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Discontinued The NEO by Prrl Labs

scoobindedoob

Well-Known Member
That should definitely not happen and we do not recommend continuing to use it. Please inspect the battery to make sure there is no plastic residue from the protection tab left. I'm assuming that you also inspected the chimney to make sure it didn't come in contact with any plastics while it was hot. The only other potential source that I can think of would be the circuit board itself.

Please DM with your order # and we'll replace it straight away. I'd like to inspect it and figure out what might be the cause.

Sorry to hear about this!

-Mark
Thanks Mark!

Perhaps 'plastic' is the wrong descriptor for the smell, it's not a very strong odor either, it's just a noticeable not-weed aroma that only would be noticeable when the device is close to my face, and only near the end of 2-3 consecutive heat cycles. It wasn't noxious like burning plastic would be. My mind just focused on plastic or adhesive when I first smelled it.

I did check the battery compartment and didn't find any plastic from the protection tab -- I charge externally and have rotated in a few batteries. Chimney is also clean.

I think the smell might just be the hot-metal-smell of the heater itself, maybe the silicone sleeve, or manufacturing residue on either or both.

I've been going through a lot of heat cycles recently to reproduce the aroma and identify it. Plastic was definitely not the right term, apologies for the confusion. After a few cycles, I noticed that the smell reminds me of a toaster oven we bought recently, there was a bit of a 'factory' smell, and we ran it empty a few times to burn off that smell.

Mine definitely had a smell at first. I ran it a bunch of times on th highest setting before using.


I think @Boreus describes what I also encountered. Perhaps I didn't clean the silicone sleeve and/or the atomizer thoroughly before first use, and after my initial cleaning of the chamber I jumped right into using it, I didn't do any burn-offs, and I haven't turned it up to the highest setting at all yet.

When the device first arrived, I cleaned the inside of the chimney chamber a bit with an everclear soaked qtip, let it dry over night, then went right into using it.

Wednesday I deep cleaned the silicone sleeve and lightly cleaned the outside of the atomizer (and the inside again), and let it dry for 24h. I've also gone through quite a few heat cycles before and after the cleaning. I think the smell has faded. Just now I went through a few consecutive pre-heat cycles at the highest setting and neither my wife nor I were able to smell the same smell from earlier this week.

@Black_Prrl I appreciate the great customer support and the offer for a replacement, but I think I'll run into the same 'new device smell' with the replacement and I don't want to waste anyone's time or money. My smeller was just a bit oversensitive to the new device scent I think. I'll keep an eye on it though!
 

Black_Prrl

Manufacturer of the Neo and Terp Surfer
Manufacturer
Thanks Mark!

Perhaps 'plastic' is the wrong descriptor for the smell, it's not a very strong odor either, it's just a noticeable not-weed aroma that only would be noticeable when the device is close to my face, and only near the end of 2-3 consecutive heat cycles. It wasn't noxious like burning plastic would be. My mind just focused on plastic or adhesive when I first smelled it.

I did check the battery compartment and didn't find any plastic from the protection tab -- I charge externally and have rotated in a few batteries. Chimney is also clean.

I think the smell might just be the hot-metal-smell of the heater itself, maybe the silicone sleeve, or manufacturing residue on either or both.

I've been going through a lot of heat cycles recently to reproduce the aroma and identify it. Plastic was definitely not the right term, apologies for the confusion. After a few cycles, I noticed that the smell reminds me of a toaster oven we bought recently, there was a bit of a 'factory' smell, and we ran it empty a few times to burn off that smell.




I think @Boreus describes what I also encountered. Perhaps I didn't clean the silicone sleeve and/or the atomizer thoroughly before first use, and after my initial cleaning of the chamber I jumped right into using it, I didn't do any burn-offs, and I haven't turned it up to the highest setting at all yet.

When the device first arrived, I cleaned the inside of the chimney chamber a bit with an everclear soaked qtip, let it dry over night, then went right into using it.

Wednesday I deep cleaned the silicone sleeve and lightly cleaned the outside of the atomizer (and the inside again), and let it dry for 24h. I've also gone through quite a few heat cycles before and after the cleaning. I think the smell has faded. Just now I went through a few consecutive pre-heat cycles at the highest setting and neither my wife nor I were able to smell the same smell from earlier this week.

@Black_Prrl I appreciate the great customer support and the offer for a replacement, but I think I'll run into the same 'new device smell' with the replacement and I don't want to waste anyone's time or money. My smeller was just a bit oversensitive to the new device scent I think. I'll keep an eye on it though!

Gotcha...and thanks for those details! Though there really shouldn't be much need to do any extended "burn off". That is done at the factory, then again when we inspect them upon arrival.

