Da Vinci Ascent Review....

So over at FC, I won a new (Version 2.0) of the Ascent in a contest.    Should be getting it in a few days and will write a quick review once received.    Stay tuned.......

 

Subbed?

 

 
Ahhh....gotcha.   And yeah, been following the Ascent threads over at FC since the first Ascent was released.     Had many private and on-line conversations with DV over that whole fiasco.   What a clusterfuck that was.

 

True, but it seems that now, they are doing everything in their power to make it right.    No one has been left out to dry as far as I know.
Guess we just got to wait for the reviews or get one ourselves to find out, if in fact, all those issues were addressed.   Those reviews should be showing up within a day or two.  
 
And to Skier,
Thanks.

 

Here is a nice Ascent overview:  http://vaporpedia.com/wiki/Ascent

 

 
Me neither.   Now they just got to send it to me already.
 
How is loading it?   I've heard it can be a hassle.  
 
Also, have you tried loading it a quarter of the way full rather than totally full?  The bowl is really large.

 

As promised.   An Ascent Review:
One important thing to keep in mind is that this review was after only one session comprised of 4 hits. As with any vape, it's going to take multiple sessions to get ones technique down, but here are my first impressions.

The packaging is simply...............stunning. And, btw, the exact same thing can be said for the vape itself. Simply........gorgeous. Btw, the ONLY times that I have ever used the words, "stunning" and "gorgeous" is to describe a very pretty lady that my eyes happen to run across. (Just felt the need to clarify that a bit. )

The attention to detail, in both the packaging and the vape itself exudes quality for a product that could be priced, based just on these two aspects, at double what it currently is. Very, very nice.

And what further cements that high quality is the weight of the product, as well as the close tolerances of the hinges, buttons and glass mouthpieces. It just not only looks great, but feels great as well. On my unit, at least, all previous complaints of shoddy workmanship was nowhere to be seen.

Fired up the unit to max for about 5 minutes for a burn-off. No off-gassing but it did exhibit that "new car" smell for a bit. After a few minutes, that was gone.

Let it totally cool down. Loaded it up with about .05gr of medium ground, well cured bud (I'm a lightweight).  I tamped it down with one of the oil cans, removed the lid of the can, left the can in the bowl as a spacer to make sure that the bud stayed in the bottom of the bowl, shut the Ascent and fired her up to 385F. Took a nice, long slow draw and produced a decent cloud of vapor. Not as voluminous as my LSV but about on par with my old PD. Nice taste, but again, not as tasty as my LSV simply because the vapor production is not the same. Waited a few minutes, turned off the unit and immediately took a second hit (for me, efficiency is high on my priority list so I'm trying to get the most out of a small amount of bud). The second hit was even a bit more voluminous than the first.

Typically, 2 hits is all I need to get me where I want to be, so I put the vape down and went about my business. What I did notice is that it almost felt like a different strain of weed when using the Ascent versus the LSV. I felt the affects a LOT quicker with the Ascent, even though the clouds weren't as dense. Guess I'm getting a different cannabinoid profile due to the temps and how this vape operates. I waited about 15 minutes and decided that I needed another hit which is one more than I normally take to get me where I wanted to be, even though the effects came on quicker. Fired her up again to 385, but while waiting to get to temp, I started doing something else, but I was so fucked up at the time, that I lost track of how long I put it down for (lol)...........could have been idling at 385 for 5 to 10 minutes or so. Kinda lost track of time. Took a 3rd hit.........nice vapor production. Turned off vape. Waited a few minutes but was concerned that I would be wasting some residual vapor in the Ascent after I turned it off so I took another hit not expecting any visible vapor, but there was some. Not a lot......a bit whispy, but still there. Ok, NOW is where I wanted be.

A few hours later, I wanted to see the color of the ABV so I took out the can. What I saw I never experienced with any other vape that I ever had. The ABV was a VERY uniform very dark brown. I'd say about 2 to 3 shades below black. It's a uniform color that I've never seen before. With all my other vapes, I'd get a mix of light golden brown with various shades of darker brown, even after multiple stirrings. There were no stirrings with the Ascent, yet the ABV looked totally used up without any unevenness to the color at all.

What I described above is both a good and a bad thing, depending on what your priorities are. If you grow your own bud, or your just not that concerned with conservation, the Ascent, in my opinion, is just about faultless, and I'd say this even if you didn't require a portable.............it's that good. The bad is, for me, that it took me 3.5 to 4 hits to get me to where I wanted to be rather than the 2 hits that I got from either my PD or my LSV and used twice the amount of bud in the process (that extra idling time before the second hit may have something to do with this). But keep in mind, this was my first session with the Ascent.

Next time, I'm going to try lowering the temp to 350 and see if I can get the ABV to a nice golden brown rather than the chocolate brown that I initially got. May require a few more hits, but my concern is if I can get .05gr to last me two days like it typically does, rather than just one day. If I can, the Ascent is a keeper.

Oh, and one of the HUGE pluses for me is how hassle-free it is to use than any other vape that I've had before. Just load her up, set temp..........and puff. No stirring. No dumping, crumbling and then re-stirring. No bong rituals. No reloading. No battery to insert. No butane to worry about. No AC cord to worry about. Etc etc. It just really appeals to my stoner laziness that sets in. Effortless......to say the least.

Other than the efficiency aspect, which I may be able to increase with technique, I love this vape, even as a home vape. As a portable, I think I would like it possibly even more..........but not for stealth. I got the burl wood and as I said, the damn thing is just so darn pretty that it would draw attention to itself.

REALLY liking this vape, but bud conservation is at the top of my priority list and I got to find a way to make that happen with the Ascent. Don't know if I can though. 100% convection vapes have an advantage here being that the ONLY time that the bud is getting any kind of heat whatsoever, is when you are hitting on it. With the PD as well as the LSV, the only time I insert the wand or the stem full of weed is when I want to draw on it. As soon as I take a hit, I take the stem or the wand out. With the Ascent, due to it's conduction and radiation aspects, there is constant heat being applied to the bud when the unit is heating up, in between hits, and when the unit is cooling down, and even though you may not see vapor during this process, the bud is still being used up. So, simply by the design differences between convection and conduction/radiation, I may not get the efficiency that I am after.

But man, other than that, this is one sweet vape that could easily sell for more than the current asking price.