Everything About: Illadelph Disc Diffused Ash Catcher (Circ)

Discussion in 'Bongs, Dab Rigs, Bubblers, Water Pipes' started by Ragweedultra, Apr 19, 2012.

  1. #1 Ragweedultra, Apr 19, 2012
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 19, 2012
    What on earth is this??

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    By ragweedultra

    I’m glad you stumbled on this thread! You see, I've done a ton of researching on ash catchers. I always wanted to find the one that was the very best. About one month ago, I was able to buy a hard to find ash catcher made by Illadelph. Of course I did a lot of research first. But there's not much on the internet about this one. Since buying it, I have determined it in my own mind to be hands down the best ash catcher in the WORLD. (At this day and age, just a couple days before 4-20 itself, in the year 2012.)

    Here it is in its completeness:

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    By ragweedultra

    How does it work?

    Is it simple and easy to use? Or is it difficult, technical, and fragile...

    By this point, you may have zero questions or many questions. However, no matter who you are, I suggest you keep reading this article. You see, I have a lot of knowledge about this piece. And I’m about to share my secrets with you.

    See this? This is the downstem.

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    By ragweedultra

    Directions for Use:

    The downstem is a 29mm size. That’s “Triple Oversize” around where I’m from. (14.4mm, 18.8mm, 24mm, 29mm). The only joints bigger than this are some ash catchers with removable showerheads/vortexes or for glass on glass joints from a full size beaker bottom to a top piece, most commonly a Glycerin Cooling Coil. Those can be quadruple oversize.

    The bowl that plugs into the downstem is standard glass on glass, or the small 14.4mm.

    Anyyyywayyyyyyy.

    So you have a fat, fat downstem. The flared showerhead has 13 large slits on it. Blowing through the downstem alone produces virtually NO resistance to your breath.
    You now take the clear section of the ash catcher, and add only 1 oz. of water. (Very small amount; a splash):

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    By ragweedultra

    Then you plug in the downstem:

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    By ragweedultra

    And you plug in the whole thing to a fattttt tube:

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    By ragweedultra

    The thing about this part is that the downstem has to fit into the tube. The male joint of the blue downstem is 18.8mm, or oversized glass on glass.
    However, do not assume just because your tube has an 18.8mm female joint that this ash catcher will fit your tube. You see, the attached blue downstem diffuser is the thickest possible downstem width for 18.8mm. That means that your tube may or may not block the downstem from going into it. Do not assume just because a tube is Illadelph or not Illadeplph that the ash catcher will or will not fit. You don’t know. I’ll give you a hint: The downstem, below the ground joint, is 5 inches long and at least 15-16mm in diameter. Your tube must be burly or this ash catcher will not fit inside.

    The ground joint on the male piece is especially long compared to other joints, meaning it will fit your tube joint and possibly stick out a bit.

    Diffuser:

    The bottom of this has a beautiful American diffused end:

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    By ragweedultra

    There are four slits on each side, and a hole in the bottom. There are nine holes total on the bottom, and I believe them to be equal in size. (No factual basis for that one)

    Material:

    It’s made out of Duran (German) glass, looking to be about 3mm in thickness. It’s really pretty solid, and I don’t imagine many of them break. The triple oversized downstem is even thicker.

    Keck Clips:

    The Illadelph Disc Diffused Ash Catcher comes with a gigantic K-Clip. It’s very sturdy and holds your triple oversizer downstem in place. I strongly suggest buying a normal 18.8mm K-Clip to hold the ash catcher to your tube, so it will not rotate on its own. By rotate I mean that you want the ash catcher to maintain a perfect orientation that you decide, and once chosen, the K-Clip will hold it in place. Not included with the ash catcher.

