[*StarleensStudio*]

Which to buy? I cannot help there as I am a junkie that torches 40-50 hours per week and use the mini for all my encased florals and zanfirico beads, the little dragon for my encased geometrics and cosmic beads, hellcat for italian cane pulls/murrine/marbles/boro. Mini CC for all veiled cane and satake work.

The hellcat is not a small bump up from the Mini CC, it is perfect for the person that is not quite ready for the CC. Perfect step up. The mini cc centerfire on the hellcat is definitely more slender in my opinion. Not your imagination Virginia. CLEAN BURN, no carbon buildup. To me burns slightly hotter than the bullet, but there is just something about the Bullet's flame quality that I love and tolerate knocking off a little carbon. Less pressure on the knight torch than manuf recommends seems to decrease this issue. No quality hands on time with a cuda to offer any input.


mini cc to little dragon flame description in my humble opinion... yes company dirt is pretty accurate, but I strongly feel that the flames are very different. I love and use both heavily.

mini cc is all about that radiant ambient heat. It's biggest asset is that it is capable of a bushy flame right on the edge of reducing that just massages the glass into shape. Beautiful uniform heat saturation with the correct flame setting and length. I utilize 10 areas of this torches flame for different purposes. PERFECT TOOL for working fussy veiled cane or tender satake. It is just a better tool for this kind of glass task and the little D would destroy this premium material fast. You cannot get as nice of a bushy quality on the little D and the mini I feel is capable of a slightly more robust flame. BUT the little dragon has some unique advantages and is used heavily every week.

If a minor burner and a mini cc conceived, it's offspring would be the little dragon. Flame comparison on these two torches are pretty different to me. One big difference is the little dragon has carbon buildup due to incomplete combustion of fuel yet the mini cc is a clean carbon free burn. Little dragon is more of a slender (width) and slightly more driven flame. This can be an asset. For example, some of my techniques require that I superheat the surface while leaving the core solid. this torch is a better tool for that task. With that said, I lose 2 out of my 10 flame working areas, but love that it is easier to superheat the surface of stiff glass quickly while leaving the core of my work cool. So, yes you can do that on a mini cc, but you need to be more conscious of the flame setting as the mini encourages a quicker uniform saturation of heat. I have noticed that when students have trouble on the mini cc, this torch saves the day for them. New beadmakers sit at both and they all can see the difference. In summary less versatility, but a tight little torch that I need to execute specific designs.

Little D cooler? I would like to interject a thought here. If a torch user is hooked up to a oxy generator instead of bottled oxy, the pressure may not be the same and the flame can seem cooler because it is weaker. If you have a garden hose and do not turn the pressure on full force you can still water the garden, just not as fast. One person may be using an OSGI-15 instead of bottled oxy. Big difference in flame quailty due to pressure put out. Variables like this or how much oxy in relation to propane in your flame will change the amount of heat or speed of heat saturation the glass receives. Combine this with the fact that some use a little pea shooter sized flame instead of a nice sized flame. The possibility of operator error on top of not seeing how someone is working at the torch just adds to the confusion.

I hope my feedback helps others to decide, or not and just buy them all like me.

~ Starleen