HUMONGO Lava Lamp returned to clear from cloudy after storage.

[The Lamp Caretaker]

Several years ago I purchased a Hyper Rare HUMONGO 4' lava lamp that at first glance was yellow dingy cloudy and even more so getting it home from Las Vegas.  Over the years the liquid cleared up a bit but not as clear as if the lamp were new. I figured the lamp was once red with yellow liquid thus the yellowish tinge to the somewhat cloudy liquid. When the lamp ran it appeared to be gold liquid with red wax and looked vintage fine.  If you had no real clue about lava lamps you could not tell the liquid was a little cloudy unless the lamp was turned off.  I placed it in a closet last January 2020 so I could use the space the lamp occupied in the great room during the summer months. I don't like to run the HUMONGO lamp during the warmer months because a 200W light bulb makes the room too hot when the lamps in full flow mode which takes almost a full day to get going.  I actually forgot about the lamp sitting in the closet until today while deciding what to do furniture placement wise now that the Christmas tree was taken away several weeks ago.  I thought what the heck I'll place my lava lamp in the corner of the room for the time being until I can decide what to do about interior design for 2021.  I opened the closet door and there sat my HUMONGO lamp looking as lonely as ever.  I turned on the light to get a better look at the lamp  and the liquid inside was almost CRYSTAL CLEAR...WAS THIS FOR REAL?  WTHeck!  I'm thrilled beyond words.  The lamps globes liquid looks almost NEW.  Yes- NEW.  I've seen this before with older LavaLite lamps I placed in the basement for several years but had no idea it would work with my HUMONGO.  My guess is that when not in use for such a long period of time it really allows for any micro particles embedded in the liquid to finally settle into the wax. Something only a long period of time can fully allow. UNBELEIVABLE!!! The liquid still has a slight gold color to it but it's clear. I have no idea what was used in the older lamps liquid but I can attest it's far superior than the liquid currently in use.  Newer lamps once they get cloudy as all hell never clear no matter how long the lamp sits idle yet the older lamps if left alone for long periods of time seem to get clearer as in crystal clear or close.  Not all but most.  Has anyone else experienced this phenomenon with older original LavaLite lamps?  If so please share.  Now it's time to wait for the lamp to flow so I can finally view it as it was meant to look in the first place. What a great start to 2021.  

[Cody Rankins]

Pictures of it running or I just will not believe you....haha.  I just really would like to see a Humongo running and congrats that is great news.

[Susan]

Please post some pictures when you've got the lamp running, I've never heard of your type of lamp, I'd love to see what it looks like. 

[The Lamp Caretaker]

I will try and take photos later since today is all about the football playoffs. There are photos of other similar lamps posted here if I'm not mistaken. The lamps running smoothly as it should and is spectacular unlike any other lamp in the world. The 4' Colossus and or Humongo have the best flow ever in my opinion.  Imagine multiple 3'' - 7'' wide and 28'' long lava columns rising and falling along with multiple giant softball size and smaller wax globs oozing in harmony non stop for days at a time flawlessly.  I turn my lamp off every three days even though it can go much longer and if placed on a dimmer I'm guessing forever.  The biggest issue with these lamps is in finding 200W light bulbs.  They are as hyper rare as the lamps themselves and if you can find one expect to pay around 30.00 and up.   Not cheap for a lamp that is no longer being made.  I had to order from a local lighting store 4 or so years ago after spending way too much time online trying to buy a few.  It took several weeks for them to arrive because they were in a warehouse in Chicago stored in the basement.  I ordered 4 just in case the current bulb burnt out on me as they sometimes do with the smaller lamps.  To date the bulb the lamp came with is still doing fine. I'm guessing the 200W bulbs don't burn out that often since the people who sold me the  lava lamp said the lamp in the HUMONGO was still the original lightbulb that came with it when they first purchased back in the 90's.  

[Aaron Rodgers]

I've had them sit and settle out over time, but it usually send that when you run them again, they tend to cloud up again, but that's for ones that are significantly cloudy. 

