OK, I’ve Got My Dry Herb Vaporizer, Now What?

Before firing up my vape, I find it a good policy to go through the box that your vape came in to see what goodies they have included. These bits and bobs can make your vaping life easier!

Next, read the instructions to see what is required to prepare your vape for use. While usually cleaned before shipment from the factory, there still can be residual oils that you definitely don’t want to be inhaling. A good rule of thumb is to run the vape through 3 operating cycles (for the vapes with automatic shutoffs).

You will also want to ensure that your vaporizer is fully charged prior to use.

Now you need to grind up your chosen herb. Most vapes operate well with the medium ground herb as it comes from your grinder. Some vapes are more demanding; hopefully, if this is the case, your user guide will explain what grind is needed. You can find more specific information on all things grinder-related in our blog “Everything You Wanted to Know About Grinders and Grinding * But Were Afraid to Ask”.

You now remove the cap/cover to the chamber and load the ground herb into your vape. This can be tricky depending on the type of vaporizer. For instance, the lovely Utillian Vapes that we stock have bevelled sides on the oven chambers that make loading much easier. My Zeus Smite, however, has straight side that take a little more patience. Whatever vape you have, I suggest using something like our “Mini-Measuring Spoons” to make this process simpler and to allow you to tell how much herb you are loading. Since getting the best use and value from your vape involves some trial and error, using a known amount of herb each time will allow you to fine tune your experience.

Effective vaping is all about air flow and contact between the heat and the herb. You need to have enough air flow to get a decent draw but not so much as to have the herb fly up and clog off the mouthpiece.

It is important not to overfill the chamber or pack it too tight – remember, air still has to pass through there! A medium pack is usually best, but this is where the conduction vs. convection heating method matters. Conduction vaporizers can handle (and actually benefit from) a tighter pack, while convection vaporizers often benefit from a looser pack. You can experiment with different density packs to see which perform best with your equipment.

Once you have your vape packed, replace the lid/cover and close the chamber.

Time to fire up the vape! Your vaporizer likely uses the standard 5 clicks of the start button to start warming. Some vapes use different protocols for starting…this is where reading the instructions pay off! I find that sometimes I need to do this more than once if I’ve missed a click or messed up otherwise. Not to worry…you can try as many times as you want without hurting anything.

Herb vaporizers can take anywhere from <10 seconds to over a minute to heat up. It’s important to let the vaporizer heat up fully prior to taking a hit. Many vaporizers have adjustable temperature settings – you will need to experiment to see which temperature produces the effects you prefer.

Now for the fun part! Start puffing on the vaporizer. You might want to go slowly at first to avoid coughing. A slow and steady inhale should serve you well. I sometimes will ‘sip’ a little air around the mouthpiece as I inhale to ‘thin out’ the puff.

When I first started vaping, I was concerned that it didn’t look like there was any visible vapour when I exhaled. But, at the same time, I noticed this wonderful herbal flavour in my mouth (caused by the ‘terpenes’ contained in the cannabis…wonderful chemicals that you can read about in the blog “What the Hell are Terpenes!”). AND, I started to feel the buzz starting. In general, the first few hits on the vape are most flavoursome but thin; later hits are more powerful with a thicker vapour. If you taste something often described as toasted popcorn, you have pretty much gotten the best of your herb and it is time to either stop and enjoy or load that baby up again!

Take your time and keep an eye on your buzz: many strains of cannabis are ‘creepers’ with the full effects taking minutes to come on. New users and light weights like myself don’t necessarily enjoy getting too high…you are meant to be enjoying this experience and feeling out of control is not part of that. If you do soar a bit higher than you are comfortable with, know that this is just temporary and, like a glider in the sky, enjoy the ride back down. I discuss this topic in more detail in the blog: “How Do I Get Down from Here”.

Once your session is over, it is a great idea to clean out your vape. Keeping your equipment clean will ensure that your vape operates like it should and to provide you with a premium experience your next time out. It sucks to be looking forward to some nice medicating only to realize that your vape is still full of the skanky old material from last time! Plus, the material that you leave in your vape can often have a distinct (and strong) odour. This can attract unwelcome attention. I store my ganja and gear in odour proof storage like the Stink Sacks offered on this site to not annoy my non-vaping family members.

Lastly, don’t throw away the residual left in your vape after your session. Vaping (as opposed to smoking and combustion) allows you to re-use the already vaped material to create delightful, but not highly intense by-products such as edibles, (cannabutter, cannabis chocolate or brownies, for example) and topicals (creams, salve and oils) for a healthy skin.

You will get better results from herb that has been vaped at lower temperatures (175°C to 190°C) since, logically, the resid will contain more of the active cannabinoids such as CBD and THC for you to repurpose.

Hope this chat has given you a few hints to help you enjoy your vaporizer to the max. Part of the fun for me is trying different settings, grinds, loads, etc., to achieve the perfect vaping session.

Please check out some of our other blogs where we try to share knowledge regarding this wonderful method of using that magical herb known as cannabis.

Happy vaping, my friend!

U.P.