The Arizer Air

[Dogbrains]

Fire? That is heat the glass enough to soften the plastic part?

Or poke a needle into the tip of the q-tip so you can lever it over?

OF

I had cut the Q tip at one point, so if you can picture half a Q tip, bent in half, inside my favorite stem. I didn't want to melt plastic Q tip or break my stem, so yeah, it was a game of poking and trying to keep the Q tip pinched together enough to pull out of the mouthpiece. It was funny.

But I also learned don't ever use Q tips at all because I saw tiny cotton threads can still stick to the stem after clean and dry.

 

[Aimless Ryan]

@lemmeadem I don't follow this thread anymore, but I read part of the post you tagged me in.

Maybe I communicated poorly or maybe I'm an asshole. Or maybe I'm crazy. Or maybe I was right to react how I reacted. I don't know anymore. I don't know if I care, either. But I also don't think anyone else knows.

Here's all I know: After owning my Air for less than two months (I believe), my charger seemed fine. But then it suddenly stopped working occasionally, which seemed to happen only when I moved it while charging. It completely stopped working less than 24 hours after the problem started (or probably more like 12 hours).

There is nothing visibly wrong with the charger; it just doesn't do anything anymore. Which caused me a lot of stress; which I felt shouldn't have happened. Warrantees exist not only so defective products can be replaced, but mostly to make you feel confident that what you're considering buying (or already bought) won't just crap out on you all of a sudden. Which is exactly what happened to me.

I paid for that confidence, as warrantees are not free. I also needed that confidence much more than the average consumer of this product. But I didn't receive it.

Everyone else paid for that confidence, too, and luckily most of them received it. Good for them. I am glad they got what they paid for. However, I didn't, and it inconvenienced me considerably.

Confidence in a product like this is probably worth more money than the product itself.

If the problem with my charger had occurred gradually over a matter of days or weeks (instead of hours), I'm sure I would've reacted much differently, as I would've had time to recognize the problem and think about what I should do. But that's not how it happened.

I'm sure there are a lot of people here who don't (and will never) know either the fear of not knowing if you're going have medicine or be able to vaporize your medicine later today or for the next few days, or the misery that accompanies having no medicine (even though you own two vaporizers, both of which worked a minute ago; one of which no longer works and another that may not work in a minute). Well, it's very stressful; stress that never ends. In addition to many other types of stress, pain, and discomfort that never end.

I'm not trying to make anyone feel sorry for me by saying that. In fact, I hope no one does. I am just trying to share some parts of my new reality, which often doesn't feel real. Not to argue with anyone, but because I think other people would probably understand my perspective a little better if they had a clue what it was like to live this way.

I know how it is to live in your reality, because I lived there for most of my life. I know how to put myself in other people's shoes, which is exactly what I did before composing what I believe was the only post in which I intended to criticize Arizer. If I criticized them in any other posts, I'm pretty sure it was in response to something someone else said to me.

There is a message in my email inbox from Arizer, which has been there since probably the day after I responded to their response to my original message. I don't know what it says. It may say everything I would have liked the first response to say. But I know their first response didn't say what I would have liked it to say. The fact is, the first message I received from them caused me to have to make the decision to buy something I didn't want to buy and shouldn't have had to buy. Which cost me money I kind of needed, and which also stressed me the fuck out. You may never be able to understand why that upset me so much. In fact, the person I was five years ago probably wouldn't be able to understand why that upset me so much.

 

[OF]

I didn't want to melt plastic Q tip or break my stem, so yeah, it was a game of poking and trying to keep the Q tip pinched together enough to pull out of the mouthpiece.

Understood. Note I said 'soften' not 'melt'. If you can soften the plastic (so it's not trying to spring open again) you can hook the cotton part with a bent pin or needle and pull it out.

Likewise, poking a needle down though the top and into the plastic tube should allow you to level the bent part together again?

The best advice is to just not stick the sucker in next time? Try washing it in PBW, no alcohol, no scrubbing, no drama. Rinse, shake off and reload. Easy and fast.