I just grabbed a humongo myself, is yours the wide neck, or the GL cap? I'm trying to get more info on this. The more pictures the better. It seems to me that the humongos were REALLY hand made. The flange around the bottom isn't perfect on mine, the scuff pass on the bottom only covers the center, not the whole diameter. All indicative of a very short run. Glad to know another humongo is still alive and well. I wonder how many of the 40 are left?

[The Lamp Caretaker]

  I honestly don't think my HUMONGO was meant to be clear as in the color combo.  It has this vintage gold liquid and the wax is red and it reminds me of my older 60's or early 70's lava lamps. When lit it looks perfectly fine and boy does it have a serious flow.  From what I've gathered these were 5997.00 when they retailed back in the 90's and yes a very limited run meant for store display mostly or commercial uses.  Not a lot of folks could afford the price tag.  The HUMONGO lamp has a globe that was German made and imported to the USA.   Mine came from the Hard Rock Cafe in Las Vegas from what the owners told me when I purchased the lamp back in 2014.  The globes for HUMONGO have the wide neck. At first I thought I was purchasing a colossus when it appeared on Ebay briefly because as soon as the couple listed I left my office at 3PM and drove straight to Vegas cash in hand. I left so fast I forgot my credit cards at home which was crazy because no hotel would rent to me as if cash was a bad thing...serious.  I offered each hotel 500 in cash aside from room rental for the night 7 hours since I arrived very late at night and finally managed to get a hotel who's manager was all to happy to accept my offer and was actually upset others refused my business.  Said CASH was better than credit and was appalled AMERICAN CASH was not accepted buy other shitty hotels - none had room service or mini bars.  It also helped that there so happened to be a couple of businessmen in the lobby waiting for a taxi to take them to the airport and they recognized me upon entering hotel which might of helped. All in all I managed to get a room.  The next day thinking I was going to be able to pick up the lamp and head back home.  NOT!  The couple who owned the lamp finally answered their phone and said I would need to wait until after 1PM to pick up since they worked in a casino and needed to sleep in... WHA WHA?  I just wanted to pick up and come right back home not spend the day in Vegas.  Not my thing.  When I arrived at the couples home the man took the globe off the base and the first thin I saw was HUMONGO.  What a total surprise and treat.  Turned out I got the HOLY GRAIL of any lava lamp ever created- YES - EVER.  It was so heavy it left a little dent in my sports cars front leather seat. Serious. The owner was nice enough to place it on a dolly and load it in my car.  Also gave me these super cool gloves that have some sort of coating on them that sticks to the globe when lifting and makes moving the globe around super easy. Especially when lifting the heavy globe.  I was unaware only 40 or so of these were ever made and doubt many are still around making them even more rarer than ever before.  I consider the HUMONGO the TIFFANY of all Lava lamps.  I don't post the lamp here because photos are worth big bucks these days and planning to use the pictures of the lamp on my own monetized website/channel here soon.  When I do I'll let OG members know when/where I posted.  You should post photos of your lamps base verifying it's HUMONGO like I did and photos of your lamp.  

Aaron Rodgers said:

I've had them sit and settle out over time, but it usually send that when you run them again, they tend to cloud up again, but that's for ones that are significantly cloudy. 

I just grabbed a humongo myself, is yours the wide neck, or the GL cap? I'm trying to get more info on this. The more pictures the better. It seems to me that the humongos were REALLY hand made. The flange around the bottom isn't perfect on mine, the scuff pass on the bottom only covers the center, not the whole diameter. All indicative of a very short run. Glad to know another humongo is still alive and well. I wonder how many of the 40 are left?

[Aaron Rodgers]

So from what I've read, the way to tell if its a usa filled colossus/humongo, is the cap. Mine has the gl45 screw cap like Crunchy Canadian's does. I also have the receipt for mine so though it has an uncommon cap, I know it's a true humongo. Came from a club in Clearwater FL.

Hand filled globes in Chicago could also have the wide neck and it seems most do. The top cap would be sealed like a modern grande, have a paper tag with a hand written code. The colossus paper tag would be printed. Globe thickness, done subtle base differences... What Im trying to do is find the differences between a KNOWN humongo, a USA filled colossus, and the China colossus. Pictures would help caretaker the thread has 119 views, who out there is lurking? Even if there's some bad quality or something, anything would help so this community could get facts straight