Salutations everybody,
In all fairness lets keep in mind such “venerable” vaporist icon rarely pops up on a same page as Egzoset except to express laborious criticism, while one main problem typically resides in its fan-base not accepting comments from “outsider” sources, essentially - which i consider equivalent to an impossible/hypothetical pre-requirement to evaluate all existing products 1st and yet there’s still little guaranty to be even heard… Hence i figured long ago that’s why nobody can seem to tell what’s the absolute “best” ready-made commercially-available offer around (not to mention tomorrow)!
Although Volcano’s Price-Tag alone often works much like a beacon in the dark (…) i’d want to suggest a different strategy based on my own personal experience instead, under the light of retrospective.
My primary challenge to buy a Dry Flower vaporizer dates back to 2010, when i wished to educate myself on e-Cigs so i could eventually manage to decide what health-wise gift to offer a dear relative of mine who smoked an entire life, in a context where i didn’t even suspect the existence of devices called “vaporizers” until then.
As an ex-smoker i quit my cannabic habit 3 years before and had definitively turned abstaining ever since, so imagine my surprise to discover there was hope once again!! This sure caused a radical change of plan as i dropped the Christmass idea completely and chose to invest that money on a table device for myself! … Vaporist initiation took place right after St-Valentin 2011 and it lasted 10 addictive days (…), then years passed as i continued to spend more Canuck cash only to gain confidence about what i had done wrong all along and which was to focus too much on Price-Tag$, for a lack of more suitable selection criterias (so far)…
Thanks to Providence i was able to train my eye just looking closer, for example paying more attention to what’s actually inside (at least on blueprints!):
Lucky me this manufacturer happens to have sufficient pride in their design for factual evidence to be found, though too many of its competitors spontaneously prefer to keep it low-profile. In any case, in terms of copyrights it’s a perfect illustration of the pre-requirement situation previously explained: although i could have referred to photographs from 3rd-party sources it turns out i never captured my own snapshots as the Price-Tag argument continuously failed to seduce me… Logical conclusion? Those like me who won’t join the Volcano fan-club should refrain and stay mute about it - which sounds sufficient appealing for me NOT to comply, even if i ain’t got any pictures of my own, of course!
So… Indeed, i’m in full agreement stating that Storz & Bickel products all get “very highly regarded” and quite likely in direct consequence to its prohibitive co$t (…) which i’m sure also gathers acceptance even from those remotely motivated by 1st-hand experience at all (in particular reseller$, insurer$, even health worker$), etc.
But then i still got sensitive/puzzling matters awaiting clarification, for starters how is that supposed to seduce ex-smokers exactly??
Now here’s my little paradox… Knowing from personal experience that the cigarette/“joint” delivery format ain’t even close nor similar (starting with noisy bags and not only that!), i came to realize how contrasting each puff proved to be in comparison to balloon sessions; meanwhile most emphasis had focused on the virtues of thermostatic heating precision: e.g. performant extraction was supposed to be slow & steady. Then i eventually lost the virginity of my early (vulnerable) vaporist days, especially after a few concepts got refined/re-defined to compensate for a perpetual lack of proper vocabulary somehow…
Lets begin with my description of a “Release/Transport Agent”, which is a feature common to cigarettes/“joints”, e-Cigs and vaporizers, with sub-divisions in that later group… The primary goal of all those consumption methods is to benefit from nature’s free gift:
Trichome glands! 
A former smoker habit caused me to sacrifice nearly half of those noble molecules for the mere “Self-Vilifying” purpose of keeping a toxic fire alive, only to contaminate the other half before it’s finally released into my lungs path via some convenient/disposable containment tube (made of combustible paper + glue that keep falling off as ash while its red-hot tip progresses towards my lips)… One major side-effect from this legacy of James A. Bonsack is that such design had nothing to do with health and everything to do about profit, hence his most successful patent gradually transformed into the Public Health issue of planetary proportions observed today. Nonetheless yet another side-effect IMHO would be his unsuspected though beneficial recourse to some “Potentializing” agent considering that “Hot Dry Air” alone has a “Specific Heat Capacity” of 1, while steam = 2; briefly put Extra-Hot Exhaust Gases emanating from cigarette/“joint” combustion can be expected to boost its “Release/Transport Agent” by raising “Specific Heat Capacity” to a level ranging between 1 and 2, e.g. superior to simple "Hot Dry Air " as currently exploited in the Volcano suite.
Recent cannabic developments based on e-Liquids/e-Cigs practically removed all self-poisoning compounds generated by vegetal combustion, possibly demonstrating an effective substitution of the usual smoke-potentializing effect via a simultaneous/generous supply of water vapour in our cannabic stream - so, that means no “Release/Transport Agent” should feel dry neither as it’s even Self-Moisturizing!.. Most unfortunately those e-Cig contraptions also happen to expose e-Liquid to the really hot metal surface of a lame/cheap wire coil powered by 1 high-density energy cell put under intense stress, especially inches from a human face… Top it all with multiple unknown variables relative to secret e-liquid recipes and we’re ready for other option(s)!
Too bad the Volcano remains synonymous of contagious hype despite its obvious failure to offer any potentializing effect to the attention of ex-smokers - who often want/try to switch!.. Add up my few previous elements of criticism to trigger natural human curiosity even further, for example what i now view as its “CHEAT” effect if we account for cloud opacity boosting from not-so-noble molecules that infused through potentially-contaminated vegetal tissue…
Deep extraction in “black-box” table or portable “Ovenizing” systems promises extended THC “activation” by heat (read decarboxylation…) but this may require “Bio” quality to promote full confidence i believe; in addition static slow/steady scenarios hardly offer broad-range cannabinoïds release while one could wish for enhanced Aroma/Taste Appreciation (and even bowl “Conservation”…), especially when aiming for such pricy budget.
Thanks to Providence i can welcome the reader to visit my dedicated VG-based modding (semi-DiY) threads in the event some more accurate smoking-emulations might be desired:
OG, 2017-Nov-17.
…
OG, 2019-Mar-19.
Good day, have fun!! 