Hey, gdeal. I thought I was doing this just for fun, and 'cause I had the materials lying around. But now I suspect it was intuition. As I think about it; I realize that I solved a puzzle that I didn't consciously know I was working on. I think I'm pretty much "there".
My biggest issue with the stone is that it simply doesn't wick as well as 500 ss. My biggest problem with steel is the flavor. Turns out that a 9/64" stone wick with 2 layers of mesh around it does the trick. I can hold the button down with my
device vertical @ .7Ω for 25 seconds and see nothing but plumes on a fresh build. I can chain vape without tilting. As to the flavor: it turns out that an inch-and-a-half square of mesh imparts virtually no flavor compared to 10.5 square inches of the stuff. The stone has a flavor too (very subtle); it is like talc, very basic, the steel acidic. They neutralize each other. They are both still there (very subtle) but they balance.
All too often, it seems, the solution is not the romantic one; rather the compromise. (Ask my wife.) You guys are doing some VERY COOL S__T over there; my hat is off to you!
Are you doing the DEHW or the EHW? Does that eliminate break-in completely?
Don't even get me started thinkin' like that! 
