Skycycler

I was kind of opening myself up to the idea of getting a treecycler but SG trees are very hard to find and are often upwards of 2k resale. I first saw the V4 function video and it looked pretty special. I checked the website at the price and thought to myself ‘Damn, that’s a good value’ considering what I had been looking at prior. After only a few days, I was pretty sold on getting one, my first but not my last treecycler. I’ve only had her for a week or so now and I’m pretty happy with this one so far, even if I’m still getting acquainted with it since it doesn’t hit like any other piece I’ve used.
When this tube is flooded, nearing top of bottom chamber (water nearly at joint in the downstem), this thing MOVES water, evident as you watch the recycling arm dump back into the return, and stacking fine bubbles in the process. This tube has a distinctly heavy, restricted pull to get the water and percolation going, much more than I have experienced in other tubes (Toro circ-circ, Sovereignty queen and pillar, SoL 45 lace sphere, several mobius tubes) but not in a bad way. The heavy pull largely opens up when the water is moving, very much like a ‘natural perc’ where water is pulled up and through (think inverted 4, imperial, I would even argue stereo matrix—Restriction at initial pull and then becomes much easier when the water is displaced). I think those that want a large, dense cloud formation will enjoy this as the force needed to get the water going will cause this tube can fill much quicker than you might think, not to mention the volume it fits. From how fast smoke traveled through the tube, it was very smooth. There are many different water levels you can play with to adjust the level of restriction, but the trade-off is that you have less percolation (function) from the top 2 percs. ✅
I thought flavor was great, though I don’t consider myself a super great judge for this.
I’m personally a fan of the 38 neck size but I do not snap like most others so I never had to worry about rez lips and other complaints, and the flare for mouthpiece felt comfortable and made for a good seal. ✅
The base is the thickest of any piece I have, probably comparable to Rawlins, and did not have any wiggle to it (several of my other ones do not sit completely flat on stone countertops). ✅
As far as cleaning goes, I can see how this is potentially a little more tricky to clean than others, with multiple chambers but I tend to clean my pieces several times a week and it has been pretty much just as easy as my others. I would probably recommend a dry catcher to go on this piece for two reasons: 1) since the best function seems to be around where I mentioned before, water is pretty much touching the joint where the bowl sits; if you don’t clean often, it might get stuck (from water seals or resin buildup) or back pressure could send water into the bottom of the bowl (potentially). I’m not sure how difficult it would be for ash to clog the fine slits on the circs but it could be something to think about in that regard.
The price is stellar considering other treecycler (triple perc recycler) designs from other blowers on the market (Sov, ashme, new school, Captain Hook, etc) and is a great value in general. This was on the cheaper end of my collection but it is just as clean/attractive, has a triple perc, was new at purchase, has an encased Opal and ghost accents. When looking at the market, a partial single perc Sov would cost the same or more, a seed of life would be slightly cheaper for a single perc clear, equivalent to a macro toro (much smaller tube), equivalent to a 60t from mobius. It sits very competitively in across these when it comes to more well known American artists. If you consider others like 2k, ashme, uzzi, r.k, it might be more expensive than those but not by much, especially the equivalent iterations of a large tube recycler. ✅
Sky as a company has been super nice and responsive when I reached out and their packaging was solid too, that tube was packed tight. ✅

Turnaround for me was about 6 days before it shipped and 3 days for shipping which I felt was pretty dang good considering it was made from scratch after I submitted my order.

I hope this was detailed enough to help get a good idea of this tube and what you’re getting if you’re interested :)

LN