Hash (or hashish) is the oldest cannabis concentrate out there, with a history stretching back a thousand years. Traditionally, to consume hash, you would smoke it, or ingest it. But what about vaping hash?
Like most concentrates, you can totally vaporize hash. In fact, it's better than smoking hash. You'll get more effects from the same amount of hash, without the negative health effects of smoke.
There are a few things to keep in mind if you're going to vape hash. Not all vaporizers are able to vape concentrates, so you need to make sure you have the right kind of vape first.
You need to vape hash at higher temperatures than vaporizing cannabis flower. There are concentrate vapes designed for vaping hash and other extracts, but most can’t vape dry herb. And most dry herb vaporizers can hit a high enough temperature, but aren’t made for use with concentrates.
The main problem with vaping hash in a dry herb vape is cleaning the vaporizer afterwards. Hash turns into a sticky liquid substance when vaporized, and it's tough to get a dry herb chamber clean.
You also don’t want any liquids coming into contact with delicate vape parts, which can happen if the melted hash spills out of the chamber.
In this article, we'll help you figure out your best options with your vape, and tell you everything you need to know about vaping hash. We'll also look at the best concentrate vapes for hash.
Hashish is a lot denser than regular cannabis flower. It's also stronger in terms of cannabinoids like THC, usually around 40-60% THC. The look and feel of hash depends on how it was produced, and how much plant material is still left in it.
Usually hash is a solid block, but it can also be soft or brittle to the touch. Hash is usually brown (light or dark brown), but it can sometimes be other colors.
How to vaporize hash correctly will depend on what kind of vape you have. If you have a device designed for concentrates, you can just break off a piece of hash and put it directly into the chamber.
Use a temperature of 200ºC (390ºC) or slightly higher, otherwise you won’t get the full effects of the hash. After a couple of sessions, you'll discover which settings work best with your particular vaporizer.
Break the hash up as much as you can to create more surface area to make it easier to heat it all and get the strongest effects. Spread the hash evenly throughout the bowl, and don’t overfill the chamber.
If you’ve got a dry herb vape, you need to think twice before vaping hash in it. After vaping hash, it becomes a liquid, and can gum up important parts in your vaporizer. So be careful when vaping hash in a vaporizer that isn't made for it.
With most dry herb vapes, you can sandwich the hash in the middle of a bowl ground cannabis flower. This will keep mess to a minimum while still letting you vape hash. It’s mixed with weed and isn't a pure hash hit, but you'll still enjoy a nice vapor combination.
That said, the sandwich method isn't great for getting maximum effects out of both your herb and your hash. Airflow will be blocked, and not all parts of your herb and hash will be properly heated. So you end up wasting some of your supply.
Some dry herb vaporizers have accessories available that allow them to vaporize hash and other concentrates. These usually take the form of a liquid pad that you insert inside the herb chamber. Then you can safely vape hashish without the risk of gumming up your device.
In theory, this lets you enjoy the best of both worlds. You get to enjoy dry herb sessions on the regular, and switch to consuming hash or other cannabis concentrates whenever you want.
In practice, the inserts aren't ideal. You have to be careful handling them because they get hot. Loading and cleaning them is a challenge, especially if you're on the go. Concentrate inserts are handy in a pinch, but if you use them regularly, it’s just frustrating.
Also, most dry herb vapes don't come with inserts or liquid pads included. They're usually only available as a separate accessory, or as part of deluxe kit options.
The Furna vape has a new solution: multiple ovens. Furna has specialized ovens for both dry herb and concentrates, and you can switch instantly between the two.
You can pre-pack ovens in advance, and easily keep track of which is which using the multicolored mouthpieces. The vaporizer also displays a custom symbol when you load in each oven.
In addition to dry herb and concentrate, Furna also has 510 oil ovens that let you screw in a 510 oil cartridge. So you get all the options in a single vaporizer, and can take portable vaping to the next level. Check out the Furna vape and see what you think for yourself.]]>
The question FURNA gets a lot is “what is the best temperature to vape my cannabis?” There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question as the ideal temperature for vaping cannabis will depend on the strain, the device, and the individual user.
Indica plants are shorter, bushier, and tend to produce higher concentrations of CBD and lower concentrations of THC. Sativa plants are taller, thinner, and tend to produce higher concentrations of THC and lower concentrations of CBD. Indica is typically associated with a more relaxed, sedative-like effect, while sativa is often associated with a more uplifting, energizing effect. Indica strains typically contain higher amounts of CBD and lower levels of THC than sativa strains. This means that they tend to produce a more calming and relaxed effect.
Generally speaking, temperatures between 180°C and 210°C (356°F - 410°F) are recommended as a good starting point. However, some people may prefer to vape at a lower temperature to produce smoother vapor and more gentle effects, while others may find that a higher temperature produces thicker vapor and more potent effects. Ultimately, the best temperature to vape cannabis is the one that provides you with the experience you desire.
No, the vape cloud is not everything with vaping cannabis. There are other factors, such as the temperature at which the cannabis is vaped, the strain of cannabis being vaped, and the device used to vape the cannabis, that all contribute to the experience
No, cannabis vaping does not necessarily equal a big vape cloud. It depends on the device being used and the settings used for the vaping.
The best temperature to vape indica typically falls within a range of 325-425°F (162-218°C). This temperature range is optimal for unlocking the terpene and cannabinoid profile of the strain. Vaping at a lower temperature can produce smoother, more flavorful hits with less harshness while vaping at a higher temperature can provide stronger, more intense effects. However, each strain is different and temperatures may vary depending on the variety, so it's always best to start at the lower end of the range and work your way up until you find the ideal temperature for your strain.
There is no one answer to this question as it depends on personal preference and the type of sativa being vaped. Generally, lower temperatures are best for enjoying the flavor and aroma of sativa, while higher temperatures will produce larger clouds of vapor. The ideal temperature to vape sativa is between 180°C (356°F) and 210°C (410°F) because this range is optimal for releasing the terpenes and cannabinoids in the plant material. At this temperature, the cannabinoids and terpenes vaporize and are released, providing the user with the desired effects and flavors. At temperatures below 180°C (356°F), the terpenes and cannabinoids may not be released, while temperatures above 210°C (410°F) could result in combustion, leading to a harsh and unpleasant vaping experience.
Hybrid cannabis is a type of cannabis that is a combination of two or more cannabis strains. It is created by cross-breeding the different strains to create a unique combination of flavors, aromas, and effects. Hybrid cannabis can be either sativa-dominant, indica-dominant, or a balanced combination of both. It is the most popular type of cannabis, as it offers a range of effects that can be tailored to the individual user. The optimal temperature for vaping hybrid cannabis is between 375°F and 425°F (190°C and 218°C) because this temperature range is the most effective for releasing the cannabinoids and terpenes from the flower. At higher temperatures, the cannabinoids and terpenes may start to degrade and produce an unpleasant taste. At lower temperatures, the cannabinoids and terpenes may not be released effectively. This temperature range will allow for the best flavor and effect.
Ladder vaping is a technique of vaping where the user gradually increases the temperature setting with each subsequent hit. This technique allows the user to explore different flavor notes of the cannabis and the terpenes to find the perfect setting for your vaping needs.
There is no definitive answer to this question as it depends on the individual and the type of vape device being used. Generally, when the flavor and vapor production have significantly decreased, it is a good indication that your vape session is done.
With a FURNA vaporizer, the user has more control over the temperature to ensure the best cannabis experience without wasting any of those tasty terpenes. Get your FURNA here.
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The PAX 3 and the Crafty+ are two of the more popular dry herb vaporizers on the market, but they're very different devices. The PAX 3 is the latest portable vaporizer from Pax Labs. The Crafty Plus is made by Storz and Bickel, and it's the smaller sibling of their flagship portable vape, the Mighty. But which is better, PAX or Crafty?
We'll compare the two dry herb vapes in terms of vapor quality, precise temperature control, battery life, airflow, ease of cleaning, portability, and more. After reading this review, you'll understand the strengths and weaknesses of these two vapes.
In a nutshell, compared to the Crafty+, the PAX 3 is more compact, sleek, and portable. It heats up faster and has better battery life. But the Crafty Plus has better vapor quality, flavor, a larger temperature range, and better display.
In terms of drawbacks, both vaporizers could do better on battery life and portability, and both require a mobile app to fully control the temperature settings. Let's go in depth to learn more about the differences between the two dry herb vapes.
Most portable dry herb vaporizers use conduction heating to vape cannabis. The PAX 3 is a conduction vaporizer. The Crafty vaporizer, on the other hand, uses hybrid heating, a combination of convection heat and conduction heating.
The main difference is that in conduction vapes, the heating chamber is found directly beside the element, and is heated through direct contact. In convection heating, there is no direct contact. Instead hot air is heated and then flows through the oven. The Crafty Plus uses a combination of convection and conduction, with an emphasis on conduction.
When it comes to vapor production, Crafty has a big advantage over the PAX 3, in large part due to this different system. Crafty might not quite hit the levels of its bigger sibling the Mighty, but it still delivers excellent vapor quality, with a smooth draw, and delicious clear flavor. It's very efficient with cannabis.
The PAX 3, on the other hand, is a bit harder to pull from, and it's less of a smooth vaping experience. It still has decent vapor, but the flavor is worse than Crafty, and you can taste more of a burnt quality in your hits.
Part of why the Crafty vaporizer delivers better, more flavorful vapor is because it's bigger. The Crafty+ is definitely not a pocket vape. PAX made some sacrifices in terms of vapor experience to have a sleek design and easily fit in your pocket.
The Crafty takes longer to heat up though, and has worse battery life. The Crafty’s batteries will only last for 4-5 sessions before running out.
In comparison, the PAX 3 battery life is a much more respectable 8-12 sessions per charge. Both vapes have internal batteries that aren't removable, and recharge via USB. The PAX 3 takes 2 hours to recharge, and the Crafty takes 1.5 hours.
So PAX 3 wins hands down on portability vs Crafty. But the battery could still be better, and reloading the PAX while you're out and about can be a real pain. Also, both vapes need a smartphone app to set temperature, which also limits how portable they can be.
Both vapes can hold a similar amount of cannabis in their ovens. The Crafty vaporizer has an oven capacity of 0.25 grams, while the PAX is slightly larger at 0.3 grams.
The temperature range is very different between the two, with the Crafty having more options. The Crafty+ has a range of 104-410°F, or 40-210°C. PAX 3 is smaller, from 355°F (179°C) to 420°F (216°C).
That range isn't a problem when vaping cannabis, but if you want to vaporize other dry herbs, the PAX 3 falls short. It's harder to vape more delicate herbs (which need a lower temperature setting) in a PAX 3 vs Crafty. Both devices also have a boost mode button, letting you jump to a higher temperature when needed.
In order to fully access the temperature settings of both the PAX 3 and Crafty, you need to download apps, so you can control your vape using your phone. This can be a problem if you've got an iPhone, because the Apple App Store has banned vaping apps.
The PAX 3 has four preset temperatures, and one customized temperature setting you can set using the PAX app. You can switch between these five settings or "dynamic modes" on the device itself, but the customized temperature can only be accessed using the app.
The Crafty app only gives you two preset temperatures, but you can set them to be any temperature you want. And unlike the PAX 3 app you can leave the Crafty app open and make changes on the fly, while you're using the device.
The Crafty+ and PAX 3 have a radically different design from each other. The PAX 3 is a sleek, compact device designed for portable vaping. Although it's not one of the smallest vaporizers, there's no question it's discreet, futuristic, and just plain cool.