    Clearing:

    That being said, I want to suggest something odd. I don’t like the large K-Clip. I must say that a 14.4mm joint hole is not enough to clear my enormous tube and ash catcher. If you instead pull the enormous downstem with the bowl, you get a double blessing. Now the clearing airflow does not go through the initial chamber of water, but rushes into just the main chamber of the beaker, reducing water drag. Also, the gigantic hole allows for much faster, more appropriate airflow.
    The upstem in the third chamber prevents ALL water/ash from going into the tube.

    Function:

    Like I said before, I believe this to be the best functioning, most diffusing, prettiest (non-worked), most ingenious, most technical, least draggy and overall most fun ash catcher ever. Beware though, it will get very dirty, very quickly. Don’t be fooled by all the clean Illadelphian ash catchers you see on the internet. These are made to take a lot of abuse and keep going.

    Price Tag:

    You won’t pick up one of these new from a shop or online for under about $350 unless you have hookups with the owner. People are trying to make a profit, after all. I was lucky enough to pick up mine for a very tempting price off of someone from CL in my local area. Shop around for a while if you’re interested, something may pop up. If not, they’re on a particular few internet sites or at large Illadelph-carrying smoke shops. (If you want to pay an arm and a leg for it)

    Other Versions:

    Variations on this ash catcher include:
    -Regular Oversize 18.8mm downstem instead of the thick disc diffuser that the bowl plugs in to. You can add any appropriate length downstem to it, and the attached downstem is the same. (Regular downstem upstem)
    -And one with a 24mm (I think) sideways joint that goes inline into an upstem. (Inline upstem) There are older and new versions of course, but I believe the most modern has 10 "Fish Gill" slits in it. That means that the large rectangle-like holes are all in a row, but they are also placed on the bottom rather than the top of the sideways stem, and they are angled like this: \\\\\\\\\\.
    -These models, at least the Disc model, also exist in models called Heavy Hitter, where each joint (all three) are one size bigger. That means that the triple oversize would be quad, the attached downstem would be 24mm, and the bowl would be 18.8mm.

    They all look similar, but users like me believe that Disc Diffused is most certainly the best overall ash catcher, even compared to other Illadelphs. It is equal in price to the Inline Upstem Ash Catcher.

    The only other variation on my ash catcher (not including customs) is one with a shorter/longer downstem attached, or one with a “showerhead” vertically slit-ed diffuser on the attached downstem. (Think Alex K) It has six long holes. Mine is the "American Diffused" slit-ed version. (I would not even compare these two versions of the Disc Diffused Ash Catcher; they were both made by very professional designers and I believe they make both kinds, I don’t think one is even the “newer version”. Correct me if I’m wrong.)

    But if you want to get twice as gnarly and realize what the hell Illadelph was thinking when they made this whacked out creation, YOU MUST READ THIS NEXT POST:
     
  2. #2 Ragweedultra, Apr 19, 2012
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 19, 2012
    But if you simply add 2 oz. of water instead of 1 oz. to this ash catcher, something very special happens.

    The second chamber turns into a natural perc, therefore literally filtering the smoke twice through water. I have tested this many times and know for a fact that it works. The downside is that the splash-guard is not flawless with 2 oz. in the system. You must hit it at a certain medium-type rate, because sudden or overly-powerful rips will suck some of the water into the main beaker chamber.

    You must be a dedicated stoner to use this technique, but it definitely smooths out your rip like you wouldn't expect. That is what made this AC so special to me. The fact that it forms a natural perc.

    But me and my friend took it a step further one night. He suggested to me that on the clear, it actually filters three times. The third upstem chamber can temporarily form a second natural perc. I decided I wanted the ash catcher to filter three times for the entire hit, not just the clear. I filled it up a bit higher, and took a milk to the dome. I discovered that you can indeed pull a huge hit through four chambers of water with simply a tube and this ash catcher. Obviously adding more percs adds slightly more drag, but the hit can come fast into your lungs if you pull the stem, and it is very smooth and thick.

    Holy shit science.
     
