Thank you all for the warm welcome into this community. I first came here looking for help troubleshooting extraction methods and got amazing support!
Now I have something to give back - results from my experimentation with the DT V5 vape. A simple, relatively inexpensive, flame less and reliable electronic vape method that requires zero DIY skills and can easily achieve complete vaporization of a 30-40mg dose with little to no waste. No combustion, no exposed heating coils.
I DO NOT ENDORSE OR CONDONE ILLEGAL DRUG USE. You should not do any of this if it is illegal where you live. No one should probably do any of this at all, really, but if you chose to, this guide is for educational/ harm reduction purposes only. 
TLDR:* This setup will work magnificently for vaporizing freebase crystal. It was also tested with evaporated acetate "jimjam" tincture and it
can work but not very well/consistently as the acetate doesn't really liquefy as it heats up and so doesn't continuously come into contact with the heat source. I think you really need convection for that stuff.
Shopping list:*DTV5 atomizer
*Matching "Vortex Glass Waterpipe Adapter" (14mm w/4mm holes)
note: There's a glass waterpipe adapter which only replaces the stainless drip tip on the supplied V5 cap, don't get that one, get the complete glass vortex cap.
As yet untested, but a possible upgrade: V4/V5 bottomless banger w/ carb cap *Pair of 4mm terp pearls
*Box mod+battery capable of delivering a sustained 37W, (75W rating) TCR mode and autofire functionality.
- I'm using an eLeaf iStick Pico Plus (newer versions come with autofire factory installed) and it works a treat. Total cost: approximately $120-$150 depending where/what you buy.
NOTE: I initially thought if I could get this to work I might want to add a bubbler to the setup but after getting it dialed in I think it's entirely unnecessary as this set up produces very smooth and relatively cool vapour and a bubbler would probably cost some lost spice due to condensation in the vapour path. If you have a very sensitive throat you could easily attach a top mounted bubbler tube or attach to a water pipe (with the bottomless banger setup + 510 extension)
How-to:*Install & charge battery in mod box
Settings (for iLeaf iStick Pico Plus):
TCR ~200-210 (dial it in using the "Cotton swab test" )
37W
Temp set to 490-500F (no, that's not too hot)
Autofire set to 60 seconds
*Install DTV5 crucible
*Weigh and load up your x-tals, plus 2 terp pearls into the crucible
*Install Glass Vortex Top, not the metal&glass top that came with the V5
Careful: Once loaded,you don't want to spill any spice or pearls. As long as you keep it upright you should be fineTiming is important here. It's the only 'skill' needed to use this setup but is pretty critical. Keep the heat on too long without drawing air, you will overheat and burn, start inhaling too hard too soon and you won't get enough heat for complete vaporization. Don't sweat it, just follow these next steps and watch the magic happen! You can do a few dry run practices before loading the vape to increase your confidence.
* Preheat: This is important. It takes about 10s and if you start to inhale before things heat up all you'll get is a mouthfull of Fluffy Spice Flakes (tm).
Press and hold the fire button until the screen indicates "temperature reached" or you see the spice completely turn to liquid. This should take about 10-12 seconds, so you might have to pulse the button at least once when it times out at 10s.
(Edit: After further experimentation I now get better resulte by only preaheating to ~300f, which only takes a few seconds.)You should see the spice liquefy in the crucible but not bubble or smoke.
It might be helpful to take 3 deep breaths (not from the vape) during the preheat cycle, which times is just about right and gets you ready for a long, slow vapour inhale. On the 3rd breath exhale fully and go in for the hit. Remember to keep it upright!
*Once pre heat cycle is done, you're ready for lift off. If you need a second or two to finish your exhale that's ok, no rush. Exhale fully, Double tap the fire button to activate autofire mode (this way you don't have to think about pulsing the button as you're struggling to remember that you have fingers
) and begin to inhale
slowly. I find it helpful to block one air hole with a finger at this stage to control airflow. As you start to draw air through the chamber you should see a vapour trail start to form. Once temperature and airflow reach some magical tipping point,
POOF! the pooled spice will erupt into a cloud of vapour. At this point take your finger off the second air hole and you can begin to inhale as fast as you can handle it. You're trying to take in as much vapour as possible without coughing or taking so long that you're gasping for air.
