Vapor Brothers EZ Change Whip Kit

[rob feature]

I wound up doing a review of this thing for another thread & thought I'd post it over here. I found a thread about this kit, but it's locked. I'll probably keep the Vapor Brothers heater around for a good long time now that I found this kit. I was looking for replacements at the time as the whip was driving me nuts & I hadn't found a suitable alternative in any of the local headshops. As i live in the Denver area I figured if I wasn't going to find a solution here I wasn't going to find one anywhere. So tripping across the kit has saved my relationship with my Vapor Brothers heater. It was destined for Craigslist but was saved by this collection of bits.

From every perspective this is an improvement on the original whip. I have the original, which I just discovered after cleaning is cracked, so this is good timing. I couldn’t stand to use it anyway anymore. I’d been sort of trying to work out fixes on my own for the old design & nothing seemed to work. The hose was constantly coming off, the mouthpiece broke very early on because it’s (err, was) super thin, screen changes require the patience of a brain surgeon, and the minimum bowl is way more than I want to consume in one sitting. Oh, and since it’s glass, you can see right through it when it gets good & gross.

So let’s start with the packaging

Nothing to see here really – just an easily-opened package. There’s no packing around any of the ceramic parts, so maybe that means they’re pretty tough.

If you were to buy one of these off the shelf, you’d be able to see what you’re buying.

Let’s have a look inside shall we?

It comes with everything I need to get vaping again! There are some inconsistencies in packaging however regarding the website where I bought the whip. I’ll talk more about this later in the interest of staying on topic.

I’d spoken with Vapor Brothers some time ago about the whip design and how it didn’t like to hold on to an oily tapered hose. Someone listened!

As you can see – a much-improved design over the standard whip.

I’ve always had 3 major complaints about this whip. The tendency of the whip to separate from the hose more than it stayed put made the original piece a major pain in the ass. While I don’t have many miles on it yet, this new one appears to be a vastly superior design.


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[rob feature]

The other 2 major complaints came from here

The first is the bowl size. This new bowl will stay packed with much less material than the glass version! And that’s huge for me. I’ve always thought the glass bowl was too large for one sitting & have taken my concerns to many head shops (including where I got my vape) with no luck. Obviously none of them knew about this piece. I was even considering having a custom piece made before I discovered this kit.

The other complaint has been addressed here as well as this design allows for rapid and easy screen changes.

This video illustrates the speed & ease with which the change can be done.

The problem with the glass whip I have is it’s picky. It wants a specific diameter screen and anything else simply will not do. There are 2 big issues with that. First of all, it needs to be a snug fit, so getting it into place without creasing or otherwise damaging it is a challenge (I’m being nice here). And 2nd of all, it needs to be a snug fit. If it isn’t air flows around the screen instead of through it and the efficiency of the machine is greatly reduced. This kit addresses all that in one swoop.

You can see here that the screen isn’t perfectly flat – affecting air flow.

The hose is softer & more pliable as well. This is a good thing as before it tended to sort of boss the whip around. With this more flexible hose, it seems less likely that you’ll accidentally pull the whip out of the vape. Below my vape lives a marble chess board & I think the marble will win in a fight.

Now I’d mentioned before that there were some hangups. Here’s how that goes. I’m going to take the high road & avoid mentioning the retailer for now. If you’re about to order stuff & would like to know, I’ll gladly tell you over PM. Because here’s the deal.

The retailer’s website and the contents don’t match. The website is offering the kit in its unadulterated form just like Vapor Brothers advertises it. But what I found is a makeshift version of that.

You can see in the picture that there have been alterations to the packaging.

Holding it to the light you can see that 3 ceramic screens has been changed to 2 ceramic screens & regular whip tip has been covered with white-out. That’s because that’s what’s in the package. That part is accurate. But according to the website, you also get the regular tip & one other ceramic screen (as they’re part of the standard kit which is being advertised). As this was done with whiteout & pen, I’m assuming it wasn’t done by the manufacturer.

The retailer still isn't doing much to get me the part & has left me hanging for 5 days now.

But all that aside, this kit has saved the vape from getting kicked out. I love it now. It's everything I ever hoped a whip-style vape could be.

So I felt the need to quantify the difference between these bowls because it seems significant on first glance. I can't be super-precise as quantifying the curve of the glass is beyond something I can do with my set of tools. But I can get close & don't even need calculus. Well, I need first day calculus theory that talks about estimating the area of little rectangles under the curve, so no problem mon.

I'm figuring the average inner diameter of the glass bowl (where I pack it) to be about 16mm. The new ceramic bowl is a perfect or near perfect 12mm cylinder. That may not sound significant, but when you calculate area, the difference becomes more obvious.

The glass bowl has an average useful (to me) area of about 201.1mm² where the ceramic version comes in at around 113.1mm². They both need to be packed to about the same height to maintain cohesion.

In other words, this will cut my consumption almost by half

That was written a few days ago & I wanna update it a bit. What I thought at first would be has been. I'm packing smaller bowls & they're holding just fine! If I were actually paying for what I'm putting in there, this thing would pay for itself in a hurry. I'm literally able to use half the amount I was using before with the glass whip!

I've also found that I don't care much for the ceramic screens. I understand that the more you use them the better they get, but the metal seems to work better for me. Screen changes couldn't possibly be easier & the silicone grip is a nice touch. The hose hasn't yet threatened to come off. It does seem like I need to change the screen more frequently but with changes this easy who cares?

I like this kit a little more every day. I just wish I'd found it sooner!

 

[sokesleezy]

I take it the ceramic is cooler to the touch than the glass?

