Steel wool looks like a good idea (thats what the volcano liquid pad is?)

Having a quick google i see super fine, very fine, very coarse, fine, medium... it looks like good stuff to use though, very malleable, you suggested medium, would super fine be too thin you think?

If you could post pics of your setup that would be a huge help, the main thing seems to be getting the thickness right, you want it thick enough that you can inhale slowly without leakage, but thin enough so you can inhale.

Steel wool is not the same as a liquid pad. A liquid pad is made out of a high grade stainless steel wire. Steel wool is just iron filaments.

Very fine steel wool is combustible – it can ignite and burn. And the finer the product you use, the more you impede air flow.

Take a look at post #112 and you’ll see stainless steel “scrubbers”. They are made of low grade stainless steel ribbon. More surface area than wire, less likely to burn than steel wool.

In post #108 I show the thickness of the copper mesh that I use. You can see that it isn’t very thick.

Good luck with whatever you decide you use, and tell us about your results! (And don't forget to clean - with heat or solvent - whatever you use before using it.)

Cool, im gonna hunt down my volcano pad & give it a try as others have had success with it, if i get leakage ill get some copper ribbon
I think if you trim the volcano pad right then it should work perfectly as its built for vaporization

Not to belabor this further, but the Volcano liquid pad is not made for every conceivable kind of vaporization device. It is made specifically for the Volcano vaporizer. I’m not familiar with the Volcano, but it is almost certainly designed to hold a liquid pad in such a way as to minimize leakage. What works well in a Volcano may not work very well in a GVG and vice versa.

Anyhow, I hope whatever you use works well, and please report back.

OK, I can't seem to get hold on any copper mesh over here... So as in the pic of post number 112, could I use such steel mesh? And are they always made of stainless steel(in case it isn't written on it)?

Has anyone used steel mesh as a screen? How is copper better?

So the only thing I must make sure, is that the steel is compressed enough as to form a disc like in Gibran's picture and to clean it with acetone... Will see how it goes and I'll report back as soon as I get everything done.

Chronic - It will work perfectly well with 6-8 screens if you put a small leaf or ash bed on the bottom (though you may have some small amount of bleed through). The liquid pad/copper mesh isn't an absolute necessity.

I think that all of the pot scrubbers are stainless steel, otherwise they’d rust almost immediately. I’ve used stainless steel scrubber/mesh and it seems to work well, but it’s harder to shape into a nice disc – not as malleable.

Here’s a site that has all sorts of scrubbers – brass, bronze, copper, and stainless steel.

Yeah with changa/infused herb (and I guess bed of herbs too) there is no necessity of liquid pad or scrubber.

Hey gilbran2, do you think there is absolutely no chance that some of that protective coating remains after cleaning/burning these scrubbers off, that might be toxic to inhale?

OK, I'll see what I can do. I'll try using pliers lightly if it will be too difficult to form with fingers only...
I have even considered buying some chore boy from ebay, but I'll try first with the steel mesh... Hopefully it'll go well, if it does, I'll report back maybe even with pics.

There is no protective coating on these scrubbers. There may be some machine oil on them that is used for lubrication during the manufacturing process. This is easily removed. Even GVG screens and Volcano liquid pads come into contact with machine oil at some point during their manufacture. The only difference is that they wash it off for you!

Are you really aware of the industrial process behind these materials from experience or are you supposing? Not doubting you, really just curious...

How sure is it that there is no contamination from heavy metals or that these oils have nasty residues in them? And how generalizable is it from one brand to the other? I mean, considering they dont have to have any kind of strong certification since they are not meant for vaporization, as opposed to the volcano one, no?

I don’t know how the composition varies from manufacturer to manufacturer, but here’s some information from the Chore Boy website:

Can you tell me what grade of copper is used in the Chore Boy Copper Pads?

The copper is 99.997% pure copper. Technically the answer is "pure copper".


Are there other ingredients in the Chore Boy Copper Scouring Pads?

Mineral oil is used to draw, spool, and unspool the copper wire. It helps to make the manufacturing process easier and prevents the wire from getting scratched.


Are the Chore Boy Copper Scouring Pads treated with anything after they are assembled because mine smells mildew/moldy?

