My Vape Quest (part III)

Well, its been days since I posted about the search. Writing these things take me a lot of time. Its not like a pile of YouTube embeds. YouTube takes seconds. The Vaporizer has arrived, and I plan on doing a review with photos (hopefully).

After the dozen or so models I browsed through with detail I had really liked the Purple Days, but I couldn't stand to wait more than two months of them to fill my order. Then I remembered the Purple Days was an improvement of an older vape, the AromaZap. I searched the forum for AromaZap and sure enough the guy who makes these (I know him only as Rick) has a thread. I bought the hardwood version of his vape, the MyrtleZap. Its made out of myrtle wood which grows on the Oregon coast, yada yada. These guys are literally making these things out of their garages and selling them.

http://www.aromazap.com/

The metal flower thing is an aroma diffuser. If the Purple Days is the Roman version of this vaporizer design, then the MrytleZap is the classic Greece it was based on. Rick is still making these. He is in his sixties, and he says he doesn't want his operation to be big again. He claims he can't do the volume, but he is still taking orders. My MyrtleZap was a solid block of wood last Sunday when I placed the order. It came in Monday at noon, eight days later. He's been on the FuckCumbustion forums for months now and still has no waiting list.

I was really impressed with the priority mail. It got here from Oregon by the USPS. Government workers brought my MyrtleZap from Oregon to my door sometime in those 8 days, over the weekend (I really think he said it shipped Friday). At any rate it somehow got to me in two or three days (one of which was a Sunday) for about eight bucks, this was included in the price Rick quotes on his webpage.

I will say it is nice. It is not like the ones on the website. It is turned on a lathe from solid MyrtleWood, and it looks great. As of this post I'm still getting the hang of hitting form it, but I'm pretty happy with it. It looks like something you would have around a nice office. It looks good with my desk. I'm more concerned about how it stands the test of time, but it is nicely lathed smooth. I does not look like corners were cut in the manufacture. The wood is solid, and it has a nice color and contrasting grain. I will shine it up with some of the included beeswax polish and post pictures soon.

Myrtle wood has a low specific gravity so it doesn't shed a lot of heat from the heat exchanger. It pleasantly warm when you hold it at its maximum temerature, but I am told it will insulate more as the new wood dries out, so It should get cooler to the touch as it ages. After this burn-in period the vape should hit little hotter which is better.

It certainly works. I was surprised at the small size of the bowl. The quality of the hits depend on the way the bowl is packed. Getting the correct volume and tightness of pack is key. Then there is a sort of technique you have to use to inhale the vapors. If you've ever made wierd noises with drinking straws you'll have already mastered this. The amount left over from a session with this thing is shockingly small. I suppose the plant matter loses volume from the vaporization process, but this thing is seriously efficient.

Vapor is a convenient thing for me. The smell is there, but it doesn't linger in clouds. It has no tar so it doesn't turn all your shit brown (go ahead, put a dab of windex on something smooth in your house. I dare you if your a smoker.) It doesn't cling to your fingers and in your clothes.

The unit is gets its power from a standard wall wart with a common plug. This is all homebrew shit without the taint of proprietary plugs. It does however, come with a car adapter. I will likely never use the car adapter, I don't like bone cruises at all. You can however use it as a car air freshener, and in this weather I'm seriously considering bringing this thing out to the car in the mornings to warm my hand when I clear the now from my car.

Tomorrow I'll post pictures.