The Crafty also looks cool, but in a very different way. Instead of a sleek look, it's got more of an industrial feel. It's a bulky device, with a mouthpiece that sticks out of the top making it less discreet vs the PAX 3.
Neither vaporizer has a display, relying on lights and haptic feedback to let you know when the vape has reached the desired temperature. Looking at the Mighty vs (Crafty's bigger sibling) has a more fully featured display, but the Crafty had to get rid of it in order to become more compact. It’s only one of the many tradeoffs of the Crafty vs Mighty.
In general, dry herb vapes aren't designed for vaping cannabis concentrate. But some vaporizers have accessories that let you safely vape concentrate. Both PAX 3 and Crafty have accessories available that let you enjoy the occasional extract session.
With Crafty, you can get liquid pads that prevent melting concentrate from damaging the vape or creating a mess. Although it does make the device compatible with concentrates, it still gets messy and isn't really a convenient way to vape concentrate, especially when you're using it as a portable vaporizer.
PAX 3 has a better solution: a concentrate insert that you place inside the vaporizer oven. It's included with the complete kit but not the basic PAX 3 kit. You can also buy it as a separate accessory. Don't fill the chamber too much, and use only a small amount of extract in each session to keep things cleaner.
Loading and cleaning the PAX 3 concentrate insert is time consuming, but it's easier to keep from getting messy vs Crafty. PAX 3 can hit higher temperatures, so that's better for concentrates too.
But both options leave a lot to be desired. If you'll be vaping concentrates regularly, you should either buy a dedicated concentrate vaporizer, or check out Furna, a PAX alternative with swappable ovens.
With Furna, you can get ovens for both dry herb and concentrate and swap them instantly, no waiting required. You can also pre-pack your ovens, giving you the freedom to go back and forth between herb and concentrates mode. Without having to clean and reload in between.
All dry herb vaporizers need to be cleaned regularly. When you're done with a vaping session, you should give your vaporizer a quick clean by sweeping out your vape's oven with a brush. There’s usually one included as an accessory.
You also need to do a deeper clean on a regular basis, or else cannabis residue will build up on the oven and mouthpiece, and in the vapor pathway. Both the Crafty and PAX 3 need to be taken apart and most parts will be cleaned using isopropyl alcohol.
To clean the Crafty Plus, there are a lot of small parts that need to be removed and cleaned with isopropyl alcohol and cotton swabs. Pay close attention to the user manual so that you take it apart and reassemble it correctly. The PAX 3 is similar, requiring separate cleaning of the oven, mouthpiece, and vapor path.
Both devices are kind of time-consuming to clean. The Crafty is easier to clean though, once you're familiar with how it works. The Crafty also gets less residue build up in the first place vs PAX 3, Still, neither device was designed with easy cleaning in mind.
It's tough to say which dry herb vaporizer is better, PAX or Crafty, because each has its strengths. If you're looking for better vapor quality, and don't care about how compact your device is, the Crafty+ beats the PAX 3. If you value having the highest temperature option, long battery life, and slim design, PAX 3 wins vs Crafty.
But both vapes still leave some things to be desired. The battery technology on both devices could be better. The Crafty vape in particular needs improvements here if it wants to be taken seriously as a portable vaporizer. Both devices also need a mobile app to fully control the temperature.
The Crafty vaporizer might have great vapor quality, but it's still in many ways a lower-end version of the Mighty. The Mighty has respectable battery life, better vapor production, and a full display that lets you control temperature settings without a mobile app. It’s also even more bulky and expensive. But if you're thinking about buying a Crafty vaporizer and don't care about portability, the Mighty has some big advantages to offer.
The Furna vaporizer combines the best features of both the PAX 3 and Crafty. It has better vapor and a smoother draw than the PAX 3, but it's smaller than the Crafty+ and easily fits in your pocket. And its battery life beats them both, with one charge lasting 15-20 sessions. Have a look at our PAX 3 vs Crafty vs Furna comparison chart for a handy breakdown of all the differences.
Furna's vapor quality is not quite at the level of the Storz and Bickel Crafty+ or Mighty. But Furna still gets great flavor and a smooth draw compared to other portable conduction heating vaporizers. But don’t forget, the Mighty and Crafty are both quite bulky. And the Crafty has poor battery performance for a portable vape.
Furna also has a display, letting you access temperature control on the vaporizer itself. No need for a mobile app. But the truly interesting thing with Furna, is its swappable oven technology. With Furna, you get more than one oven, and can swap instantly between them.
This lets you pre-pack your sessions before leaving the house. You can also use specialized ovens for concentrates and 510 oil cartridges, giving you every option in a single device. Have a look at the Furna vape and see what you think for yourself.
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The DaVinci IQ2 and the PAX 3 are two of the best reviewed portable dry herb vaporizers on the market. There's no question that they compare well to the average vape out there.
The cost of both devices is high, so it makes sense that they perform better than most vapes. But are they worth the price? And which is better, PAX or DaVinci?
We'll review both vaporizers, and look at how they compare in terms of vapor quality, durability of materials, settings, and features. We'll also look at things like battery life, charge time, smell, cleaning, and overall design and controls.
For most users, the most important thing in a dry herb vape is the quality of the vapor. It doesn't matter if it looks cool or has a nifty display if it doesn't deliver on the fundamentals.
Both the PAX and the DaVinci IQ 2 are conduction vaporizers. This means the heating chamber is located directly beside the element. In general, conduction heating vapes are a good choice because they're more portable, and have much longer battery life.
Between the two, DaVinci probably has the better vapor. The PAX 3 tends to run hot, and the draw resistance is high. The flavor of your herb tastes a bit muddier, and it's not a smooth vape. The IQ has better tasting vapor: a cooler, smoother draw that tastes more like the cannabis strain being vaped.
The DaVinci IQ 2 can heat to a bigger range of temperatures than the PAX 3. The IQ 2 can be set between 250°F (121°C) and 430 °F (220°C). PAX 3 can only hit a narrower range, from 355°F (179°C) to 420°F (216°C).
The range of both devices is fine for cannabis, and should meet most users' needs. But the PAX won't be able to properly vaporize herbs like lavender or chamomile, which are more delicate and need lower heat settings.
Both the PAX 3 and the DaVinci IQ use smartphone apps for more precise temperature control. With DaVinci, you can use the app to customize four smart paths, or different heat settings. You can switch between each smart path mode on the device itself.
The PAX also requires you to use an app to set the temperature. Similar to the IQ, you can cycle between 4 settings using the device. It's a bit annoying to have to use a smartphone app to fully control your vape. Also, Apple has banned vaping apps so it's only a usable option for Android devices.
The oven capacity of the DaVinci IQ 2 is 0.3 grams, which is similar to the PAX 3's 0.35 grams. The IQ is quite a lot easier to pack compared with the PAX, and tends to deliver good vapor production without relative ease.
With PAX, it's a bit tougher to load the chamber. Loading a dry herb vaporizer has to be done right or else you'll end up wasting weed. You need to pack the entire oven pretty densely to achieve the best vapor. People refer to this as the PAX learning curve.
Often, frustrated users will just do their best, and have varying results in their vaping sessions. Sometimes good, and sometimes bad. One advantage of the PAX 3 is you can use a half pack insert to reduce the oven size to 0.15 grams, if you want a smaller amount of herb.
The DaVinci IQ 2 is a definite improvement on the original IQ, which had some major problems with the pearl in the oven breaking off. Both the PAX 3 and IQ are sleek devices that have a distinct look.
The PAX 3 uses a stainless steel oven and a stainless steel vapor path that leads from the oven to the mouthpiece. The stainless steel is high grade and doesn't affect the taste of your cannabis. The DaVinci IQ 2 uses a ceramic oven and ceramic vapor path.
Both the PAX 3 & DaVinci IQ 2 perform excellently here. In comparison, in cheaper dry herb vapes, the vapor path can be full of materials and components you don't want you don't want to be vaping.
The PAX 3 gives off a stronger smell than the IQ2. The PAX does a worse job of keeping smells contained inside the device when you're not using it.
When it comes to the portable vaping experience, it's important to take a close look at batteries. Although battery performance might not be as key as temperature control, it's still an essential part of a portable vaporizer. Running out of battery power when you're hoping to use your vaporizer is always a huge let-down.
Often, a lightweight vape like a dry herb vape pen will have terrible battery life. Higher-end portable vaporizers like the DaVinci IQ and PAX 3 should be able to deliver top notch battery performance. And although they could be worse, they could also be better.
The PAX 3 will give you about 1.5 hours of usage, or 8-12 sessions. The IQ2 is slightly worse, 80 minutes of usage, which will last about 6-9 sessions. The IQ has a removable 18650 battery, so you can buy extra batteries to make your device more portable.
PAX 3 has a charging dock that is the only way to recharge the device. It takes about 2 hours to recharge completely. DaVinci IQ 2 takes two and a half to three hours to charge via USB.
One of the big disadvantages of the DaVinci IQ2 is how complicated it is to clean. It has a number of different parts, more than the average vaporizer. And all of them need to be cleaned individually, with isopropyl alcohol and cotton swabs. It takes longer to clean the IQ than other dry herb vaporizers, which means you might clean it less often than you should.
The PAX 3 may have less parts to clean vs DaVinci IQ2, but it's still far from easy. Cleaning the mouthpiece, vapor path, and oven all need to be done separately. Cleaning accessories are included in the kit.
Neither vaporizer is a breeze to clean, but PAX has the edge here. If you don't clean dry herb vapes often, residue will build up and block airflow in your device. It will ruin the flavor of your cannabis and create weaker, lower-quality vapor.
So far, when comparing the DaVinci IQ vs PAX 3, we've been focusing entirely on vaping dry herb. That is, regular cannabis. But you can also vape concentrates. These are forms of cannabis that have even stronger effects.
Normally, it's not safe to vape concentrate in a dry herb vape. As a concentrate is vaporized, it will turn into a liquid and can create mess and possibly damage components. How do the IQ2 and PAX 3 compare when it comes to cannabis concentrate?
The PAX 3 has concentrate pads you can buy, which you insert into the heating chamber. This keeps spills from happening. The DaVinci IQ 2 also has an insert you can place in the bowl. It's a ceramic dosage pod that essentially does the same thing.
The dosage pod is a little more awkward to get in and out of the vaporizer, so PAX gets the edge here. But neither vape is well-suited for concentrates, things can still easily get messy, and you've got to be careful not to handle hot parts.
The Furna vaporizer takes a completely different approach to dry herb vaping, with its swappable oven system. With Furna, you get more than one oven, and you can swap between them in an instant, with no waiting for anything to cool down.
It's very convenient to be able to pre-pack ovens before leaving the house. Then when you're out and about, you don't have to worry about finding a discreet place to reload if you want a second bowl. It makes for a more portable device. There are specialized ovens for dry herb, concentrates, and 510 oil cartridges too.
Furna has both DaVinci IQ 2 and the PAX 3 beat when it comes to battery life. It lasts 15-20 sessions on a single charge. It has a noticeably smooth draw, and the flavor of your herb will come through clearly. Furna also has a fully-featured display, letting you control temperature settings without an app.
If you want a more detailed comparison, check out our article comparing PAX 3 vs Furna. We've also got a review of how Furna stacks up against the DaVinci IQ2. Want a big handy table comparing all the specs of IQ vs PAX 3 and Furna too? Check out our product comparison page.
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There are lots of reasons to vape herbs instead of smoking them. Dry herb vaporizers are much easier on the lungs, in comparison with the health risks of inhaling smoke.
