Before anyone panics, remember I live literally across the street from Hopper Labs. The only unit that has been delivered to me is the holiday backer SS. I did order a Ti as a regular backer but I have NOT received it.
But I did get to do a taste test comparison between an SS and Blue Ti this afternoon!
First general observations about the two units.
Weight: The weight difference is substantial. I can see some folks preferring the additional heft of the SS but that is subjective.
Dial and Threads: The TI coloring makes the device slightly coarser. As a result the dial and thread pieces are just a little harder to spin. For the dial it also makes it a little more precise to spin but these are differences you would only notice using both types back to back.
Now to my experiment.
I wanted to see if there was a difference in flavor between the two. (Mind you this all happened this afternoon and I've had several GIM's (Grasshopper Inspire Misadventures ;-) so I may forget some details.
I took a pinch of some Dark Blue Dream from Terrapin Care Station in Boulder ( terrapincarestation.com ) and loaded each vape. It is a 19% THC Blue Dream cross for those keeping score.
I set them both to 3 took two hits each then up to 4 two more hits then killed the bowl with a bubble at 5.
My observations were:
Both have excellent flavor however I did taste more terpenes with the Ti and it was noticeable. Again not to denegrate the SS it's excellent, the Ti is just better.
On the other hand, because the Ti is more efficient, the SS actually holds on to flavor longer. Well at least that was my thesis during the experiment and the ABV seemed to support it as the Ti ABV is slightly darker.
The pics below show the amount I used and the the ABV. The combined amount between the two hoppers was about the size of a firefly bowl or almost filled my glass bowl. And yes for the record I smoked that bowl after for you know ... science ;-)
Anyway I want to drive home the point about the efficiency. I was ruhl high from that small session, I have no idea why I smoked that bowl except I was thinking it would be an interesting twist to the bong game zonk, which of course I was thinking that because I was ruhl high.
Anyway, my conclusion is that I'm glad I ordered a Ti because I think a. A grasshopper is better when everyone has their own. A lot of the convenience issues folks are talking about on here assume there will only be on grasshopper in the room. Like an iPhone, it gets more useful when other people have one also so it will be "useful" to have two grasshoppers around so I don't have to share if any of my friends dont get their own (fww, it's been pretty popular and friends have already ordered on after trying it)
b. The Ti is a more connesiuer product. I hope I see Jake Browne at the Cannabist soon, I think the Denver Post will have to buy him one as a reporting tool! You really do get richer more complex flavor out of the Ti and I'm only a rookie snob and I can tell. I think Jake would smash his Neti pot hehe.
c. With the Ti less is definitely more because it's ripping through those terpenes faster. I would definitely use the pinch method with the Ti and if you really want to session, well for one, you must have some crazy tolerance and you may be missing the point of this vape but if you want to do it anyway you may actually prefer the SS because flavor lasts for more hits, it's not better it's just longer ... that's what she said!
Of course the trade off is the SS gets hotter faster but like I said sessioning is missing the point in my opinion much like asking what the apple watch "can do" is missing the point, it's tool to help you recognize what things you can ignore and NOT do.
The grasshopper is for, hey I noticed I'm not high, that's stupid because I've met me before, let me turn on my Tres Seis Dope Machine taking a full delicious flavorful puffs because I'm from Colorado and thereofore a defacto cannabis 1%er and then I will be ruhl high and I'll put it back in my pocket until I want to do that again later. Where do I happen to be? Who cares because it's going to take less than 10 seconds unless I accidentally take too big a first rip so I have to wait a second or two before the next one. When I want to cheif a spliff for 10 minutes I'll roll one ... or use my pax2 if it's lousy outside. That is not what the GH is for. The GH is for when you want to treat yo self and get back to what you were doing.
One more anecdote my friends started calling it the nuerolizer like from Men in Black cus you look at the light and then you can't remember anything hehe!
One more thing, I went to Chez Thuy for dinner which is down the street from hopper labs and they were still cranking at 9:30. I know it's easy for me to say but hang in there guys. The Hopper boys really are taking the time to put a product out that will be the industry standard the way the pax was for awhile.
When you finally get yours you'll agree it was worth the wait and I am totally eager to get the Ti now, if I was to only get one, I would get the Ti it's a significant upgrade considering the price differnce.
I'm not sure if when I finally get my Ti if I will use my SS for my mixed herb/tobacco blend and retire my pax 2 or not. The pax2 actually shines in that application and frankly I think that much nicotine you would get from vaping tobacco in a GH might make me go Nick Naylor (hehe some lobbyist humor).
Hope that was useful but like I said I've been doing science so I might have just written an essay about muffins for all I know.
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