FRANKENSTEMMING!!!
Or, Adventures in Totally Uncalled for Stem Modding
So the one thing I've never been able to manage with my Underdogs is a glass one-hitter.
Until now.
SAY HALLO TO MY LITTLE FREN!
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So I took bits and pieces from my many new stems, some from Underdog and some from HI. The glass one-hitter is a 4" HI stem coupled with a piece of 3/8" silicon tubing to a 3/8" (I think) glass stem (3" long) that was from a HI U-stem (also used for Alan's HI wooden stems for the mouthpiece).
This is slightly larger (ID) than Underdog's stainless steel stem, which I can't use because I can't see to handle its teensy screens. Sadly it is just enough larger in ID that the teensy screens that came with the stainless stem are too small for it, so I took one of the fine mesh 1/2" flat screens I got from Alan at HI and formed a basket screen for it. And trust me. This is not something you want to do on a regular basis. It's a pain, I totally ruined the first attempt and the second was much better, at only 50% boggled up, LOL! But I managed it and it fits well enough. I'm going to try some 5/8" screens when I can get hold of some and see if that makes a better basket screen, but probably I just need a form to make it easier to make custom screens.
In addition, I've made a "core gasket" that helps to seal the airway around the core. I put a small piece of 3/8" silicon tubing at the end of the stem, then I fit a piece of 1/2" silicon tubing on top of that, which permits a pretty good seal around the core and greatly improves the efficiency of the draw.
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Obviously you need to hold the dog horizonally when doing this, if you set it straight up and down in use like that all the herb would fall into the core. Also I don't leave it sitting on the core any longer than it takes to do the draw, so you don't risk any kind of weird outgassing or anything. Using Silicon tubing intended for brewing (heat tolerant, food safe).
I've seen this (silicone tips on a stem) discussed before and I'm pretty sure has specifically been suggested to me, but until Alan at HI sent me a load of stems (including one of his wooden stems, which is sort of what led to the all glass one-hitter) and spare tubing bits, I didn't have anything to work with. He sent me a HI stem with a flat screen fitted with the help of a piece of silicon tubing on the end and the next thing I know I'm pulling things apart and recombining them in unholy amalgamations of silicon, glass and steel BWAH HA HA HA HA HA!!!
I thought I was microdosing before. I was futzing around trying to remember which is smaller, pico or nano (am I pico dosing now? Or nano-dosing?) and heck with it, I've gone all the way to FEMTO-dosing at this point. I mean crumbs. I'm using the marijuana-flour I got instead of the shake I thought I was buying and it doesn't come through the fine screens at all, and I use tiny tiny crumbs of it to very large effect.
And I can SEE what is happening inside the stem. Admittedly my hand-made one-off screen is no great shakes but once I get it in there I don't have to mess with it much any more. I can use the two-piece core gasket to adjust how close the herb is to the heater rather than pushing the screen around - just shorten the amount it overhangs the end of the stem to bring it closer to the heat, pull the tubing out longer for more space.
I mean this is totally unnecessary if you have and can use the stainless steel stem, but those steel stems have always been problematic for me because I can't see what's happening inside the stem, not just when placing the screen but also in use. I just like my glass.
And any glass small enough to fit INSIDE the alpha stem is going to be thin and consequently fragile - so a one-piece glass one-hitter that's also long enough to cool the vapor is likely to be impractically fragile. But by using the tubing to couple the 2 different size stems together I get something I can handle - I've already dropped this a couple of times and all that happens is it flexes at the joint and nothing breaks. Of course it CAN be broken, but not as easily as if I were trying to use one great big long skinny straw, that's for sure.
I'm also using the silicon tubing as a "core seal" on the ends of a full-size glass Alpha stem and on a regular size glass stem and in both cases I get even better draw than without it. It also allows me to use a flat screen atop the rim of the glass stems so I can get a fine screen on there and use my marijuana-flour. The regular stem will take a 1/2" screen, and I have those in extra fine, but the larger alpha stem needs a 3/4" flat screen and while I have some of those in a finer than usual mesh, it is not quite fine enough for the marijuana flour they sold me last time I bought something labelled "shake". But I can now vape that so-called "shake" through fine screens on a regular stem or through my new glass one hitter with the help of my Alpha. I'm not sure I actually NEED to fill up an alpha stem with marijuana-flour, so the lack of a 3/4" super fine mesh screen is probably not all that much of a loss. Not sure I'd want to know the odds of my survival if I did try it.
Frankly I'm getting so much out of the glass one-hitter I'm not sure I'm ever going to use another stem again LOL!
But seriously, it doesn't work as well with regular bud as it does with the marijuana flour. How much of that is due to my (lack of) technique, I can't say, but it sure is efficient with very finely ground bud.
The one thing about silicon tubing is that its sticky and it attracts dust, whether ABV dust or general house dust. So I wipe it off a couple times a day just for appearance sake. Over time I expect it will degrade and need to be replaced, but the stuff's a couple bucks a foot from any local brew supply shop. Not going to break the bank any time soon.
and it hasn’t even been here an hour, plus I haven’t used nearly anything compared to combusting.
on it.
Hot Dog Log. I am seriously trying not to act too blind. I do tend to jump to conclusions......