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VaporGenie Vaporizer FAQ
VG Construction
The wood of the VaporGenie pipe is finely sanded smooth and is sealed with natural a food grade varnish that reveals beautiful wood grain patterns. There are no glues, adhesives other toxic chemicals used in the VaporGenie pipe. Almost all components of the VaporGenie pipe are proudly made in the USA (about 75% on a dollar cost basis).
The ceramic filter in the VaporGenie pipe is made of high-purity silicon carbide, one of the most inert and heat-resistant ceramics known. Silicon carbide is made of only silicon and carbon, in a diamond crystal structure. Silicon carbide does not contain metals and so will not contaminate your vapor or create metallic flavors. The ceramic filter does not burn, fracture, or deteriorate. It will never need replacement.
All the metal parts in the VaporGenie pipe are either stainless steel or chrome plated for inertness. The VaporGenie pipe comes with a stainless steel screen and stainless steel bowl.
The length (from mouthpiece to the center of the bowl) of the Maple VG is 4.5 inches, and the length of the Handcarved pipes is 5.7 inches.
Cleaning your VaporGenie
The VaporGenie produces very little tar when used properly, so it only needs cleaning occasionally. The screen can be removed for cleaning by rotating it with a needle so that it "unscrews" via the threaded bowl, or by simply pulling it out with tweezers. This will reveal the wire coil that holds up the screen. The wire coil can be removed by pulling with pliers. The screen and wire coil can be cleaned by wiping or soaking in alcohol. The steel bowl can be cleaned with an alcohol swab. Do not get alcohol on the wood because this can damage the finish. 
The bottom pipe portion and mouthpiece can be cleaned with a pipe cleaner. First, pull out the mouthpiece. Pull a pipecleaner through the mouthpiece to clean it. Similarly, the pipe can be cleaned by running a pipecleaner through it. Insert the pipecleaner into the mouthpiece end, and pull it from the steel bowl with tweezers or pliers. We recommend using two pipecleaners side-by-side so that the pipe hole gets a good scrub.
Q. Do I need to grind?
Yes, it is very important to grind your herbs well for use with the VaporGenie. Exposing more surface area to your herbs will enable more active ingredients to be released to the user, it also ensures that your herbs are evenly vaporized not wasting any herb in the process.
Q. What is that metal wire under the screen?
That metal wire (or coil) is there to hold up the screen. Holding up the screen encourages uniform airflow over the entire surface of the screen, and this helps create uniform heating and vaporization. The wire can be removed and replaced with pliers.
Q. How does the VaporGenie Provide Vaporization?
The VaporGenie pipe relies on a totally new concept to provide the 'sweet-spot' vaporization temperatures of 225-375 degrees.
The secret to the VaporGenie pipe is the patented flame filter. The flame filter is located above your herb (between the herb and flame). In the pictures, the flame filter is located within the spherical wood part. The flame filter mixes heat from the flame with cold, ambient air. The flame filter is specially designed to mix the flame and cool air and provide vaporization temperatures.
The flame filter is also specially designed to withstand the flame heat for many years. It is made of silicon carbide, an extremely durable and nontoxic ceramic.
Q. Can the VaporGenie be used as a regular combustion pipe?
NO! DO NOT do this! Using the bottom portion of the VaporGenie pipe as a combustion pipe will ruin it for use as a vaporizer. It will forever taste like terrible tar and burned popcorn. Don't do it. If you do, you will quickly understand why the VaporGenie pipe and vaporizing are so great and why combustion smoking is so awful. Also, using a handcarved VG as a combustion pipe can damage the pipe and cause the stainless steel bowl to come loose. This damage is NOT covered by our warranty.
Q. Does the filter release particles or gases?
Absolutely not! The ceramic filter is made of high purity, monolithic silicon carbide, SiC. SiC is completely inert in the conditions in the pipe. It does not react, or release gases or particulates. It does not contain metals. Also, the ceramic filter is monolithic (it is made of a single, continuous piece of ceramic). It is not made of sintered particles that can break off and be inhaled.
Q. The ceramic filter moves up and down. Is that a problem?
No. We designed the VaporGenie to have a loose filter. It is perfectly normal for the filter to slide vertically in the top a little bit. It does not affect the performance of your VaporGenie. Any problems you may be experiencing are not caused by a loose filter.
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