Discontinued Thermovape Cera

[nopartofme]

After trying so many techniques and toying around with this thing since February, I'm really coming to learn that original heat up time will make the difference in how this thing works. And, that heat up time will vary from various batteries, temperature of the device from a cold start (i.e. if it's left in a hot car warm up will be short), and the switch and or cart degrading. So don't mind the 20 or 30 second rule as that will change based on circumstances. Rather, go at it when you feel a good amount of warmth around the intake holes on the outside. If it's slightly warm, you'll get flavor on the first few hits with not a lot of vapor. If it's warm-hot, you will get bigger clouds right off the bat. So it's up to you on how to use it. But the longer the warm up, the easier it tends to be to use... especially for beginners.

Yep, I think that pre-heat up time is the biggest factor but only if draw speed is taken as constant. If you're dead set on pulling harder you have to wait for the heat to build to the point where that will work.

The tip about watching for heat rather than waiting a pre-set amount of time is good, but I find that holding the cart itself with the MP off while heating up, and waiting for that to get warm, will get you going if you draw at the right speed. Of course it's important to hold it from a cold start; heating first and then touching the cart to check could give you a nasty surprise...

Waiting for the heat to migrate down to the intake holes will take longer but allow you to get going with harder draws sooner.

 

[VapoRoor]

What's the best method to clean the LL cart since boiling it isn't recommended?

I have a brown stain in the center

 

[PhotoRider]

I thought boiling was. Not ultrasound cleaning.

 

[OF]

What's the best method to clean the LL cart since boiling it isn't recommended?

I have a brown stain in the center

I thought boiling was. Not ultrasound cleaning.

Agreed. No taboo on boiling, it's just generally not needed. I recommend a short boil after any ISO soak to drive the ISO out in fact. Normally wipe downs are sufficient.

I assume the brown stains are from hash, not bud? I doubt boiling alone will attack that all that well, but ISO soaks and 20/20/20 burns combined with boiling might.

Stains don't effect performance, of course, but I get it cosmetics is a personal call. If it resists all efforts and is a big enough problem the $15 rebuild will remove the stains for sure.

Good luck.

OF

 

[TheRobbo]

Boiling is fine just make sure you get most of the water out of it before you Fire her up, I think Of said guys have been leaning on the power straight away to dry it out and causing all kinds of crazy convection currents inside which it doesn't like. Blow through it put it in the oven on the lowest setting for 30mins then you can hit it with self heat to clear the really stubborn MOISTURE out. just not when its full of water. Mine has a bit of a brown stain on the bottom too didn't come out with a boil or even a qtip dipped in ISO. I dont really mind it, it proves it works I also dont see the need to boil unless really gunked up with hash cause if you tip out the cup when hot it comes pretty darn clean with a quick blow out.

R

 

[OF]

Boiling is fine just make sure you get most of the water out of it before you Fire her up, I think Of said guys have been leaning on the power straight away to dry it out and causing all kinds of crazy convection currents inside which it doesn't like.

I could well have goofed it up, of course, but what I meant to say is I was told that the problem comes from excess water 'rattling' around in the hot core (remember it's quite hot in places). When some lands in the wrong spot it flashes to steam violently and can cause damage that way.

I think it's best to clean after a session (when you're not anxious to use it again right away) rather than putting it off too long? I find leaving it on its side to air dry over night (after shaking out what will come) leaves it pretty dry, nary a sizzle on power up.

In any event, it's waterproof, boil away if the urge strikes?

OF

 

[VapoRoor]

Agreed. No taboo on boiling, it's just generally not needed. I recommend a short boil after any ISO soak to drive the ISO out in fact. Normally wipe downs are sufficient.

I assume the brown stains are from hash, not bud? I doubt boiling alone will attack that all that well, but ISO soaks and 20/20/20 burns combined with boiling might.

Stains don't effect performance, of course, but I get it cosmetics is a personal call. If it resists all efforts and is a big enough problem the $15 rebuild will remove the stains for sure.

Good luck.

OF

Surprisingly the brown Stain comes from the latter
I read hash would stain it & I haven't felt the need to clean it plus I didn't want to
So I vaped only ground material
About 10 or 12 bowls so far

 

[OF]

Surprisingly the brown Stain comes from the latter
I read hash would stain it & I haven't felt the need to clean it plus I didn't want to
So I vaped only ground material
About 10 or 12 bowls so far

Wow, that's not very many bowls of bud to have it get stained.....is the bud good and dry?

The only time I noticed stains to any significant degree were with lots of bubble use where I think moisture has a big role? I figured it was like fouling under the screen on MFLB and similar cases (which also seems moisture related). Then again, like I said I don't find stains to be very important so it could well be a difference in opinion there.

