
Well I've been talking about it for ages but always put it off as
'too much hassle'.  You know what procrastination did for Hamlet
so I finally got off my bum and did something.  I made my
Vapouriser Mark 1.  It's quite primitive but has shown me very
dramatic results.

First of all, I find a vapouriser hit is perfectly smooth - it's
almost as if you're taking a toke of nothing - but not quite.  The
smell is very pine-ish, not as dope normally is, that heady, sweet
smell.  The vapour is a pure white smoke that rises up.

A vapouriser hit is also MUCH more efficient than a normal hit from
a bong, I found.  Out of the dope I normally smoke in one session,
I have had 4 sessions - which is great!  More potent, no lung
burn and no carcinogens.  Just good, clean fun :)

So where did I start?  Okay - the first thing I did was steal the
standard cigarette lighter from my Mum's car.  This looks like 
this <excuse ascii art>:

  ----
 |    |
 |    |
--------
   ||
  /__\

You push the little bit on the bottom to push it up and a little
element pokes out.  This is the standard lighter as fitted to most
non-Volvo cars (in Australia at least).  The Volvo ones have a
slightly different design.

Okay so the next thing I did was work out how to power the thing.
I got a 12 Volt transformer which was used for my train set in
my younger days.  This is great because it has a variable power
slider but you could always buy/use a normal transformer and
attach some sort of knob to regulate.  At 12 Volts it's quite
safe to play around with.

Okay now here is a picture of what it looks like with wires
attached.  I used 4 core telephone cable and just spun two
pairs together so I had two outputs.

      /------  + or - 12V
  ----   
   ||
  ----
 |    |
 | ---|------  + or - 12V
--------
   ||
  /__\
  
Note how the element bit is poking out.  I did this by taping it
poking out on the handle.  + or - doesn't matter, just so long as
you have one of each <derr :)>.  The metal 'skirt' around the
bottom must touch the wire down there.  The element prong should
be bent down and placed as close to the edge of the element as
possible - with it still sticking it.  Because you can't use
solder or anything, this can be tricky.  Make sure the wire is
twisted and ready to insert.  Push the elements (they're flexible)
aside and stick it in.  When the go back into place, they trap
the wire inside.  I used 4 core wire so I was able to put one
wire on each side of the element - for greater reliabilty.

Now we have to make an enclosure so those precious vapours don't
go sailing away for the insects to enjoy (ever noticed mozzies
always come around when you're smoking? :).

I used a "Mount Franklin" mineral water bottle which turned out
perfect.  It has a mouth-piece where the lighter fitted in
perfectly.  You tape it into place. with the wires dangling
down through the mouthpiece (can be tricky because it's such
a snug fit.

I then cut the top section from where the bottle starts to
have straight sides.  Next trim the edges so that the
bottom (mouth end) fits inside the top.  Ascii art time
again.

     __
    |  |
   /    \
  |      |   Now the mouthpiece of a Mount Franklin water
  |      |   bottle is exactly the same size as that on a
  |      |   normal 1.25 Litre bottle of soft drink - this
  |      |   is important for a snug fit of the lighter.
  |______|

Okay so you cut off the top bit which leaves you with:

     /---------- hole to suck through
 --- ---
|       |
|       |
|       |
|\_ _ _/|
   |-|    
    | <----- lighter with wires dangling down to transformer
    -

Okay so there you have it.  You place your pot (only a small mount,
finely chopped so that ALL the pot is in contact with the element)
and turn on the voltage.  You know it's hot enough when a pure
white smoke comes out of the pot in a thin stream.  If it starts
burning, wait 'till it goes out and try again.

Oh yeah, you see the top is detachable so you can put the pot in :)

Okay so as I said, this is only the Mark 1 so in future I will
make it more air-tight (possibly through use of kitchen plastic
ware) and get hold of a decent thermometer to calibrate it to
the precise temperature required (someone said 97 degrees C?).

Another advantage of this type of setup is it doesn't stink
out the entire place.  The smell is very localised and doesn't
spread much.  It isn't even really an unpleasant smell as
stale smoke can be.

