The ubie is how I was introduced to vaporizing. I'm surprised it is not what scared me away from it as well! Like you, I noticed they broke easily. In my case they just cracked from the heat (it seemed). It was also very easy to accidentally burn some of the weed, because the holes allowed direct heat to touch the herb and the herb at the end next to the holes got 100x hotter then the herb at the other end of the tube. Because of weed burning towards the end, and because of how tiny the thing is, it was very difficult to get the weed out. And you have to get weed in and out frequently, if you want to smoke more then a "pinky finger nail" size pinch, because it is so small.

I now lightbulb vape. I couldn't be happier. The glass is thin, which makes for fast heat transfer, but it is very heat resistant... I haven't seen a single one break. I can put in up to a joint's worth of weed at a time. Putting the weed and getting it out is as easy as tipping the end of the bulb toward the counter top. The shape of the bulb ensures the weed forms in a nice neat, fairly thin pile in the side of the bulb. The heat applies evenly to all the weed in the bottom of the pile, and between moving the flame around and shaking the bulb every few seconds, it is very easy to make sure you never burn the herb. I can hit a lightbulb vape many, many times in a row without having to change out weed or burn any. I wish I had known about this method for all those years I smoked. I no longer cough at all.

I imagine the electric vaporizers would put this method to shame, but I can't think of a more effective way to vaporize portably with a direct flame.