I have been looking into dry herb vaping as a reusable some what healthy way to consume trees but I have seen some mixed reviews. Some say that vaping is even more potent that combustion while others claim that most dry herb vapes suck and only giant ball vapes can compare to a bong hit. Is it purely subjective or are there ways to figure out what is a worth while rig before buying it?
I know lots of others answered but I’ll try to sum up some notes for you:
Combustion releases a ton of extra stuff including a toxic cocktail of carcinogenics and carbon monoxide which are bad for your body. Some of these chemicals release the instant euphoric feeling followed by sedation. People who try dry vaporizing are expecting the same exact effects, when the reality is that it is cleaner and different.
Different temperatures extract different active compounds from the herb. In general terms a Sativa vapes great at lower temps (300-385F) while Indica and CBD strains work better at higher temps to extract that sedation and pan relief you get from the herb. This means you can essentially “customize” your high to what you want/need at that time. If you have a hybrid for example you could cook out the low temperature sativa side in the morning, then cook the same herb at night to extract the indica side of the herb.
Not all dry vaporizers cook at the same rate. They are essentially miniature ovens. Many people buy cheaper weaker underpowered devices preheat them and suck away like they’re hitting a waterpipe - this drains all heat out of the oven faster than the shitty heater can recover temps. The secret here is to either get a higher powered device, OR learn how to slow your roll and take a gentle sip (filling your lungs over 20 seconds instead of filling them in 3 seconds). This is partially why you hear people say vaporizers suck - because they are not obtaining a full extraction before they think it’s finished (since they’re getting no more vapor it must be fully cooked!).
Unlike smoking where you can “Green out” from smoking too much (due to excessive carbon monoxide poisoning which causes you to start vomiting if you smoke too much too frequently), dry vaporizing does not do this. You can essentially get MORE medicated than possible with combustion because you’re not inhaling all that nasty toxic shit.
Dry vaporizers come in many shapes and sizes. Some cook faster, some produce tastier vapor for flavor-chasing snobs like myself, some produce bigger clouds, others better for social gatherings, or more stealthy, faster extraction, etc. Most of us true ents have multiple devices in our collection depending on our needs at the time.
LPT - you can pair almost any vaporizer with a waterpipe for some epic vaporbonging action. Price does not equate to performance, there are many other vaporizers besides “ball vapes” that can totally get you where you need to be. Hell on vacation when my preferred portable failed (bad battery), I bought a shitty no-name $85 vaporizer at a smoke shop and was able to make it work for my needs until I got back home lol.
If you let me know more about your budget and what you want to do I can probably set you on a better path than a ball vape - I’m personally not a fan of them for novice users for several reasons.
Thanks for the information. I personally have never smoked. I have had edibles of different types and a few disposable vapes. I know they suck but Im gonna get every last drop out before i throw them away. I mostly asked out of curiocity since I had found a youtube channel complaining about dry herb vaping even though it seemed perfect in my more health concerned mind.
Oooo you'd be the perfect candidate to try dry herbal vaporizing. 95% of the time those negative complaints you see are from hard core daily smokers who expect the exact same results… unaware of the fact that dry vaporizing does not yield the exact same results because it is a cleaner way to extract the actual active compounds.
The problem is most stoners confuse the affects of the herb itself… with that of combustion and inhaling carbon monoxide and carcinogenics. For people in that situation, I actually advise a one or two week "t-break" to let the body fully detox so they can fully enjoy the dry herbal vaporizing.
Prefilled concentrate "vapes" are a completely different ballgame. I equate those to eating junk food - because they taste great and produce awesome clouds… but they are never "full spectrum" - the extraction process to produce the concentrate doesn't extract "everything", and temperatures used in some extraction processes can actually cook off some of the lower temperature affects. This is why I personally prefer dry vaporizing. I made the switch 11 years ago and haven't looked back - the only time I combust is socially with friends when they're passing around something smokeable - but even then it's a rare occasion (I just hate the taste/smell/effects when combusting).
Not all dry vaporizers are crated equal. Back about ten years ago, there were many cheap no-name vaporizers which were terrible some vaporized extremely slowly (a session could take 20+ minutes for a full complete extraction) - there were even some like the "Atmos Raw" which was claimed to be a dry herbal vaporizer - in reality it was an ecig vaporizer and it had an attachment which would physically burn the herb until it combusted - it was not an actual "Vaporizer". But I know many people who paid $50+ for the Atmos Raw because it was the cheapest "vaporizer" they could find (and there were groupon deals and such offering them for $25, it was sad)
If you're "vaporizer curious" I would start with something like the Xmax V3 Pro or PlanetOfTheVapes One vaporizer - both are great entry level devices which perform well for the price (they are not the best in the industry, but certainly good beginner vaporizers).
Alternatively, there is another brand of Vaporizers made in America called the "Dynavap Vapcap" - which is pretty much unlike any other dry vaporizer on the market - it mimics more of a single-hitter from the combustion side of cannabis in the way it looks. It's not a "traditional" vaporizer in any sense of the word - but there is a reason why it has developed a cult-like following since it's release eight or nine years ago.
Thank you for the advice. I am even more curious now after finding there are many herbs that can be vaped which seems like a whole rabbit hole to go down and explore.
Personally I stick to the plain old devil's lettuce. Vaporizing pipe tobacco can be enjoyable if it's flavored, but yeah I don't bother trying many other herbs lol.
The fun part is the leftovers - unlike smoking you can re-use your leftovers from the dry vaporizer (I call it ABV - Already Been Vaped, others call it AVB - already vaped bud). It's already cooked so you can eat it straight (some people add it to yogurt, others mix it into smoothies or chocolate milk, some make "firecrackers" with crackers and peanutbutter/jelly for example) - the results tend to be more sedative than usual.
I personally have used a sous-vide to make budder using cooked herb which set up in silicone molds. I then make rice krispy treats using the budder.
Sounds delicious. I have heard that once you start vaping a bowl in a vape, you have to finish it in one siting or rest of the bowl will be wasted/taste horrible. Is this true? I hadn't seen that any where else.
So the answer is "kinda".
As mentioned, different temperatures extract different active compounds from the herb. It also cooks different flavor terpenes which affect how the vapor tastes.
When you load and electronic vaporizer, run a partial session, turn it off and then restart at the same temperature, you will find vapor production seriously diminished, and vapor taste changes to more of a "burnt popcorn" flavor.
You have several options in this regard:
Temperature-step. Some people enjoy a low temp session in the mornings, and then cooking the same load in the evenings for sedation. This works because you're cooking a new set of compounds. The vapor flavor and production still changes, but it's not quite as bad.
Microdose. There are different methods of microdosing with every vaporizer but basically you are cooking only as much as you need for that session and then reloading each time you use the device. This is great if you're a flavor chasing snob like myself lol.
Now there are always exceptions to the rule - butane powered vaporizers don't exactly play by the same set of rules. If you load up a Dynavap Vapcap take a puff and then let it cool down, you won't notice a huge change in performance later when you re-heat the device. But that's also because it's not a flavor-chasing vaporizer, and instead it roasts the herb during the heatup phase which slightly alters the taste anyway - and the heat penetrates to the core of the load much quicker with a butane torch