Any way, don't fear boiling. In fact I recommend it if you get ISO soaked into it. The ISO seems to take 'forever' to dry out unless I boil it for five minutes or so then dry the water. I'm thinking that the 'too much water in the core before firing it up' problem is probably a EO core problem mostly. It's the one with the porous ceramic and lots of little areas steam could get trapped in and cause grief.....besides while LL cores shake out well, EO cores seem to love trapping water inside. I gave up trying to weigh them to decide if I'd cleaned one strain out in shifting to another while Beta testing cores. Before drying there's just too much water weight in EO cores.

Thanks for the additional info, it's got me thinking of water in the herb..... Good luck with it.

OF

 

[VapoRoor]

Yeah the center of my LLC Is stained
So is the sides of the top cap
& the underside of the mp tip
I already have a good amount of it wiped off but there's an Amber Brown Color on the pieces I mentioned

The material is the best quality I have experienced in years

Animal cookies & white knight
Cured for 3 months
Ground to a medium
Dry & sitting in my grinder now

 

[TheRobbo]

Was having a sesh the other day in a mates shed and this happened when I popped the top off to peek inside.
Cool huh?

 

[Skored]

I have a question for those of you that travel by flight with your Cera. I have never in my life traveled with anything related to dope... just wasn't worth it. But I'm traveling within the states next week and for the first time am considering taking it with me. I will probably only take the LL cart. I can completely sterilize before I leave, however with staying at a hotel, not sure how I could boil to sterilize on the way home. So the first question is if ISO will sterilize effectively for me to travel back with it? I'm not taking any meds with me, getting some at my destination. So essentially, the device itself shouldn't raise any flags right? So is it best to pack in my luggage and check it or carry on?

 

[VapoRoor]

So far. I use the latching mechanism To do the grunt work for heating up the cartridge at first (pre-heat)
Then I use the switch momentary style to continue the vaporizing experience until hits become faint.

I noticed I've Been packing too much & that caused the underside to vape too much & the top to not vape enough.

So I tap in some herb (keeping it loose & not clumped up) about 3/4 of the bowl then I lightly press the load down
Put on my top cap
& vaporize efficiently & effectively

 

[nopartofme]

So far. I use the latching mechanism To do the grunt work for heating up the cartridge at first (pre-heat)
Then I use the switch momentary style to continue the vaporizing experience until hits become faint.

I like it! Makes it easier to skip to mature heat, for those who seeking a "quick draw"?

I noticed I've Been packing too much & that caused the underside to vape too much & the top to not vape enough.

So I tap in some herb (keeping it loose & not clumped up) about 3/4 of the bowl then I lightly press the load down
Put on my top cap
& vaporize efficiently & effectively

This is exactly how I pack it as well, perhaps that explains why I haven't had trouble with even extraction. I haven't experimented too much with load sizes since I found something that works for me early on. I think that early on we called this "the @Tweek pack"?

 

[buchee]

I thought I would attempt an endurance test and see how long I could go on 1 battery with the LL cart. It's fairly long. I got around 17 or 18 minutes and the battery probably could've gotten a few more minutes but I was already pushing myself beyond my limit. All in the name of science of course.

 

[OF]

I thought I would attempt an endurance test and see how long I could go on 1 battery with the LL cart. It's fairly long. I got around 17 or 18 minutes and the battery probably could've gotten a few more minutes but I was already pushing myself beyond my limit. All in the name of science of course.

Outstanding, thanks for the report. It parallels my testing early on. I got a little longer times, but that could be changes in core resistances and battery types. Or when we ended the test?

In any event plenty long for most guys I think, a BIG improvement over T! battery life (which is what we asked for) and it's even easier to drop a fresh battery in that to change loads in the bowl I think. A guy with a spare battery or two and some stash in his pocket is well set for whatever adventures a day can throw at him I think......

Thanks again.

OF

 

[Custom Flower Hardware]

Just like to say I've been with my Cera from the beginning (feb) and all I had to purchase were 2 more batteries which I prally didn't even need after zeki revamped my LL core for free. My EO cart has never been cleaned and performs flawlessly. I do a LL load then right after, while still a little hot, I back off the battery 4 twists (no need for the extra friction) the pop EO core in for a few big wax hits. Then I switch them right back again. 1 battery gets me 3 cycles of this I'd say I use my Cera 30-40 times a week with the cigar case and a 4 battery rotation (case holds Cera and 3 bats perfectly) I gave away my pax, use my Pinnacle here and there, and my davinci is my way to work vape but my Cera is the Franchise Player Just a quick question about the T1 cores. Will TET rebuild them? I like the throwback once in a while

 

[OF]

I'd say I use my Cera 30-40 times a week with the cigar case and a 4 battery rotation (case holds Cera and 3 bats perfectly) I gave away my pax, use my Pinnacle here and there, and my davinci is my way to work vape but my Cera is the Franchise Player Just a quick question about the T1 cores. Will TET rebuild them? I like the throwback once in a while

Great report, thanks very much. Want another tip re that case and the Cera? Next time you're ordering stuff from PV get yourself some 'Doob Tubes':
http://www.planetvape.ca/doob-tubes.html

Just the ticket to fill with ground, ready to go, herb. Slip a few in there with the batteries and you're really set. I also take an empty one for ABV.

