Salutations everyone,
Well, it's going to be my 1st month using the V-Tower tomorow. I've certainly played enough with it to post some owner review i guess.
Talking of firsts lets just mention that for me this morning is also the very first one i can say i toked fine in my veranda and didn't end up couphing like a sick dog - which after a while was what my fate actually started to compare with, while using dry cannabic vapor coming out of an Arizer V-Tower. Lucky me, a miracle has happened: proper moisturization is all i required (and i've known this for a long time already), i only needed to remember about it and act accordingly!
Boy, i wish i still had some "bio" around here!!...
Anyway, lets be honnest about the whole thing: so far dryness plain ruined my experience, pure & simple. Fortunately, a much more pleasant part begins today and i'd say my Elbow Adapter with a 2nd screen (mounted
flush inside the metal-ring one) while heating at 182 °C works nicely. Some cheap glass water accessory filled with moist warm air reveals my cloud better than ever before, especially when sunrays reach it at the right angle between a few leaves... The intense sunlight magnifies my exhalations, rendering them even more satisfying somehow. Would that be the true power of Bio-Feedback?!!
Briefly put, it's not very relaxing to cough hard on dry vapor and see little but i had to try my luck. I loose. So, excluding the need for moisture, which is a common characteristic in virtually all electric/electronic vaporizers i believe (keep in mind i want no water-washing if i can help it - integrated water conditioning solutions will generally fail to appeal to me, in any case), euh... I mean, with this moisture item put aside i'd describe the V-Tower as a machine clearly geared toward convection, though the Cyclone Bowl can get very hot eventually. I wish i could write about "pure" (or almost) but the vaporizer's bottom half happens to be as opaque as the top half seems "obvious": should an electronic component come to fail who can tell if emanations won't reach my cannabic path!?... I suppose Arizer's customers are expected to be faithful while, if i were them, i might try to invest on clear direct eye-contact over all of the air/cannabic path instead, from start to end!
Consequently to the product's obscure "black-box" aspect alone i'm sorry to say i find those design choices most regrettable. But those are their choices, the worse one being the Elbow Adapter IMO. Oh, the Arizer glass Elbow Adapter performs well, i'd concur effectively! It's that long & thin glass mechanical lever i can't stand!! Why not fix the problem or even develop a full-customized solution? The V-Tower/Extreme-Q layout makes a good convection system with an interesting future no doubt, but... Please, it's about time someone at Arizer decides to do something about it!
As a matter of fact i sort of wonder what kind of developer is able to remain satisfied for so long with an elbow adapter which still works OKay today but simply appears to be an off-the-shelf prototype to me. The ring-screen gets me pretty much puzzled too - what's the need for a bowl right in there for starters?? I mean, it's collecting material that clogs the airflow after a couple tokes... Make the glass/metal/screen junction flat then deposits won't accumulate as fast on the ceiling, so simple! To me playing with screens and Solo wands trying to better retrofit that elbow adapter boils down to one presistant impression: time for an update please!
And what an update it would be, should some unexploited potential finally get to be suitably valued!...
In the meantime...
What i see in the V-Tower is an HerbalAire with more control and less conduction/radiance. Having no pump doesn't cause me serious concern as i've tried it previously and don't miss that for now, though i feel bags ease consumption in terms of respiratory effort. The fact that it's mostly convection appears to call for air circulation, lots of it (...), meaning the longer the tubing the more lung work it takes.
So, i fully realize at last how my V-Tower depends on air to circulate! To some extent today i view it as a couple's vaporizer (and/or one for small groups)! Here's how it goes. If a 1st inhale must serve to bring my herb close to temperature then that means heat in the oven goes down again while i recuperate, causing me to "prepare" the next toke hoping that one will turn out to be the ultimate achievement - which rarely happens... What takes place instead is an infernal cycle where i don't master the V-Tower well enough to avoid "wispy hits", or opaque clouds if i push my luck! In the begining i was confident i could acquire the (ritual) reflexes necessary to operate a convection device, yet i think there's plenty of room left for more nuances. Sometimes i feel like my session has reached a state of flux, the vibrations become those of a finely tuned system perhaps... Then it vanishes.
This brings me to the notion of fun. Is it fun?
M'well... Once you've tried my modded pipe the correct answer is no, to the least not for me so far. The pipe is mobile, my present V-Tower installation (including the heater plate + water boiler + glass accessory + PVC tubing), euh... It lacks a spontaneous side, but i greatly appreciate the different peaceful rythm promoted through such layout. I've never done any shisha but this morning's breakthrough gave me a feeling as if i was only missing the oriental musicians and a harem: very relaxing.
Relatively to consumption, extraction and conservation my opinion is that Arizer should think of a way to adapt their Solo bent Glass Stem, for those who got a tendency to use half-full Cyclone bowls and complain afterwards that this was excessive, for example. I think better extraction would result from the addition of a radiative (secondary) source at the heat-exchanger level, possibly via the use of metal in the bowl. Go figure. It wouldn't negate the quality of conservation achieved by convection, perhaps a "Boost" button would fill the gap... A Solo bent Glass Stem terminated with a convex screen bucket could help.
Aroma/taste depend on properly consistent density, having trouble to navigate between thin and thick clouds it's not easy for me to adjust. More often than not i keep raising the heat, which bakes my cannabis herb needlessly while i suck on a mouthpiece trying to access the comfort zone. YMMV, time works for me i hope.
Now i rarely lack ideas but this is a long text so i'll quit it here. But before i sign off i must simply add that the V-Tower may not be "fun" for everyone but it can be considered being a decent honnest product with a convenient supply of replacement parts as a bonus. I like the machine's user interface except for the brightness, not to mention that light could be put to much more appropriate use, on top instead of in my face!
Euh... There i go again, so it seems i can't sound positive this morning but have no fears as i've finally identified a few things i do like! ...very much...
Ah... And the base should be made transparent!
With a colorized optional cover to match everyone's taste, with optical light guides using the blinding spots below to enlight the view above!... Well, that sort of day-dreaming fantasy. For Chistmass... Please, Santa!
life. Anyway, not meaning to whine but today has been my first opportunity to check this thread and I just wanted to compliment you all for the recent great posts re Q mods, which IIRC took off with DDave's adapter and has expanded from there. This is a very long thread and there have been many great mods posted going back 2+ years. But the recent suggestions have added a helluva lot of yet more value, and breathed new life into a thread that seemed to be losing gas.
and here's hoping you keep up the enthusiasm.
)
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