Many of the harmful substances in smoking are caused by the combustion process - that is, the burning and the smoke. And not the herb itself. When you vape cannabis, for example, you heat dry herbs to a high enough temperature so cannabinoids (THC and CBD) are released in the form of vapor.
But marijuana isn't the only thing you can use in dry herb vapes. There are plenty of other herbs out there that you can vaporize for their therapeutic benefits and calming properties. You can also combine them with cannabis to give you the mood and aroma of both.
You can blend fresh herbs to give your herbal vaporizer a combination of the flavor and quality of every herb in the blend. It's helpful to use one or two as the base of the blend, with maybe a third herb added for aroma or spice.
Most people don’t realize you can vaporize herbs other than cannabis in a dry herb vape. You might already have some in your cupboard. Even in areas where marijuana is still prohibited, the best legal herbs will be widely available for sale.
Dried herbs in vapes can provide pain relief, reduce stress, improve mental clarity, and promote restful sleep and deep relaxation. They've been used for centuries for issues such as anxiety, depression, headaches, to treat colds, insomnia, and more.
Some of the most commonly vaporized herbs include vape green tea, passion flower, lemon balm, basil, eucalyptus, peppermint, garlic, St. John's wort, hops, chamomile, lavender, ginseng, thyme, and even catnip.
Vaping herbs is a useful option when natural remedies are preferred. But always consult your doctor before using herbs to treat medical problems.
Many types of cannabis have a relaxing effect, especially if they're a strain categorized as indica dominant. But there are other herbs you can try to help you with stress, at times when you don’t want psychoactive effects from THC.
One of the most popular herbs for anxiety is lavender, which has a sweet and floral aroma. Lavender helps with depression, insomnia, and provides some pain relief from headaches. There's also chamomile, a common tea choice. It has similar calming effects when you vape chamomile. Both lavender and chamomile should be vaped at 257°F (125°C).
If you're having trouble falling asleep, vaping valerian is known to help with insomnia. It is also said to have pain relief and anti-depression properties. Passion flower is also a popular choice for pain relief. For valerian and passion flower, set your dry herb vaporizer to 302°F (150°C).
You can even raid your cat's stash and vape some catnip. That's right: catnip is for humans too! It has relaxing properties for people, very different from its effect on cats. Wild lettuce is another great sedative herb you can try, and it's also known to provide pain relief. St. John's Wort has been used for centuries for its sedative effect and to help with depression. St. John's Wort, catnip, and wild lettuce all vaporize at 302°F (150°C).
Hops, best known as a beer ingredient, can also be vaped. It's said to be good for reducing stress and as a sleep aid. Vape hops at 392°F (200°C).
There are herbs on the other end of the spectrum to energize you instead of relax you. For example, you can vaporize herbs that are usually used in popular beverages like teas.
Green tea, for instance. Vaping green tea actually releases more caffeine than you get from drinking it, giving you a quick-hitting boost of energy. Another popular hot beverage for alertness is yerba mate, and yup, you can vape yerba mate too. Vaporize green tea at 365°F (185°C), and yerba mate at 302°F (150°C) .
You can even vaporize coffee beans! Just be sure to go slowly, vaping coffee beans will hit strongly and in a different way from drinking caffeine. Vape coffee beans at 392°F (200°C). Vaping fennel can also give you an energizing effect and help with indigestion, and has both a sweet and spicy taste. Use a temperature setting of 347°F (175°C).
There's also wild dagga (vape at 347°F/175°C), which has mild euphoric effects. And ginseng, a common ingredient in energy drinks. Ginseng gives a natural energy boost and should be vaped at 392°F (200°C).
Many herbs are helpful when you’re fighting off a headache. Or if you're just sensitive to loud noises or stress caused by changes in the weather. Just try one of these in your dry herb vaporizer.
Peppermint is a popular herb for body pain and digestion. It has a very refreshing, calming taste. Vaporize peppermint at 338°F (170°C). Spearmint is a little milder than peppermint, but has similar properties, can help with a headache, sore throat, and nausea. Spearmint should be vaporized at 309°F (154°C).
Rosemary can reduce headaches, and help with colds and the flu. It can also be a calming, soothing herb. Vape rosemary at 125°C, or 257°F.
Finally, lemon balm is a great natural remedy for headache pain management, gut problems and sore muscles. To vaporize lemon balm, set your vaporizer to 288°F (142°C).
There are also a bunch of dry herbs that help with cold and flu season, as well as allergies.
Eucalyptus is probably the most popular herb for cold relief. Eucalyptus naturally strengthens the immune system and speeds up healing. Vaping basil is also great for colds and digestion, as well as elevating your mood. Both eucalyptus and basil vaporize at 266°F (130°C).
Another common choice is thyme, said to be helpful when you're feeling sick with a cold. Vaping mullein is also a useful herb for the common cold. You can vape both thyme and mullein at 302°F (150°C).
Vaping sage can also help you when you're under the weather, helping with brain function and digestion. Sage vaporizes at 374°F (190°C). Vaporizing licorice is great for cold and flu symptoms too. Set your device for 392°F (200°C) for licorice.
Anise also is great for cold symptoms, and helps with cramps. Anise can be vaped at a temperature of 257°F (125°C).
Using a dry herb vaporizer is perfectly safe, and has far less of an impact on your lungs compared with smoking. If you use vapes at very high temperatures, you will breathe in some carcinogens, but it still won't come close to the levels you hit with smoking weed, let alone the even higher amounts with tobacco.
There have been issues in the past with people experiencing lung problems after vaping. But the devices causing these problems were oil vaporizers, and not dry herb vapes.
Also, all of the cases were happening with people who had bought unregulated black market devices. So if you're considering buying an oil vape, do it somewhere where the vaping industry is legal and regulated.
You should also stay away from budget dry herb vapes. If the price of a vaporizer is too good to be true, you’ll pay for it in the long run, with inefficient sessions that waste your herb. And sometimes, to cut costs, manufacturers use cheaper parts that will release fumes when the device is heated.
High quality vapes will have an isolated airpath, separate from the electronic components. This way you can make sure that you're only breathing in the vapor you're looking for, and not unwanted chemicals.
Like the cannabis plant, many of the herbs you can vape can be quite enjoyable in moderate amounts, but if you have too much, it can be unpleasant. It all comes down to your personal experience and how the active ingredients affect you.
This is why it's best to start slow, and with a small amount, when you're trying a new herb. What could be an amazing herb for you might be a completely different story if you have too much of it in your dry herb vaporizer.
For example, instead of getting a boost of energy helping with brain function, you might end up feeling jittery and anxious. Or what's supposed to be a calming effect might make you fall asleep instead. So even though it's safe, use caution when vaping herbs.
It's not hard to vape herbs, whether it's cannabis or a plant without hallucinogenic effects. All you need is a dry herb vaporizer that lets you heat the herbs up to the correct temperature. Once your herb of choice has hit that temperature, it will release its active ingredients (and herbal flavors) into vapor.
First, grind up your herb using a grinder. This exposes more surface area of the plant, giving you stronger effects. It also makes it easier to heat the herb evenly, so that there are no hotter and colder areas.
Once you've ground your herb, fill the heating chamber of the vape, without overfilling it, then tamp it down lightly. This will give you the best vapor and airflow.
There are many dry herb vapes on the market these days, and some have better vapor quality than others. Different herbs vaporize at different temperatures, so get a vape with accurate and precise temperature control. Otherwise you can burn your herbs, ruining the taste and giving you some of the negative effects of smoke.
If you're wondering if there's anything better than PAX 3, keep in mind that the PAX has a very high minimum temperature, meaning you can't safely vape delicate herbs. PAX 3 has other drawbacks too - although it's certainly a decent vape, it's nowhere near the best out there.
Most dry herb vape pens don't make the cut, not even close. They might be slim and portable, but in general, vape pens produce weak vapor. They can't accurately and evenly heat herbs to the right temperature, giving you less effects and less control over your session. They're also tough to clean, making it harder to get good performance from a vape pen long-term.
If you're looking to only vaporize herb at home, then you might want to buy a desktop vaporizer. They need to be plugged into the wall, but because they have access to more power than a battery, desktop vaporizers are usually more powerful and deliver excellent vapor.
They also cost a lot more, since more materials are needed. But the best desktop vaporizers will be durable and last a long time.
But most people choose to buy a portable dry herb vaporizer. They're cheaper, for one thing. And even if you use it mostly at home, it's convenient to be able to carry portable dry herb vaporizers from room to room. With desktop vapes, you're stuck with a bulky device plugged into the wall.
When looking for vapes, you need a device that gives you accurate temperature control. This way you can get the right effects when you're vaping herbs, and not burn them. Quality vaporizers will heat the herb in the chamber evenly, and make efficient use of your cannabis or other herb.
A dry herb vaporizer should also be easy to pack and clean, so you get good quality vapor over the long term. As mentioned, an isolated airpath is important. Low-end vapes will often add a concerning plastic or metallic smell because the heated vapor passes through electronic components.
Battery life, speedy heat-up times, and quick charge times are other key things to look for in a vaporizer.
The Furna vaporizer delivers on all these criteria, but also has the added feature of swappable ovens. Most portable vapes have just one oven, and often a single bowl isn't enough for a session or excursion.
Then you're stuck cleaning out the vaporizer, and reloading it, before you can continue. And it's not always very easy or convenient to do this, defeating the purpose of a portable device.
With Furna, you get multiple ovens, and you can swap a used one for a fresh one instantly, without having to wait for it to cool down. You can even customize the ovens with colored tips on the mouthpieces, or special icons in the vaporizer's display. This helps you keep track of your different cannabis strains and herbs.
There are also specialized ovens for concentrates and 510 oil cartridges, giving you all the options in a single device. Check out Furna and see how it can revolutionize your vaping sessions.
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There's no question that dry herb vaporizers are awesome devices. They have a bunch of benefits, including tastier hits and getting stronger effects out of your cannabis. Not to mention they're easier on your lungs and don't smell as bad as smoking weed.
But are there drawbacks to a dry herb vape? Because sometimes a device is fun at first, but then it turns out that maintaining it is a real hassle, and you wish you'd have never bought it.
And maybe you've had the experience of being handed a dry herb vaporizer and it didn't work very well. It didn't get you much THC or CBD effects, and it tasted kind of terrible. So what's the deal? Is it hard to keep a dry herb vape clean?
Okay, cleaning is always going to be a bit of a chore, no matter what kind of cleaning we’re talking about, maintenance is never exactly fun. But it's easy to get motivated to clean a dry herb vape, because you get such a fun immediate reward. Better vapor.
How often you need to clean a dry herb vape depends on how often you use it. As you vape cannabis, vaporized residue will remain stuck to parts of the vaporizer that make sure you get quality pulls. The oven, mouthpiece, and anywhere else along the vapor path can become coated in gunky buildup.
As the residue adds up, it starts ruining the flavor of your bud. It can stick to the sides of your herb chamber and keep your vaporizer from heating your cannabis evenly.
The good news is you can keep the cleaning required to a minimum if you give your vape a quick clean after every time you use it. Just tap out the leftover weed, and give the herb chamber a quick scrub with the cleaning brush that should have been included with your vaporizer.
By the way, be sure to save that vaped cannabis. AVB, or already vaped bud, is useful for all kinds of things. One of the many benefits of dry herb vaporizers!
For most dry herb vaporizers, the cleaning process is similar. But definitely consult your instruction manual to make sure what the right method is for your vaporizer.
Doing a deep clean on a regular basis will give you stronger, more satisfying vapor from your dry herb vaporizer. The first time you deep clean your vape, it might be a bit unfamiliar, but every time after that, a cleaning session should only take about 5 minutes.