Yes, TV still does T1 cores (last I knew.....). I think they may have given up on the LV version though? Still, I bet if you asked real nice.......

Good luck.

OF

 

[Tom Funk]

My T1 core was rebuilt by Thermovape two weeks ago.

TF

 

[darkrom]

Is there anything I can do to troubleshoot why my LL cart is no longer getting nearly as hot as it used to without sending it in, or should I just bite the bullet and send the cart in. The oil cart is still working great so I know it has to be the cart itself. I've had it for a while now, perhaps it needs to be rebuilt?

I end up with 1/4 or so the visible vapor I used to get, and my technique is the same. I end up taking my ABV and having to finish it in another vape, so I know something is up.

Just seeing if theres any DIY tests or if its not worth the time and I should just send it in since I have backups now?

 

[Skored]

Is there anything I can do to troubleshoot why my LL cart is no longer getting nearly as hot as it used to without sending it in, or should I just bite the bullet and send the cart in. The oil cart is still working great so I know it has to be the cart itself. I've had it for a while now, perhaps it needs to be rebuilt?

I end up with 1/4 or so the visible vapor I used to get, and my technique is the same. I end up taking my ABV and having to finish it in another vape, so I know something is up.

Just seeing if theres any DIY tests or if its not worth the time and I should just send it in since I have backups now?

Get a fresh battery and fire up the cart. How long does it take to get a glow, and then be a stable glow? In my case, I found that it took almost 7-8 seconds to see a glow and almost 45 seconds to be at full brilliance... not sure if this is the switch degrading or what because the times used to be much faster. But if this is the case, it means you may not be heating up long enough at step one, and thus never getting the cart to optimal vaporization temperatures. So maybe try letting it go at step one for at least a minute before you begin.

When this happened to me, I went back to my paperclip mod (bypasses the switch and the paperclip creates the connection) and everything was back to normal... fast heat up times and clouds were huge again. Some have warned that this type of mod will collapse the spring, but I haven't had that happen and my Cera is working good as new.

 

[OF]

Just seeing if theres any DIY tests or if its not worth the time and I should just send it in since I have backups now?

They do cool off some, although this sounds extreme? It could also still be base related since lower power oil carts do much better than lower power LL carts (I've tested a lot of values, 9 Watts is a useful oil cart but kind of a joke LL one).

It's very hard to tell without some careful "before and after" measurements....and we don't have the before parts to work with.

For the cost of shipping you can find out if the LL cart is still within specs. That's what I'd do, FWIW.

Good luck, you know what it can do, no reason to compromise.

OF

 

[darkrom]

Thanks OF. Now the real question is should I suck it up and go without the oil cart and send both in? I can imagine being told the cart is fine, which would leave me less than excited if I had to send the base in by itself after.

I guess I should just bite the bullet and go without the whole LL and the base. Kind of a bummer since I was hoping to use the oil while it was out, but worth it as long as they get me sorted out this time.

 

[OF]

Thanks OF. Now the real question is should I suck it up and go without the oil cart and send both in? I can imagine being told the cart is fine, which would leave me less than excited if I had to send the base in by itself after.

I guess I should just bite the bullet and go without the whole LL and the base. Kind of a bummer since I was hoping to use the oil while it was out, but worth it as long as they get me sorted out this time.

Your call of course, but since you're happy with the EO right now I'd send just the LL cart. All you risk is sub ten dollar shipping and some time you're not using the LL cart anyway to find out? Then, you can get the LL cart back and try out before deciding to send the lot in.

Eventually I think you and TV will sort it out, I'm just thinking of keeping up and running on the EO in the process?

Good luck.

OF

 

[darkrom]

Your call of course, but since you're happy with the EO right now I'd send just the LL cart. All you risk is sub ten dollar shipping and some time you're not using the LL cart anyway to find out? Then, you can get the LL cart back and try out before deciding to send the lot in.

Eventually I think you and TV will sort it out, I'm just thinking of keeping up and running on the EO in the process?

Good luck.

OF

True. I just hate waiting (as do most humans) so I'd want to avoid waiting twice. I'll gamble this one and send in just the cart.

 

[TheRobbo]

Why not at least try a bit of foil in place of the switch before sending it in at least you can isolate one possible issue?