OF

 

[bacco]

Dude, this is exactly what I've been looking for, where can I get one?!

Hello Good People,

Given my affiliations, I have nothing but 100% positive things to say about the Air. And I like it a lot too!

That said, I found that the stock stems weren't cutting it with regards to keeping material out of my mouth, so I trimmed down a screen to fit inside but that sucked because it plugged very quickly and the screen would fall out a lot.

For me, what the Air stem was calling for was a shallow "plenum" area in front of the holes AND a finer mesh screen. I made a couple prototypes with some 5/8 diameter screen and socket wrench sockets, but my inability to keep everything centered enough to my liking and because I'm a big ol' nerd, I designed and 3d printed some tooling to make....dun dun dunnnnnn!

The Perfect Air Screen

Check it out, it's 3 pieces, a punch (upper left), die (lower center) and platen (upper right).

The platen is inserted into the bottom of the die, and a 5/8 diameter screen is popped into the resulting shallow recess, held firmly around the outer edges by the die as well as supported from below by the platen.

Then, the punch placed in on top of the screen. The larger hoop of the punch engages the die first in order to hold everything dead center throughout the process. This is because there's clearance designed between the "working" punch and die surfaces to allow for the screen thickness, and as such, it isn't useful for aligning one half to the other.

Finally, the center part (the die, if you've paid attention) is shuttled from one side to the other. The punch drives the screen through a the die, and out pops a perfectly creased screen!

Then, with a little finagling, it can be worked into the Air stem, making me feel a hundred and TEN% positive about this Arizer product!

thanks for your time!


your pal,
thekarmawhore

 

[Skyscraper]

So I'm still having this problem where the Air won't heat up.. It worked last night but today it won't.
Has anybody else had this problem? I will turn the vape on and before it completes a heat up cycle it will shut itself off.
Is this a problem with the batteries or the heater itself? This is my only vape so with two batteries they have seen some pretty heavy daily use. Got it off a forum member here a couple months ago and it's worked fine until now

 

[lookhigh]

No idea @Skyscraper it does sound like a weak battery. You should contact Arizer.
Did you get a receipt? Still under warranty.

 

[Skyscraper]

No I received the vape through a trade but I can always ask the original owner.. I think he got the vape through Namaste because the WPA I receieved as well came from that vendor.

I had this problem at first a couple days ago, but last night the vape worked for a few sessions from green down to white. Today the battery is on yellow and the vape won't heat up to temp for a full cycle

 

[biohacker]

And I get maybe .08 in there sometimes... never seem to fit a full tenth

Just gotta tamp!

 

[OF]

Has anybody else had this problem? I will turn the vape on and before it completes a heat up cycle it will shut itself off.

Is this a problem with the batteries or the heater itself?

Yes. Sounds like a classic battery issue. Enough battery power to keep it going in standby but as soon as you call for lots of power to make heat it poops out. Given the batteries you have are known weak, I suggest replacing them with at least one new one before going further.

FWIW, while doing so would be tougher still on the battery, you might be able to make it in 'use while charging' mode since the charger supplies half the needed power, give or take, meaning the battery reserve might last long enough to make temperature where the need for the heater gets lower so the charger can handle it by recharging the battery when the heater cycles off every 30 seconds or so? Charge the battery first, of course.

Good luck with it, but my money's on battery.

OF

 

[biohacker]

That's awesome @OF A use for weaker batteries.....desktop mode?? Or just one battery that you don't care about..... what a huge advantage of the Air over the Solo for this reason....hmmmmmmm....

 

[Bravesst]

All my air friends, the person I was a few weeks ago, would freaked about things I can handle now.

That's awesome @OF A use for weaker batteries.....desktop mode?? Or just one battery that you don't care about..... what a huge advantage of the Air over the Solo for this reason....hmmmmmmm....

another reason!

 

[SpaceCase]

And what are the advantages of the GH...? I've never even looked one up... I have everything I need in a portable with my AA...

 

[Traaaaan]

And what are the advantages of the GH...? I've never even looked one up... I have everything I need in a portable with my AA...