Tip: The more you take in on the first hit the better, so you don't want to rush or interrupt yourself. If you feel air starved during your inhale or if you think you might cough, don't stop but loosen your lips off the glass tip a little bit to allow some fresh air to come in along along with the vapour, just for a second or two until you feel comfortable again, then resume inhaling just through the vape.*As you are about to reach your inhale capacity (about 80%), click the button to turn off the heat and take a big draw, clearing as much vapour as possible. If you're not too far gone at this point, gently lift the glass cover off the atomizer base like a carb cap to allow airflow in from the bottom and inhale sharply to clear the chamber of vapour. If you can't do that that's ok, but some spice will condense and stick to the walls. You can reclaim it later. Don't pull the cap off completely, just enough to break the seal and clear the chamber, then reseat it.
*Click the fire button to turn off the heat, hold your breath, and count to ten and back down again (if you can remember your numbers
), then exhale slowly.
Depending on your lung capacity, you might get your full dose in one inhale, in which case carefully put down your vape in a safe spot and prepare for lift-off. Testing has indicated that it may be incredibly difficult to check whether or not there is anything left at this point, so it might be advisable to just go for a second inhale by default. *2nd inhale: No need to pre-heat, just double click (autofire), exhale fully, then start to draw on the vape. Lift cap and clear the chamber again as you finish your inhale. If you can remember to, click the button once more to turn off the heat. If that's too much that's ok, it will time out and turn itself off. Put your vape down and hold your breath again for as long as you feel comfortable, and prepare for the ride....
The details:It's getting late and I have to work early tomorrow.. I have more details about the why's and wherefore's of this setup including some pictures as well as a suggestion for an upgrade which I haven't tested yet. But I'll have to come back and add those some time soonContinued Dec 17 '23:Ok so life got busy and it took me longer than expected to get back to this write up, but I did want to share my thoughts about what makes this setup work, and how it might be improved.
For starters I don't like the idea of inhaling hot metal, for health reasons. I think with any kind of exposed metal heating element, whether it comes into contact with your spice or not, that is inevitable. If the metal wasn't oxidizing/breaking down a piece of mesh would last indefinitely. And if it's breaking down in use you're inhaling it. the V5 has a metal heating element which is completely encased in inert ceramic. The advantage of the V5 is that at least at the time of this writing, other fully inert heating elements on the market whether ceramic or quartz have have the heat source only at the bottom. The V5 crucible has the heat trace embedded in the bottom
and walls of the cup. I believe this leads to more even heating. It's also a fully enclosed cup, there is nowhere for molten liquid spice to drip to unless you tip it over.
*The Glass Vortex Top: This is an add-on accessory which replaces the stock metal+glass cap that the V5 comes with. It needs to be purchased separately but it's worth the money. It holds several advantages of the stock cap, and after experimenting with both I believe it to be superior if not critical for using the V5 for spice.
IMO the critical thing is that the glass cap is just larger, as in more air volume under the dome. This seems to help distribute the heat better and aid vaporization. With the smaller original cap it was much harder to find the balance between enough heat to completely vaporize and too much heat burning spice. The glass cap is far more forgiving and I can easily achieve complete vaporization with zero combustion. Being able to clearly see whats happening inside is also an advantage. While the original does have glass windows, they look cool but they are not actually useful for seeing much of what's going on "under the hood". The glass cap also doesn't get as hot. Be it the thermal properties of the glass or maybe the higher mass, this is important. With the stock cap the metal drip tip gets uncomfortably hot at the required temperature setting. There is a a silicone cover available and also a glass water pipe adapter that just replaces the drip tip rather than the whole cap, and I haven't tried either, but with the all-glass cap heat on the lips is a non- issue. The tip is a tapered fit (comes in 14mm/18mm ) made to fit into standard water pipe fittings, but it makes a fine tip to inhale from directly. If one wanted to add a top-mounted bubbler to the setup, you would just plop it on there.
