Valloon by VripTech

[zmurder]

So looks like the Valloon is back:

Appreciate the props guys just want to add that for the convenience of the balloon delivery our third utility patent that was issued recently now allows us to once again sell our Valloon without fear of an infringement claim from Volcano as long as it is used with a heat tool that is multi-functional, i.e. Steinel 2510 or similar. There is some copy on the site we need to take down that still sounds like we are not selling it, but hte Valloon catalogue is up and functional and we are taking orders and shipping. We originally sold the Valloon with an o-ring that allowed you to adapt it to the Volcano base so that if you already had one you could at least benefit a sequential venturi extraction chamber and valve both made of glass, as well as, the ability to moisture condition/ice cool by running the vapor through a tube, but we're not selling it with that o-ring anymore due to Storz and Bickel being so unresponsive and uncooperative when we offered to license their patent until ours was granted so we could keep selling it after they fired a cease and desist at us not realizing we had filed our own patent. I guess they figured we wouldn't get it....it was a long painful prosecution but we GOT IT!

The Valloon uses a manually operated valve assembly so a little more work than using the Volcano assembly, but it's sure cool to have a balloon hanging off the front of a water tool whereas the water essentially becomes the valve to prevent the vapor from running out of the balloon as well as serving it's usual function. It's not the density of flavor you can get with the wand and a nice piece for sure, but when you've got multiple heads and lungs to take care of it's a nice balance that still includes glass surfaces and a water tool option---you can fill a two to three foot balloon and have plenty of captured vapor for a couple rounds with three or four sets of lungs and the better extraction, thermo and polarity advantages of glass, and water tool compatibility really serve you up balloon capture ritual without the Lava Throat. Good call Danoobs---we always run the wand with 2-3 sets of lungs, but if we're getting into the 4-5 range the Valloon comes out to hold everyone over until they get their round on the PerK with the VHW. We'll get a Valloon specific thread started here eventually.

I realize the Valloon has been around for years and has been talked about in a few threads here, but I didn't see a dedicated one...and since I had a few questions (see below) I figured I'd beat ShadowVape to the punch on creating the thread. It's worth looking back over these threads tho for more info:

• New Steinel + Easy Valve
• Vriptech Heat Wand

Manufacturer's website: VripTech International
Product website: Valloon Kit

A few questions then for ShadowVape or anybody else in the know. Some of these relate specifically to the Steinel HG2510 heat gun, as that is the VripTech recommended HG for this application:

• Anybody on here using one of these nowadays?
• When used with the Dry Delivery Mouthpiece do you have to cover the end to prevent vapor loss, or does the valve still achieve this even without using a water tool?
• About how noisy is a quality heat gun like the Steinel HG2510 on its lowest setting? I've heard "quieter than a hair dryer" (I would hope so!) but I've also read elsewhere that they'll "wake up the whole house". In the few HG-vaping vids on youTube the guns don't really sound that loud but of course it's hard to tell. Any thoughts here?
• 3.7 cfm seems to be the minimum airflow unless you want to spend a fortune ($700+) on your HG. This is still many times the airflow on the Volcano. How fast does this blow up a standard size bag? Is it just crazy fast and do you still get a good extraction?

 

[Zingbuddah]

Dude....you seriously just made my day. I've been coming up short trying to pick one of these up second hand for YEARS. I have the 007 kit and missed buying this the first time. I can't believe that they actually got around this (or a patent expired).

To answer your questions, I have the Makita re-branded Steinel and I still use the kit weekly. I find that it is the only tool I've ever owned (going on record here) that allowed precise control of the heating that fast. The VHW is close, but the heatgun is better.

On the lowest setting, it is quieter than the typical hair dryer.

Regarding the time, I just tried a Volcano bag with the heat gun and it takes half the time of the Volcano to fill. I never had an extraction problem using it with the normal bowl so I can't imagine that it would be any different.

I've got one on order and will post when I get it!

Thanks,
Z

 

[zmurder]

Awesome glad to hear it Zingbuddah. I went ahead and pulled the trigger on a Steinel + VCB + Valloon setup -- should be here end of the week! I doubt it'll become my daily driver but I'm looking forward to the "elephant gun of vapor" and to blowing big bags with the Valloon when I want to just kick back and sip vapor. I wonder if the glass Valloon is very hot and hard to handle after blowing a bag? Guess we'll see

 

[Zingbuddah]

Came across this vid from 09 with one of the original Valloons. Good demo...making me jones for mine. I'm going in on an upgrade for my original 007 kit!

 

[Egzoset]

Oh, direct from the vaporization chamber to the bag: the vapour path can't get any shorter than that!

