My Vaporstar Review

[cheeba]

Like my previous review this one may be a little long winded, but hopefully it's insightful and useful to someone considering a purchase of this unit...same as with last time though, you're about to undertake a fair bit of reading for a single post, so, without further warning I'll get on with it.

 

Quick recap on myself and vapourization.

 

Health reasons. No carcinogens and no stink. The obvious choice for those wanting to ditch those factors.

Also improves lung capacity and lessens congestion...which is great...those are the reasons.

 

I've had 3 models of different types prior to the Vaporstar;

 

*A "smoke bubble" which gives you a little taste of what vapourisations about, but it's frankly annoying to use, having to hold the thing over a flame while turning to avoid overcooking.

Otherwise relatively efficient and easy enough to "master", one I would recommend for the patient...we know that's not me...and maybe those looking to observe the process slowly in motion.

 

*One of those electric ones with the heated element inside a glass dome/jar type setup, don't know what brand just something bought fairly cheaply at a local tobacconist...it smouldered the product, the only way to avoid this even momentarily was to constantly turn the power switch off, then on again multiple times. I'm not sure if this applies to all models of this type, but I can say that while the quality of the vapour was alright prior to turning carcinogenic, this one wasn't worth a damn...I can only recall it having "magic" somewhere in the name.

I'd avoid this one at all costs, almost completely defeated the purpose...I ended up with a slow burner, nothing more.

 

*A while ago, I purchased a vapourizer called the "Extreme" from arizer...this is a very good product which hasn't given me any problems to date, one that I'd personally recommend above both of the aforementioned.

Fills up bags automatically with a multi-setting fan, or you can attach a "whip/ctraw type" thing for vapes on demand. I prefer the bags personally but now having tried both methods I can tell you they both have the desired effect.

Has a nice "clinical" look about it, a digital readout of what temp/fan setting you're using etc, and comes with a cool little remote control.

Vapes through the whip with fan assistance will give the most immediate effect, followed by the bags, and then vaping on demand...all are nice, all do the job, each effects you in different ways and times. On the negative side, which temperature you set it at seems to be pretty subjective, but from what I've heard 180-200 seems to the normal range.

Anyways, fun machine to use, looks nice, doesn't produce a descernable smell, so all good there.

However, it's a bit pricey in comparison to most bongs/waterpipes and cheaper model vapourizers to be realistic about it.

One other issue that has lead me to look beyond this particular unit is the time factor involved. My preferred method, the bags, take a little while - now seriously, this is the only "bad" thing I can say about the extreme, I will be continuing to use it even if mainly for group situations.

 

Sometimes you don't want to wait though, right?...or, at least to have something to do while you wait, so the search continued.

 

Did some research among a few users of this site among others, had a look around google to see what was up and the one I heard the most posetive things about was the Vaporstar.

I looked it up...saw a great video on youtube, here's some linkage to that:

So, looks pretty good right?

The guy puts in a small amount, gets himself a fair few hits of what looks like a good thick vapour, which seemed to be for real, after all smoke doesn't cling so much to the glass like that...but at this point I thought "but, you've gotta light it, that's some bullshit", so I continue watching as he continues taking hit after hit...I was still apprehensive at this point, after all when I gave up smoking I wanted it to be for real, all together no more burning stuff, needed more verification.

Found a few forums, and eventually came across a person who had largely the same concerns as myself.

They'd bought it, so lets hear it for the guinea pigs, eh?

They didn't have a complete understanding of the inner workings of the Vapostar, but, gave me an idea of the conclusions they'd drawn, let me know that somehow the fire doesn't seem to touch it, even though it must be in very close proximity somehow it's dispersed and the heat is taken on by the metal "chamber" then slowly transfers to the weed...Gotta say I still wasn't completely sold, but then I thought back to the Extreme and how I doubted any good review I heard until I tried it, when the machine completely proved itself.

 

So me and my friend order a couple of these things - We bought the "kits" that come with the Vaporstar units.

 

See most places like BNT sell either the unit on it's own, or packaged with a glass bong. If you have a glass bong of your own the vaporstar fits inside a standard sized metal stem, by the look of it you could put it into a hose (yech) and from what I've heard you may not even need a stem at all, the rubber seal ought to hold.

I just tried this for the sake of the review and mine personally didn't fit very snugly, there's definately a little too much airflow around it, a second seal may address this, but I would lean towards suggesting a regular stem is used for the best results I've seen.

 

The looks.

 

So I had a look at the unit.