  3. #3 Glass Bastard, Apr 19, 2012
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 19, 2012
    Ummm...hey buddy...just to let you know man the Illy A/C has been around for a little while now, and its actually becoming quite a common A/C. I can't tell distinctly from the pictures but I believe you're right about the size, i.e. 29mm for the showerhead. They also make them specifically for the Illy pyramid perc models with 24mm joints for the downstem, and 34mm for the showerhead A/C. That illy A/C is one of the best around man, but to be honest though there are a few nicer A/C's out there now though. Look into the BC 2010/2011/2012 Gridded Circ A/C's, or the ultra rare Sovereignty gridded circ. Toro's are nice too, but BC and SG blow em away. You can see some milk vids/shots of my larger illy showerhead A/C with the 34mm connection stem on my Tri-coil Pyramid Perc in my collection thread if you wanna see it stack.
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  4. btw man Illy glass is also German Schott Duran glass, not pyrex. High end producers like Illy, SG, etc. all use Duran.
     
  5. #5 Ragweedultra, Apr 19, 2012
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 19, 2012
    Thanks for the info about the glass. My mistake on that one, wasn't thinking.
    In terms of common, I didn't mean to imply that mine is special or limited, just that they aren't in every shop, and there certainly isn't detailed information about them on the internet. That was why I created this thread.

    Edit: And yes I know they make a heavy hitter model too........ -.-

    And also, the beginning is a bit of sarcasm/draw, not suggesting that no one has seen this before. Just thought I'd clarify.

    AND I'll just add that because the showerhead bulb is gridded in another ash catcher does not always make it better for every user. Grids are very cool, I've owned some great gridded pieces. But I don't think that's what Illadelph was going for here, and I don't think they need grids to perform on par with sovereignty's overuse of aforementioned grids.
     
  6. And you're actually right on that one I do have to correct myself. An actual Illadelph BRAND one is hard to come across, and theyre expensive. You can find cheap imitation one's by brands like weedstar, but theyre terrible by comparison. I had a local blower make one for me without the downstem to fit in any tube. But touche' on one thing, I'll agree on the Illy AC DEFINITELY being one of my fave AC's ever...Possibly THE favorite...its hard to tell when you compare several different godly AC's ha!
     
  7. Word! Just saw your pic, that's beast. But do you use it as a natural perc? Obviously it's not necissary, but it would still be cool and offer an even nicer rip for you.
     
  8. #8 Glass Bastard, Apr 19, 2012
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 19, 2012
    If you pull on that sucker nicely, with a good freeflowing slide, I can get the bubbles in mine to stack all the way to the top of the upstem/chubbler/splash guard and turn it into a natural perc. As you said above, it takes minimal amounts of water. As long as a circ is built well it will stack for days. Disk Diffusers tend to follow the same basic philosophy of when water rises upwards it will continue to pull upwards. If you wanna see a true example of the natural rising flow of water from bubble stacking turned into a natural perc, check out my vids of the SG Pillar perc.
     
  9. This is like a public private message thread between you two.

    Neat A/C.

    /thread
     
  10. Will this work with a full size glycerine coil ?
     
  11. #11 moist haitian, Jun 18, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 18, 2015
    I recently took advantage of the 420 sale at my local headshop and picked up the Inline 10 slit ash catcher, with an illy tube. Wondering if its worth dropping the cash on the Circ ash catcher as well, just to have both. I can't get the wanderlust out of my head about if i would like the circ better. 
     

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  12. This is pretty much what i need help on, which one to go for, inline or circ...im still undecided.
     
  13. Yea Im waiting for 7/10 because my local headships usually have great discounts (Marleys tobacco in south fl) but yea i got the inline for about 220 w/ the discount and if i can scoop the circ for that price its game over. The inline is absolute amazing don't get me wrong, but imagine the power of 2 illadelph ash catchers with 2 illy tubes, a straight and a beaker. Boom! ultimate flower setup.
     

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