I grind my herb, because it vapes better and it allows you to have a controlled amount, I haven't scorch any in forever. The key is to not over load the bowl, if you put a BUD in it by nature its going to burn a lot more because Buds take up more room than ground weed, are never the same, and are closer to the top/heat exchanger, but even at that if your watching the glass it will tell you for the most part if your getting smoke all though Vapor and very light smoke can look the same at times so watching the glass is not 100% guarantee. I can vape 50 bowls with out scorching(grind it and don't overfill - about 9 draws per bowl is perfect). As far as the rubber it is what it is which is what 95% of head shops have in there inventory somewhere. The heat inside just isn't hot enough to have any effect, mine did smell like rubber but theres no comparison to the taste of the VaporStar(rubber or not) and smoking it in any fashion, the VaporStar taste much better. I really like to clean mine often, and one way I KEEP it clean is I take suranwrap and fold it so I have about 20 layers then I cut a circle a tad larger than a silver dollar(now I have 20 pieces of suranwrap that I can peel and use), I lay 2 layers over the rubber base and push the glass down in the base this is air tight blocking off the rubber base and keeps the base from never getting anything on it, and also(not for my reason, but you'd like it) it keep the pathway more fresh(no rubber smell) so if I clean my glass with 91% Alcohol, and I put a new suranwrap layer in each time, and clean my bowl with 91% alcohol(Absolutely doesn't hurt the wood, they use alcohol to restore wood thats been under water) and I put in a new steel screen(100 for $6.50 shipped on ebay) the the only thing left that isn't Like New would be the grommet where the bowl goes into the pipe, all in all it makes for very fresh taste with little effort(compared to trying to clean a whip). Every time I vaporize its like I'm starting with a Brand New Vaporizer. I do have this pipe on the way and I cant wait to try them.
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Vapors condense(draws loose potency, just a tad) inside the glass and inside whips on electric units(thats the build up). With the VaporStar and a all glass pipe(like I bought below), you can sit it on a coffee cup warmer(at Walmarty for $2.50) and it will heat the glass up and when you take a draw hardly any will stick to the hot glass because its hotter than the vapors flowing in side it. Another plus the Vaporstar kinda has to itself, hardly any other vaporizers are(Condense Free) allowing you to maximize each hit. In a Volcano a lot of the actives condense and get stuck to the bag walls, this is not a huge deal but its kinda cool to get 99.99% of a hit as apposed to 95%.
OK you know what, I made this post too long. I'm going to get a pizza roll from Italia Express
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