Ya I have seen those diamond knots. They look nice but I don't think you could q-tip them which helps quartz last longer. Currently swinging between wanting an American nail for "karma" reasons/compatible with a heady cap and feeling like quartz is quartz and that my new piece came with a matching more versatile carb cap already. I would probably pick up a banger from Dc Glass Canada so I could have an all Canadian rig, but the dude is a douchebag on instagram who fear mongers about Asian quartz/other things that might eat into his bottom line. He blocked me when I asked a reasonable question about him saying crazy stuff about sandblasting quartz.
If anyone reading this knows of any other Canadian made quartz nails other than Dc Glass Canada's globstoppers feel free to PM me on here.
Edit: just opened instagram and a head shop's pic of Diamond Knots they just got in is first up, synchronicity lol.
Hahaha man what timing on the Diamond Knot, by the way it is a very good question to find out how one goes about cleaning that particular nail when it is being used with a torch apart from torching the christ out of it (which I agree, definitely reduces the life of even the nicest quartz).
Actually I have learned recently that quartz is actually not quartz, as the composition of some 'quartz' can contain some other filler substances instead of being pure fused silica. Some of these fillers may do little other than allow it to be worked with at lower temps, but some may have dealbreaking effects like making the quartz less resistant to heat or more brittle.
Still, I shy away from writing off all Chinese quartz/glass, after all, I have heard recently that Pyrology even manufacture their glass in China! Regardless, Chinese made or not, Pyrology's shit is always proper and exceptionally made!
@herbivore21 Thanks for your reply!
I literally just this morning was having an e-mail conversation with Dave Goldstein about using his fritted glass prefilters for an all glass airpath using the Lotus with concentrates! (My mom used to always tell me great minds think alike- I would say they sometimes have the same idea lol) However, when I showed him what I had in mind he suggested I use TI mesh- I think a fritted boro screen won't have enough airflow, as he said he didn't think his fritted prefilters would work very well- and according to his website they are coarser (more airflow) than lab fritted boro.
I will absolutely be buying a Lotus now- as soon as I saw the design I was like, "that's exactly what I need," but I really wanted to hear from someone who'd tried what I had in mind before I spent hundreds on a setup (Being a college student puts a damper on making money
)
I will have to do some shopping for ti wicks- thanks for the tip on the crafty/mighty one. I'm also considering the Errlectric screen (60x60 mesh 19mm diameter Ti2 screen), and i already have some really small Ti2 wicks from my KindMD atomizers. I was considering the herbalizer aromapad, but then I discovered it's actually stainless. The funny thing is their description of it says " Wow.. vaporizing concentrates at 445F is Amazing and unlike anything else."... which is exactly what I'm going to be doing, just for cheaper
. I'm not trying to knock the herbalizer- it's the best flower vape I've ever hit by a long long way- it's just, who supplies SS screens for a $750 vaporizer
As far as the actual nails are concerned, I would love to try the sapphire but I think that will be a ways off since I will have a Lotus. Your input is still very much appreciated though because I am buying my best friend a nail (he uses torches now- he had a purple hart wood D-nail for a year but it started to hurt his throat to use it) for his birthday. He is a BHO (Shatter) only type of guy and loves club bangers- so he wants the quartz, but I think he might spend his own money on a SiC dish so he can try it. I will have to show him some of your posts in this thread on the subject
Personally I have a severe mold allergy (amongst many many other environmental allergies) and butane irritates my allergies (I thought I was nuts until my allergist told me it's actually a thing) so since I'm stuck in a very rainy part of Washington for school, I currently vape Tetra Labs Pure Gold exclusively- I have tried full melt and Co2 oils, but for me, trying oils in Washington is pretty much playing russian roulette with my allergies
) I literally can't vaporize 95+% of flowers in this state because of tiny amounts of mold. I want to move to cali lol- when I visited LA I could even smoke j's if i wanted to (i didn't bring a vaporizer with me).
Pure gold is quite runny, but it will stay in a wick with some effort- it tends to flow out to the edge of my Kind MD wicks and stick to the walls of the atmoizer. So I'm hoping that an Errlectric screen (installed domed downward) will prevent this from happening.
It must be really awesome to be able to make 6-7 different concentrate types! I'm really curious- do they have significantly different effect profiles?
In closing I just want to say thank you so much for enriching this community with the wisdom gleaned from your frankly impressively extensive testing/experience
Oh man, that is a tough break being allergic to molds like this, it sounds like not much more than spores could set your allergies off man! Such a shame for a herb appreciator in a rainy part of the world!
It is indeed bliss being able to make so many different kinds of extracts. I do indeed find them to have substantially different effects in some cases!
Also some fascinating similarities! Here's a few of my observations having been working with the exact same starting material for various kinds of extractions:
The strain I'm working with is called Cluster Bomb. When it gets to fruition and peak resin production; it has a nutty, slightly creamy, very skunky smell (after all I believe this strain hails from Skunk #1 and Cinderella 99 origins) with a bizarre 'chemical orange' taste which combined taste fantastic, this is definitely one of the more enjoyable flavors of MMJ I've had in my time medicating (many years now).
QWET/QWISO: Definitely find that winterized absolute shatters that have been dewaxed seem to retain a very prominent chemical orange taste, none of the creamy flavor with a faint nutty skunky undertone. A nice flavor indeed and very noticeable compared to some of the more neutral skunky tasting strains I've had in the past. Very racy effects, a sharp smack to the head instead of something that might put you to sleep. I do not dab solvent extracts that have not been dewaxed typically but will be experimenting with this kind of material soon for research reasons (trying to establish which elements of the flavor profile are lost during which stages of processing and which just weren't there to begin with due to the method of extraction).
Rosin from flower: Plenty of the chemical orange taste, very little of the creamy taste but more than winterized solvent extracts from the same. More skunkiness than the above too with a planty tasting undertone. Still very heady in the effect on the first squish yields but diminishingly so as the same material continues to get squished.
Rosin from bubble: Much more of the creamy flavor is here. Something about the water contact really brings out the creaminess consistently. Nutty flavor is there too but not loads of it yet. This tastes considerably better than either of the above. More heady still than the flower rosin. I have always wondered as a result of my experience if those who say flower rosin is much better than bubble rosin have been comparing flowers to old bubble hash which even from the same strain is not going to be able to hold its own after oxidative degradation over x period. Also do wonder if maybe some of these reports are due to the use of strains with terp profiles that do not lend themselves to water extraction (ie: water brings out the worst, not the best of the flavor).
Full melt bubble hash: Lots of creaminess, lots of nuttiness, little bit of chemical orange flavor, no planty flavor (and a look under my microscope reveals why, look at my avatar to see that we're talking basically nothing but heads!). This stuff almost tastes like chocolate or hazlenut. No other extract nor even the flowers has this vivid flavor. It is absolutely amazing. The effects of the bubble also seem much more heady still, almost psychadelic compared to a winterized absolute for example. This is the most uplifting effect and definitely the best for managing my depressive illness.
What are we up to? 4? That'll have to do for now, I'm exhausted lol.
I really need to get my hands on more screens for my flower adapter so please do let me know how you go with the screens you try, I look forward to hearing from you
Also thanks so much for the kind words, you flatter me!
P.S. I wonder if the sapphire insert fits in the flower adapter?? I am gonna investigate this!
END PT 1
). Glad you're enjoying the quartz halo man 
