My own findings are not entirely consistent with some things mentioned here.

Nice toys you have there!
Just read this thread, my 2 cts...

I use very small test tubes and suck hard as it evaporates. Some of it always condenses on the walls. If I don't inhale fast enough, some will escape at the open top.
I simply stick a thin glass tube into the test tube and keep it a few centimeters above the dmt. Ideally, the thin tube is bent 45 degrees such that the end is a few cm above the bottom of the test tube. Very efficient but requires some practice.

I find underheating more often a problem than overheating. The glass is supposed to protect the spice from the open flame and I think it does that well. The risk of actually burning your dmt is much higher in open-flame methods even despite protective layers of ashes etc... at least in my experience.
I wonder if what's called 'burning the dmt' actually is pyrolysis of residues and/or scorching of DMT vapor by the hot glass - not literally burning, in the sense of reacting exothermally with oxygen. Try to burn a bit of naphta, xylene, candle wax or other flammable stuff in a testtube!
A boiling pure liquid substance doesn't rise in temperature: adding heat results in more vigorous boiling. At least, that's the theory... we all know something like 'burned dmt' exists and is not nice

For SWIM there's no difference between a test-tube, a light bulb, or any other oiler. Tryptographer's right though, the problem that it's literally burning (as in contact with the flame), but reaching temperatures where it's simply not stable. However, the result tastes like burnt plastic, thus the loose use of the term, 'burning'. He doesn't think that vaporizing a solvent is any real indication of what happens to an alkaloid under the same conditions, however. Solvents tend to be quite stable in most conditions, but alkaloids are prone to all sorts of reactions which can literally unravel their structure.

SWIM actually prefers the smoke produced by burning spice in an open system, than the crap produced by overheating in a closed one (though he doesn't like either, mistakes are more bearable in an open system). Most people have a tough time with oilers, no matter what sort is used, and while SWIM can't advocate leaf beds so much, based on his limited experience, open systems like "the machine" have a much smoother learning curve and can work perfectly once mastered. Some say the machine is too hot, but they're likely not using it quite as well as they could be; plus, you can always bubble the vapor to cool it down a bit without worrying about condensation because of the even and rapid heating it provides.

^^Yes, good points.

There are so many variables... what worked best for me was moving the testtube bottom around in the middle of a large candle flame and suck hard. The temperature just above the flame is higher than in the middle, where burning is incomplete - the risk of overheating is reduced! The tube gets very black with soot, though. I get it out of the heat when the lungs are maybe two thirds full, the spice will continue boiling for maybe 10 secs from heat stored in the glass.

A bit of pre-heating and few small pre-puffs (without inhaling) can be useful to suck out any initial harsh components before the big hit... the first few whiffs even of recrystallized glass shards can be harsh, after that it can be smooth as an angel!

Machine-based devices are probably most fool-proof, but even this is tricky.

SWIM thinks of a device where there is a high resistance wire wound around a small test tube. This piece of wire is connected to a source of electric current. You can control the wire temp with a rheostat to avoid DMT pirolisis. At the same time because the test tube is heated more or less uniformly, there would be no condensation. Alternatively the test tube could be wrapped in a copper mesh for better heat distribution and you can heat it with a torch.




SWIM was doing it differently. She inhaled from the thin tube that goes inside the test tube but ends at the top. The other thin tube supplies fresh air into the test tube. She may try it your way next time.



Good point. That's SWIM's experience too. Thanks for sharing yours.

So, there will be more experiments.