Really enjoying this thread and thermodynamics science. I purchased ZX with pre-installed coil because I wanted to ensure tightest fit with no movement or twist around center post along with the Phase 3 glass bowl and then also pre-ordered Zirconia bowl. Received my ZX about a month ago and appreciate the design, smaller form factor, inverted contributions to the community, and looking forward to receiving the Zirconia bowl! Hope for super tight seal with the ZX and the herb sitting closer to the heater then the current glass bowl.
Tested the ZX at various temperatures from 425F to 600F to dial it in. Tested back-to-back on two different strains, medium grind, same material quantity (One full Old Head scoop), light tamp, stirring every hit or two, same draw speed and duration of each hit. To ensure consistent starting temperatures the entire vape (housing, balls, and coil) were left on for 10 minutes after PID reaching setpoint to allow all components to completely heat soak at the start of each bowl. I’m not getting much vapor density sub-450F. The ABV is a light green-tan below 500F, 500-550F provide an even greenish-brown ABV and above 550F the ABV starts to get brown with slight roast flavors.
With my 20mm coil powered B2 diffuser ball vape, my sweet spot is to target 2 hit full extraction, with the Titanium bowl heat soaked prior to a fresh load at about 645F on the PID. This provides a super quick extraction that is dab like in intensity of flavor and vapor. While the first hit does roast the top of the bowl, no roast flavors are introduced to the pallet during the secondary weak clean up hit which leaves a fully extracted bowl and super dark brown ABV with no stirring required.
With the ZX I am still trying to dial in the high temperature 2 hit extraction. Raising the temperature to 575F+ does milk the glass but starts getting more roast on the top center of bowl and due to the depth of the 14mm glass bowl being deeper than wide, it requires stirring to evenly extract the bottom portion of the bowl which introduces the roasted flavors throughout the second and third hit that I am trying to avoid. Higher temps will give denser vapor and allow to ride the line closer to the edge but the compromise in flavor is not worth the quicker extraction to me personally. I think the two-hit dab like extraction can be done by bringing the load closer to the heater with reduce load depth. Once I receive the Phase3 Zirconia bowl, I can revisit this, as it sits 33% closer.
475F:
475F brings out a crisp flavor that is lost at higher temperatures with a focus on the terpenes with discernable strain specific notes, 85% extraction leaving behind some desirables after 5 hits, ABV was mostly light-green with some hints of light brown. (450F is great at preserving the crisp flavor but takes way too long to finish a bowl and doesn’t fully extract all the desirables.)
I stepped up the PID to 550F to see if I can extract more vapor; I got another 2 hits from the same bowl with very faint generic herb taste, no roast, decent vapor, ABV was 45% light-green / 55% light-brown. Closer to 90% extracted after 7 hits.
475F temp ramp to 550F: (1) 475, (1)490, (1) 515F, (1) 540F, (1) 550F
This is where the ZX really shines and brings out all the flavorful nuances with the 475F to 550F ramp throughout the 5 hits of the bowl, starting crisper and purer terpene focused to more fast-onset potent yet flavorful hits to the end, while achieving about 90% extraction producing a brown to light brown ABV.
525F:
First two hits with a fresh bowl and heat soaked ZX at 525F creates thick dense vapor with a quick onset and got a nice consistent flavor profile from beginning to end of the bowl with remaining 3 hits giving diminishing vapor as the hits progressed. This is a great daily setup for a balance between flavor and quick extraction without fiddling with temp ramping. Closer to 90% extraction after 5 hits per bowl with a gold-light brown ABV.
My current daily setup is at 525F for the ZX but I do enjoy the 475F to 550F temp ramp from time to time. Cannot wait for the Zirconia bowl!