haha, Before you read this keep in mind im not trying to bash the Extreme or it's users. I have no doubt that it works great for lots of people, I've read tons of good reviews. I guess I'm just looking for opinions about what might be going wrong. It comes across as harsh in places but I'm not trying to bash, for all I know all vapes are like this.
I got mine today and started testing it after it was done burning off the gunk for 15 minutes. All of the following involves very nice ground herb. It usually takes me very little to get where I'm going with this herb.
At first I started at lower temperatures, but none of my exhales had any visible vapor at all. I cranked the thing up to max. temperature (260C/500F) and proceeded to try, try some more.
Well I started tasting the essence of the herb but still no visible vapor.
The next bowl I packed into the elbow and I got 1 hit with visible vapor, but it was nothing like the healthy vapor hits I've seen in all of the vaporizing videos I've seen. I kept sucking on the tube for what seemed like forever until I decided to pack more.
Again, one visible vapor hit and then just a slight taste of the herb for every other hit.
I sat there for a long time and I didn't even get the same effect that I'd normally get from 2 one-hitter bowls. I'm quite familiar with the herb I'm using and I am lifted by 2 one-hitter bowls of it.
I can get where I'm headed in less than 5 minutes with the one-hitter using the same herb. I don't get why after sitting there breathing through that tube for an hour I had less effect than 2 bowls in the one-hitter.
Also, yes, I was inhaling as slow as possible. Over the years I perfected the art of inhaling veeerrryyy slowly to extract extra thick results from other herbal implements. After a while I decided to try varying the inhale but no matter what, I wouldn't get a decent hit of vapor.
The nail in the coffin though was when I gave in and decided to combust some of the already vaped herb. I got lifted in minutes. I don't get it...
Random stuff I'm thinking:
The herb definitely comes out darker and crispier when it's done. It has a sort of a roasted smell to it but no charring.
The Cyclone bowl doesnt work for the small amounts I need of the good stuff I get. It just moves to the edges of the bowl and the air passes it by. That sucks. It's lame to have to pack the elbow.
Elbow packing gave me one lackluster vapor hit. No more discernable vapor after that, but the faintest of flavor.
Oh, and several years ago I had an Eterra. My significant other and I both found it to be completely inferior to combustion in every way. We tried for months to get that thing to work for us and we never experienced anything close to the effects we could get with combustion. It just felt like we could sit there forever sucking on the Eterra tasting the faint flavor of herb, and that's kinda what it feels like now with the V-Tower.
I'd really prefer not to be attached to a plastic tube for the evening. Are vaporizers just not for me or is there something I'm doing horribly wrong?
Thanks for your input!