You dont need a full 10 minutes to do a session, much shorter heat up time.

 

[Uzer]

You dont need a full 10 minutes to do a session, much shorter heat up time.

I don't know, the "heat-up time" for my GH has been about 9 months...still cold. 10 minutes isn't so bad for the Air in comparison.

 

[apopleptic]

That's 25 sips from .07 - can it get better?

I find myself putting way more than this in at a time. commonly as much as .15 (right now)

 

[OF]

I find myself putting way more than this in at a time. commonly as much as .15 (right now)

One of the great strengths of Solo/Air. It does very well on a fraction of a normal load. Another handy feature, not all that common, is the ability to pause a session and pick it up again later.

You get as much vapor as you want at a time, not what the vape has in mind.

OF

 

[Chainfish]

I generally split one load (using domed screens is more like halfload) . First half session on white, pull out stem and recap, then stir when ready for next go. back on at green and finish yellow. Weathers getting cold here so ordered a black sleeve to help battery and heat up time, and 2 more batteries. It's rarely used through week but gets a caning on a Tuesday as i go out for the afternoon to play pool and have a beer. 2 batts is a bit of a struggle but 4 should do me just fine.
(should have come with black sleeve)

On note of domed screens, now there's a couple of different UK sellers, prices are a lot cheaper. Can get 25 for £10 now. Soon as i go through the ones I paid £1.20 each, I'll buy.

 

[Skyscraper]

Thanks for elucidating a potential cause for this problem OF.. It's strange because last night I was able to use the Air for several sessions (draining the battery from green to yellow) but today it is again not working, even with a full battery. I'm going to try using the Air plugged in with a full battery. I guess from so many charge/discharge cycles the overall capacity of the battery's have diminished? Now they're to the point where they don't hold enough energy for the heater to use.

 

[lookhigh]

Hope that the battery is your problem, so much easier to to fix than anything else.
Have you got a simple volt meter or charger that tells the capacity of the battery?
Anyway running it plugged in should tell you more.

 

[bluenavey00]

The domed screens are pretty expensive for what they are to get in the UK although they do last a long long time. I also found them slightly annoying as they didn't always sit perfectly in place, or would occasionally let a small amount of herb around the sides.

I went into my local smoke shop and found these tiny gauze's. They have a diameter just 1MM less than the stem so sit flat in there. They were only 50p for 5 of them. They are pretty tough also, still using my first couple, I just give them a quick rinse in ISO every now and again and they come up shiny. I do quite small loads (0.05) often and I just give them a tamp down and it keeps it all in place nicely, and keeps the herb nice and far away from touching the heater.

Does anyone else use these type of screens? I find them to work really well.

 

[biohacker]

Yep, PV sells those as well as the domed. With the domed i've resorted now to using them "basket style" and they seem to stay put when i'm dumping the cached ABV. Which brings me to those smaller screens that sit flat - they work great, but a pain in the ass for me personally when dumping the ABV (I need to like hold the screen with a stir pin). Both work well, and definitely beats no screen IMO (my gong gets dirty enough even using a screen).

 

[Bravesst]

IMHO
Dome screen will stay put, just press it flat, the side push out against the inside of the stem, and it won't budge. You can soak in ISO, screen in or out. Keeps stem almost spotless (except for goo). I'm going to play with different screen configs, but this is the best I've found so far.

I'd like to share my recent success with my AA, not just a 'pro', but one of the main reasons I love these things so much.

Beside it feeling great in my hand, able to use anywhere, sexy as hell, and gets me super high, I can take tiny amount of herb (less than .1), and if I shred and dry just right, I can extract for a very long time on so little. The key, I think, is getting that oven hot, and keeping it that way. I experimented with all temps, but BLUE works best for long session length, taste, and medication level. I don't really worry about clouds, but I get a decent amount anyway (more about lighting). The vapor is thick and tasty, that's what matters to me. If I closed my eyes and vaped, would I get less high not seeing the clouds?

