marduk
daydreamer
Just curious, what is it that is more enjoyable about the 1" charcoals? Also, have you tried 3/4" charcoals?
Discontinued The Okin by D.M. Pipes
- Thread starter Stu
- Start date
-
- Tags
- charcoal powered okin portable
Just curious, what is it that is more enjoyable about the 1" charcoals? Also, have you tried 3/4" charcoals?
ANOKHI
Blow that shit out!!
@Dan Morrison Aww man....your just a big tease. Lol. This work of art is going to be a big hit!!! Happy Valentines Day!!! Beautiful just Beautiful!!!
The longer burn is much nicer for tobacco, you can really load it up and puff on it just like a tobacco pipe.
I just think that it allows you to sit back and relax a bit more. Pretty much doubles the session time.
Dan - about how long does it take for a well-lit charcoal to stop burning when untended by drawing or re-ignition with flame? Thanks!
Last edited:
An untended charcoal will continue to burn till it has reached the prong tips where it will extinguish itself.
edit: That was the norm for 1/2" - 3/4" charcoals. The 1" charcoals seem to extinguish before the ember hits the prongs if left unattended.
Though, if you drill holes into the sides of the 1" charcoal it will burn much nicer and won't self extinguish if left unattended.
I am beginning to think that drilling holes into the side walls should be a standard preparation, especially with the 1" charcoals. It's a subtle difference, but for the extra 30 seconds it takes to poke the little holes through it seems totally worth it to me every time...
Last edited:
Better to use shorter coals for shorter sessions for sure!
You can extinguish the charcoals by butting it out like a cigarette, but it won't re-lite as nice, or burn as hot as it should the second time around. They really are one time use in most circumstances.
Depending on how the rest of the 1" batch goes, I may offer packs of short and long charcoals, or I may settle on a middle ground of around 3/4"..... I am leaning towards a middle ground, but... time will tell!
And don't worry about the questions! I love the questions! Talking to everyone here is an awesome time!
You can extinguish the charcoals by butting it out like a cigarette, but it won't re-lite as nice, or burn as hot as it should the second time around. They really are one time use in most circumstances.
Depending on how the rest of the 1" batch goes, I may offer packs of short and long charcoals, or I may settle on a middle ground of around 3/4"..... I am leaning towards a middle ground, but... time will tell!
And don't worry about the questions! I love the questions! Talking to everyone here is an awesome time!
I'll have to get back to ya on that one, I'll need to setup a timer.
Walter Bishop
Well-Known Member
I don't know if it's been mentioned anywhere within this thread already. But my wife just looked at this thing and said it looked like Dr. Who's Sonic Screwdriver.
I just did a google image search for that, HA! It totally kinda does! Neat.
Unisonruss
Well-Known Member
Love how easy it is to make them...will probably still rely on you for a while first though... I live in an apartment building, and don't have easy access to open fire since I'm in the city.So I decided to do some more extensive testing on 1" length charcoals. Usually I make them 1/2".
I wanted to bring you guys along for the process, and give you an idea of how you could make your own charcoals!
I used bamboo that you could get at any garden store. I used a 5 foot long piece of cane, which will produce about fifty 1" charcoals. Price for a 5 foot length of cane is generally around 50 cents - 1 dollar.
I cut these with my bandsaw, but you could use a cheap fine-toothed handsaw.
The bamboo segments were placed into a candy tin, any sturdy tin with a good lid will work well. Holes have been punched into the top to let gases escape (very important, or the top will pop off!).
I tossed it into my fireplace, and let it heat up slowly. You'll see steam and volatile gases start to escape.
Next, the escaping gases will ignite as the tin is pushed further into the fire. Here you see the steady jet flame that is produced, it sounds like a jet too! it's important to not let this happen too quickly as the pressure may pop the top off. These gases are generally referred to as "wood gas". Some people even use wood gas to run gasoline engines!
As the gases start to taper off, the tin should be pushed into the hottest part of the fire. You can monitor the escaping gases by looking at the flame produced near the punched holes in the tin.
The tin needs to get red hot, the best charcoal is produced at 700-1000 °C (1292 - 1832 °F). At this carbonization temperature the fixed carbon content of the charcoal will be between 92-93 percent. This is way higher than most commercially available charcoal. This also means that the volatile content will be around 2-3%, extremely low. The remainder is made up of ash (mostly calcium).
A BBQ or hookah charcoal (coconut husk), especially the cheaper brands and compressed bricks will have a fixed carbon content of around 50-80%, with the remainder being mostly volatile mater. This volatile mater is what gives lower quality charcoal it's bad smell.
