It's time for an update about how I stand with the Milaana. It has been a couple of weeks since I last used it and it's no longer in my daily drivers these days, for several reasons.
First of all, I've been working from home lately and when I'm there I use the Zion, period. I don't even try to alternate or create any diversity, it's the only vape I grab and I don't think twice. I have my habits, my sweet spot on the dial, my technique... We are all very passionate about vapes on this forum, but at some point, when on a daily basis, you just use the tool that works the best for you. It gets me where I need to be at the pace and level of comfort that suits me the best.
Then there's the fact that my Mi developed a bad tendency since the accident when it fell from the table. I think it affected the heater somehow and I now have an offset hotspot on the load that is rather hard to avoid. So I have to rotate my stem every couple of hits, but as you know, when you guys cash a bowl in 3 hits, I take 10 times more and finish mine (approx 0.1g) in around 30 smaller hits.
So that's a lot of stem insertions and removals per session. Multiply that by several sessions per day... everyday... and that's enough to have me concerned about glass particles. Especially since I had bad experiences in the past, when whole western Europe was flooded with street weed cut with glass particles or micro-spheres... That shit is nasty when it gets inside your lungs, really. There were numerous medical reports in several countries and mentions of micro-cuts in the patients alveolas...
Plus with my own medical past, I have to be extra careful. So please don't judge me for that, I have my reasons to be concerned.
Finally there is this 90° angled stem I've been using. I don't know if you remember? Some fellow member posted the link a while back and I grabbed a pair of them. One was awfully loose and unusable in my Mi (it's a rather early release and the bowl depth wasn't 100% standardized back then) The other was okish but not perfect and it's the one I've been using. I still have to find the motivation to grind its tip to shorten it and improve the mating.
I like how small it is and still manages to provide (barely) enough cooling. It's comparable to the stock stem, not worse but not better either. The smaller mouthpiece diameter is ok I guess, but I like the 18mm more for some reason. Matter of taste? The angle part catches a lot of particulates so it's acting as a kind of filter.
But then there are a few downsides. It forces you to use the Milanaa with two hands, as even if it wasn't loose I think the stem would have a tendency to turn, so you end up with one hand to hold the stem and the other to hold the trigger. You can kinda do it with a single hand but then it forces you to "break" your wrist at a weird angle, and overall in both cases I find it less comfortable to handle and use.
Couple that to the need to rotate the stem and it creates a really weird usage pattern where you end up using all possible combinations on the clock! Sometimes the stem points to the left, then after to the right, then towards the body of the device... it's completely awkward! You have to do some hand gymnastics to accommodate where the trigger is located for a given stem angle... It's not enjoyable.
Angled stems are nice only if you don't need to rotate them and keep the angle constant. So I went another direction and ordered a pair of 14mm to 18mm glass adapters from China. Here's the link I used, but grab it quickly as these DHGate links are rather short-lived: "Downpipe Reducing Adapter 18mm Male to 14mm Female" >>
http://www.dhgate.com/product/down-pipe-adapter-bong-downpipe-reducing/387805871.html
Here's a picture showing the (dirty, sorry reclaim long overdue) angled stem and the two adapters:
It wasn't specified in the product description but it appears one is US standard and the other is ISO (23 and 25mm deep) or at least I imagine it is (there's a chance that they just have incredibly loose tolerances and I was just lucky)
The shorter one fits well in my Milaana (even having a rather shallow female GonG), also in my alpha Zion but not in the production one. Not a big deal since I'm perfectly happy with the long 18mm stems in the Zion.
The quality of the adapters is ok but not the best, their bottom rim is quite irregular but at least it's flame polished. Here's a picture of the adapter and the 14mm stem from the Project Pure:
I have not tested it yet but will do tonight. I hope that the extra distance between load and heater and the narrower diameter will help tame my hotspot issue. I'll report later on. It kinda looks like a walkie talkie with a little antenna no?
PS: I'd love to test @DDave's stuff instead but I think my female GonG is too shallow and wouldn't be compatible...