Once the vape is ready, do not let it sit too long, start sipping (long slow draws). I like the plastic tip stock as it concentrates the taste and gives me so much control on the "pull'. When I draw, I can sense the heat hover in the herb and oven, use your tongue and angle of stem in oven to change pressure variables and get your best draw (alters temp, pressure, and God knows what other properties are tweaked). Keep sipping, without letting too much time pass in between each sip (??? herb gets overcooked faster if I don't keep pulling the heat off it ???).

Documented Session with .08 -
BLUE - 10 minutes / 15+ hits / / all super tasty
BLUE AGAIN - at least 10 more nice tasty hits
GREEN - do whatever it takes to finish it off, as it starts to taste a bit spent, usually 5 or 10 hits, I end the sesh

I can drain a battery with 2 bowls this way and that's not a complaint. I can vape at will, all day, and never go through more than 1G. If I had a full time job outta the house, I'd find it hard to get through more than a 1/2G on work days (too bad I work from home ). I also like using 2 AA's at once, gives the second a chance to cool (not hot for hours).

I'd have to say, this is more like playing an instrument or painting than smoking or vaping. Not every pack is that good, or as long. I need to concentrate on what I'm doing, not lay vape down and forget about it, or even pass it around (needs to be done alone). The AA is great for that too, but I won't get 20 plus minutes off of .08, unless I pay attention, and sip, sip, sip.

 

[biohacker]

IMHO
Dome screen will stay put, just press if flat, the side push out against the inside of the stem, and it won't budge.

Tried and tried...sometimes I have some slight success but mostly not. Perhaps your screens are a different size, or perhaps i'm not doming them properly or something. I try to press flat, but it seems to press uneven in ways, and distorts the dome. Regardless, I find it uses up a bit too much of the bowl and can get messy, or I get overcooked material closest to the heater. By using the screen in a basket style, I can put in as much as I like, and there is still a good amount of space before the heater, and vapes up just as good as anything. I'll keep trying that dome though!

 

[OF]

Tried and tried...sometimes I have some slight success but mostly not. Perhaps your screens are a different size, or perhaps i'm not doming them properly or something.

It's definitely easier to do some stems than others. If you take a careful look at the bottom of the bowl, where the tube walls and floor plate meet, you'll notice some taper at the bottom? That is, the diameter of the tube wall of the bowl is bigger at the top than the bottom. This will make the screen want to 'climb the walls' all on it's own. Since the taper is often quite short you can sometimes cheat here by tucking the rim of the bowl inward so the screen hits the wall part way up rather than the bottom where the taper is.

I've tried a lot of different screens, I think 5/8 is the best size in the standard 'LHS' fine mesh screens, a time or two 3/4 inch worked better (usually with the rim tucked inward and 'long sides' to the dome.

However, I think the hands down best ones are the special made screens Sinclue found. Heavier wire, perfectly formed and welded at the rim. You can torch them dozens of times with no 'wear'. IMO well worth the dollar or so each. I was meeting with a couple friends with Solos and Airs (both, I like to hang with smart guys.....it might wear off you know......). I gave them both some of the custom screens a while back, both find them very superior. They are recommended over all other attempts.

OF

 

[Bravesst]

Tried and tried...sometimes I have some slight success but mostly not. Perhaps your screens are a different size, or perhaps i'm not doming them properly or something. I try to press flat, but it seems to press uneven in ways, and distorts the dome. Regardless, I find it uses up a bit too much of the bowl and can get messy, or I get overcooked material closest to the heater. By using the screen in a basket style, I can put in as much as I like, and there is still a good amount of space before the heater, and vapes up just as good as anything. I'll keep trying that dome though!

they are a bit bigger than the stem, and tricky to get in. Trick is to get it in straight, then push down. You might need a pin or paperclip to push one side down. Once even, use a small piece of wood (pencil) to push flat, side will push out. Here's the ebay link, only $10. I got about 30 of them.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/200981331675?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

Oh yes, before I forget, another thank you to Randy at Puffitup for taking care of me on every single thing I buy from him. In my opinion, you're crazy buy anyplace else as far as price and service!!! Thanks Randy...

http://www.puffitup.com/category-s/171.htm