Smoking cannabis has always been associated with hitting fat blunts, taking huge bong tokes or smoking the peace pipe. It's an age old tradition to break down your buds and light them up with various techniques, but as Bob Dylan said "The times are a changing". Now that we are in the age of technology we are consistently looking to make our lives easier, whether it be sending texts from your watch or letting Alexa and Google control everything that goes on in your house, we are always advancing as a society. The technology advancement doesn't stop there, it's also changing how we smoke cannabis for the better. Here enters the era of vaporizers, sleek discreet and the healthiest option for smoking, vaporizers are becoming the biggest thing in cannabis since the one hitter. Sit back and enjoy our guide to vaping weed for beginners. Smoking cannabis via a vaporizer is considered to be the least harmful way to consume cannabis and one of the best ways to vape weed. Smoking cannabis with a vaporizer reduces the harmful substances you get from smoking due to the combustion process, since vaping doesn't combust your weed resulting in no smoke, which means you inhale fewer toxins. Along with the health benefits, most people who switch to vaporizers find it to be smoother, less harsh and more of an enjoyable experience. How clean is it to smoke cannabis with a vaporizer you ask? Well even Health Canada recommends using a vaporizer to smoke cannabis naming the Volcano vaporizer as the only recommended method of cannabis consumption in Canada. Before we jump further into vaping cannabis let's take a look at the history of vaping cannabis and how we've got to where we are today.
The History of Vaping Cannabis
The earliest traces of vaping in our history can be sourced back to Egypt in the 5th century BC. According to The History of Herodotus a Greek historian he cites that the Scythians a group of ancient tribes of nomadic warriors would take hemp seed and put them on to red hot stones, vaporizing the seed and inhaling for therapeutic medicinal purposes. Vaping can be traced back to the early 1930s when a man named Joseph Robinson created the first known modern vaporizer with a butane powered vaporizer. Called the Mechanical Butane Ignition Vaporizer Robinson claimed that it “relates to vaporizing devices for holding medicinal compounds which are electrically heated to produce vapors for inhalation.” Unfortunately for Robinson he never took his idea to market and his newly made invention was put on the back shelf for the next couple decades. Give or take 30 years later Herbert A Gilbert a veteran of the Korean war set out on his plan to create an alternative to smoking cigarettes with no need for combustion. He built various prototypes using a battery powered heat source, using various flavors of water as the steam vaporizer. In turn creating the first electric cigarette, however in the early 60s the idea of a electric vaporizer wasn’t popular and it never took off, but lay the foundation for the vaporizers we use today. Fast forward another 30 years and here enters Storz & Bickel, in 1999 Storz & Bickel released the ever reliable and famous Volcano Vaporizer. The Volcano Vaporizer and its detachable balloon was a revelation for the vaporizer industry and set Storz & Bickel into the spotlight. Their vaporizers are so good they are the only government certified medical vaporizer in North America and to this day produce the highest quality vapes on the market.
How do Vaporizers work?
You're probably asking yourself, how do I use a vape for weed? Vaporizers are quite straightforward, they work by heating up cannabis flower into a vapor. Various vaporizers take a slightly different approach to how they turn your flower into vapor for consumption. Some vaporizers heat up the air below the cannabis flower, the hot air then moves around through the weed, releasing THC and other cannabinoids into vapor, this is known as the convection method. Other types of vaporizes heat cannabis more directly using a heated surface like a chamber of a metal plate, this is known as the conduction method. Once the cannabis touches the heated plate or chamber, cannabinoids from cannabis are released into vapor. Vaporizers that use a hot surface tend to be the cheapest way to vape weed as the vaporizers that use heated air are usually the vaporizers that allow for exact temperature control and can be quite a bit more expensive. Now let's take a look at some vaporizer basics.
Temperature
Now that we've covered how to use a vapor pen for weed, lets talk about temperature and how to vape weed correctly. The temperature your vaporizer heats your cannabis at is vital to getting the most out of your vaporizing experience. Setting the temperature too low means you can lose out on flavor and potency, the main compounds of cannabis require a certain minimum temperature. If your vaporizer is set too low you won't get the full potential from your flower, if it's set too high it can degrade what you get out of your cannabis and may enhance the toxic compounds. Some vaporizers come with custom heat settings that allow you to choose your temperature down to the precise Fahrenheit. The cheaper vaporizers usually offer 2-3 heat settings ranging from low to high, each vaporizer will outline the set temperatures in their instruction manuals.
Here we list the three ideal temperatures that you want your vaporizer to heat your cannabis at for full potency.
315-330 °F
The rule of thumb is the lower the temperature the less intense the high is. When vaporizing cannabis at 315-330 Fahrenheit you will experience a mild euphoria and a subtle relaxation. This temperature is perfect for a day time high while trying to be productive. It is also a great option for those new to smoking vaporizers or cannabis in general.
