This relatively clean combustion process has many advantages. The lungs suffer less, the aging effect of smoking is reduced, as are the adverse effects on dental health. The usual morning cough disappears, and the lungs can breathe again.
Also, you avoid the negative impact of smoking on your home or your room. Fewer people will complain about the smoke and the process of vaporizing itself is more comfortable to hide. Especially with new small vaporizers like the DaVinci IQ. Those who like to smoke at home will be happy that their apartment doesn’t get the yellowish tint that often makes a home renovation necessary.
What is a Vape capable of?
Once you have decided to buy a Vape, you should ask yourself: Which materials am I going to use? Can I just put tobacco or herbs in my Vape?
The most straightforward answer is that you can vaporize any plant. It may make sense to grind the material with a grinder so that it can be packed as close as possible to the heating chamber of the vaporizer. In order to enhance the aroma of the vapor, it is also possible to position the herbs that are not chopped up in the vapor path.
Apart from the plants, oil vaporizers are also offered. Oils contain the active ingredient in a concentrated form without the other constituents of the herb.
If you don’t like liquids in your vaporizer, you can use the so-called waxes. These are produced using butane gas and contain the active ingredient in high concentrations.
The importance of temperature control
The temperature is important because it depends on the correct temperature whether the active ingredient to be inhaled is vaporized or whether the material starts to burn. Of course, you want to avoid burning the material; otherwise, you can smoke a joint. The THC contained in the marijuana has an evaporating temperature of 157°C which slightly increases in the vaporizer due to the higher pressure in the chamber. This is why most evaporators work with temperatures between 180°C and 200°C, optimized for the evaporation of THC and most other active ingredients. Since not all vaporizers have a temperature control, it is important to see if a vaporizer matches the temperature that you want for your herbs, and especially when using oil or wax, which often have a slightly higher boiling temperature.
Another important aspect is that the active ingredient is consumed in the herb during vaporization. In order to inhale the same amount of active ingredient continuously, you can increase the temperature over time.
Conduction or convection heating?
Two heating mechanisms are used for vaporizers: conduction heating and convection heating. Convection heating separates the heating of the air from the Vape material. The heated air rises from the oven into the chamber with the herb and makes the active ingredient vaporized gently and with low levels of pollutants. Conduction heating poses heating and the active ingredient in the same chamber, in direct contact. In the latter there is a possible danger of partial burning of the herb and few pollutants can be present in the vapor cloud.
As you can see, convection heating seems to be advantageous. However, it has two disadvantages: more space is needed and the price of the vaporizer increases. Nevertheless, a convection vaporizer should be chosen whenever it is possible.
Power for your vaporizer
The energy supply for the vaporizer depends first of all on whether you use a table vaporizer or a portable device. Most larger vaporizers for home use work with power supply through the AC outlet. Portable devices have either an integrated rechargeable battery and must be charged after use or have replaceable batteries. The latter are preferable, as several replaceable batteries make it much more flexible to use and the vaporizer can be used even if the spare batteries are in the charger. Some vaporizers work well also when charged and the low-tech version even allows operation without electricity and heating with a lighter.
Material quality
To obtain a healthy vapor cloud it is important to pay attention to the materials used. In order to avoid absorbing unhealthy components of the vaporizer within cloud, it is important to ensure that materials such as glass, ceramics and pure titanium are used. Titanium and other metal alloys, as well as plastic and aluminum, should be avoided.
Top 5 of portable vaporizers
The choice of vaporizers is extensive. For this reason, we have put together a Top 5 portable vaporizers for an optimal vaping experience:
Pax 3 vaporizer
The Pax 3 gets excellent marks for the material. Only medically safe materials have been used, and they significantly reduce the health risk compared to cheaper vaporizers. Variable temperature, fast warm-up time (15 seconds) and handy control with smartphone application contribute to the positive overall picture. One disadvantage is the conduction oven, which is often used in portable vaporizers due to space constraints.
The Pax 3 is offered for about 240 pounds and we can recommend it as a whole because of good material quality and temperature control that far outweigh the disadvantages of the conduction chamber.