Generally, you'll be taking a cleaning solution, usually isopropyl alcohol, and using a small cleaning brush, q tip or cotton swab to clean the individual parts. So that means disassembling your unit (wait for it to cool down first).
Usually the heating chamber itself should not be soaked, but you'll probably want to use one of the cleaning tools to scrub the vaporizer's chamber to get rid of the residue. Other parts, like the mouthpiece, screens, or glass parts, are likely safe to soak in isopropyl alcohol for a short amount of time.
Afterwards, wipe the alcohol off the parts and rinse in warm water. You probably don't want to rinse the oven, check your manual to find out the exact process.
Not every dry herb vaporizer is easy to clean. Older devices often weren't built with easy cleaning in mind. And the average dry herb vaporizer pen is very narrow and can be hard to clean.
In general, the cheapest vapes will cut some corners, and this can come in many forms. It could mean the materials used to build the vape, weaker vapor production, or lower battery life. Or it could also mean that they're difficult to clean. So when researching a potential vaporizer purchase, make sure you look into how to clean it and whether people are complaining about that.
The Furna vaporizer features multiple ovens, which gives you a lot more control over when to clean your vape. With Furna, you get more than one oven for your dry herb. Which means you could use one while cleaning the other.
The swappable ovens themselves are an awesome and unique feature in a portable dry herb vaporizer. Whenever one oven is finished, you can swap it out for a fresh one, instantly. It makes it a more convenient portable option, because you can pre-pack your bowls and avoid awkward reloading situations.
You can also keep sessions going longer with no waiting. There are even specialized ovens available for cannabis concentrate and 510 oil ovens, giving you even more options in a single device. Have a look at Furna and see what you think for yourself.
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Dry herb vaporizers have some huge advantages over smoking cannabis. You get more effects from the same amount of herb, because it's more efficient and doesn't burn your marijuana. Vaping is also easier on your lungs, and it tastes and smells better.
But to get the most from your device, you need to make sure you clean your vape on a regular basis. Without proper maintenance, those benefits will quickly go away. Over time, a dirty vape will taste worse, deliver weaker vapor production, and irritate your throat and lungs more. To make sure you get a great vaping experience, every time, you can't avoid cleaning it. Your vaporizer will also work better in the long run and have a longer life.
Rolling up your sleeves and giving your vape device a clean is a small price to pay for the benefits of vaping. Read our complete guide to cleaning a dry herb vaporizer to learn all the ins and outs of cleaning your vape.
But it's not always clear when you should clean your dry herb vaporizer. How often should you clean a vape? What are the signs your device is getting dirty and in need of a thorough cleaning? What should you watch out for?
There are a few ways you can tell your vape is getting dirty, and starting to give you lower quality vapor. The first indication is airflow. If you notice it's getting difficult to pull on your mouthpiece, and the amount of vapor you inhale is lower, that's a good sign that there's some gunk in your unit that needs taking care of.
Airflow can also be bad if you've packed your oven too loosely or tightly. So if you've cleaned your vape recently and are still getting bad vapor, make sure you're packing the heating chamber correctly. Grind your herb finely, and don't overload the chamber. This will ensure better airflow throughout the chamber and heat your cannabis evenly.
Another major sign your vape needs maintenance is the taste. If you notice a stale weed flavor mixed in with the taste of your fresh herb, chances are that's coming from residue stuck to the chamber or other parts of the vapor path. That build up will both restrict airflow and create a gross taste. It may also burn in places, adding a burnt taste that won't be pleasant.
Some people might not care about keeping a vape in top condition all the time. But if you keep vaping using a dirty vape, you're going to waste herb. You won't get as many cannabinoids like THC and CBD from your marijuana, and you'll spend more money to get the same effects.
If airflow is getting blocked, your vaporizer isn't working as efficiently. Parts of your cannabis might not get heated properly, due to residue buildup on the sides of the oven chamber. Also, blockage in the mouthpiece section might trap vapor in the upper part of your unit. So even though the vapor is getting produced, it doesn't reach your lips.
Over time, these problems will just get worse, and eventually your vaping sessions will have little or no effect. It'll be frustrating, and a waste of your cannabis. Cleaning vaporizers is a no-brainer, even if it's a bit annoying.
Every time you use your device, you're going to end up with a bit of residue left over. The more sessions you enjoy, the more the gunk will begin to add up. When to clean your vape is going to depend on how often you use it.
One thing you should always do is give your vaporizer a quick clean after every session. Just use a small cleaning brush to sweep out any leftover material in the bowl. Usually a cleaning brush will be included with your device. Wait for the oven to cool down to a safe temperature, but also don't wait too long. It'll be easier to get it clean if you do it while the chamber is still relatively warm.
Doing this will keep vapes performing well session to session but you'll still have to do a more thorough cleaning job on a regular basis to get all the residue. How often to do a deep clean is going to depend on your overall usage level though.
If you're only using your vaporizer once in a while, you don't have to clean it that often. Once every few weeks, or even once a month, is probably fine. If you use your vape all the time, the gunk will accumulate quickly, and you'll probably want to clean it every few days.
That might sound like a lot, but if you don't, you'll be missing out on higher quality sessions. Follow the instructions for your particular vape when doing a deep clean. Usually, you have to disassemble your vaporizer, and clean the removable parts with isopropyl alcohol.
Some parts are meant to soak in alcohol, while others you should just wipe with a cotton swab or q tip. Rinse any parts you've soaked in warm water, and then set them to air dry. Be sure to clean and wipe the mouthpiece as well.
Cleaning the oven is a key part of the cleaning process, but you shouldn't soak it, or rinse it. Usually, just a wipe with the brush and some isopropyl alcohol will do the trick, but follow the instructions for your device. Let it completely dry with the opening facing down.
Don't reassemble your vape until it's safely dry. Be sure to run it with an empty bowl for a few minutes before your next vaping session. This will burn off remaining alcohol which will hurt your lungs and affect the flavor of your weed.
Not every vaporizer is easy to clean, and if maintenance for your device is annoying, you might find yourself not doing it. For example, your average dry herb vape pen is quite difficult to clean because of how narrow they are.
A multi-oven vaporizer like Furna is helpful here, because you don't have to clean it as often, since you have multiple ovens and the buildup of residue won’t happen as quickly. You can even clean one oven by itself, while still using your device to vape another oven at the same time.
There are other advantages to swappable ovens too. You can pre-pack your bowls, giving you more portability, because you don't have to worry about reloading your vape in an inconvenient location.
Also, there's no need to wait in between bowls to wait for your device to cool down, give it a quick clean, and then reload. With Furna you can instantly swap from a finished oven to a fresh one, with no waiting, because they're insulated and safe to handle right away.
Finally, if you also enjoy cannabis concentrate, Furna also has specialized ovens for extracts. So you can easily switch between dry herb, concentrate, and even 510 oil cartridges, giving you all the options in a single device. Check out Furna vapes and see the difference swappable ovens can make.
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Vape pens are one of the more popular new ways to enjoy cannabis products. They're inexpensive portable vaporizers and easy to get started with, making them a natural choice for newbies.
Wax pens are probably more common than dry herb vape pens, because they offer a stronger experience. Vaping wax concentrates will hit harder than traditional cannabis flower. Like the name implies, concentrates are a concentrated form of marijuana, and have more cannabinoids (THC and CBD) compared with dry herbs.
But just because you enjoy cannabis concentrate doesn't mean you don't also want to vape dry herb sometimes. Can you use regular weed in a wax vape pen? What if you don't have a dry herb vaporizer pen?
The short answer is generally no, you can't use wax vapes as if they were dry herb vapes.
That said, there are differences between vaping devices, and it might be possible to use your vape pen for dry herb vaping, even if it wasn't designed for it. But you probably shouldn't. It all comes down to how vape pens work, and the damage that you can do to wax coils.
In general, a vaporizer will be designed either for concentrate or dry herb, and not both. The reason is that you want the right style of heating chamber for the two products.
For example, concentrates will melt into a liquid form and can damage the sensitive parts of dry herb vaporizers. Also, the herb chamber will be really difficult to clean afterwards. But some dry herb vapes can vaporize concentrates too, without any mess or problems.
Similarly, using dry herb in a concentrate vape won't produce vapor (at least not strong vapor), and can do damage to your vape. So although you could in theory put dry herbs in your dab pen, your vaporizing session will suffer from uneven heating.
Only the parts of the bud that are in direct contact with the coils will heat fully. In fact, they'll probably burn and produce smoke. The residue will make for a tough cleaning job, and you might be stuck with a burnt taste from your device going forward.
Wax vape coils are also delicate, and there's a good chance using ground cannabis in the chamber will ruin the coils of your device. Vape pen coils will eventually die, it's true, but there's no reason to accelerate this process.
If you're confused because you’ve seen people using vape pens to vaporize dry herb before, it's probably because they were using a dry herb pen.
Proper dry herb vaporizers are higher quality and more durable than dry herb pens, but it's still totally possible to use ground weed in a vape pen, if it's been designed for it.
In general, dry herb vaporizer pens still give you the health benefits of vaping vs smoking, being easier on your lungs than when you inhale smoke. But the vapor they produce isn't of the highest quality. They don't heat herb as evenly, are more difficult to clean, and also have poor battery life.
Usually, vape pens lack optimal temperature controls, making it tough for you to control the strength and flavor of your sessions. And over time, the lower price of a vape pen won't actually be cost effective because you'll be spending more on bud to achieve the same effects.
If you want to vape dry herb, it really makes sense to have a device with actual herb chambers. Not all dry herb vapes are bulky desktop vaporizers. Many portable vaporizers are quite compact.
They might not be as tiny as a wax vape pen, but they'll be more durable, have longer battery life, and have more control over temperatures. But if you're into wax concentrate and oils, you'll want to make sure you get a dry herb vape that works with concentrate. Otherwise, you won’t be able to enjoy concentrates safely.
For starters, this means buying a vaporizer that can hit higher temperatures. Most marijuana concentrate vapes at a higher temperature than flower.
With many devices, you can put a bit of concentrate in the center of a bowl of dry herb, without risking liquid spilling into sensitive parts of the chamber. But it's a bit of a waste: both the weed and the concentrate won't heat evenly, and you won't get full effects.
A better option is buying an accessory to allow safe concentrate use. You can also get a swappable oven vaporizer like Furna, which has both dry herb and concentrate ovens, letting you switch between the two whenever you like.
Some dry herb vapes have accessories available that let you use concentrates. Usually, this will take the form of a liquid pad that you insert into the heating chamber. You put a bit of concentrate inside, and then you can't safely vape it without risking damage to your device.
Although it's safe, it's not exactly convenient on a regular basis. Cleaning liquid pad inserts is a pain, and it's frustrating to have to wait or deal with hot parts if you want to reload the vaporizer.
With the Furna vape, you can pre-pack your ovens in advance, letting you instantly swap a finished oven for a fresh one. It makes sessions with groups of friends go smoother instead of constantly having to clean and reload.
Because you can swap between dry herb, concentrate, and even 510 oil cartridges, Furna gives you a portability no other dry herb vape or wax pen can compete with. You can stay discreet and avoid reloading your vaporizer in awkward locations. Check out Furna swappable oven vapes and see what you think for yourself.
Hashish is probably the oldest cannabis concentrate out there, with a history of use going back almost a thousand years. In ancient times, there was no such thing as a vaporizer, so people would smoke or ingest this more potent form of marijuana.
Nowadays, vaping hash has exploded in popularity. This is because vaporizing hash has much less harmful effects on your respiratory system and lungs compared with when you smoke hash. You can also get more effects, and more bang for your buck, when you vaporize hash vs smoking hash.