 

[zmurder]

Turkey bags, go big or go home. I think most people on here know what they're getting into when it comes to bags and vapor quality. Not the best for sampling flavors IMO but a pretty good solution when you have people to medicate -- I'm thinking the Valloon is going to be my go-to setup when my parents come over!

 

[Nebu]

Ha! Good stuff on the Valloon resurrection zmurder!!

I still get mine out for large gatherings, usually in tandem with the VHW @ the Vapor Bar. When one has a lot of guests it makes it easier to deal out more vapor, quickly. Sort of like putting out a pot of coffee as opposed to doing shots of espresso.

I recall doing an extensive photo-shoot with ShadowVape wayyy back when; the product shots that are now back on the catalog site and also a step-by-step. Oh yeah.. it is still there (stealth link) ~> Valloon Step-by-Step

​

Cheers,​

Nebu​

 

[Egzoset]

Salutations,

I wish we could get a real good closeup shot on this part of the concept:



...to illustrate its upper vapour path clearly...

 

[zmurder]

Yo Egzoset, you can get an idea of the simple hot air and vapor path by looking at the parts images over on the VripTech Valloon ordering site. It's just two pieces -- the valve:

and then the hot air intake:

 

[FlowersInTheAttic]

... aaaaaaaaaaand it's ordered!

Just saw this here. Been checking eBay for one at least once a month for the last seven years. Does anybody know whether they finally reached a deal with the Volcano people, or did the patent just run out?

 

[Zingbuddah]

I was in the same boat as you. I never saw one pop up on CG, eBay or any auction site since it disappeared. Glad to see the legal mumbo jumbo got sorted.

From the OP:

"Appreciate the props guys just want to add that for the convenience of the balloon delivery our third utility patent that was issued recently now allows us to once again sell our Valloon without fear of an infringement claim from Volcano as long as it is used with a heat tool that is multi-functional, i.e. Steinel 2510 or similar. There is some copy on the site we need to take down that still sounds like we are not selling it, but hte Valloon catalogue is up and functional and we are taking orders and shipping. We originally sold the Valloon with an o-ring that allowed you to adapt it to the Volcano base so that if you already had one you could at least benefit a sequential venturi extraction chamber and valve both made of glass, as well as, the ability to moisture condition/ice cool by running the vapor through a tube, but we're not selling it with that o-ring anymore due to Storz and Bickel being so unresponsive and uncooperative when we offered to license their patent until ours was granted so we could keep selling it after they fired a cease and desist at us not realizing we had filed our own patent. I guess they figured we wouldn't get it....it was a long painful prosecution but we GOT IT!"

 

[ShadowVape]

Yeah yeah....thanks for being on this ahead of us family! And sorry to anyone on back order now!!! We'll get the pieces flowing again ASAP but suffice to say that it looks like all the responses have been spot on here. No Volcano patent expired --- Vrip was issued a patent that had been in prosecution for five years during which time we respected Storz and Bickel's cease and desist in consideration of their previously granted patent. Ultimately Vrip was granted the patent though so the Valloon is back on!

 

[niall]

The whole vibe that Storz & Bickel chose in sending you a cease & desist Mark, and then failing to respond on your offer to license.. really not a nice way to do business and to nurture and provide for the vapor afficianado community. We lost a great product, and consumers lost out in general - in exchange for a few years of competitor-free advertising for Storz & Bickel. I wonder if any of the other bag manufacturers got hit up like you did Mark, it certainly didn't take bag alternatives off the market so it seemed quite hostile to only target you.

Then again, perhaps this vibe will come back to bite them - you've got the glass patents, so you've already got the highest quality vapor possible imho and they can't enter really enter this part of the market now without asking for a license from you Not surprising, but really great to see that glass has become the de facto standard for highest quality vapor - and that plenty of other people are making 100% glass air pathways and are competing in a healthy way in the free market like you do. The consumer wins, and so do you - hell you consume what you make so you're one of us bro

I ended up switching over to the Digit for a few years, as someone scared me off using Steinels grrr, but after years of hardly no use - and imho disappointing vapor quality and taste, very little room to tweak vapor to my liking (rate of airflow, heat soak, high temps approaching combustion) I ended up getting rid of the Volcano and switching to the VHW when it came out. Picked up a new Steinel recently when my last one died (works but LCD temp panel dead, so useless for Vrips) and hitting the Valloon through the VWT-Pro brought the biggest grin to my face - it had been too long, I'd forgotten just how much nicer a bag is through water instead of those dry, tasteless Volcano bags.

 

[FlowersInTheAttic]

Yeah yeah....thanks for being on this ahead of us family! And sorry to anyone on back order now!!! We'll get the pieces flowing again ASAP but suffice to say that it looks like all the responses have been spot on here. No Volcano patent expired --- Vrip was issued a patent that had been in prosecution for five years during which time we respected Storz and Bickel's cease and desist in consideration of their previously granted patent. Ultimately Vrip was granted the patent though so the Valloon is back on!