However, we have noticed a strange smell a couple of times when we accidentally exhaled a bit into the pipe while the Neo was on it. This pushed some particles up inside the heating chamber where we saw some small flashes, then experienced a weird smell. We expected it would be the normal weed combustion smell, but it was very different and reminded us a bit of plastic. I imagine that it's from the oils breaking down rapidly when they hit the coil.

Not saying that this is what happened to you, but it's something to watch for if you smell that again...

Also, those of you using a bong should be aware that when you stop inhaling, the falling water will push some air back up through the bowl. So, if your Neo is still on the bowl, it will push vapor and possibly particles into the heating chamber. Over time, this will turn the heating chamber dark and you may also experience the smell of old oils.

And, @CanikUser19, that's a really sweet setup with the j-hook! 🚀 Love surfing some tasty waves in the morning...

-m
 

Chowder430

New Member
Could I use it to heat up Dynavap?

Also have bong sook shin coming from OWW. Can I use it through heat intake, (after removing glass piece). Or only open architecture?
 
Chowder430,

Black_Prrl

Manufacturer of the Neo and Terp Surfer
Manufacturer
Could I use it to heat up Dynavap?

You might be interested in this video I posted on Reddit last year. I used a Dynavap as a high-efficiency chillum, without the cap. A simple silicone grommet fit nicely around the DV and made a really great seal with the Neo's chimney. I was just playing around, so you can probably come up with a much more elegant approach. Let us know how it goes!

-Mark

P.S. I agree with @coolbreeze that it wouldn't be efficient to use the Neo to heat the DV cap...and, it's unnecessary when you can provide the convective heat directly.
 

coolbreeze

Well-Known Member
You might be interested in this video I posted on Reddit last year. I used a Dynavap as a high-efficiency chillum, without the cap. A simple silicone grommet fit nicely around the Dynavap and made a really great seal with the Neo's chimney. I was just playing around, so you can probably come up with a much more elegant approach. Let us know how it goes!

-Mark

P.S. I agree with @coolbreeze that it wouldn't be efficient to use the Neo to heat the Dynavap cap...and, it's unnecessary when you can provide the convective heat directly.
Well what the hell! I gotta try this! Thanks for posting this, Mark!
 

Black_Prrl

Manufacturer of the Neo and Terp Surfer
Manufacturer
Well what the hell! I gotta try this! Thanks for posting this, Mark!

Before the ultra-efficient Terp Surfer, we loved the freedom that the Neo gave us to transform any pipe/wpa into a convection-based vaporizer system. So, we played around with many of the usual pipes and bongs--especially loving the pieces from O'Connell as well as @CDXX Pipes--but we also did a few unconventional things as well (apple, beer can, cannon...). You can see a couple of videos on YouTube here.

Also, for those who ordered a Terp Surfer, we just shipped you some new titanium screens that can be used in place of the quartz herb capsule to create a larger capacity bowl. While not quite as efficient as the capsule, the screens make it easier to use like a traditional pipe. It's also easier chop your herb directly in the bowl so you can preserve all of your trichomes (have I mentioned how much I dislike grinders?). We hope that you enjoy them!
 

StringTheorista

Well-Known Member
You might be interested in this video I posted on Reddit last year. I used a Dynavap as a high-efficiency chillum, without the cap. A simple silicone grommet fit nicely around the DV and made a really great seal with the Neo's chimney. I was just playing around, so you can probably come up with a much more elegant approach. Let us know how it goes!

-Mark

P.S. I agree with @coolbreeze that it wouldn't be efficient to use the Neo to heat the DV cap...and, it's unnecessary when you can provide the convective heat directly.
Hey Mark, can you link that silicone donut thing you used in the video? I feel like it would help make a seal possible with my lotus pie, and some other hardware I have. Thanks!
 
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coolbreeze

Well-Known Member
Iro recycler by Ceramic Smokeware, Prrl Neo, Neo Convectorium XIII in Hawaiian Koa by CDXX pipes. Hits like a very flavorful bus.
IMG-0572.jpg
 
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Jill NYC

Portable Hoarder
Beautiful piece @coolbreeze . Is the herb chamber in wood? Do you use a screen? Does the screen fit snuggly?
You got me to take another look at other Neo setups by CDXX. Just amazing stuff! A little above my budget right now, but maybe down the road for me.


