I tend to agree with
@steama about there being plenty of heat. I get similar results with vapor density from hitting super slow vs. a much faster draw. The heater seems to respond fairly quickly, and seems to be able to maintain vaping temp even with a fast draw. I'll take some thermal photos of the Sidekick later.
I also experimented with vaping a small amount without the top plate on. Interestingly, visible vapor production started while the temperature still read zero, and increased as the temp went up. I found it works best with torn apart or coarsely ground material better than finely ground - if the grind is too fine, the stir rod just moves through without really disrupting what's in the middle or stuck to the sides.
Loading larger pieces, taking a few hits on 3-4, then a vigorous stir to break it up, followed by vaping at 5-6 seems to work very well. This is good, because I don't like to carry a grinder around in addition to the vaporizer.
I tried stirring while vaping, with no or very little carryover. If you have the vortex rod installed, I highly doubt any particles would make it all the way past that, especially once it becomes resinated. Speaking of resin, the screen needs cleaning very often. It gets quite a bit of buildup of ABV and condensed vapor after just 2-3 bowls. If you use the Sidekick often, you're going to be cleaning the screen often too. Alcohol wipes work really well for this.
I tried the concentrate can out last night. It's quite effective, but a little confusing on how to use it. The silicone lid of the concentrate can covers the bowl, so there's nowhere for the stir rod to go... I ended up unscrewing it and using the concentrate can with just the screen (it's not attached to the stir rod)
I set the heater at 10 for the can, seemed to work well. It doesn't give dab-like hits, though. Much more like vaping flower material as far as vapor production, but obviously the flavor is different. It hits with medium density vapor for 10+ hits, before I hit the 7 min cutoff and decided I was too medicated to continue
When vaping flowers, the vortex rod seems to condense a lot of vapor that you would otherwise inhale, and I find that it hits better with the rod removed. The vapor is still cool without the rod, but there's something about portable vapes that makes me get, as
@steama puts it, severely baked. I have the same effect from the Magic-flight. Also like the magic flight and other good portables I have tried, the Sidekick has a way of sending me into extreme coughing sessions. I think it must be something about the short vapor path, or maybe it is just a conduction vape thing. Both of these happen with or without the rod, although the coughing is worse without it.