 

[rob feature]

Well, I try not to touch either one, but the easy answer is yes.

The thermal conductivity coefficient of porcelain is around 1.5 where glass is closer to 1.0 (W/(m·K)). Borosilicate glass may be a little higher. So if you're going by established coefficients then the ceramic tip may get hotter. But. The whip handle is separated from the tip by the silicone 'bridge' so the handle part stays cool. The silicone part does get hot, but hasn't gotten too hot to touch yet. I should add here that I don't leave the whip attached - I remove it after each draw. I started this habit as this was one way to try & keep the hose attached longer, but may experiment with it now that that's no longer an issue.

 

[sokesleezy]

Thanks for breaking that down. I eventually play to purchase an ez change whip kit. I have the regular hands free whip and changing the screen for it is a hassle I want to avoid.

 

[rob feature]

Do it. The 2 designs are night & day. I'm pretty sure these are coming with the new vapes now - as they should be.

 

[rob feature]

I just wanted to post a follow-up since I've had a couple of weeks to use the vape.

But first I want to start by mentioning the retailer who sold it. This was purchased from Vapornation.com. As they never contacted me when they said they would, I wound up contacting them six times. The first was to let them know the part was missing. The 2nd was after I was never contacted later that day as promised to let me know how things were going. The other 4 were about the same thing. Each time they told me they'd need to contact Vapor Brothers. Not that they'd contacted them and had some answer for me but they still needed to contact Vapor Brothers. I realize it may sound like I was being a little too persistent but they missed every deadline they gave me, never kept me informed & just basically gave the impression that they could care less. After over 2 weeks & enough of my time, they still haven't taken that first step to rectify the problem. I don't think they intend to.

They're still refusing to offer any type of refund for the missing part and are only interested in kicking the can down the road and giving excuses like 'the manager is out of town'. No remedy has yet been provided nor offered beside the offer of five 'points'. I have dealt with poor businesses before, but this is the first online retailer who has ever stonewalled me. At least they're consistent. I've contacted them for the last time and have turned the matter over to my credit card company who was more than willing to help.

I hate that I even felt the need to go there, but there it is.

Moving on.

I'm changing the screens far more often than on the old whip. The most uses I've gotten out of it is 10 without a screen change. Yesterday I had to change after 2 uses. I guess it varies among strains. The good thing about this is they're easy to clean after just a few uses. It only takes a few seconds and a little isopropyl.

I've moved completely away from the ceramic screens & use the metal ones only. The ceramic supposedly gets better with time, but they let too much air through for me.

I've found that I need to use higher temperatures now as the screen is further away - not sure of the distance but it's obvious. I'm thinking maybe 20% more dial is needed. So it uses a little more electricity because of this, but it saves the vape.

I think that's all for now. I'll post up if I think of anything else. Happy vaping!

 

[sokesleezy]

Thanks for the update. Too bad about the issue you're having with that site. I haven't shopped with them before but they seems to be really popular. Maybe contact Vapor Bros about this?



About the screen: Interesting. Do you think if you packed the bowl a little tighter when using a ceramic screen that it would make up for the extra air that passes through?

 

[rob feature]

Well, as far as the vendor goes, I'm finished. If the credit card company doesn't fix it, then I just got taken. I'm over it. I don't really wanna waste any more wind over $10.

On the screens there's only so tight the material will get on its own. The only way to pack it more tightly would be to add more material & that's not what I'm looking to do. But again they say after you use it for a while it gets dirty & supposedly acts more like a steel screen. Perhaps I can verify that at some point. Actually I haven't tried them again since adjusting the heat for the distance change. I think I'll pop in a ceramic & give it a few goes. What the hell - it's Saturday

 

[rob feature]

Okay, so I spent a day or so with the ceramic screen which was already kinda dirty. I'm just not impressed. It lets too much stuff through which will hasten cleaning, it seems to clog more quickly than a stainless screen and I only have 2 so I'd be cleaning all the time. I have maybe a dozen of the stainless screens this size which take no time to clean & there's always a clean one in the pile. The ceramic design also seems to be a little less efficient.

I doubt I'll use these ceramic screens anymore. Maybe I'll find a purpose for them later down the road, but for this whip it will be metal screens.

 

[cptsales]

Interesting read. I've been using the EZ Change Whip for several years and enjoy it very much. I've accumulated about 12 or so ceramic screens that I change once or twice a day. Dirty go in an iso salt filled pill bottle and that makes cleaning easy about once a week. As far as clogging of the screens, seems to depend on the dryness of your material. Wetter material clogs it up faster.

Air flow seems fine for me, I have great lung function so I can take nice low and slow draws. I have seen elsewhere suggested to place a screen at each glass/ceramic silicone middle. The body of the whip pops off pretty much like the whip tip. You catch a bunch of that matter in the middle having to change the screens more often I found. I like to clean my whip about every 3-6 weeks with 1 screen in place.

I have found that over time the hose does loose it's grip on the glass whip accessories. Usually when it heats up you can get it slipped on further. Works for a while, but I usually just cut 2" or so off and I'm good to go.

Do you use the HF or standard whip tip? I don't like the flavor from the HF tip. I pull the whip off after each pull so not to keep heating the material. Stir the material every 2-4 pulls 2-3 times and the material is done.

How does the ceramic body hold up, how do you know when it is time to clean the body? Is it glazed or how is it finished? That new adapter looks like an improvement from the old.

I want to try to add some of the bodies to my collection to make cleaning that much easier maybe I pick up one or two.

I did just buy my first replacement hose. Jury is still out, I figured that Class VI is better than Class IV, what VB provides. I have about 60 years to find out with 25' of hose!