Tiny little thing it is 6.5cm long, about 2.5cm at the widest segment.

~insert that's what she said, here~

Obviously very portable, for those with bongs waiting elsewhere.

 

(Me, I'm just a home user...I'll have me some butter if I wanna have the effects kick in outdoors/elsewhere)

 

The metal cap which is the part the fire gets channeled into when the bong is drawn upon, has a kind of metal grating type dealy inside, that's where your chopped weed goes.

The top side has the hole that the fire is channeled down into, yet when tried to look through it I couldn't. There is no direct path at all between the flame and the herb - what I would gather happens is that above the grated area, there is shape that channels the fire all different directions more "around" the top of the chamber...so, this just occured to me now but I guess such a shape would be a bit like a star, I would guess this is how the unit got it's name?

 

Anyways the good news there was definitive enough proof for me that I wasn't going to be inhaling smoke from burned greens.

 

 

Ease of use

 

Well, it's as easy as your standard bong/waterpipe really, you just need to hold the lighter on a tad longer...

In fact, I have an idea that this factor in design will make a lot more people that usually smoke, feel a little more at home/comfortable with this method and be more receptive to giving it a go, at least, I hope this is the case...Vapo all the way I say and whoever my "kind" can bring across into better health is a win.

So yeah, easy. Super easy.

 

 

Product Consumption

 

So, I filled it up.

In terms of how much product you need to use, you're looking at a levelled standard cone to fill this little metal recepticle/cap.

Now when you saw that video, it leads you to believe that you can get SO many hits out of a load this big...now having tried the unit, I can confirm that this is not entirely the case.

Don't get me wrong...I mean the video isn't misleading, but how you like your vapes to taste is a big part of it.

In my trials, I have discovered that each "cone" worth will give you about 6 very solid hits of vapour, and about 2 more of "ok" level vapour, then after that it starts to taste slightly toasted.

Thing is though, we put this thing through a few hoops and kept hitting it a few past that point, with some "twists" to crush it up further we went to about 11, before it started getting a little too acrid in taste.

I was doing this to find out what I did next - when I emptied the recepticle of the used product, what came out didn't looked burned at all, not even remotely singed. It was a little more towards brown in this instance when compared to the darkened green/brown shade I usually leave it at, but all the same considering how much came out of this, amazingly intact and unscathed by fire - so, you can get a LOT out of each cone/bowl, but personal taste will indicate where you will stop personally.

 

 

Taste

 

So the segment above will indicate it's a sliding scale dependant upon how far you go with it - though I'm going to give my impression of the taste you first get for those first 6-8 draws.

No shit here at all, these are the best vapes I've ever tasted...sadly though I must admit better even than my EXTREME which was some 3x the price.

Fresh, thick, almost juicy and tangy...and feels just slightly warm - I have seen people mention that ice-chips inside the bong can remove the heat factor completely but to be honest I wouldn't consider that anywhere near a neccessity.

 

 

Effectiveness

 

On the basis of last nights (first) use, I couldn't be too sure...see having friends over we ended up drinking...just, too much vodka.

I tried it though, and was pretty sure I was having some nice effects.

On a side note, my friend that normally doesn't partake in weed at all had a few hits - it was nice to have shared the experience all the same.

 

For review quality though I got a fairly good nights sleep and waited until this afternoon to try it again while completely rested and sober, I'm typing this some few hours later.

 

First of all, if you take all those 6-8 draws yourself it will not only work, but it'll work like a madman.

 

See I haven't even gone that far, myself and the chick shared it between us, having 3-4 each.

Wow...the speed of the "kick in" is very impressive. I would say this is to do with the product being less dispersed...now what I'm used to is having two full bags on the extreme, and then it kicks in 5-10 minutes later. With the vapostar, we're talking less than a minute.

The effect is stronger than I've felt with any other vapo in terms of quantity used vs quality of vapour - and the duration, well, I'm still pretty much buzzin' here.

You will not have any problems with how WASTED you can get off just one cone/bowl. I am officially very pleased and frankly nicely surprised by this unit.

 

 

Side-Note

 

As I have done before, I am storing my post-vaped material.

The level I leave it at with the vaporstar looks about the same colour/dryness as the stuff I take out of my extreme once I'm done. Still green with some loss of colour and slight browning.

Provided you don't go further than that, on occasions before I've used it to make butter, and yes it actually works...my first try at butter was with this post-vaped material and it worked like a dream...was couchlocked for 6-8 hours, at times even trying to splash water in my face to snap out of it...