Speaking of screens, I received the titanium screens @Black_Prrl - thanks so much for sending, it was a nice surprise! (Even though I read about it in advance here, I had forgotten)
I love how snug it fits, but still easy to get out when needed. Makes it really easy to give a quick stir on the higher temps.
I have only used a couple of times but really enjoyed flavor using it. I didn’t notice any metal taste that some screens introduce.
I need to try it back-to-back with glass bowl to really understand taste difference.
Will have to do a little :science: this weekend, if I can find some time!
 

coolbreeze

Well-Known Member
Is the herb chamber in wood? Do you use a screen? Does the screen fit snuggly?
The herb chamber is wood and I think I substituted a slightly larger screen for grip. I'm just getting to know it, but the chamber may be deep enough to suspend the screen a bit higher for lower temps/flavor. I've messed a bit with it and my Hot Rod and even the Glass Vapor Genie heater, and it's all great. I've had a bit of leaking with the adapter but I think I have it under control. And thank you, it is really something. I'm sure that there's a wonderful Convectorium right down your path!
 

TeaCup

Well-Known Member
Did the smojo work? If not I have a way that can work, but it's definitely a process. Personally I like doing stuff like this, it helps me relax. Until I start swearing two and half hours in ofcourse, lol.


Thank you! I think it's more sorta almost straight-sided, but thimble-shaped:
IMG-0501.jpg

I will try one of those screens! Ultimately I'd love to find one that sticks in place to make stirring less an ordeal.

01.jpg




03.jpg
05.jpg




The rounded fatter one on the right is in my Firewood. The circular one on the left I think I used for my Dotleaf, and that's a starting off point of what you can do. It doesn't look like the depth of your hole is very deep at all so the circular one probably wouldn't stay in well. If you place the circular one in your hole you can then cut a few slits down the sides of the screen and bend the flaps over and it should catch on enough of the bottom portion of your bowl to keep the screen in place. You would need to make a screen like the circular one, but taller so you can have enough flap to pull over and stay. I also have a way that's alot easier but it involves silicone in the airpath, not sure if that's Ok with you.


Any news on this: https://fuckcombustion.com/threads/sticky-brick-labs-vaporizer.21661/page-124#post-1647413
 

coolbreeze

Well-Known Member
Did the smojo work? If not I have a way that can work, but it's definitely a process. Personally I like doing stuff like this, it helps me relax. Until I start swearing two and half hours in ofcourse, lol.




01.jpg




03.jpg
05.jpg




The rounded fatter one on the right is in my Firewood. The circular one on the left I think I used for my Dotleaf, and that's a starting off point of what you can do. It doesn't look like the depth of your hole is very deep at all so the circular one probably wouldn't stay in well. If you place the circular one in your hole you can then cut a few slits down the sides of the screen and bend the flaps over and it should catch on enough of the bottom portion of your bowl to keep the screen in place. You would need to make a screen like the circular one, but taller so you can have enough flap to pull over and stay. I also have a way that's alot easier but it involves silicone in the airpath, not sure if that's Ok with you.


Any news on this: https://fuckcombustion.com/threads/sticky-brick-labs-vaporizer.21661/page-124#post-1647413
Ah! Thanks for the tips! Those sort of look like the ball screens I got somewhere that are shaped kind of like a pushbowl. I actually tried one briefly, but I couldn't figure a way to get it to say put. Maybe I'll go back to and try again with some reshaping, or another screen I can try your suggestions with. I did get the smojos and to be honest they've worked the best out of everything I've tried in that steamroller, though there is some minor heat tunneling. It works pretty well overall. I'd be interested to hear your silicone solution as well!

About that little diffuser: It did come and I tried it briefly but it's something that will take a little getting used to. The primary factor was that it seemed like I'd have to give it a good bit more heat. I'll have to try it again with a hotter torch and see if I can get it ripping. I think it will do what they say it will do, but I will have to find a sweet spot with it.
 
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TeaCup

Well-Known Member
Actually now that I think about it the silicone one won't work, that hole is teeny tiny, lol!! Could you give me a link to the ball screen?? I kind of have a screen fetish, lol. The above method really isn't hard at all, I just took a look at the one in my pic because I couldn't remember how I did it. It's easier than I thought, it was really only a couple snips with some scissors and a flat piece of screen and then shaping it and folding a piece under so you have a bottom. Once you place it in the hole and fold the screen sides over the bottom of the bowl to keep it in place you can just stuff a little piece of a concentrate pad inside the screen so nothing falls into it. Or jaggedly cut a screen to the hole size and have the jaggedness catch within the circular sides of the inside. I'll make it for you if you want.

Getting back to the silicone. Is there any way you can have a super thin piece of round silicone wedged in the hole and then wedge a tiny piece of concentrate pad to the silicone? I have some thin silicone that I was trying to mod my Firewood with that could possibly work. The only thing would be the length of that hole because it doesn't look deep and I'm not sure the silicone would have enough wall to latch on too. Or instead of the pad, I have some tiny glass and ceramic screens that could possibly wedge between the silicone. Not sure the screens are small enough though. I'm tellin' ya, there's something that's doable, I'm sure of it, lol!

Edit: How about some food safe epoxy or sealant and dab some around the hole and place a small screen on it?
 