The most popular ways to vape hash include using a dab rig, a concentrate vaporizer, or a dry herb vape that is compatible with concentrates. But what about vape pens?
In general, hash isn't a great option for dab pens, even if you have an excellent vape pen. If your wax pen can hit high temperatures, and you have the right kind of hash, it's an option with some vaporizer models. But you still won’t get the best possible experience, and waste some of your hash in the process.
Hashish will look and feel different, depending on how it was produced and how much cannabis plant material is left in it. It can be solid, brittle, or malleable. Usually it's light or dark brown, but it can be greenish too.
Hash is much stronger than traditional dried cannabis flowers, with THC levels hitting 40-60%. It's not as potent as some other concentrates out there, but it still packs a significant punch.
You can use hash in a vape pen, much like you might use other concentrates, but it's not a straightforward process. The biggest issue is that with most forms of hash, you'll be looking at a significant amount of cleanup afterwards. It's probably not worth it, unless you need to vaporize it and a dab pen is all you have.
The first thing to keep in mind is that you need to be able to push your vaporizer to a high temperature in order to get effects from hash. Unlike regular cannabis, it only vaporizes properly at a higher heat.
Most vape pens can't set temperature precisely, but if you're able, use a temperature setting of 390ºF (200ºC), or even slightly higher. Only at high heat will the hash produce quality vapor.
If you're unable to set the temperature, you won't get the maximum quantity of cannabinoids and terpenes from the hash. This is one of the reasons why you're better off using vaporizers or a dab rig, instead of a vape pen.
The biggest reason why hash doesn't work well in pens is that there's just too much plant material from the weed left in hash concentrate. And these small devices just weren't made to handle this type of material.
It comes down to what form of hashish you have. The most common type of hash is rock hash, which is usually a large dense block. This type has plenty of plant material left in it and is the worst type to use in a vape pen. It will work, but it will make a mess. You'll be left with a sticky vape and an annoying cleaning job.
Full melt hash is super high quality, and it has the least amount of plant material left in it. Vaping full melt hash in a vape pen will work much better because little residue will be left behind. However, it's a bit of a waste to vape top-grade hash in a pen, because you're not getting as potent and efficient vapor compared with a better vaporizer.
In a nutshell, hash oils work fine in concentrate vape pens, but for regular hash, not so much. In general, concentrate vaporizers are designed for more liquid forms of hash like butane hash oil.
For the more technically minded, you can use a dab rig. Just break smaller pieces off your hash block, then apply a bit to the nail of your rig. You should clean the nail after every usage. The plant material will stick to the nail, and will burn and create bad tastes and smells.
If you've got solid rock hash, you can vape it in a dry herb vaporizer if you like. Sandwich small pieces of hash in the center of the heating chamber, surrounded by ground cannabis bud. You don't want liquids like melted hash touching the sides of your chamber or heating element.
Unfortunately, vaping hash using this method isn't very efficient. Packed together in that sandwich, the herb and hash won’t be heated evenly, and some of the active compounds will be wasted. If you're vaping hash regularly, you'll want a different solution, unless you don’t mind wasting cannabinoids like THC and CBD.
Some dry herb vapes have accessories available that let you vape concentrate without using the sandwich method. The best vaporizers will have this as an option, to make them a more versatile device.
The accessory will be something to protect your device’s component as the concentrate melts. Usually, it’s a liquid pad that you can insert into the herb chamber to protect the bowl from melted concentrate.
This can be a useful solution in a pinch, but with repeated use you'll notice drawbacks. Cleaning the inserts is annoying, and removing them from the herb chamber can get messy and involve handling hot parts.
The Furna vaporizer has a different solution to this problem: swappable ovens. With this device, you can get separate ovens for both dry herbs and concentrate, and you can swap instantly between the two.
This means you can pre-pack your bowls before leaving the house, making it way more convenient to reload your vape when you're out of the house. You simply swap whenever you want to switch ovens, no waiting necessary, they're safe to handle even right after use.
There's even an oil oven available for use with 510 oil cartridges. So if you want to regularly vape hash, dry herb, and other concentrates, Furna is the device that gives you the most vaping options.
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There's a lot of cannabis concentrates on the market these days, and there's no question it can be confusing, especially if you haven't tried some of these products before. All of them are stronger in potency than traditional cannabis flower, but there's still a lot of differences between the different extracts out there.
Concentrates can be made using a few different methods. Two of the most common are butane hash oil (BHO) and carbon dioxide (CO2) extractions. Both BHO and CO2 extraction methods can be used to make weed concentrate in a number of different shapes and consistencies. So you can find wax, shatter, and cannabis oil made using both methods.
So which is better, BHO or CO2? In a nutshell, BHO products are likely to be cheaper, because extracts made using butane require less labor. CO2 extraction is usually done at a lower heat, and is more likely to have more CBD and terpenes from the original plant material. This can mean a better high, which might justify the higher cost.
Some cannabis users are also concerned about residual solvents left in concentrate. Both BHO and CO2 products are purged of chemical compounds once the process is done. But some in the industry argue that CO2 is a safer solvent, with a long history of use in food products. Let's investigate a bit further, and see if we can help you choose between BHO and CO2.
BHO concentrates can take a number of shapes and forms, like shatter and wax, but in general, they are some of the strongest cannabis options on the market. THC levels in the final product can be as high as 70-90%.
Like most other concentrates, butane hash oil is created by putting cannabis or hash through an extraction process involving solvents. The temperature settings will vary depending on the type of BHO product being created, but the principle is always the same.
Butane is used as a solvent to remove the cannabinoids from the trichomes of the marijuana plant. This leaves a highly concentrated product with all the THC and none of the plant material. And as mentioned, after the BHO extraction, the extract is purged of chemicals so it's safe for use.
Quick note: you always want to be buying concentrates from reputable, licensed manufacturers in a legal, regulated market. Otherwise, there is a danger the proper safety standards weren't followed, and there can be more potential health risks.
In the early days of concentrates, butane extraction was done with an "open loop" or open blasting system. People would put weed and butane in a metal glass tube, and in this system, butane is released into the air. This is super dangerous, because butane is very flammable, and a spark can start a deadly fire or explosion.
Nowadays, most BHO extraction is done using a closed loop system that doesn't expose butane to the air in the environment at any point. This makes it much safer to produce. However, the dangers of butane extraction still mean it's really not something you should ever do at home.
CO2 extraction is similar to BHO extraction, but using a different solvent: carbon dioxide instead of butane. CO2 is a gas, but in a process called supercritical co2 extraction, it is exposed to high pressure that transforms it into a supercritical fluid.
Supercritical CO2 passes through the cannabis and strips out all the good stuff: cannabinoids and terpenes. Because the temperature of this process is lower, more cannabinoids and terpenes are retained in the resulting product.
Some argue that the best cannabis experience is when you get the entourage effect: the cannabinoids and terpene profile of the original weed. If you look at BHO vs CO2, BHO will have more of a THC-dominant cannabinoid profile and low terpenes, giving you less of an entourage effect. CO2 will be fuller-spectrum, with more CBD and other cannabinoids.
All concentrates go through post processing to remove chemical compounds left over from the extractions. Most people are totally fine with the more popular method of BHO, while some others prefer CO2 because it doesn't seem as dangerous a solvent.
Some folks in the cannabis industry even prefer concentrates that are produced without any solvents at all. In this case, neither BHO nor CO2 oil will do the trick. These consumers are probably sticking to solventless concentrates like hash, kief, and rosin.
The most popular way to enjoy marijuana concentrate is vaping it, and BHO and CO2 extracts are no exception. Not all vaporizers can handle concentrates though, and it can damage vapes that weren't made for it.
You can use a dab rig or a concentrate vaporizer. But those tend to be pretty specialized equipment for hardcore concentrate users. Many people enjoy both dry herb and concentrates, and would prefer having a device that does both as opposed to owning multiple devices.
Some dry herb vaporizers have accessories that let you safely convert a dry herb vape into a concentrate device. You can buy an insert or liquid pad that you put into the vape chamber. This will catch liquid spills as the concentrate melts during vaping.
These inserts and liquid pads have some drawbacks though. They need to be cleaned in between every use, and they're hot to the touch. Also, it's not easy to switch from dry herb to concentrate if you're out of the house, which makes the devices far less portable.
Furna has a solution to this problem. You can get ovens for both dry herb and concentrate, and swap one for the other whenever you want. This also makes it simple to pre-pack multiple ovens so that you don't have to worry at all about cleaning and reloading while you're out. Check out Furna and see how the system works in more detail.
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Two of the strongest cannabis concentrates on the market, both rosin and shatter can deliver powerful effects and high THC content. Which is the better choice though?
As you might know, the two concentrates have many key differences in appearance and consistency. Shatter is hard to the touch, and has a glass like appearance. Rosin is more of a translucent sappy substance. Check out our article "What Is Rosin?" if you want a complete introduction to rosin.
Both shatter and rosin are usually consumed by vaping, either in a dab rig, concentrate vaporizer, or a dry herb vaporizer that can handle concentrated cannabis extract. Rosin tends to have more terpenes, but both are very high in cannabinoids like THC and CBD.
The biggest difference between rosin vs shatter is how they were produced. Both involve taking cannabis flower or hash, and processing them so that only the most potent parts of the plant remain, without any unnecessary plant material.
A typical shatter extraction method involves the use of chemical solvents, while rosins are more labor intensive but are solventless extracts.
Shatter is generally cheaper than rosin, but rosin has a lot of major fans in the weed world. And it's only in part because of the use of solvent. Let's take a deeper look and see which is better of the two cannabis products.
As we mentioned, the big difference between the rosin and shatter extraction process is whether it uses chemicals.
Solvent extracts will use butane (or carbon dioxide, alcohol, ethanol, or propane) to produce butane hash oil concentrates.
Most shatter in the average dispensary will be BHO shatter. In comparison, Rosin is a solventless extract, so the process only uses heat and pressure, with no dangerous chemicals.
But it's a mistake to say that shatter isn't safe to consume. After the shatter is produced it undergoes a thorough purging process to get rid of any residual solvents. So BHO extracts are perfectly safe. Of course, only buy shatter in a regulated legal cannabis industry, to be sure you're getting a quality and safe finished product.
Still, there's lots of cannabis enthusiasts who remain concerned about the possibility of leftover solvents in their concentrates. Some people prefer to consume shatter that's produced with carbon dioxide (CO2) instead of butane, because CO2 has a long history in making food products.
For others, extracts that avoid solvents just make more sense to them from a philosophical point of view. And it's even possible to get solventless shatter. For example, rosin can be extracted as shatter if the process is done at a higher heat.
You can also make your own rosin. Making rosin is so easy, you can do it with a hair straightener and parchment paper.
Higher quality rosin is made using rosin presses though. These industrial presses make it easier to apply the high levels of heat and pressure needed for a rosin press to make the best rosin.
Everyone has their own opinions about which cannabis extracts are the best, but there's no question that rosin is consistently one of people's favorites. In addition to being produced without solvent, it's well-known for its delicious aroma and flavor.
Because of the production process, it retains more of the terpenes from the original cannabis flower. Meaning a better taste, but also terpenes themselves have enjoyable properties. Combining terpenes with cannabinoids like THC and CBD results in more of an entourage effect, which some weed enthusiasts argue results in a more satisfying experience.
However, the potency of rosin usually doesn't hit as high levels as shatter. So if you're looking for the most potent concentrate, a solvent based extract like shatter will probably hit harder.
Also when comparing rosin vs shatter, you've got to take into account the higher cost of rosin. It might not necessarily be worth it for you.
