I didnt want to invest $ 500 bucks into a vaporizer so I did a little surfing around and decided on the Eazy Vape.
Now, the Mrs and I have been tokin traditional for over 30 years now, and I knew there would be a learning curve here getting used to the thing.
So, in a few days it arrives and we are anxious to try it out. The idea of a "cleaner" way of ingestion was very appealing to me.
The problem became evident almost right away and its something I never expected....We're both choking to death on the damned thing.
Now, I know theres going to be some experimenting with the temperature to find the right spots but I started at 360 degrees and found that was too hot as most of the "payload" burned black. So, I turn it way back to 275 and that seemed to work much better but the vapor...man, we both coughed up a lung trying to hit this bastard.
A little history..... We have never been the type to smoke from bongs, pipes, pop cans or whatever for this same reason, especially the Mrs. We've always found it all to be too harsh no matter if it was made of wood, steel, or glass so we are and always have been Zig-Zag rollers exclusively. For us, that has always been what delivered the best hit.
We've only had it for 2 days so we have more experimenting to do. I really wanted this method to work.
Any ideas in the meantime ?
Cob
All vaporizers have a learning curve some steeper than others, and conduction are a little bit harder than convection to get right. If your herbs are changing color within a few seconds or is turning black it's way to hot and combustion is most likely occouring. I also find combusting material in a vaporizer is much more harsh than just smoking a joint.
I'm in the same boat as you, Cob. The Mrs and I have been 'traditional' joint smokers for the best part of twenty years, but we're both keen to move away from combustion for health reasons. I've never enjoyed pipes, bongs, lungs, etc, but being a former cigarette smoker, I can't seem to move away from joints.
I had a Magic Flight Launch Box which, after about a week of constant use, I decided was garbage. The small sips of vapor I drew from the MFLB were a constant irritation on my throat, and made the whole vaping experience pretty shitty.
I've yet to try any other vaporizer, but I've watched and read countless reviews on all kinds of desktop and portable vapes. Most seem to suggest using a water tool to help filter the vapor and reduce irritation to the throat. The Volcano has been around for a decade, and has great pedigree. I've had my eye on a MiniVap portable, but it costs about as much as a Volcano. Seems expensive for something I might not enjoy using.
The Pinnacle Pro and The Arizer Solo have water tool adapters as extra and are significantly cheaper than the Volcano/Minivap, so I might bite the bullet and pick one of them up sometime.
Keep us posted on your vaping endeavors. I'm genuinely interested in following the process of a habitual joint smoker moving from joints to vaping.
Ouch, sorry I have to disagree with you and implore you not to give up on you MFLB. I have owned a MFLB for over five years now and after having the same attitude as yours I gave up on it returned to my Volcano and then purchased a VapirRise desktop unit (which is awesome and can out perform my volcano).
Through circumstance I was required to return to using the more portable MFLB after about 7 or so years with my Volcano and hated it and was inches away from buying yet another vaporizer (most likely the PAX or DaVinci) but I gave the MFLB one last chance, and that was all it needed. I have been using the MFLB exclusively (even at home with 2 desktop units Volcano and VaperRise) for the last two and a half years, I have since gifted my Volcano to a patient in need and my VapirRise only comes out when friends arrive (the 4 person whip attachment is awesome).
The MFLB does have quite a steep learning curve, you need to get the herbs grinded just right and to maintain the temperature requires some practice but once you get your settings dialed in I feel that the box can outperform any vaporizer, I can only rate the MFLB against other vaporizers I have owned (MFLB, VapirRise, volcano, cheap globe vaporizer) and here's why I feel the MFLB wins:
1. MFLB is super portable
- No real discussion needed on this one
2. MFLB reaches vaping temperature in 3 - 5 seconds
- VapirRise - 30 seconds
- Volcano - 3 minutes
- Cheap Globe - it bypasses vaping temperature really quickly and is uncontrollable.
3. MFLB uses little to no herbs, it's quite amazing how efficient this box is, 0.05 - 0.2 is all that's needed for a session
- VapirRise - 0.1 - 1.0g capacity
- Volcano - 0.1 - 0.5 capacity
- Cheap Globe - 0.1 - 0.5g capacity
About a year ago as I transitioned exclusively to the MFLB I also purchased higher rated batteries (stock 2000 NiMH, upgraded 2700 NiMH) and they turn the flight box into a much easier to use machine, but then I purchased the plug-in adapter and found out the truth, this MFLB is a killer and can out perform any vaporizer, as I said earlier I go to the MFLB even at home because it provides smooth, rich, thick vapor hits within seconds, by the time the VapirRise / Volcano heats up to temps I'm already high of the 3 hits from taken from the MFLB.
In my experience with vapes, the cheap ones aren't worth jack shit, and are a waste of money. I've had a chance to try many vapes over the years, from a number of the different leading companies. I'd steer clear of the majority of them...absolute shiite.
If one wants to get serious about vapeing, they need to first acquire a proper vape. I wasted hundreds of dollars on crap before settling on a Volcano, and I've used it almost exclusively for nearly 5 years. It is expensive, but it is the gold standard, and you'll never need another vape. The bag system is great, every piece goes together like a puzzle...great german engineering. Love my V.
I have a buddy that works for Arizer company, so I've been able to try their vapes too, and I would say they are good quality, more economical vapes. I ended up buying a Solo from him after trying it out...for a portable device, its great! Its a slightly harder draw than a bag vape, due to its design, but it provided me a smoother hit than even my volcano's bag.
If money was an issue, but I was really into a bag style vape, I'd look at the Arizer Extreme-Q. Its a bag style, does a good job, is a quality device too...(at a way lower price point to the Volcano). I know some folk that prefer it to the Volcano due to some small items, like a remote and auto-shut off (compared to the manual Volcano I have that has no extras).
There are some newer devices on the market that look promising too, but I have yet to try them...my Volcano is my daily go-to device, and its hard to think of something else, for me. On the road, my Solo is my first choice.
Just my 2c worth.
I loved my volcano for many years but just missed the whip functionality, since buying a MFLB and VapiRise I must say the volcano is no longer the gold standard for performance and efficiency.
Unfortunately in earlier years most vaporizers were truly shit compared to the volcano but these days there are definitely cheaper models that can easily perform as well or better than the volcano and which also give you multiples ways to vape .
I'm glad I found this thread. Same boat you guys are in and I've been thinking seriously about investing in a vaporizer. Been smoking camel non-filters and weed for about 45 years, the occasional cigar, etc. Cigarettes and joints are as easy as it gets as far as delivery systems go. They also (IMO) take the highest toll on the user.
Tried a vape rig for e-cigs about a year ago, I guess I picked the wrong juice because it just couldn't keep up with the camels. So, now it sits in a drawer. A juice shop just opened not too far away so I may resurrect it now that I can get things locally. But, here's the thing:
Camel + match = done. The e-cig takes more effort; battery; cart, juice, etc.
I guess I need to be honest with myself and decide if I would really use it after a few times. If it's very much 'harder' than joint + match, I'm not sure I would. Honestly.
It would have to be super easy, super reliable, and such an improvement over traditional methods that I would be motivated to use it.
The quandary is the cheap shit can't deliver a true experience and the good ones are an expensive gamble. Too bad you can't rent one.
Actually you can, there are many places that will rent vaporizers (usually volcano's). check your local area listings.
Vape bags blow imo. Very harsh hits. I'm committed to my vape pen and I yell it from every mountain top.
That's strange because bags are usually the easiest method for consuming vapor with less harshness, the vapor actually get's to cool, and pens seem to be on the harsher scale for me.
regards,
