I've tried a few vapes over the years...
It happens to many of us - and in too many cases awhile after making some expensive purchase decision (based on cost or even "reputation"...), which actually distracts from this basic principle: function defines shape.
So what was the function initially?
Well, for those making the transition between combustion smoke and vaporism i'd say it's about
substitution, and a health-wise one if possible!
Consequently another question emerges: what's a typical ex-smoker depending on exactly? Then which type of ritual is associated to it??
Here's a hint on the perspective i developped trying to redefine my own preferences.
...what i called the "
Micro-Bursting" consumption method & ritual, better explained with an analogy:
It's about avoidance of
cumulative side-effects from "
BAKING", which i also refer to as "
COOKING" interchangeably.
As a smoker i remember there were essentially 2 phases. At first i caused my cigarette's tip to turn red-hot until sufficient energy build-up was acquired, which is about the « Pre-Heat » phase (
#1); after that i was ready for a « Release » of the noble molecules combined to convective « Transport » (
#2), because of the intensely hot airflow. Of course while smoking we experience some blurred transition during such sequence, while as a vaporist we get an opportunity to optimize that process and render our consumption method much more beneficial by avoiding the "baking" effect, depending on a device's design...
Ultimately the whole task revolves around this microscopic feature of cannabis:
One major difficulty i've experienced using my old 300+ $Cdn HerbalAire (v2.1 in 2010) was it's slow/steady dry ovenizer concept, which felt even worse when i gave Arizer's V-Tower a 3 weeks try. Lucky me, multiple «
FogBong! » experiments made it obvious that i needed portable self-moisturization, so i abandoned the HA table unit 25 months later while i had started to customize VaporGenie's pipe. This long involving process lasted until my next iteration no longer seemed to improve the level of satisfaction significantly.
YMMV!
These days i can only wish i could go through yet another years-long quest progressing toward Induction Heat. I got a new IH cooker this Christmass in case a few intuitions could verify, but quite frankly i believe i've done my fair share as an ordinary consumer. Most people now want battery-based solutions in a pen/cigar format anyway, e.g. putting shape before function exactly - which i find counter-productive.
Nonetheless all we need to know becomes evident under a microscope. It's about exploiting basic laws of dame Nature to selectively vaporize trichome glands and leave the rest behind, ideally. A story about time, mass, specific heat capacity and energy with its tiny contact surface in mind:
Just look at it! Those trichome glands practically float above a massive vegetal substrate waiting to get discriminately selected. Which reminds me of this cruel game, if one is an arachnoïd lover: to heat-shave the hairy spider... The goal is this, torch it without killing it; and the trick is to keep the flame moving while taking advantage of the insect's exo-skeleton: when done right its hairs glow briefly but it has some chances of survival.
In conclusion, transpose this crude game to trichome glands to identify the ultimate objective of a vaporist: to release/transport the goodies
only.
Slow/steady dry overnizers don't accomplish that. Those devices bake everything to provide and impression of abundance, generating monster clouds, etc. The new trend of micro-dosing concentrates is no less deceiving as this leads into dosing abuse and the tolerance spiral associated to it. In short, hardly health-wise at all, without elements of self-awareness combined to neuro-plasticity. Etc., etc.
Good day, have fun!!