Both rosin and shatter are best experienced by vaping them. For that you'll need either a vaporizer compatible with marijuana concentrate, or for the more technically-minded, a dab rig.
There are a number of concentrate-only vapes out there on the market. They range from the super-cheap and low quality vape pens, to well-built high-end concentrate vapes that deliver potent effects.
Many cannabis fans enjoy vaping both dry herb and concentrates, and there are a few devices out there that can do both. This is a convenient option, eliminating the need to own and carry around multiple vaporizers.
With some dry herb vaporizers, you can purchase accessories that let you safely vape concentrate without damaging your vape. Basically, you insert a liquid pad into the vape's chamber to prevent melting concentrate from spilling into sensitive parts.
These inserts and liquid pads are helpful for the occasional session. But if you're a regular concentrate user, you'll probably find it annoying to deal with hot parts and messy inserts on a regular basis.
Another option is a swappable oven vaporizer like Furna. Instead of getting just one oven and an insert that you always have to clean out and reload, Furna has multiple ovens. You can get ovens for dry herb, concentrate, and 510 oil cartridges.
You can instantly swap between ovens, with no waiting for anything to cool down. And Furna’s concentrate oven is much easier to clean than an insert meant for occasional use.
You can also pre-pack ovens before leaving the house, making it much more convenient and discreet to reload your vape.
Otherwise you could be stuck cleaning out and reloading your vaporizer in a public location when you don't want to. Or dealing with low quality vapor because you didn't clean and reload your vape properly. Have a look at Furna and see the difference swappable ovens can make.
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There are tons of cannabis concentrates on the market today, and it can be tough to keep them all straight. The best way to sort them in your mind is by categorizing them according to their extraction methods.
What's an extraction method? Well, to produce cannabis concentrate, the cannabis plant material has to go through an extraction process to separate out the parts of the herb that produce effects.
Namely, you're looking to grab just the cannabinoid-rich trichomes and leave behind everything else. This is where all the THC, CBD, and terpenes in the plant are found.
There are various extraction methods out there, some of which use chemical compounds, and others which don't. Chemical cannabis extraction processes use chemical solvents to separate out the cannabinoids, and in different methods, different chemicals are used.
There are advantages and disadvantages to using one compound over another. Butane and carbon dioxide (CO2) are two of the most popular compounds used in creating cannabis extracts. Whether CO2 oil is better than distillate is a common debate among concentrate fans.
So let's take a deeper look at the CO2 extraction process. We'll see how it works, and why some people might prefer CO2 oils over other extraction methods.
Co2 oil is sometimes also known as CO2 cannabis oil, or CO2 hash oil. You'll find it in any cannabis concentrates that use CO2 in the extraction process, and these concentrates can take different forms.
For example, a common way to consume CO2 oil is vaping cartridges, either in a vape pen or an oil concentrate-compatible vaporizer. CO2 oil can also be used to make wax, a thicker concentrate, that you'd be likelier to use in a dab rig or concentrate vape.
Shatter, a harder, glass-like concentrate, can also be made from CO2 oil. In a nutshell, if a concentrate product is labeled as "CO2", that means that the original process where the cannabinoids were extracted from the cannabis was a carbon dioxide extraction.
All the other details about form and consistency of the final product have to do with heat and pressure settings during the extraction process, or after the process is over.
Making cannabis concentrates using carbon dioxide involves using what's called supercritical CO2. CO2 gas is compressed beyond a supercritical point, which converts it into a supercritical fluid. This liquid form of CO2 is then used to separate the cannabinoids from the cannabis.
Supercritical fluids can act as both a liquid and a gas, so it can move through solid matter like a gas, but can still dissolve things like a liquid. Using different pressures will create different results, and allow the separation of different cannabinoids to create a specific final product.
Meaning you can end up with a concentrate that is higher in specific compounds like THC or CBD, or terpenes. Supercritical carbon dioxide extraction is known for being able to achieve higher levels of terpenes than other methods.
Once the cannabis extraction is done, the pressure is dropped and the CO2 evaporates. The resulting cannabis oil will have no remaining CO2 left in it.
Many cannabis enthusiasts claim that CO2 extraction-based concentrates are healthier. They also argue that they have more of an entourage effect than extraction methods that use different solvents.
The basic idea here is that carbon dioxide is a safer solvent compared with other compounds that can be used. Butane is probably the most common solvent that CO2 is compared with, but propane and ethanol are also chemicals that can be used.
Regardless, all of these solvents are removed from the final product, and the weed concentrate shouldn't contain any trace amounts of residual solvents. Of course, you should only purchase products from licensed producers in regulated markets to be more certain that the concentrate is non toxic.
Some CO2 extraction fans note that CO2 has a longer track record for safe use in consumer products. Also, it doesn't rely on petroleum products, so one can argue supercritical CO2 is a more environmentally friendly solvent for making concentrates.
The entourage effect is also something worth considering. CO2 oils tend to have higher amounts of terpenes compared with butane-based extractions.
Therefore, they'll be more similar to the original effects of the plant, which includes THC, CBD, and other cannabinoids, as well as terpenes all interacting to produce particular effects.
Keep in mind that supercritical CO2 extraction is more labor intensive. Meaning products made using this method are likely to cost more. Butane-based oil extract is more cost-effective, so butane hash oil (BHO) products are usually cheaper and more common at dispensaries.
The most popular way to use CO2-based concentrates is vaping. It is possible to find cannabis capsules made from CO2 methods, and those you can just swallow. But in general, whether it's in oil, wax, or shatter form, CO2 concentrates are best when vaped.
If the concentrate is in a liquid oil state, you'll probably find it in a 510 oil cartridge, which can be loaded into a 510 oil-ready vaporizer. If it's more solid, the most popular choices are using a concentrate-compatible vaporizer, or for the more technically minded, a dab rig.
Some dry herb vaporizers will let you vape both dry herb and concentrates with the use of an accessory, but these can be messy and frustrating to use on a regular basis.
Another option is a vaporizer like Furna, which has multiple ovens that you can swap whenever you want. Furna has ovens for dry herb, concentrate, and for 510 oil cartridges. So you can switch between the various options whenever you like without having to deal with hot parts or slowing down your session.
It also means you can pre-pack ovens in advance, meaning no messy or awkward reloading of your vape. If you like both concentrates and dry herb, it's a game changer to have all these options in a single device, instead of having to carry around multiple vapes. Check out Furna now, and see what you think of swappable ovens!
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Cannabis concentrates are becoming ever more popular as more places embrace legalized and regulated marijuana. Vaping concentrates is the most popular way of consuming these more potent forms of cannabis.
You can use a concentrate vaporizer, dab rig, or wax pen to vaporize concentrates. If you want to know all your options, check out our article on the best concentrate vaporizers.
But what if you already own a dry herb vaporizer, designed for use with traditional cannabis flower? Or maybe you might be thinking of getting one, but also want to enjoy concentrates. And you don't want to carry around two vapes.
Do you have to buy multiple devices, or can you use a dry herb vape for both herbs and cannabis concentrate?
Not all dry herb vapes have options to let users convert them into concentrate vaporizers. But it's not necessarily hopeless if you own one of these. Remember, the key to safely vaping marijuana concentrate is protecting against liquid coming into contact with delicate components. And there are ways to use limited amounts of concentrate safely in dry herb vaporizers.
You can sandwich a small amount of concentrate in the middle of a bowl of dry herbs, and that should keep the liquids away from the sides of the chamber, and from spilling into the rest of the unit. So for example, you can take some hash and put it in the middle of a dry herb bowl, and it should be safe to use.
Ditto with wax or shatter - use a small amount, and make sure the wax is surrounded by herb on all sides. Remember that concentrates tend to need a higher temperature in order to release their full effects, so be sure to use your vape at a higher temperature setting to ensure better vapor.
This is harder to pull off in most convection vaping style vaporizers, which use hot air to heat the chamber. Also, the sandwich method won't be able to heat all your herb and concentrate as evenly. Meaning slightly lower THC and CBD effects from your combination sessions compared with stronger hits when consuming them separately.
Another thing to keep in mind is that vaping concentrate will result in more mess, and coat the vapor path of your vape with gunk faster. So you'll have to clean your dry herb vaporizer more often if you're also using it for concentrate.
Remember, if you want high quality vapor with a good smell and flavor, you need to make sure the air path is free of blockage. You'll be wasting THC and CBD if your vape has bad airflow.
So make sure your vaporizer is easy to clean if you're going to start throwing concentrates in there. Many portable vaporizers are also not designed with easy cleaning in mind.
Vape pens, which are very narrow portable devices, are notoriously difficult to properly clean.
The sandwich method is useful in a pinch, but it can be a bit nerve-wracking to use wax concentrates in a vape that isn't designed for it. Also, you're wasting some potency because it's less efficient to combine the two, due to uneven heating.
An accessory like an insert or liquid pad is a much more reliable way to enjoy concentrate in dry herb vapes. After you've inserted the accessory in the chamber, you can then add your wax or other concentrate. Be sure to stay below the fill line, or else you can risk it overflowing and damaging the device.
They have some drawbacks too. They're difficult to clean, and removing them from the chamber can involve handling hot parts. If you want to switch from concentrate to dry herb, that will take time, interrupting your session. You also need to be in a convenient place to do that, so it's not very portable.
If portability is a priority, you might want to look at dedicated concentrate vaporizers instead of dry herb vaporizers with inserts.
Another option is a multiple-oven vaporizer like Furna. An oven swapping vape gives you the best of both worlds in a single device, without sacrificing portability.
Furna has ovens designed for both dry herb and concentrate, and you can instantly swap one for the other, with no waiting. There's also a 510 oil oven designed for use with 510 cartridges.
You can pre-pack your ovens, making it even more of a convenient, discreet device to use. It's also easier to keep it in top working condition than using a concentrate insert. Check out Furna vapes and see what you think for yourself.
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Hash (or hashish) is one of the oldest forms of cannabis concentrate, with usage going back almost a thousand years. You can smoke and ingest hash, but only recently has a new method for consuming hash appeared on the scene. Vaping! Yep, you can vape hash in a vaporizer.
Vaping hash is actually the healthiest way to consume hash, and still get instant effects. Vaporization is easier on your lungs, and involves fewer carcinogenic substances, than smoking hash.
Eating hash is also healthier than smoking, but it can take a long time for you to experience the effects. You also need to heat it beforehand, to decarboxylate and properly activate the cannabinoids and terpenes inside.
To vaporize hash, you'll need a vaporizer capable of safely handling marijuana concentrate, and able to hit high temperatures. Many vaporizers are able to reach the ideal temperature, but still might not be able to safely vape hash without damaging the vaping device.
You need to pump up your vaporizer to the right temperature range in order to get the proper effects from your hash.
You're looking at a hotter temperature compared with vaping dry herb. You can vape dry herb at higher temps as well, but dry herb vapor will still be great at lower temperatures, it’s more of a personal preference issue.
With hashish, this isn't the case. You'll be able to get some effects starting at 356ºF (180ºC), but don't be fooled. You'll still be missing out on a lot of potency. In order to truly experience the effects of your hash, set your vape to a higher temperature of at least 390ºF (200ºC).
Of course, if you're looking for lighter effects, by all means keep your vaping temperature lower. But for most users looking for the maximum quantity of cannabinoids from their hash, a range of 390-428ºF (210–220ºC) is the sweet spot.
Most vapes can't reach much higher temperatures than that. But keep in mind that if you push it to 445ºF (230ºC), the hash will break down and there will probably be some combustion. This will affect the taste, and also give you some of the negative health effects of inhaling marijuana smoke.