330-370 °F
The more you increase the temperature on your vaporizer the more you'll get high with more THC being captured in your vapor. This range of temperature is great for those looking to get your classic high, perfect for making you laugh, relax and increase your appetite. This temperature brings out the most of the cannabinoids and terpenes but doesn't fully volatilize the THC which makes it excellent for things such as being active, socializing or just playing video games. Many experts say 365 Fahrenheit is the perfect temperature to vaporize cannabis.
370-430 °F
This is the highest temperatures you want to vaporizer your weed at before it starts to burn, it's also the highest you will get when smoking a vaporizer. When you have your vaporizer set to temperatures above 370 Fahrenheit you are able to tap into cannabis terpenes like linalool which create a calming anxiety relief and cannabinoids like THCV which provide energy. But make sure you don't go any higher then 430 Fahrenheit, or you will be burning your cannabis which will release harmful toxins making vaporizing your cannabis pointless.
Different Forms of Vaporizers
Vaporizers have come fast and furious on to the cannabis scene, with dozens of options and types of cannabis vaporizers hitting the market, providing an endless options. You've probably been smoking the OG way your whole life, rolling up joints or hitting the bong have been your way to get high since you can remember, but now you find yourself here reading this article looking to enter the 21st century of smoking cannabis. With cannabis becoming legal in Canada the vape market has grown rapidly and offers a plethora of contraptions that can meet your smoking needs, but your head is spinning with all the options. Here we'll help narrow down the types of vapes that best suit your smoking needs.
Table Top Vaporizers
Table top vaporizers are large vaporizers that need to be connected to a power source to function. Table Top vapes are the perfect option for the homebodies out there, they are larger in size and dependent on direct power so they are best suited to stay in one place. These vaporizers are unique in style and are different then the majority of vapes you are used to seeing people using in public. First, they contain a decent size hose with a mouthpiece, almost like a hookah, they also can contain a large thin plastic bag that you attach to the top and fills with vapor, you then detach and can smoke the vapor from that bad at your leisure. Table top vapes are great for big sessions with friends or a solo sesh where you want to really medicate yourself, they produce a large amount of vapor induced cannabis and require a good amount of cannabis as well. When you are looking to purchase a table top vaporizer it's safe to say you'll have to spend a couple hundred dollars to get a good quality device. But for what you pay in price you get in quality. Many of the highest quality table top vapes offer precise and adjustable temperature control, which is important when vaping because finding the perfect temperature can get the best out of the different cannabinoids and terpenes, resulting in better medical benefits directly from your cannabis. When you buy cheaper table top vaporizers you run the risk of burning your cannabis which can in-turn alter the flavor of your cannabis, where as higher quality table top vaporizers deliver the vapor that reflects the flowers natural aroma.
Portable Vaporizers
Portable cannabis vaporizers are the most popular and versatile options for vaping your dry herb. The main reason smokers choose to go with portable vaporizers is for the portability option, life can be hectic and always moving so it's easy to see why the portable vaporizers are the go to option for most people. Compared to the table top option, portable flower vaporizers offer less when it comes to temperature accuracy but they do run off battery and can conveniently fit in your pocket. The discreetness is also a major draw towards buying a portable vape, as the use of cannabis becomes more widely accepted, it's still a ways off to being on par with having a beer in public, so having a discreet option is a benefit to many. Many of the lower budget vaporizers heat flower at a fixed temperature which can effect things such as terpenes, with many giving you an option for 3 set temperatures. There are vaporizers that offer you the same full temperature control that you get with a table top vaporizers but are more expensive.
Concentrate Vaporizers
Dry herb vaporizers aren't the only option available for portable vape pens and it can be debated they aren't the most popular. Here enters Concentrate Vaporizer Pens also known as wax pens, dab pens or oil pens. Concentrate pens are portable vaping pens that contain concentrated oil cartridges that are usually sold separately from the actual vape pen device. Concentrate vaporizer pen devices are battery controlled with no temperature gauge options, you simply hold down on a button then the pen device heats up the oil within the cartridges, you then inhale for an instant vapor hit. The biggest difference between the dry herd vapes and the concentrate vape pens is the how much stronger cannabis oil is over cannabis flower. Concentrates like wax and oil are extracted from cannabis flower, eliminating all the negative elements within cannabis flower and extracting the purest elements, providing much higher levels of THC and terpenes. Concentrate vape pens are a great option for the more seasoned smoker due to the much higher levels of THC you get when you smoke concentrates and also offer you a great bang for your buck when it comes to vaporizer options.
Final Thoughts
Now that you've gone through out Beginners Guide To Vaporizing Cannabis we encourage you to go out and try vaping cannabis for yourself. A perfect place to start is with a disposable vaporizer pen, this way there is little commitment or cost if its not for you. Head over to our vape page and try our disposable Gold Leaf Disposable Shatter Vape Pens, they come in multiple flavors and offer a quality high. Haute also sells THC oil vape tip attachments if you already have your own vaporizer pen. Or you can also try our new Kingsmen Crew Vape Pens, these pens pack quite a punch so go slow and enjoy!
