Excessive heat will oxidize metal, including copper. Use only gentle heat, or better yet, soak your disc in acetone and let dry. This will remove any traces of cutting oil from the manufacturing process.

When I'm looking for a mesh, I should see that the surface of the mesh strings are not round, but more like flat, so it will hold the melted dmt better?

Yes. The mesh “strings”, when round, are called wire, and when flat are called ribbon.

And as I said in my previous post, either heat very gently or soak in solvent to remove manufacturing oils. All metal wire/ribbon when drawn/formed is coated in oil or other manufacturing lubricants. Some products are then pre-cleaned for you, some are not.

It seems like this is the best option imo, that's what im going go when i the GVG arrives.
The volcano liquid pad is purposefully made to be inert & used for vaporization as i understand it.

The Volcano liquid pad is no more inert than copper or stainless steel when used at vaporization temperatures. The liquid pad was designed for use in the Volcano vaporizer, not the GVG. From the posts here, it seems that it delivers mixed results when used with the GVG – some seem to get very good results, others have leakage even with 3/4” of material in the GVG chamber.

I’m biased in favor of copper mesh, but that’s only because I’ve had such excellent results with a thin disc of copper mesh in my GVG. The less material required to hold DMT, the better – the DMT is heated more evenly and quickly when less material is used. There is also less metal in contact with the glass sidewalls of the GVG, reducing the likelihood of DMT migrating to the sidewalls. And for a few dollars, you’ll have enough copper mesh for a lifetime of GVG discs. I’d suggest you at least give it a try!

i'm gonna give your suggestion a try my brother. the volcano pad is good but not great....

L&G

Do you think its possible to know what this mineral oil is? or is it some kind of trade secret? are there mineral oils that can be toxic, even if "most eventually wears off/evaporate" ? What about that 0.003% of something else in copper, even if the number seems really small, is it possible to know what it is and if anything in that amount can be toxic/dangerous to vaporize?

Regarding the 0.003% impurities in copper, I honestly don’t know. I hope you understand that 0.003% impurities is very low – even ACS and pharmaceutical-grade chemicals often have impurities at that level. Stainless steel also has similar levels of impurities. You can be certain that there are more impurities in your spice than in your copper mesh!

I don’t think that Volcano liquid pads or GVG screens must be “certified” in any way. They are made to comply with industrial standards for the grade of stainless steel (proper percentage of iron, chromium, carbon, etc.) but that’s it.

(Haven't you ever herad of mineral oil?) Here’s something from the Wikipedia mineral oil entry:

“Mineral oil is a common ingredient in baby lotions, cold creams, ointments and cosmetics. It is a lightweight inexpensive oil that is odorless and tasteless.”

“It is occasionally used in the food industry, particularly for candy.”

“Mineral oil is generally safe for human contact and consumption and has been approved by the FDA in personal care and cosmetic products, as well as for an additive for food to 10 mg/kg of daily consumption.”

Thanks for the feedback. Regarding the copper impurities, I do understand that is very small amount, but its not necessarily about how much impurities but rather what kind. Maybe im just being over-prudent and there is nothing that could be present as an industrial contamination that is toxic at those dosages.. But since I havent either heard proof of the other way, that for sure there isnt, I thought its important to at least ask, right?

As for dmt, im sure my dmt has more impurities than that, but I know that the chemicals used to extract it are food safe so no matter what impurities there are, they will be food safe. I cant say the same for a scrub...

As for volcano liquid pads or gvg screens, Im not sure how tested they are but they are (at least according to their website) designed specifically for vaporization, sold for such purpouse, and considering thousands of people use their products for vaporization, I would imagine that its in their best interest to know for sure that whatever impurities there are, they definitely wont be toxic even with regular long term vaporization of their products, which I neither cant say the same for the scrubber..

Again, Im not saying the scrubber is necessarily worse or that it will have something toxic in considerable amounts, im just asking about it because I think its important that we really are healthy and safe. I would sure hope that there is information that settles this and that scrubbers are perfectly safe, specially considering many are using it for vaporization, but till that questions are not ultimately settled, sorry but I'll be asking

As for mineral oil, maybe it has to do with english not being my first language, but I didnt know that mineral oil necessarily meant just this specific kind of oil always with low toxicity, I thought it was a more general class of substances (like "essential oil" ) of which there can be several grades depending on the use (and hence maybe some grades will have more toxic impurities, or impurities that become worse with higher vaporization temperatures). Sorry for the ignorance

The impurities in copper are probably other metals – iron, tin, bismuth, antimony, etc. These are common impurities in other metals, including iron, which means that stainless steel also contains these impurities. In fact, certain heavy metals, such as chromium and manganese, are deliberately added in fairly high percentages (18% or more chromium) to stainless steel to make it, well, stainless.

