OK, so I've had my first session with my new hopper. Here's how it went:
I loaded it up, clicked it on, counted to 5, sucked for 5 seconds, clicked off, and sucked for another 5 seconds.
Suddenly, I noticed 2 unicorns frolicking on our front lawn.
I heard a host of angels singing a stunning a cappella version of Blind Faith's "Can't Find My Way Home."
Then my wife came in the room to find me still holding the hopper. She looked me up and down and said "My man, you have never looked so sexy. Meet me upstairs when you're done with that thing."
Next I heard a noise outside. I put down the hopper and went to investigate. A Tesla Model S appeared in my driveway with a note card under the driver side wiper: "Welcome to the club. Text me if you want to hang. Elon."
I came back inside and naturally, I wanted to see what would happen with a second hit, so I picked up the hopper, clicked the clicker and took another hit.
Nothing.
No heat, no lights, no vapor. OMFG I can't believe it.
After nearly a year of agonizing waiting my hopper died after one hit.
Not only that, I happened to look in the mirror and MY TONGUE IS BLUE. Not only did this fracking thing stop working after one hit, IT MADE MY FRACKING TONGUE BL - …oh, wait a minute. Um, never mind. It would appear that I was so heavily hoppered that I picked up the wrong device and sucked really hard on a ball point pen.
Maybe we should add that to the Fixes thread: If your tongue turns blue when using your hopper, you're not using your hopper. You've got the wrong pen.
Ok, so it's entirely possible I made some of that up.
Here's what really happened:
Finally, a little over 10 months after I ordered them, my hoppers arrived this past Wednesday. Because I procrastinated on ordering support supplies, my Blu Tack (and a nice little storage case) didn't arrive until the following day. I placed my order with Ratchett for some battery sleeves, battery caps, mini funnel, and spiral stand and will hopefully see those before too long.
I received an SS, a plain Ti, and 5 GHB2 batteries. Like everyone else, the leather sleeve I ordered is back ordered.
First thing I did was weep with joy while stroking and fondling my hoppers. Then I clicked each one on to see it reach red light status in 4-5 seconds. Then I tried unscrewing and reattaching each end of each device. The SS threads were fine, with the slightest resistance at the end of each reattachment. The Ti threads were very rough. Definitely in need of cleaning.
Like so many others, I was surprised at how small the hopper is. It definitely looks bigger in pictures. My Ti is noticeably lighter that the SS, but the SS isn't exactly a boat anchor. Bottom line: It's a drop-dead sexy piece of kit.
The next day, armed with newly arrived Blu Tack and some iso, I sat down to clean the SS. (Decided to try them out alphabetically.) The BT came away from the threads with some grey lines but nothing startling. I followed that with an iso-dipped precision swab on threads and a quick swab of the chamber and I left it all to dry for a while. Afterwards, the mouthpiece threading is buttery smooth. No problems on the clicker end but given the pressure caused by contact with the battery, I don't see that end ever screwing as smoothly.
I didn't bother with a burn-off. I just broke off a small piece of a bud and dropped it in the chamber, filling it a little more than 3/4. I set the temp dial to 3.5, clicked the button and 5 seconds later took my first draw. (For each draw, I'm pulling for 5-6 seconds, clicking off, and pulling for another 5-6 seconds.) First impressions:
The taste in those first hits is AMAZING. Best of any vape I've used since my Vapor Brothers. Maybe even better than that.
Hitting natively, the vapor is indeed very hot. I've never felt anything like it. A very concentrated intense stream of hot air. But here’s the thing: It's hot but not harsh, if that makes sense. I can feel the hot stream of air on my tongue, but if I shift the direction of the hopper in my mouth the problem disappears. But without that first contact on the skin, the vapor is not harsh. It feels less harsh than what I've gotten off my convection vapes. With the silicon mouthpiece, the hopper itself was not too hot for my lips.
I definitely was getting some clouds but they were pretty thin and wispy. Can't tell you how many hits I took but when I emptied the chamber half the nugget was dark brown and half was barely touched. It was immediately apparent that I would need to do some technique tweaking to optimize the experience.
Last night I started that tweaking. First thing, I took a glass stem from a disassembled miVape mouthpiece (think slightly shorter MFLB stem) and inserted it into the hopper's silicon mouthpiece. Second, this time I hand ground my herb. Just broke it up with my fingers to a medium/large consistency and loaded the chamber 3/4 full - nice and fluffed. Click on; 5 seconds later, first hit.
SWEET BISCUITS AND GRAVY !!!!!!!! What a difference a "grind" makes. Nice satisfying clouds with a kick like a mule. The glass stem definitely cools things off and provides some nice feedback. The stem starts to heat up, telling me to click off and finish my draw. With a longer piece, through tubing, or through water, heat will NOT be a problem for me. And even natively, it's very manageable and a totally worth it trade-off for the hopper's quickness, stealthiness, and mule-kick hits.
And because it's convection, I could take two hits, watch a TV show with my wife, take another 2 hits, watch another show myself, take one more hit before bed, and empty a chamber of nicely, evenly browned ABV. This thing is gonna be a godsend for pain-relieving micro-dosing.
BTW, my back end has stayed totally cool through both these sessions. I'm still on my first battery although my blue lights are starting to flicker. At this point it's been 8 or nine hits over two sessions.
Clearly, I have more learning and technique refining to do
, but at this point I am totally happy with my new little buddy.
I'm sure I'll have more to share and questions galore as my hoppers and I get to know each other.
So just placed an order for 2.
