In celebration of 4/20, my mailbox contained a little box, in which was an even smaller little wooden box. Magic Flight had mailed me a prototype (beta) Launch Box!
It is really beautiful. It's tiny, about the size of a small box of wooden matches. Not significantly larger than two AA batteries sitting next to each other. (2.5" wide by 1.3" deep by 0.9" high). It is even more cleverly designed than the Launch Tube, though its lineage is obvious. The left half of the Box is taken up by the chamber used to hold the screen (and your load), while the right half of the box holds the single AA NiMH battery used to heat the screen. The entire top of the Box is covered with a 1/4" plastic cover that is attached in one corner, and swivels out of the way to provide complete access to the chamber. The cover is held firmly in place, yet is trivially easy to slide out of the way. I don't know what type of plastic is used. You can refer to pictures uploaded by Hennessy1414 in his Box message to further clarify my description.
Note that I am talking about a prototype unit, and there may well be small changes to the Box I have and the final release Box. That is, after all, the purpose of a beta test. My Launch Box came with a foot long flexible tube, with a small rigid plastic tube on each end. One end goes into a suitable hole in the left side of the Box, and the other end goes in your mouth. My prototype did NOT include what looks like a straight, rigid breathing tube that Hennessy1414 shows in his pictures. I do plan on trying the rigid tube that comes with Magic Flight's Launch Tube vaporizer later tonight. The advantage to the flexible tube is that it coils up to a tiny size, and is easy to carry. A six to twelve inch rigid tube, even with a 90 bend, is much harder to carry. The disadvantage to the flexible tube is that it really "overwhelms" the tiny, lightweight Launch Box. I did try using the Box with no tube at all, just breathing from the hole drilled in the side; I didn't care for that method at all. It's not just that you can't watch what's going on in the chamber, I found the draw to be much harder as well. This is one area I feel needs more experimenting, though I suspect I am going to prefer the flexible tube to a fixed tube (or no tube). Remember that I've only been using the Box for one evening so far.
Here are some stream-of-consciousness thoughts I emailed to Magic Flight last night as part of my testing efforts for them. They are much less polished, and certainly much less organized than what I would present in a formal review. Again I need to reiterate that this is a beta prototype unit, and there may be changes before Magic Flight releases the Launch Box to the general public.
Magic Flight included two AA NiMH batteries which already had the wrapper removed for use with the Box. If you use your own batteries, you'll have to remove the outer wrapper before they'll work. Filling up the bowl is SO much nicer and much, much more secure than the screen/bowl arrangement in the LT. You fire up the unit by pushing the AA battery all the way into the Box. You don't have to press and hold the battery in while using the Box, at least in my unit. This may change in the final Box, as Magic Flight did ask me if I thought I'd prefer a spring loaded battery chamber, which would require holding the battery in. At this early point of using the Box, I really like the operation the way it is, which I think is much nicer than having to press in on the battery all the time. There is a down side to this though; you really must remember to slide the battery out a little when you're done, and it's not nearly as easy to regulate the heat by "pulsing" the battery (since the battery is held pretty firmly in position). You can travel with the battery completely removed (even if the bowl is full), or you can reverse the battery so it doesn't work electrically, but is held in place in its spot in the Box. You could also travel with the battery inserted correctly, but not pushed in all the way, but this makes it all too easy to accidentally fire up the unit when it's in your pocket.
Before inserting the battery all the way, I sucked on the tube, and was astounded to see the air patterns in the bowl. The finely ground load swirled nicely around the bowl. Another big smile. It wasn't until much later that I discovered the little hole in the bottom, which is what must provide the nice venturi air flow. (As a comment to stickstones, the tiny bit of vapor you saw escaping was probably from this tiny hole in the bottom. If you blow into the tube a little, you should be able to see what I'm talking about). You don't want to suck hard enough to swirl the load around in the chamber when you're using it, however! So I push in the battery and wait for a hint of vapor to appear before inhaling, and... nothing. After about 20 seconds of not seeing any vapor in the chamber I take a hit, and everything is fine, sweet taste and WAY more vapor density than I got from the LT. Nearly as much vapor density as I get with my Volcano. This is really great. Even after more bowlfuls, I still don't really ever see much vapor in the bowl. I am using other methods to learn the best way to use this as I just don't see much vapor in the chamber. (I had no trouble seeing the vapor in the LT). So I stop trying to use the "visible vapor in the bowl" method to figure things out, and just use the vapor in the lungs method, and discover I certainly don't have to wait 20 seconds before taking the first hit! I am alternating between leaving the battery in for all three hits, versus removing it in between hits while I'm holding my breath. Both work. The former is faster, but kills the battery faster as well...
The Box holds WAY more than one hit. I think of it as a three hitter to twelve hitter. If I fill the bowl (the "trough") full, I get a dozen good hits, with the last hit or two not being very tasty. The last couple of hits actually seem to have more vapor density than the previous ones, probably due to my current technique which allows the screen to get hotter at the end. Interestingly enough, I don't get the "roasted popcorn" flavor at the end, just less good flavor and more grunge flavor. I'm a flavor kind of guy, so most of my experimenting was with a partial filling of the trough, about a third of the way full. This gives me three or four really good hits before the load appears to be done. Speaking of which, the Box appears to do a good job of evenly extracting the good stuff. The load turns uniformly brown to a much greater degree than I experienced with the LT. If I pack a full load (12 hits worth) into the trough, the outside does turn brown before the inside, but stirring between hits (either manually with a NON-SHARP tool, or by just inhaling too strongly through the tube, which stirs things up) takes care of keeping the flavor sweet though more than just the first hit.
Contrary to the preliminary instructions, one battery lasts way longer than one bowlful for me. I don't know how much longer yet. Note that I am currently only filling the trough about a third way up each time, not all the way. I prefer it this way when I'm by myself, but this doesn't take into account the times I'll want to preload it and use it elsewhere (from where I'm loading it), or when I want to share with a friend or two. It looks like a full load is going to be perfect when I want to share with a friend or two.
I FAR prefer the Launch Box to the LT. It has the same charm with none of the "science project". It works better for my needs, whether I'm sharing with a friend or by myself. It's considerably more stealthy. It's considerably easier to use. It appears to be considerably less fragile.
I did have one problem with my prototype Launch Box that I wanted to mention, even though it is something that I am sure will be worked out before the final release. I only mention it to see if the other beta testers have experienced the same thing. The contact that connects to the shell of the battery (the negative electrical connection) is a little too large, and sometimes doesn't make a good connection to the battery (maybe when the Box is cold?). A few tense minutes with a pair of needle-nosed pliers seems to have fixed the problem for me, but I don't know if it's a temporary fix or a permanent one. I am currently discussing the details with the Magic Flight people in email, and will report back as we figure out if it's a one off problem with my prototype, or a design oversight that needs adjusting to be corrected.
Vape is good.
Haywood
I'm also liking the fact that the hits are thicker then with the LT, a lot of good things so far on this vape. Good post Haywood!
the lid stays air tight...vapor only leaks from two points in the vaporizer...but thats a good thing it does because it allows me to get air flow. 