So keep your vape set to a high temperature, but not too high, to get the best THC effects and flavor.
Also, there are different types of hash, and some forms are easier to vape than others. Crumbly hash or pollen hash is easier to work with. Vaporizing brick hash is tougher to break apart, and heat evenly, even at a high temperature.
Remember, not all vaporizer models can safely vaporize hash. When you vape hashish, it turns into a liquid, and it can leak through the heating chamber into sensitive electronic parts. It can damage your vape, possibly to the point where it stops working.
Even if you're able to safely vape hash, most vaporizers will be difficult to clean after vaporizing. Dabs and oils tend to vaporize more completely, but when it comes to hash, a sticky residue is likelier to be left behind. If your herb chamber is too narrow, for example a vape pen, it will be very difficult to clean.
You can buy a specialized vaporizer made specifically for vaping hash, or build your own dab rig. But for many users who also enjoy vaping regular cannabis flowers, they'd prefer to have everything in one unit instead of carrying around multiple vaporizers.
Many higher-end vaporizers will have accessories that let you safely vaporize hash and other concentrates, usually sold separately. You can buy an insert or liquid pad that you can put inside the herb chamber to protect components against liquids as the hash melts.
These accessories make vaping concentrates safe, but it's still an inferior vaping experience, especially if you like to have cannabis concentrate regularly. Dealing with these inserts can be messy, and involves dealing with hot parts.
If you want a second bowl, waiting for it to cool down, then cleaning and reloading, is time-consuming. It's annoying if you’re eager for more. It's also not easy to switch between dry herb and concentrate.
In general, dry herb devices are designed for dry herbs only and the concentrate accessories are more of an afterthought.
The Furna has a solution to all the problems posed by other top dry herb vapes, with their swappable oven system of vaping. With Furna, you can get ovens for dry herb, concentrates, and even a 510 cartridge compatible oven.
Whenever you want, you can swap one oven for the other. They're insulated and safe to handle, even right after use, so there's no danger of burning your fingers if you're eager to continue your session.
You can even pre-pack the ovens in advance, making it much more convenient to use when you're on the move. You never have to clean and reload your vaporizer in an inconvenient or indiscreet location. Check out Furna today and see what you think!
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The world of cannabis concentrates can be a bit confusing at first. Concentrates are stronger forms of marijuana, produced by an extraction method that strips out all the plant material and keeps only the active compounds, like cannabinoids (THC and CBD) and terpenes.
But beyond that basic similarity, there are many differences between all the cannabis extracts. The most obvious one is that the shape and consistency of concentrates vary a lot.
Shatter, for example, is hard but sticky to the touch, and looks like glass. Wax has a soft consistency, and is easier to work with but needs to be consumed more quickly.
But the consistency of a concentrate doesn't tell you everything you need to know. The type of cannabis oil used to create the concentrate matters too. So if you're wondering whether butane hash oil (BHO) and wax are the same thing, you're not quite asking the right question.
Wax concentrate can be made from BHO, or it can be made from different oils. Most concentrates in an average dispensary were probably produced with BHO, so it's quite likely if you have some wax, it's BHO wax.
In general, weed concentrate can be produced either using chemical solvents, or without any solvents at all. The solvents used in the production process are usually butane, propane, ethanol, or carbon dioxide.
BHO concentrates, as you might imagine, are produced using butane. The final product can take the form of BHO shatter, budder, or BHO wax. The different consistencies are produced by using different temperatures. You can read more about it in our guide to BHO.
Butane hash oil concentrates can be among the strongest cannabis products out there, with THC concentration of 70-90%. So use caution when trying BHO concentrate: start slow to see how it works for you, and only use moderate amounts. It's extremely potent stuff.
Butane extraction is not an easy process, and it's dangerous to do on your own. Extraction companies will use closed loop equipment to ensure there are no explosions or contamination during the process.
Butane is a highly flammable solvent and it'll be destructive if exposed to open air, hence the closed loop system. Leave manufacturing BHO to professionals, and only buy products from licensed producers in regulated markets to ensure the safest possible product and experience.
The most common method for producing BHO is using the butane as a solvent to strip the active cannabinoids from the trichomes of the marijuana plant. The resulting butane hash oil then goes through a purging process to get rid of the residual solvents.
If the BHO is shaken during the production process, that will result in a softer form of BHO wax like budder. Producing BHO shatter works a bit differently: shatter is purged in a vacuum oven for two days. This process also hardens it, giving the cannabis shatter like consistency.
Shatter also is made using higher temperatures during the extraction process, while when making waxes, lower temperatures are used, preventing the BHO wax from hardening.
Everything we've described so far has focused entirely on butane hash oil. Clearly there are a lot of different resulting concentrates, just from this one method alone. But there are other extraction methods too.
Other solvents that can be used include propane and ethanol, but probably the most popular among cannabis concentrate fans is carbon dioxide extraction, resulting in CO2 oil.
For users concerned about possible trace amounts of chemical solvent left in BHO wax, carbon dioxide seems a little safer, as it has a long track record of use in consumer products like decaf coffee.
There are also many concentrate options that are produced without the use of chemical solvents whatsoever. Some of these are very traditional, older forms of concentrate like hash and kief. These are produced using more natural methods like sifting, shaking, and compression.
Hash and kief might not be as strong as butane hash oil or CO2 oil, but there is one solventless concentrate that compares in terms of potency. Rosin is a high-strength concentrate that's made entirely from pressure and heat, without the use of solvents.
In general, rosin is typically more expensive, and can be among the priciest products at a dispensary. It certainly has an excellent flavor and potent effects, and for consumers worried about the potential dangers of chemicals, it can be worth it.
As with other concentrates, the most common way to enjoy BHO wax is by vaping it. You can also smoke the various forms of BHO, but you'll miss out on some of the THC and terpenes as they'll be burned away before you get to inhale them.
Concentrate vaporizers are the most popular method for consuming marijuana wax. Some BHO extract is also found in 510 oil cartridges, the format used by many vape pens.
Many users enjoy using a dab rig, which involves heating concentrate on a nail with a torch. But there's a bit of danger involved for people without much technical expertise.
There's a big range in quality among concentrate vapes. You can find expensive, non-portable models that deliver amazing vapor and low-grade vape pens with poor battery life, inferior vapor, and difficulty of maintenance.
If you enjoy both dry herb and concentrates, you'll probably want to get a vaporizer that can use both, rather than carting around two different devices. Many high-end dry herb vapes have optional accessories that allow you to insert a liquid pad into the chamber to make them safe for concentrate vaping.
These inserts work in a pinch, but with repeated use have some drawbacks. They can be difficult to clean, and time-consuming if you want to have more than one bowl, as you need to wait for the hot parts to cool off.
The Furna vaporizer brings something new to the table: multiple ovens that can be instantly swapped one for another. There are specialized ovens for dry herb, concentrate, and even 510 oil cartridge compatible ovens.
You can pre-pack ovens in advance, and can switch between them as much as you like, giving you all the options you need for any given session. You don't even have to wait for them to cool down, as the ovens are insulated for safe handling.
It's a game-changer for anyone interested in a single device that can vape every type of cannabis. No more clumsy cleaning hot parts and reloading awkwardly in an inconvenient location. With Furna, you can have everything you want at your fingertips. Check out the Furna vape for yourself.
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There has been an explosion in the popularity of cannabis concentrates in recent years, with a number of potent options becoming more easily available. The extraction processes of concentrates are different and each method produces different extracts.
Sometimes the production process involves the use of chemical solvents, and most of the concentrates you'll find in your average dispensary will probably be one of these. But other concentrates are made without the use of solvents.
Solvents aren't necessarily something you have to avoid: the chemicals are removed from the concentrate after the process is over. But they may remain in tiny trace amounts. For some people, this concern is enough for them to stick with solventless cannabis concentrate.
Traditional cannabis concentrates that don't use solvents include hash and kief, and you might be familiar with one or both of those. But one of the most popular new concentrates out there is rosin. Rosin concentrate can take a variety of different forms: it could be sap-like, have a softer, budder-like texture, or be harder, like shatter.
All rosin is considered full spectrum, meaning it contains all the cannabinoids and the terpene profile of the original plant. Some cannabis lovers theorize that there is an entourage effect among these ingredients, giving you a better experience when they are combined instead of extracted in isolation.
Some rosin can also be what's called live rosin, which is made with cannabis flower that's frozen immediately after harvest. Live rosin (not to be confused with live resin) is a high-quality cannabis concentrate known for its purity, taste, and strength. But it's also more expensive.
The difference between rosin and live rosin is pretty simple: it refers to whether the cannabis used to make the rosin was cured and dried beforehand.
If the cannabis didn't go through the drying and curing process, and was flash frozen immediately after being picked, then it can be made into bubble hash. And it's that bubble hash that can be pressed into live rosin.
The best live rosin is made using full melt bubble hash, and full melt live rosins tend to score highly in the hash industry's 6-star rating scale.
In order to make rosin, high pressure and heat is applied to cannabis until it squeezes out a translucent substance that looks a bit like sap. The source material can be marijuana flower, kief, or hash.
Live rosin involves several additional steps. After the cannabis plants are harvested, the flower is immediately flash frozen. The cannabis is then stirred to rinse the trichomes loose. Remember, trichomes are where the cannabinoids (THC, CBD, etc.) and terpenes are found. They're the compounds that give cannabis its special effects.
The water is filtered through a series of fine mesh bags until only the trichomes are left, creating bubble hash. The bubble hash is then freeze dried, and then squeezed in the high-powered presses to create live rosin.
One thing you should know before we continue talking about live rosin. There's a concentrate out there with a very similar name, but it's a completely different product. Confusingly, it's called live resin.
Live resin is also a potent cannabis concentrate, and the "live" part of its name also refers to the fact that the cannabis was flash frozen right after it was harvested. But live resin is different from live rosin because solvents are used in the process.
Typically, carbon dioxide or butane are used to make live resin. Live resin can also be found in a variety of forms, from sauce, to diamonds, to badder/budder.
Live resin is definitely considered a top-quality concentrate, and includes all the cannabinoids and terpenes from the original weed. However, live rosin is considered to be even better than live resin by most cannabis concentrate lovers. With the added benefit of being chemical free.
Live rosin may offer amazing flavor and a potent experience but it definitely comes at a price. How much is live rosin? It will usually be the most expensive concentrate per gram at a dispensary.
The reason it's more costly to make live rosin vs other forms of concentrate, is that the manufacturing process requires a lot more labor. Also, because it's a specialty product, the batches tend to be smaller and more artisanal.
Regular rosin is already expensive, but live rosin adds even more to the cost.
In the United States, you can probably expect to pay between $40-80/gram for live rosin at a dispensary. You can definitely find product prices above that range, going up to $125/gram.
Some of those high-end live rosins might be an incredible experience, but they’re probably not worth the cost for the average consumer.
For cannabis lovers who want the ultimate concentrate, made without any solvents in the extraction process, live rosin is definitely the ticket. The flavor and effects from a quality live rosin will rival any other cannabis product on the market.
However, if you're at all on a budget with your cannabis spending, you'll want to save live rosin for a rare treat. To keep costs low on a regular basis, you're better off going with less expensive concentrates and dry herb.
The most popular way to enjoy live rosin is vaping it. You can smoke rosin if you want, although you will miss out on some of the effects because smoking rosin is less efficient, and some of the cannabinoids will be burned away before you get to enjoy them.
It's also possible to ingest rosin, but you'll need to heat it up first to decarboxylate it and activate the THC. It'll also take longer to kick in if you eat it.