And there may be impurities in your DMT that you don’t know about – many plants naturally contain heavy metals (such as arsenic) and other potentially toxic substances at very low concentrations, so it isn’t unreasonable to assume that such substances are present in MHRB and other plant sources of DMT.

Thanks for the info! So just to sum up, you think there is no chance of toxic impurities in any significant amount in copper, yes? And the mineral oil is also always clean, you affirm, yes?

By th way you got any source for mimosa and other ethnobotanical plants containing any significant amount of toxic substances? Is this a real concern you are raising or are you just using the argument for the sake of supposing anything can happen ?

Well, now I know why you call yourself endlessness – all of the endless questions!

I believe that there is no chance of toxic impurities in any significant amount in 99.997% “pure” copper.

Repeating the wikipedia excerpt, “Mineral oil is generally safe for human contact and consumption and has been approved by the FDA in personal care and cosmetic products, as well as for an additive for food to 10 mg/kg of daily consumption” (Also be aware that 100% of the mineral oil on metal mesh can be removed via heat or solvents.)

I’m almost certain that mimosa and/or other entheological plants don’t contain significant amounts of toxic substances such as heavy metals, but low levels (parts per million? parts per billion?) are possible. It all depends on what’s in the soil where the plant is grown.

Gibran2: What technique do you use to form the mesh in the picture below?

What puzzles me, is that when the DMT is in fine powder form, doesn't it go through the mesh when sucking air through it?

I guess it just has to be as "tight" as possible so no DMT will be wasted?

Or is it just that the DMT melts so fast that there is no time for any powder to go through?

Tele: Try heating the mesh a little so the Dmt melts and sticks to it.

I do think the Arc is generally better for vaping DMT in the GVG, but i've also had great sucess using a yellow flame lighter with a 90° angle.

cool chronic, Im very curious how it goes for you with the GVG and dmt, compared to your previous smoking methods

by the way, regarding arc/torch lighters and the GVG.. anybody who had them break can please share how it happened? I've been using torch lighters with the GVG for many months now, both for dmt (rare) as well as weed/hash (more common, often a lot during some particular days), and I have had no problem at all, even with very potent crappy torch lighters. Now with the arc lighter I feel its even better/more controlled.

I can imagine that if one would put the torch straight into the glass for many seconds something might happen but I dont see why one would do that ? Even during the come up of dmt on the second hit or so, I still have no problem at all getting the flame correctly in the bowl.

Not to say others should use arc and not other lighters, each one to their own, im really just curious how comes people had problems with it, if it works so perfect for me even with a lot of use and not being specially careful.

By the way, do you guys think that there's a significant difference between different butane? I have some clipper 'universal butane' which was quite cheap. Is it really worth it to get more expensive butane or is it just a marketing scheme and overal quality is the same?

You raised some good points i hope lots of people reply about it...

Do you find with the arc that you only inhale for a second or two?
I find if i inhale for longer the chamber can start to combust & then its very hard on the lungs... with both lighters.

Also do you find you can remove the volcano pad quite easily for when you decide to use changa or cannabis? The bowl is a lot more narrow than i expected.

All in all i love this piece, its just so beautiful & feels worthy of the spice.

How close are you putting the lighter to the bowl? Is the flame going inside a lot? Is the ceramic element glowing red?

Personally I make like this: Start the lighter farther away from the bowl. I empty all my lungs, and start inhaling very slowly as I approach the lighter, so that the tip of the blue flame is inside the bowl and the ceramic filter starts to glow red (though not too much). Then as soon as I see the first signs of any vapour (basically a second or two), I already move the lighter farther away so that the tip of the blue flame is a few (maybe 2?) centimeters above the bowl (but still directed towards the center of course). I keep pulling with my full lungs and the lighter still on till the last maybe 3-4 seconds where I turn off the lighter and just inhale whatever vapor is already inside the GVG

Maybe it sounded like a complicated description but the idea is to start with a stronger fire (because it all takes a few seconds to first warm up), but then immediately move it farther away, otherwise I feel that it either comes too harsh, and/or it can even combust the material inside. On the other hand if you just do the first seconds with strong heat and then turn it off, it isnt nearly as efficient because you only get a strong harsh small amount, instead of a medium-temp long pull with plenty of actives.

And yeah definitely removing the volcano pad is very easy.

and yeah, the genie is so classy.. I mean, to go to hyperspace with such a combo as the GVG and a propper lighter like the arc or another, it really adds to the experience imo

As has already been stated, pre-heat the mesh before adding the DMT. It will melt in without falling through. The mesh should be as loose as possible to allow good air-flow. But not so loose that there are big gaps where DMT could easily fall through.

Didn't notice it was mentioned...
So would it be sufficient just to warm it up when the ceramic filter is in place for about 2-4 seconds and then just remove the filter, then put some dmt powder on the mesh?
How come air flow can be an issue when for example volcano liquid pad has much more compressed material in it?

What about placing a screen on top of the mesh? Would it make pre-heating unnecessary or would it waste some spice?