This year many of my family and friends have decided to adopt the New Year’s Resolution of quitting smoking for good.
On a whole, we are all better educated on the risks of smoking and understand that inhaling smoke from any materials, whether tobacco or herbs increases the risks of contracting nasty lung diseases such as bronchitis and lung cancer.
Despite being aware of the facts, it can be very difficult to break out of the habit. This year however, I’ve switched to using vaporizers and have enjoyed great success so far!
In the UK, dry herb vaporizers can be bought from stores such as Vape Elevate. The confusing part is finding the right model for you. To help make your choice easier we have highlighted the two biggest factors to consider when choosing a dry herb vaporizer.
What heating technology does your dry herb vaporizer use?
Vaporizers can heat your herbs in a variety of ways and each of these has its pros and disadvantages.
The most popular method is conduction heating. Conduction means to heat by touch and they vaporizer your herbs by bringing their heating element into direct contact with your herbs. This has the advantage of providing vapour almost instantly but on the other hand, it’ll mean the herbs furthest away from the heating element do not get heated as thoroughly. Also, the herbs touching the heating element are at risk of burning – which is something we would like to avoid!
The main alternative to conduction ovens are vaporizers with convection technology. Convection vaporizers work more like traditional ovens in the sense that they heat the air inside the oven. This creates an atmosphere of hot air which inturn, heats the vaping materias. This is the newer vaping tech and is a sought after choice due to it heating far more efficiently than conduction vapes. However, convection vaporizers has their disadvantages too; they can take a while to ‘pre-heat’ and can be quite expensive to buy.
Due to conduction and convection ovens both having disadvantages, some enterprising vaporizer manufacturers have designed ‘hybrid’ heating vaporizer; a great example of this is The Mighty.
Hybrid vaporizers offer both conduction and convection heating in one package – this offers the speed of conduction vapes whilst ensuring that the entire oven is heated effectively for maximum extraction.
What material is my herbal vaporizer’s oven made from?
The material used in your herbal vape’s oven can make a massive contribution to your entire vaping experience and is something you should consider very carefully.
On a whole, I would recommend avoiding any vaporizers with a plastic oven. Plastic can melt and give off toxic fumes when exposed to high temperatures. You will be at risk of inhaling these when you vape. Despite low prices typically making them an attractive option, for your health you should stay away from plastic vapes.
The most popular choice in vaporizers are ovens made of ceramic . Like plastic, ceramic ovens are very low priced. However, ceramic is very durable and will not melt or give off fumes when exposed to hot temperatures. Ceramic also has the advantage of conducting heat very well and generally providing solid vaping experiences. The only disadvantage of ceramic is that the material is ‘porous’. This means that over time ceramic will absorb your herbs and will become discoloured and difficult to clean.