The only other charcoal on the market (that I know of) that is comparable to my bamboo charcoal is Binchōtan, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binchōtan
This is why you can't compare the taste, smell, or emissions between normal charcoal, and properly made bamboo charcoal.
Here, you see that the volatile gases have all escaped, and there is no more flame near the punched holes. The steel is bright red/orange, indicating a temperature above 700 °C inside the tin (probably close to 900 °C). I leave it in the coals for a few minutes before taking it out to let the tin cool off.
The tin must be cool to the touch before opening the lid. If the lid is opened at any time during the process, oxygen will get to the bamboo charcoals and they will start to burn.
Here is the finished charcoal, the carbonization process took about 10-15 minutes for a tin this size. The yield was 50 charcoals.
Since these are twice the length of the usual 1/2" charcoals, they are taking up much more space, but even still I am able to fit about 35 charcoals into the prototype case. Looks sweet! These charcoals are quite hard, they have a high pitched sound when you hit them. You could make wind chimes out of this stuff!
I'm not sure why there are deep vibrant blue on some of these charcoals... I assume it's some sort of thin oxide layer. They look exactly like the oxides produced on polished steel when it's heated, though.. to much lower temperatures than that used in this context. hmmm.
The Okin is looking really nice in that box, classy! So far I'm digging it pure, with no stripes, and that darker wood. I think I'm looking forward to this even more knowing Star Wars is coming out this year...and this will probably be in my pocket by then!
°k
The sound of vapor
Trying to understand what this had to do with it.... an Okin Skywalker?
It's totally because the Okin looks like a little glowing lightsaber, duh!
So. Here's some updated notes.
First, I made a batch of charcoal that I carbonized at a very high temperature. It was very clean, but the high temperature carbonation resulted in a much more dense charcoal. These burned for longer, but were hard to keep lit. So, I believe that the ideal carbonation temperature is around 650-850 C.
Now, about the length. I think I will settle on 3/4" for final charcoal length. That length is good to adequately finish the chamber loads that seem ideal with this device.
Also, I have tested this in -20 degree weather and it doesn't skip a beat!
EDIT:
I'm really happy with this prototype, I can confidently say that I am ready for production now. I am assembling the parts for an initial batch of 100 vaporizers.
So. Here's some updated notes.
First, I made a batch of charcoal that I carbonized at a very high temperature. It was very clean, but the high temperature carbonation resulted in a much more dense charcoal. These burned for longer, but were hard to keep lit. So, I believe that the ideal carbonation temperature is around 650-850 C.
Now, about the length. I think I will settle on 3/4" for final charcoal length. That length is good to adequately finish the chamber loads that seem ideal with this device.
Also, I have tested this in -20 degree weather and it doesn't skip a beat!
EDIT:
I'm really happy with this prototype, I can confidently say that I am ready for production now. I am assembling the parts for an initial batch of 100 vaporizers.
Last edited:
Breathemetal
Well-Known Member
I am ready with cash in hand
get2birdsStoned
Member
So far I really enjoy the 1" charcoals.
Also, I am definitely adding a second, smaller, brass screw to the prongs. Silver solder is out, mechanical connections are the way to go!
And I think I will shorten the length of the bamboo segment of the stem by about an inch.
An update about the testers. The design is so close to being perfect... I feel it in my bones. It just wouldn't have made sense to rush the testers out while I was still making tweaks to the prototypes. Every new model gets better, but reveals small improvements that I had to explore! So, soon!
This vape keeps looking better and better.
Noticed you said you shortened the bamboo segment.
Not that this change is deal breaker haha, but I'm just wondering. Why make the bamboo an inch shorter? Better use of materials? Aesthetics? Better fit for the box?
Good question! It's for aesthetics and also to make the case smaller.
I found that when the chamber is fully loaded, often youll want to do a full load if using tobacco, the stem is only pressed into the metal tip about a quarter inch. That lengthens the entire thing, and also adding the length of a loaded 3/4" charcoal, things were just looking a bit long. Taking an inch or so out will make the whole thing look much better when fully loaded, and feel better in the mouth. The vapour is already very smooth and cool (becuase of the bare wood stem) so it can handle being shortened a bit, and actually I think the mouth feel would be improved by the warmer vapour from a shorter stem.
This will make the case easier to make as well, the tip can stay on the stem while in the case, so no additional section for holding the metal tip separatly will be needed.