*Terp pearls- are little beads available in various materials (SiC, quartz, ruby, ceramic, etc) and come in different sizes typically 4mm-6mm. They are sold in most places that sell dab/ wax supplies. They drop in the bowl with whatever you are vaporizing and work in conjunction with a cap that creates an air vortex on inhalation. They swirl around the bowl and help distribute heat and agitate the molten material, aiding vaporization. 4mm is a good size for the V5, I am currently using 2 "pearls" of 4mm quartz and I do find they make a difference- faster, thicker vapour, at lower temperature.
So much for my current setup. TBH I am content with this for now and for the time being do not feel the need to spend more money on additional experimentation. However, I do have some thoughts on possible improvements that I might try in the future just to satisfy curiosity. If someone was inclined to do these experiments and report back here that would be much appreciated *Crucible inserts: Strictly speaking not necessary for function. I have not tested with them and I don't know if and how they might affect heating times/temp distribution etc and whether or not there might be a negative impact on performance of this setup. From what I've read online, when people use them for for cannabis concentrates it does have some effects and some tweaking of the settings may be necessary to compensate. The only reason I am would consider using a cup insert would be as a convenient pre-dosing capsule, so if you intend to do multiple sessions back to back, serve several people, or maybe travel with this rig (which is of a highly portable size) you could have as many doses as you need pre-measured and packed in these little cups. One would have to use some sort of wrap, plastic, wax paper, tin foil... because there is no cap. When ready to use simply unwrap and dump into the V5 or put the whole cup in and you're good to go. Convenient, and from a set-and-setting perspective, no messing around with tools and scales between sessions is a definite plus. These are currently available in
SiC and in quartz, although I currently can't remember where I found those. I'm don't know much about SiC and so can not opine on it's inertness under heat. Personally I would opt for the quartz.
*Bottomless Quartz Banger: A banger is a cup type receptacle which connects to a water pipe, usually used for vaporizing cannabis extracts. This "bottomless" version is open on both ends and made to fit onto the V5 instead of a cap. A removable "carb cap" with restricted airflow ports is then placed on the top and stays in place during vaporization. Just before the end of the inhale the carb cap is lifted out of the way allowing for unrestricted airlfow which helps quickly clear the lingering vapour from the chamber into the lungs without an additional inhale. If you read through my "how to" above, what I do as I near the end of an inhale is lift the glass cap off the vaporizer to achieve this effect. That is not too hard to do, but I do think having a carb cap would make it even easier. Clearing the chamber is important, before I started doing that I have scraped as much as 10mg of recrystallized spice off the inside of the glass cap. That's a significant portion of a measured dose that's not finding it's way into your lungs. These bottomless bangers are sold on their own, or with the option of a glass or aluminium carb cap. the caps have the proper intake holes to create an air vortex, like the original or the glass cap. Some sort of carb cap is definitely necessary, personally I would go with aluminium. If it falls, no chance of breaking.
A possible sticky wicket: These are designed to fit into a water-pipe, so the spout faces downwards. No problem if you intend to use it as intended, in which case it's probably a good idea to use a
510 extension cord to the mix, which would allow you have the heater element attached to the rig while the box mod is in hand or sitting on the ground. I have found the vapour created with the right settings on the V5 smooth enough to where I don't feel the need for any kind of bubbler setup. So if wanting to smoke directly from the tip, this whole idea of using the bottomless banger, to gain the advantage of having a carb cab, would hinge on the ability to flip the banger. At a glance it looks like both sides of the banger are the same size so I can't see why this won't be possible, but I have yet to verify that. Someone run the experiment and report back!
That's it. Nothing to add for now. If any further evolution occurs with this setup, I'll update with another entry.