct lighting
Purple- very nice, mid sized clouds
Green - nice, big dense clouds
Red - insane clouds, WT dude only for me.

I let the unit heat up at my desired setting, so I do not heat up to Red and then back down, just heat up at Purple and let it sit for a minute or two to heat soak.

Then I give it a few dry, empty pulls to heat soak the chamber.
Load up my Flexicone and basket and close the top up.

Now comes the part I do not really care for... Those first few rips that produce nothing... I take long, slow draws in the beginning and as the vapor starts I can shorten them, so long as you don't wait too long between pulls. This thing is a convection monster and the load cools quickly in mine.
I cannot get LSV type clouds from my MV, closest I can get is on Red with a WT!

From the sounds of it, I would be opening a ticket and start the return process...

 

[bigmouth]

@Edwardo: I feel you. The flip side of that, though, is most other vaporizers have risk, too. I mean, there are exceptions like the Volcano, which has been around forever. But I find balloons a non-starter personally, and most of the other top-rated alternatives have issues, too. I had to send in my Cloud EVO for a cracked bamboo shortly after purchase. Many Mighty/Crafty owners have reported problems. Quality customer service can lessen the pain, but there are horror stories all around, and the risk of a dud remains regardless.

@lwien: That doesn't sound right. Because it's brand new, however, I'm still leaning toward operator error. I gather you're using the unit dry? If so, have you tried loading the chamber directly and just putting an empty basket on top of the load? If you preheat for 7-10 minutes on blurple, then load the unit like I described, you should get large clouds.

 

[scottg402]

@lwien, Just my opinion but I think it's running too cool. You should be able to get visible vapor at any level and green/red should easily match the clouds of your LSV.