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coolbreeze

Well-Known Member
Could you give me a link to the ball screen?? I kind of have a screen fetish, lol.
Sorry, I haven't remembered where I got them, but these are them:
IMG-0676.jpg

I think they're used for regular pipes somehow, but the screen weave is a little loose so ground bud tends to get stuck in it.....Anyhow, in the steamroller they're like any other screen: they move around freely, there's nothing to grip. Somehow it's smoother than glass! You'd have to gunk it up with tar/carbon to have something for it to grab, is how it's done, I imagine. Or just pop in a bud.

Or jaggedly cut a screen to the hole size and have the jaggedness catch within the circular sides of the inside.
I'm not sure if this is what you meant, but I once spent the afternoon perfecting an hourglass-shaped screen plug for the intake hole in my Da Buddha to see what it would take to attempt the ball mod. I could try that here but it's small enough for the smojo to just be easier.

Getting back to the silicone. Is there any way you can have a super thin piece of round silicone wedged in the hole and then wedge a tiny piece of concentrate pad to the silicone?
Ok, this again is interesting: I think the bowl may be too big unless you had like a ~16mm pad. or a pretty thick tube, Or, something similar: get a slice of silicone tube into the bowl so that stuck in place on the sides, it sits on the screen (or gives it something to catch on) holding it still, while providing a shelf for the Neo chimney to seal against. It would probably need to be a few mm thick too, though.

To be honest, the smojo and the sleeve make that bowl pretty nice to use, but it's pretty capacious so I tend to save it for bigger fun!
 
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TeaCup

Well-Known Member
Sorry, I haven't remembered where I got them, but these are them:
IMG-0676.jpg

I think they're used for regular pipes somehow, but the screen weave is a little loose so ground bud tends to get stuck in it.....Anyhow, in the steamroller they're like any other screen: they move around freely, there's nothing to grip. Somehow it's smoother than glass! You'd have to gunk it up with tar/carbon to have something for it to grab, is how it's done, I imagine. Or just pop in a bud.


I'm not sure if this is what you meant, but I once spent the afternoon perfecting an hourglass-shaped screen plug for the intake hole in my Da Buddha to see what it would take to attempt the ball mod. I could try that here but it's small enough for the smojo to just be easier.


Ok, this again is interesting: I think the bowl may be too big unless you had like a ~16mm pad. or a pretty thick tube, Or, something similar: get a slice of silicone tube into the bowl so that stuck in place on the sides, it sits on the screen (or gives it something to catch on) holding it still, while providing a shelf for the Neo chimney to seal against. It would probably need to be a few mm thick too, though.

To be honest, the smojo and the sleeve make that bowl pretty nice to use, but it's pretty capacious so I tend to save it for bigger fun!
Ah Ok, that's what I thought of when you said ball screen, but I knew they were huge so I figured you didn't mean them. To be honest now that I see it inside the bowl, I'm not sure were on the same page with everything. All my mods have been talking about getting a screen inside that little hole in the bottom. And it can be done with one of the three mods.....maybe not the silicone one because I don't really know the size and depth of the hole. What about the last one I mentioned........seems to me to not have any learning curve or dexterous hands to be able to do. But if your happy with it, then your happy with it :)
 
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coolbreeze

Well-Known Member
Ah Ok, that's what I thought of when you said ball screen, but I knew they were huge so I figured you didn't mean them. To be honest now that I see it inside the bowl, I'm not sure were on the same page with everything. All my mods have been talking about getting a screen inside that little hole in the bottom. And it can be done with one of the three mods.....maybe not the silicone one because I don't really know the size and depth of the hole. What about the last one I mentioned........seems to me to not have any learning curve or dexterous hands to be able to do. But if your happy with it, then your happy with it :)
Hey, I'm enjoying the brainstorm! The hole's not very big, 2, maybe 3mm, with no access below. What's kind of a bummer is that the bowl has a flatish bottom, an almost perfect shape for suspending a screen wherever you want it, and the chimney fits almost perfectly with plenty of room below to play. But, it's decidedly not grippy and won't hold a screen. The mfr could modify this bowl I think by leaving the bottom 2/3 unglazed (or use his flat glaze, maybe) and make 8 or 9 small holes and it would be Neo-perfect. If it was even rounder, so much the better, but it's pretty round as is, and with the silicone sleeve it's perfect. The sleeve raises the Neo higher in the bowl, but I haven't found it to be a problem at 2-3 diamonds. It's a little surprising how well it works and it's slightly frustrating that it's just about perfect(able).

It really does work pretty well as is and I would say that its remaining thing is that it's like a small dry bong so there's some slight muting of the flavor. Of course, that's also its main feature as it does more than sufficient cooling. Hardly an issue, though, really.
 
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