HANGING OUT ON THE DOCK WITH SOME AWESOME SWAG!
We received some really great accessories for the ANVIL over the past couple of weeks. Being Father’s Day here in Canada I decided to treat myself and check out some of the goodies as I burnt my pasty white body on the dock. We are not compensated by these guys in any way and just ask that you check them out seriously as they are supporting the Anvil Eco-system.
As always Doug at Futo has done an amazing job with this immaculately crafted stash. He was kind enough to have dinner and spend an evening with myself and my daughter when he was here in Toronto. We had a great time. Besides having the receptacle for the ANVIL there is a cool spring-loaded “hidden hot swap” tool that (pleasantly) surprised the crap out of me when it popped up. Great Add! Also there is plenty of room for herb with the expanded thickness of the stash to accommodate the ANVIL and the included funnel loader makes filling the herb chambers convenient, clean and hassle free. All this in a case with perfectly matched joinery and superb finishing. Kudos Doug!
And I’ve got to say that the folks at LABETKOMP have absolutely outdone themselves with these beautiful leather sleeves. The leatherwork is beautifully cut and formed. I have no idea how that’s done and hope to make a visit to see the process someday. My wife wants them to make her a pair of shoes so that’s saying something. The riveted sleeve is a stylish addition that really classes the ANVIL experience up. I like that it comes with a hot swap tool that is well suited for the task. I’m going to take my hot swap tool off the sleeve and put it onto my key-ring. We’ll see what Whiff does with his?? The tool is a great size and strong enough for the job. Just a word of caution to make sure that your ANVIL has cooled down adequately before slipping it back into the sleeve. Because the sleeve is leather I don’t think it should be exposed to a full hot oven. Beautiful piece of leatherwork and I’ll be keen to watch how it ages and develops character over time.
PARETO PRINCIPLE
Since introducing the ANVIL I’ve made a fuss about having a medical device background and wanting to bring that discipline to VESTRATTO. One of the key aspects of any Medical Device company is developing a culture of continuous improvement. One of the tools we will use is the Pareto Chart. This idea was developed by Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto and simply stated for our quality improvement process is -
1) periodically review all our complaint file data
2) sort the issues into common “bins”
3) fix the bin with the highest number of complaints
4) repeat the process on a regular basis.
While we continue to work on form, fit and finish - most conspicuously surrounding any blemishes on the CopperCore or general “ugliness” on the laser weld, we are also deeply concerned with User Experience. The most common customer user issue is adjusting the airflow. I wanted to develop a simpler solution that still offered full range airflow control in front of the herb. The new stem integrates the airflow post and stem replacing the screw driven taper valve with three holes and three slots. The lowest airflow setting for mouth-to-lung hits is when the slot is fully blocked behind the web of the CopperCore (A). Full open is shown in (B) with both the 1mm hole and the slot exposed. Any airflow setting in-between can be easily achieved by exposing the desired amount of the slot (C). The photo on the left is one of the BETA units while the rendering on the right is what we put into production last week. We increased from two to three o-rings for a stiffer grip and switched from the large hole to the slot to allow maximum airflow. The airflow from the three slots fully open is equal to the maximum total flow through the condenser. We will still sell the USERS screw driven airflow valve if requested but believe this is going to be easier and more rigid. This stem is also BACKWARDS retrofittable to all ANVILs in the field.
Cheers
John