All I can say there is, you've got more of a bang for your buck for sure.

That, and I can't WAIT to see how my butter turns out when I'm using unvaped material, ha.

 

Vapour odour & Post-Use Smell?

 

I can keep this bit short - there just isn't one. If you got the stuff blown in your face, sure...smells a little like leaf, but at about 5% strength. That's suring use, and once it dissapates the mild scent is no longer present.

The bong and vaporstar unit itself

The only smell that eminates is a little like clipped lawn grass that's been left in the sun 'til dried...and you will NOT smell it from any more than about a foot away. Even when you've got it right under your nose, it's still very faint...so those considering this method for the stealth, you're onto a good one here.

 

Overall Score.

 

I'll give it a 9.5, the only thing I can find wrong to say about it is that it actually requires me to have some small amount of involvement in the lighting process?

 

Seriously, good shit here.

Without any exaggeration, this is the best, most user friendly example I've had of vapourisation all together.

 

Very very happy with the product.

Peace all, and I'm out.

[shirty]

Cheers cheeb , thought u were gone ! Thanx for the very informative post , Im lookin at one of them puppies right now over the net ..

 

[kiwi_farmer]

interesting stuff Cheeba, thanks for posting. Good to see you back also!

[jimbojones5678]

Great review cheeba, well done!

 

Jimbo

[Evil_boof]

great read mate, very VERY interesting

[Fibrofeend]

Cheers for the detailed review...i am currently only eating, but its hard to manage the dose if ya know what i mean..

Have smoked in past but cant for health reasons, so this is a cheap alternative, i bought one today!

[cheeba]

While I have not yet stopped posting as announced, I have decided that this will be my second last post in OS.

 

So I figured "fuck it"...this thread/replies among other things have told me that I've had more good experiences up in here than the bad ones,

and that there's at least a few people that consider me worth reading and appreciate my opinion on stuff that matters to me.

So that's it, I'm gonna come in here and post whenever I feel like doing just that, I still got stuff to say and people to listen to it.

 

FibroFeend, I've enjoyed talking to you via pm and I'm stoked to hear you're gonna grab one of these things on account of my review (even if among others), it's great to know that you'll know I'm not full of shit on this, ha, and that you'll be enjoying a good product - I know it'll help ya.

[Fibrofeend]

Yeh i hear ya, cheebs, good for a yarn yourself!!

Well id say that this new contraption il soon have will need some finesse and trial and error,

but hey im up for it, and if im proved too much of a mutant to use it so be it, there will be no hard feelings ohterwise.

I always thoroughly research anything i buy.

Cheers all

[cheeba]

An update:

 

So, had it for around a week now...S'been a nice week really, ha.

 

My update is this:

Nothing much new, which is all good. The product has continued to perform well.

My lungs feel a lot better now, the first few days of exclusive vaping, when you take a full lungfull of vapour or air, you can feel a kind of "stretching" sensation, I think what that is, is the vapes actually being "beneficial" as claimed, and opening up/further facilitating your lungs, actual lung capacity seems to have increased slightly as well. Another thing while on the lungs - you generally breathe easier, I think I'm getting more oxygen, I mean I'm feeling a lot more awake and alert, and while walking up hills or whatever, hills that would normally leave me caned, I've noticed "hey, I'm breathing fine here".

Another plus there.

 

So overall, I feel good, and I'm enjoying nice long highs.

 

Bit of advice for anyone considering purchase of one of these.

I have encountered one small problem. One TINY problem. I went ahead and burned the weed, it IS possible.

Hasn't happened again so it's far from a product fault...you hit this thing like a bong, and if you've smoked bongs

where the object is to burn the thing down the cone, you're used to a bit more force being required...as was I.

So when I did that, and didn't bother moving the lighter on and off...etc...after my third hit of vape it tasted VERY smokey and the metal bit let out some smoke itself too...looked inside and there it was, a small segment of the weed had smouldered/blackened.

My fault though, hasn't happened since.

 

But yeah something I've discovered - long, gentle inhalations actually give you better, thicker vapour.

So yeah, if you get one, and if you've smoked bongs, as tempting as it may be, hit the brakes on the lungs for best results.

 

No other issues at all, it's a great little system.

 

- B.

[mistyville]

Thanks Cheba, that was a great review. I've got one, but probably wasn't using it properly, so I'll have a go later. just had a nice smoke through my ice bong I bought from BNT. They are a good company.