The Herbalizer

Been Vapin

Fringe Class
I feel kinda dumb asking this, but how do i go about cleaning the screens in the bowl? I remember a prototype bowl almost falling apart after tourture testing it at the herbie test drive, now that one is in my house i can not figure out what magic holds the screen into the top section of the bowl, any cleaning tips would be very appreciated.

Video courtesy of @Vitolo. Switch out the bottom screen with the top screen. When the bowl is hot then brush out the bottom screen.

 

Tex

Well-Known Member
@thesoloman

The best method I have found for cleaning the screens is to pop them out, hold them with needle nose pliers and use a propane torch or lighter to burn the gunk out. Then I rinse them out. Before I put them back in, I clean the bowl and lid with iso on a q tip and rinse both with water.

The bottom screen I just push in with the bottom of the cleaning brush and it goes in easily. I usually use the tip od the blade of my pocket knife to press the top screen back into place. The fine blade helps the screen pop into the little groove.
 

Vicki

Herbal Alchemist
I filled out the service form on the Herbalizer website, but I don't expect to hear from them until next week. I know they are going through some transitions too, so that could hold things up. I might just give them a call end of next week, if I don't hear anything back.

@stickstones I don't understand either. It makes no sense because I baby everything. The black rubber part is loose on the top lid, but someone said that would not cause the leaking.
 
Vicki,

John Lewus

Well-Known Member
On a slightly different note I used the air temperature sensor from my Maverick wireless BBQ thermometer. I had to run the fan 8 times at 445 to finally get the temperature to read out 443. I did all of this without using any kind of bowl which is why it is hard to isolate the temperature to get it to a steady state. Even the slightest movement of the temperature probe caused the temp to fall by 20 degrees.

The thermapen which can measure meat much faster and air faster as well got up to 460 at the highest before it would not measure anymore but this was with the bowl on.

I really do believe that Herbie has figured out a way to dial in the temperature to within 5 degrees. This little experiment reminded me of what I learned in engineering school that temperature is never consistent and can be off by a few percentage points (In this case 10 or 20 degrees) just by shifting left or right a few centimeters. Since the Herbie measures at the output and not inside the bowl I think that the temps inside the bowl could climb a bit higher due to trapped heat but that same trapped heat would also affect the temp the Herbie is measuring. I have come to the conclusion that my rough temperature measurements indicate that the Herbie is spot on with temp control and I can't imagine a better algorithm or faster way to adjust temps on any vape. Once again I will reiterate that I love this thing.

Last night I pulled my EVO out of storage just to compare since it had been so long and the Herbie slightly wins it for me and my needs but don't think that means I want to give up my EVO. The ability to use a hydratube with the EVO and pick it up so I can better look at my TV is something I wish I could do with the Herbie with a Hydratube. However, the Herbie has a smoother taste throughout a session if I remove my bowl between hits and prevent the metal from heating up.

This got me thinking of what kind of design I would want for Herbie 2.0. Some of these could be implemented ahead of time.

1. Have less metal or rather less materials that have high heat retention inside of the Herbie bowl. This would make this even more of a convection vape. The metal can get warm and potentially conduct some heat but removing the bowl between hits helps a lot. Given that metal and glass are probably the two best materials for cleanest vapor I am not sure what the options are here. Ceramic maybe?
2. Make the magnetic bowl also magnetic to stick together. I hate having to twist screw that thing together as half the time it never seems to be tight enough. Also, herb falls between the groves a lot which is annoying.
3. Add in a cleaning mode that can run the Herbie at full temp for super hot output. This could help super heat the screens and clean up some of the gunk. You need the appropriate warning so idiots don't try to vape their herb while on clean mode.
4. Find a way to vent off excess heat while bowl is on and not being used. I hate those little puffs of air that shoot out to regulate temp. I remove my bowl between hits which is not that difficult but I spent a month before I realized I could/should do that. Silly me :)
5. Create a reusable bag system with a heavy duty connection that can blow up without you holding it.
6. Add a WiFi chip and open source software for controlling the Herbie from a smart phone. Why? Just because :)
 

MinnBobber

Well-Known Member
John Lewus-- I haven't given much thought to Herbie 2.0 but on your ppints:
1. Herbie bowl less heat retentive: make the heat chamber out of what Hemes uses on the miniVAP.
2, Yes, magnetic bowl to stick together or do something with the threads ala SCS Shredder threads which are super smooth, super fine, engage immediately, and make a rock solid connection---unlike the Herbie bowl which seems like a mosquito hitting the bowl can unlock the threads :)
3. No cleaning mode necessary if they'd copy the miniVAP "wire basket module" . Make a removable basket that sits in the heating chamber so
- no herb blows into the top screen
- easy to load
- chamber then almost never needs cleaning
- probably delete the top Herbie screen as not necessary then

Have to think about what else
Standard long glass mouthpiece included like the VapeXHale . I'm not really a bag guy or a whip guy...
 

eddiezheadiez

Well-Known Member
It seems my herbie hasn't been reaching full temperature lately. The hits are kinda wispy and my material isn't getting fully vaped... This is with the temperature all the way up. I'm pretty bummed to say the least. I thought maybe my bowl wasn't sealed, but I covered the bottom and inhaled and no air came thru. I used to get lung busting hits, comparable to smoke. Now it seems no matter how long I hit, how fine or coarse I grind my material, or how much material I use, I can't achieve that anymore.