Looks like I'm stuck on backorder. Any guess when a Valloon ordered about a week-and-a-half ago is likely to ship?

Thanks.

 

[ShadowVape]

I'm in the shop tomorrow and will check up and give an update. We have one serious maestro who is the one who normally blows the pieces we are back ordered on; the VEI (Valloon Extraction Intake) which is a fairly complicated inside out open on both ends piece, had knee surgery a few weeks ago and was supposed to start coming back part time the week before last. The boss who actually creates all the tooling was going to try to blow enough pieces to catch up the back order, but wasn't having the best of luck getting the seals straight and we're can't ship pieces that aren't right. Hopefully I'll have some good news conveyed tomorrow---if anyone ordered multiple items on their order we can ship short and ship the Valloon pieces as soon as complete just advise us if that is your wish at info@vriptech. Thanks for the patience family! I'm waiting on a new set for a demo video too---it's been along time since we've had the Valloon in the Vrip office and we've shipped every piece made so far to the paying customers.

 

[FlowersInTheAttic]

It's been seven years. I imagine I can wait a little longer.

Any idea why Storz and Bickel were such dicks about it? I don't see how it wouldn't have made much more sense for them to issue a license.

I doubt many people who wanted a Valloon bought their valve set instead. I made my own DIY rig.

 

[ShadowVape]

To be clear this is Mark McCoy owner of Vrip and not Shadow---As an IP based entrepreneur myself and someone who has worked hard to help others get patents granted and/or licensed and/or to market direct on their own I am at a complete loss for why Storz and Bickel wouldn't license way back when and begin receiving royalties (would have been for over five years of royalties before our own patent was granted) which generally only increases the value of the licensed IP and any business model based upon it. I'm also at a complete loss for why they wouldn't take us up on our offer to do what we do best and make a highly tooled production glass intake/valve set specifically for their heater base that they could sell to their customers with their own brand represented. But some companies look at their IP as a simple license to monopolize and are sure that their product models are the only ones worthy or needed by the market. There will always be the "Qualitarian" niche within the niche and Storz and Bickel have not served that niche which is why peopel have rigged up DIY glass "Valloons" with our VCBs and other rigged pieces for years---with the Valloon Vrip will serve it up polished and functional in what else but glass!

 

[ShadowVape]

Oh and for you family with back orders the boss said he would give me an update on Thurs as we're supposed to be blessed with our Maestro's presence tomorrow and was hopeful they could get enough VEIs blown to ship the current back orders this week...sorry for the lag! I'll update again ASAP.

 

[FlowersInTheAttic]

Thanks for keeping the faith!

 

[FlowersInTheAttic]

Any update on when you'll be shipping?

 

[Jenny]

Back in about 2004 or so when I first got my mmj card here in Cali, I went to a club and was recommended the "Vrip." it was a bong attachment to use with a heat gun to vaporize. I had never heard of vaporizing before and thought this was the most awesome invention ever!! Well I brought it home for about $70 to $80 dollars if I recall correctly, maybe a little high but I'm not quite sure. I went to the local hardware store and snagged a heat gun for about 15 bucks I think and then off I went! I really enjoyed it even though my heat guns always broke on me, well I retired it and smoking for awhile and moved out of my moms. I left it there for safe keeping with my smoking utensils and well long story short everything got stolen and the Vrip is no more. Luckily I was able to get my bong back but not the vrip, I'm not sure if this is exactly the same one as I had purchased back in the day, but I thought I'd share my experience I had with it.

 

[FlowersInTheAttic]

Oh and for you family with back orders the boss said he would give me an update on Thurs as we're supposed to be blessed with our Maestro's presence tomorrow and was hopeful they could get enough VEIs blown to ship the current back orders this week...sorry for the lag! I'll update again ASAP.

So--eleven days later and no update. No answer to any of my emails asking when you might ship. What's going on?

 

[Zingbuddah]

Has anyone received their order?

-Z

 

[zmurder]

Has anyone received their order?

I got notice a few days ago that mine had shipped, and I should have it on Thursday. The email said that all back orders had now been shipped

 

[ShadowVape]

Good News: All Valloon Orders now shipped if you haven't gotten tracking hit us up @ info@vriptech.com. Bad News: it appears that most if not all of the Valloon orders including full kits shipped without the valve prop and tamp kit. If you've already recieved your order and let us know that the prop and tamp kit wasn't included you've got the kit coming USPS. If you haven't gotten your order yet but it has shipped we're sending you a kit to be sure. if you just ordered no worries the girls packing the orders are NOW clear on what to include. Sorry about the hassle and thanks for the patience everyone! You will have glass intake and valve extracted balloon capture vapor very soon.