Chore Boy Pads do not have any type of overlay coating on the finished product. However, we do use a wire drawing process which draws the product through an oil-based lubricant to ease the process. Most of this will dissipate or evaporate with exposure, and the rest will wear off.

we might have to have a 11/01/11 SHE!

Not a bad idea, however I'm taking some days for preparation as I haven't had yet an experience on DMT that I could call total breakthrough.

Just bought the arc. Can't wait for it to arrive

At first I was using my butane lighter I bought for salvia a while back. It was a real piece of crap, so I went to the tobacco shop and bought a butane for $50. I figured you pay for price...right? Well, let me tell you: apparently not. "Ol' unfaithful" I should start calling her I can't begin to relay to all of you just how many experiences have gone out the window and spice wasted and what not thanks to the fact that it can't be counted on for anything. I even went back to the store, had them fill it and talk me through it and everything. Turns out I was doing it right. He lights it and presto - it was full flame. So I was like oh ok...got home, first attempt at lighting it and poof. Might as well have not gone back, cause it still malfunctions. I would keep it in my pocket at all times to make sure it was warm because I realized that often played into it as a big issue, and other times, the temperature was clearly not the problem. When it works, it's great. Just can't count on it to work. I have a lifetime warranty on it, so I'm gonna see if they'll take it back. Hopefully this arc will be my knight in shining armor. Even ordered the extra two canisters of that "pure" butane they try and push, just so I can't blame it on any other factor if this goes wrong, but I doubt it will since so many here praise it. This may just be what me and my GVG need to get along

Sometimes when I'm at sub-breakthrough levels, the GVG takes on some amazing colours (even though it's clear/colourless), and then the middle "hour-glass" part where the vapour travels through to the main bottom chambers comes alive and it almost looks like there is a tiny world inside there. I've had many a trip where I've just sat there staring into the depth of the GVG. It definitely takes on a magical quality for me, hard to explain, it has a very divine nature to it.

I hadn't had much luck with other smoking methods so I thought the GVG might be the trick unfortunately I ended up as some have with a LOT of leakage. I started with a Volcano liquid pad cut to the same diameter as the pipe. The spice I'm using was collected from a quick freezer precip and was fairly powdery (not much crystal structure to it). I don't know if this makes a difference. We started the weekend with 1.6g and tried may times to blast-off, some people got it unfortuantely I didn't. I think most of the spice stayed in the VG. On the plus side the glass is coated with some cool looking crystals when the spice resolidified. I tried sticking the remaining liquid pad on top of the 1/2 of the pad that was in there. It really didn't change much.

I was using a typical bic lighter, I don't see how you can see the ceramic disk with the pipe in your mouth so I don't know if was turing red of not. I was definately getting vapour but after 1 or 2 good hits it has all melted through and I was trying very large doses to compensate for the melt through.

Eventually, I gave up on the VG and with the remaining 100mg I tried vapourizing on tin foil and inhaling through a straw. A much stronger and hotter taste but still no break through.

Once the spice is melted I can't imagine that it it makes much difference what form it was orginally in (big crystals or powder). My xtals looked fairly white but if you melt and condense them they sure have a yellow/brownish tint.

Time to clean the pipe and get that good stuff back.

Take a look at this post.

You’ll see that it takes very little mesh to work effectively. More is not better. In your photo, it looks like you’ve crammed the entire chamber full of wire pad. This is problematic for two reasons:

--- If the chamber is filled with material, the normal air flow will be severely disrupted.

--- With a large volume of material, the metal will not heat evenly – the top will reach proper vaporization temperature, but the bottom probably will be too cool for vaporization. As a result, all of the DMT will flow to the bottom of the mesh and eventually migrate to the glass, wasting almost everything.

I’d also suggest using a butane torch lighter instead of a bic.

Finally, don’t give up with the GVG. You have the best tool available for vaporizing spice, and you’ve resorted to using aluminum foil? Be patient, thoroughly clean your GVG, remove most of the liquid pad in there, use a torch lighter, and try again. You’ll get it right eventually.

But evaporated as in double boiled plate vinegar get back some spice though its brown goo...