What could have caused this? I treat my herbie like a baby. It has never left my house nor has it been dropped or mishandled in any way. I used to love this thing now I feel like I'm wasting my herb...
 

eddiezheadiez

Well-Known Member
@eddiezheadiez

How long has it been since you cleaned your screens and your bowl?
Every morning I pop the top screen out before I vape and I place it directly over the heating element and put the temp all the way up and put the fan on. This causes a puff of vapor for a second or two and gets all the resin off. Then I brush any residue off and put it back in.

After every bowl I brush the top and bottom part of the bowl completely while it's still hot so my bowl is usually spotless. I do a complete iso clean of the whole bowl and screens every week. Just to make sure a gunked up bowl wasn't the problem, I did an iso clean now and vaped a bowl with the fan assist on and the heat all the way up and I got the same results.
 
eddiezheadiez,

wax

Well-Known Member
Every morning I pop the top screen out before I vape and I place it directly over the heating element and put the temp all the way up and put the fan on. This causes a puff of vapor for a second or two and gets all the resin off. Then I brush any residue off and put it back in.

After every bowl I brush the top and bottom part of the bowl completely while it's still hot so my bowl is usually spotless. I do a complete iso clean of the whole bowl and screens every week. Just to make sure a gunked up bowl wasn't the problem, I did an iso clean now and vaped a bowl with the fan assist on and the heat all the way up and I got the same results.
0
 
wax,

Vicki

Herbal Alchemist
I filled out the contact form, but heard nothing back today. I'm going to give Herbalizer a call tomorrow.

The fix I made to the Herbie bowl seems to have stopped working. :( I have done numerous tests, wasting more herb than I can afford. I can put the same material in my Solo, set on 4, and get more medicated than I do with that same material in the Herbie set to 445F, with fan assist. I am barely seeing any vapor from my Herbie set at 445F. I tested with every vaporizer I own (except my Dr. Dabber), and I get more medicated, on LESS material, than I do with my Herbie. Solo, Iolite, MFLB, all of them.

Ok, so now I have:

1. Filled out the contact form on the Herbalizer website.

2. Sent Herbalizer an email.

3. Called them about 15 minutes ago.

I realize they are on the west coast, and I am taking that into consideration. I do kinda feel like I am being ignored, so I might just give them a call every morning until I hear back from someone.

I guess it's back to my Solo as my daily driver until someone from Herbalizer gets back to me to get my Herbie fixed. :ugh:

Herbalizer called me back! I'm packing it up right now, and printing the shipping and RMA labels. Dropping it off tomorrow morning. :)
 
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Mrmrmrmr

Well-Known Member
Hey Vicki at least you have the solo to tide you over :)

I don't know how I didn't see your post before @John Lewus
Completely agree with all your Herbie 2.0 billet points.
The wifi chip sounds very promising. I wonder how difficult it would be to install in the Herbie. I hope @Engineer comes back soon ...
 
Mrmrmrmr,
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Vap2.0user

Well-Known Member
I've had to send in my Herbie for service (cosmetic not internal FYI) and wondered how long it typically takes for repairs. Herbalizer folks say around 2 weeks which seems kinda long even for work on the internals. Also does anyone have any suggestions for a quicker shipping than UPS to the southern east coast that doesn't break the bank? Seems to take about 10 days. Thanks!
 
Vap2.0user,

DDave

Vape Wizard
Accessory Maker
I've had to send in my Herbie for service (cosmetic not internal FYI) and wondered how long it typically takes for repairs. Herbalizer folks say around 2 weeks which seems kinda long even for work on the internals. Also does anyone have any suggestions for a quicker shipping than UPS to the southern east coast that doesn't break the bank? Seems to take about 10 days. Thanks!
One week turnaround for my calibration.... and I'm on the Left Coast.... ;)
 
DDave,

spincut

Active Member
So at the end of the day, while the Herbie is spiffy, particularly from it's quick heatup time, I'm thinking it might not be for me after all. Ideally, I think the Vapexhale evo might be better for what I want (a stout vape unit that can do herb/oil with ease, basically supplementing what my volcano can already do, plus efficiency with oil).

Anyway, I thought to ask on here, if I was interested in selling my Herbie, where is the best place to do that? I kind of felt like doing so would not even be doable unless it was to a friend, but do people in these threads/on here find themselves selling to other users?
 
spincut,
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