I have some more working info based on the last week or so vaping with the FF2.
I usual vape with my GF, and of course ladies first, so she hits the first bowl 2-3 times, I stir it and she finishes it off. When it is my turn, I repack the bowl, but I always get more vapor (visible). I thought maybe I just had a more refined technique than her, but when we reversed the order (I start first), she is getting more clouds. So that tells me that after a bowl or so, the FF2 is sufficiently heated up that the air coming through will give you a more productive (visual) vape session. So if you are having trouble making clouds, I would say hit is nice and slow, and you will start seeing it, especially if the FF2 is on it's second or third bowl.
Regarding grind, I experimented a lot with this. Like others have said, hand torn seems to be working best for me. I break up my herbs from a nice bud into tiny nugs about the size of a small pea. I usually leave the herb out in a bowl for at least 10 minutes so it can dry a bit. Then I found if you pack it in the bowl to just near the top and loose enough that once the cover is on, you can shake the unit and see that the herb can move a tiny bit. I used to pack it to the top and then gently tamp it down, but I found that if it is loose enough to move slightly while the cover is on, then you get better convection air flow. This seems to get me more visible vape and some really tasty hits. The downfall is obviously you have to pack more bowls, but that is not really a big deal to me.
I also started seeing some spent bud crumbs inside the bowl near the bottom edge near the holes. I was trying to use a toothpick to get it out, without having to go through the cleaning process. I didn't want to stop my session for cleaning. since we already vaped 2 bowl I just tried a paper towel and because everything was still warm, it cleaned it like new. No need for ISO.
The amount of honey oil in the glass pathway even after a couple bowls really surprised me especially considering how high we were getting from the herbs already. I am going to start scraping that oil off with a blade and saving it. Maybe mix it with some kief to get a nice tasty mix for special occasion. I will let you guys know how that turns out down the road.