Launch Box owner since Nov 2009 - An Update on the experience
Overall:
This is such a great unit. With it's small size and being battery powered it is portable, windproof and silent. I love it! To sit out on the deck and watch nature while holding the LB in cupped hands pressing the battery in for contact by the palm of one hand takes on a wonderfully satisfying contemplative experience, one that is exceptionally discreet. I like it's extremely effective design, in today's world of injection molded plastics and electronic circuits the LB is refreshingly simple and reassuring like something made many years ago.
Herb
I have used a few different types, some more compact, some drier, some stickier, some grinds finer and others grind more springy. Out of respect to the screen I definitely wouldn't use any kief/honey/residue as altho it will have lovely potential potency it seems better not to take the risk with gumming up the screen. Grinding the herb fine is best, and as others have found if it is 'springy' herb then after taking several hits it can be useful to tip it out onto some paper and grind it to a powder between one's fingers and tip it back into the trench.
Batteries
The ones that come with the launch work fine, altho I later purchased 4 of the Maha powerex 2700 and the Maha charger. These batteries hold a little bit more charge and therefore last a little longer. But one important point that I have found is that sometimes upon recharging the batteries the capacity has dropped a lot, the Maha charger shows after charging what the charged capacity is and sometimes I have seen it as low 550! The point here is that without a charger that shows what the holding charge is after charging one may think something is wrong with the LB when the problem could actually be the battery level is too low for decent vaping. I regularly put the batteries thru a refresh cycle to bring the charge high again (charge/discharge/charge with lots of breaks) this takes something like 30 odd hours for the charger to complete after which my batteries are all sitting high around 2500+ again. The Maha charger instructions suggest the refresh cycle be done every 10 or so charges, but I am finding that after 4 or 5 charges that some of the batteries have decreased so much in their holding charge that I have to run the refresh cycle more frequently. At first I thought perhaps 2 of my 4 Maha batteries were not up to scratch (as their levels had dropped so low) but then after following their capacity thru charges and a couple or refresh cycles I found it wasn't any particular battery that was failing to recharge high again it but in fact it the failure to recharge high was happening to all batteries some of the time, so my feeling now is that when I use a battery in the LB to the point that it gets 'fairly' hot (not too hot to touch but hot to the touch) then I have found that battery will not charge to peak on the next charge cycle and the following charge cycle it will charge even less until after 4 or 5 times it charges to below 1000 mha. So my learning from this is that it is probably better to not over use one battery, perhaps better to share 2 batteries for a trench or at least refrain from letting them heat up too much (with a full trench I will usually take 12 - 15 hits). I think I read of one poster who uses 4 batteries for a trench to ensure they are not over used. Anyway I mention this for those people whose charger is the one with the kit or one that doesnt show the capacity after charging as for them they could fail to realise that if the LB is not producing enough heat it could very likely be from batteries that altho they are freshly charged are simply not holding a high enuf charge.
technique
I didnt appreciate this when I got my LB, but over time one develops a technique for fully vaped hits. Slow taking the hit is best, long and slow, over time from experience you will naturally realise just the right inhalation technique for success! The first couple of times I used the LB I got a little combustion, the ABV had green and black in it, but like so many other posters have mentioned after than it hasnt happened again, and further more the ABV is uniformly vaped, no green and black.
Customer Service
I have found Blissville to offer excellent customer service. I would very happily order from them again and recomend them to others (I know I will be ordering from them again!)
the screen
I feel best not to use kief/hash/honey etc, better to use only ground herb. I also feel trying to scrape residue out from under the screen as some posters have mentioned is risking trouble with what is probably quite a delicate part of the LB and presumably not recommended by Magic Flight.
trouble shooting
ground herb is best, if 'lumpy/springy' then powdering it with fingers after a few hits helps
if vaping is difficult my first guess at the problem would be the battery capacity is low however if it has just been charged then it may well need to go thru a refresh cycle to bring it's level up to the makers maximum again. If the battery is OK then I would suggest depressing the battery for a few seconds before inhaling very slow fine and deep. Otherwise email Magic Flight, I am very very impressed with their help and expertise and customer service.
One other thing, I have read how many go 'native' or use the short tube, but I have used and like the long tube that came with the kit since I got it. It's personal preference of course but I mention it as a while back there was talk of discontinuing it from the kit as the impression was people were not using it, but hey I am!
Happy vaping all
LB SSV
