I don’t know about you but I was pretty damn confused the first time I ever used a portable weed vaporizer. How on Earth could this thin wisp of vapor get me even close to as high as a joint or fat bowl? It took a bit longer than I was used to when smoking, but eventually about thirty minutes later (or approximately twenty hits from the vape), I was quite surprised to feel a surprisingly heavy body high. I was pretty impressed when I learned how much healthier it is compared to smoking, and how it even produces edibles remains of dry herb which you can eat as an edible THC snack. So how does a weed vaporizer do what it does?
Well First, What Does It Do?
Vaporizing weed as opposed to smoking it, or combusting it technically, is literally just heating it to the point of certain cannabinoids and terpenes turning into vapor. This is actually a considerably lower temperature than when smoking. THC first evaporates at around 315 degrees fahrenheit and begins to combust at about 450 degrees. Most vaporizers max out between 400-430 so combustion rarely occur except for in cases of malfunctions. Cheap weed vaporizers from small companies with little to no reputation are generally more likely to suffer from this sort of thing.
Two Heating Methods
Conduction heating and convection heating are the two different ways weed can be vaporized. Conduction was the way to go for a long time because convection couldn’t be implemented so well on such a small scale but technology developed quick and convection quickly became the more common choice. Still, recent models have made a dignified comeback with conduction heating that you can successfully control precisely. Briefly, the difference between conduction and convection heating, is that with conduction there is direct contact with a heated element, whereas convection heats an entire space evenly with a hot airflow. Every year companies are finding more ways to improve the technology and make devices smaller, but you could definitely say they’re getting quite high tech very fast. Some of the best weed vaporizer brands have created some really unique and easy to use devices with awesome features like touch technology and precise temperature control.