To vape rosin, you can use a concentrate vaporizer or a dab rig. If you enjoy both dry herb and cannabis concentrates, you should consider a dry herb vape that can handle both. That way you don't have to deal with multiple vaporizers, especially if you're trying to keep things portable.
Many high-end dry herb vapes have accessories that allow you to safely vape concentrates. These are inserts or liquid pads that you can insert in the vaporizer's heating chamber. Then you can vape concentrate without fear that oils will spill out and damage your vaporizer's parts.
In practice, these solutions work okay, but are still messy, inconvenient, and time-consuming. Furna's dry herb vaporizer takes the hybrid model to another level entirely. Furna has multiple ovens, and you can instantly swap one for another.
Whenever you want, you can instantly swap one oven for another, making it simple to switch between dry herb, concentrates, and even 510 oil cartridge-compatible ovens. You don't even have to wait for them to cool down, making it easy to enjoy longer uninterrupted sessions with friends.
Multiple ovens also means you can pack your bowls in advance, which is extremely convenient since cleaning and reloading a vape can be a pain when you're on the go. Check out the Furna vape today and see how fun it could be to have all the options you want at your fingertips.
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Vaping cannabis concentrate is an exciting new way to enjoy the effects of the cannabis plant. Concentrates are more potent versions of traditional marijuana, produced by extracting the trichomes from the plant and leaving out the other plant material.
The resulting product is extremely high in cannabinoids (THC and/or CBD), which is great for people looking for a stronger experience. Or just as a change of pace from ordinary cannabis.
One of the strongest forms of concentrates is distillate, with THC levels reaching as high as 90%. This is because distillate has removed everything from the cannabis except for the cannabinoids.
Even the terpenes, which give a weed strain its flavor and aroma are usually removed in distillate.
But how do you consume distillate? Can you vape it using a vaporizer?
There are lots of options for enjoying distillate, but vaping distillate is definitely the most popular one. You can vape distillate in a concentrate vaporizer that can handle oil, a dab rig, or using a distillate cartridge and vape pen. Some dry herb vaporizers are also able to vape distillate, with the use of specialized ovens or accessories.
Many cannabis capsules available on the market are filled with distillate, usually with THC distillate or CBD distillate, or a balanced mixture. But, as we mentioned, distillates will be missing the terpenes from the original herb. Sometimes, terpenes will be added back in, but they might not be the same terpenes as the original weed strain.
Most cannabis edibles out there in the market are also made with THC distillate. Since distillate has no odor, it doesn’t mess with the flavor of recipes. THC distillate is also cost-effective for edible manufacturers, so it's a good fit for low-cost edibles. Distillate can also be dropped sublingually, or under the tongue. Many topical products made for use on your skin are also distillates.
Distillate is a cannabis oil, and the word distillate refers to the distillation process that the oil undergoes. Distillate essentially takes an existing cannabis oil (produced using a variety of methods) and distills it further to isolate only parts of the oil.
The most common cannabis distillates are THC distillate and CBD distillate. Sometimes a distillate will include both of these cannabinoids, or more, and other times it will be a purer isolate. Usually, the name of the distillate will tell you the most prominent cannabinoids that are left in the oil.
A THC-dominant distillate might have almost no other cannabinoids in it, just a potent THC high. And CBD distillate will usually have little or no other cannabinoids, meaning it can be consumed without any intoxicating THC or the corresponding high.
The most common way to enjoy distillate cartridges is using vape pens of some variety. You can get disposable vape pens, or you can use a vape pen that is reloadable with 510 oil cartridges.
Not all cartridges available in stores are distillate, but quite often they are, due to the relative cheapness of distillate, as well as how strong they are.
When consuming weed oils, be sure to buy from licensed producers in a regulated market. Vaporizing black market cannabis concentrates could mean consuming unwanted chemicals and negative health effects.
Distillate has a somewhat debated value among cannabis enthusiasts. A lot of people argue that distillates provide an inferior experience compared with fuller spectrum concentrates.
Basically, the argument is that cannabis distillate doesn't have the same benefits and effects as the original cannabis plant, because the terpenes have been removed.
Some people may also find the high of THC distillates to be a bit artificial feeling in comparison to non-distillate cannabis. You can always try both distillate and non-distillate cannabis oils and see if you have differences in experience.
In general, fuller spectrum oils like butane hash oil (BHO) or CO2 oil are more expensive than distillate. But they usually still contain the original terpenes, and the final product is closer to the original weed it was made from than THC distillate, in terms of both taste and effects.
You can check out our article comparing distillate and CO2 oil to learn more about this debate. But don't forget, you can also mix and match! You can always have some fuller spectrum oils to meet your terpene desires, plus some distillate to give you that extra THC push.
Just remember, concentrates have a very high potency. So be cautious and start slow to avoid experiences that are too strong for you, and get to know what dosage levels or combinations work best for you.
The best way to vaporize THC oil easier is going to depend entirely on your needs and personal preference. If you're looking to try it just once to get an idea of the experience, you can always try a disposable distillate pen.
It won't give you high quality vapor though. And THC pens with prefilled cartridges of oil inside aren't cost-effective over the long term.
There are a number of higher-end concentrate vaporizers that do an excellent job with distillate, and are built with long-term usage and maintenance in mind. If you know you're going to stick to concentrate only, one of these might be your best bet. A dab rig is also an excellent option, especially if you're a technically minded person.
In terms of cost, a high-end cannabis pen could be a good middle ground between a cheap THC pen and a pricey concentrate vape. You can expect moderate quality vapor, a lightweight product, and in most cases, short battery life. But it will likely be difficult to clean and maintain, so it will perform poorly over the long term compared with a proper vaporizer.
Another very popular option is using a dry herb vape to enjoy concentrates. Dry herb vaporizing is the healthiest and most common way to vape traditional cannabis flower. A lot of people enjoy both dry herb and concentrate. And most folks prefer having a single high-quality device that has all the vaping options they want, instead of carrying around multiple vaporizers.
In general, dry herb vapes weren't designed with concentrate vaping as their priority. But many high-end dry herb vaporizers have accessories available that let you safely use concentrates. You can buy inserts or a liquid pad that you place inside the heating chamber of your vape. Once the insert is inside, you can add concentrate safely.
It's an okay solution, but in practice, it's messy and inconvenient to do on a regular basis, and not easy when you're out and about. You need to wait for the chamber to cool down and clean it out in between every session.
The Furna vaporizer solves these problems with their swappable oven system. With Furna, you can have both a concentrate oven and a dry herb oven, and instantly swap between the two with no waiting. This means you can pre-load them in advance too.
Furna also has oil ovens specifically designed for 510 vape cartridges. Meaning you can even enjoy distillate cartridges in the same device. Just screw the 510 cart directly into the oil oven, and you're good to go. Check out Furna's oven swapping dry herb vape to see the difference in convenience.
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These are exciting times for cannabis lovers, because the number of marijuana products out there keep increasing. One particularly cool development is the increasing availability of cannabis concentrates out there.
Concentrates are concentrated forms of herb that are significantly stronger than traditional cannabis flower. If you'd like to learn about all the different types of cannabis concentrate, check out our article about the basics of weed concentrates.
You can smoke concentrates, or ingest them. Keep in mind, you can only eat them once they've been heated, so that the active ingredients like THC are properly activated.
But the most popular way to consume concentrates is definitely vaping.
This shouldn't be a surprise, as vaping is more efficient, allowing users to get more effects out of their concentrates. This means you'll save money over time, as you don't need to buy as much. Vaping also is easier on your lungs compared with smoking, so it's a better choice for respiratory health.
Which vape is best to vaporize concentrates? That'll depend on a couple of factors: whether you want a portable device, and whether you want to vape more than just concentrates. Some dry herb vapes can also vape concentrates - but they're not all equally convenient to use. We'll get to the bottom of these questions and more as we explore the world of concentrate vapes.
There's a huge range of concentrate vapes out there, with varying quality. The prices vary a lot too, from cheap vape pens to high-end vaporizers like the Indux Reflux (which start at $2000).
Which concentrate vaporizer makes sense for you will depend on what kind of a concentrate user you are. If you're hard-core into concentrates, and don't consume other marijuana products, then it might make sense to go for a higher-end dedicated device.
Most of the higher-quality devices are tabletop vaporizers designed for home use. Among these, Dr. Dabber, Puffco, and FlowerPot regularly receive top marks from users. But they're not cheap.
But you can expect high quality vapor, and a reasonably durable device, if you go with a well-reviewed concentrate vape.
You can also build your own dab rig, which is a specialized type of bong or water type, designed for use with concentrates. A dab rig has a chamber with a nail which you heat with a torch. You dab the concentrate onto the nail, heat it up, then inhale the vapor.
Dab rigs were a popular choice before there were many concentrate vapes on the market, and it's still a preferred option by many people. Dab rigs can be a little difficult to get started with, but for more technically-minded folks they're great. Just be extremely cautious since many dab rigs involve using an open flame.
There are also a number of compact vape pens out there designed for use with concentrates. In general, wax vape pens offer worse quality vapor production than the higher-end desktop vapes, but they have the advantage of being way more portable.
However, battery life is usually disappointing with most models, and cleaning dab vape pens can be a real pain. It's easy for them to become clogged. And once they're clogged, you'll be wasting concentrate every session, since you won't be able to get its full effects.
Cleaning your wax pen between every session is crucial, but vape pens are usually designed to be light and cheap, and not really with long-term use or maintenance in mind. Also, a low-end concentrate vape pen won't deliver good vapor to begin with, and will be even less durable in the long-term.
For people that enjoy vaping both dry herb and cannabis concentrate, it can be annoying to use two different vapes. Especially if you're trying to be portable - you don't want to cart around two vaporizers and all their accessories.
Putting concentrate in a dry herb vape is usually an option, if you surround the concentrate with dry herb. This protects the heating chamber from the concentrate which will get sticky as the concentrate melts. However, this doesn't work with all vapes: you need to make sure that no liquid will get into the sensitive parts of your vaporizer.
Another drawback is that you're not really getting the full effects. It's not possible to properly and evenly heat all the dry herb and concentrate in this "sandwich" configuration, so you will miss out on some effects. In a pinch, it's a good solution though.
Many of the top dry herb vaporizers offer additional accessories that allow you to more effectively vape concentrate. Often, you'll be able to buy an insert or liquid pad that you can put inside the chamber, making it easier to vape concentrate without danger to your device.
These inserts are an okay solution, but still have weak points. They can be difficult to load and clean, especially in portable vaporizers. You have to wait in between bowls for hot parts to cool enough so that you can clean and reload them. For folks that only use concentrates very rarely, this might be acceptable; but for concentrate lovers, it will be a source of frustration.
The Furna vape has a new approach to this problem. Instead of having an insert you put into your dry herb oven, Furna has a swappable oven system that includes both dry herb and concentrate ovens.
Whenever you're done one oven (of any variety), you can instantly swap for a fresh oven. No cleaning or waiting for things to cool down, they're safe to swap at any time. Multiple ovens also means you can pre-pack all your ovens in advance before leaving the house, or starting a session with friends.
It's easy to keep track of which oven is which. The ovens come with multicolored mouthpiece nibs so you can tell at a glance. Also, when you load an oven into the vaporizer, a custom symbol will show up on the display.
The concentrate ovens are specifically designed for concentrate only, and are simple to clean compared with vaporizer inserts and liquid pads. Furna also has a special 510 oil oven, making it simple to enjoy 510 oil cartridges as well.
So instead of having multiple vaporizers, or a dry herb vape that's difficult to reload and clean, you can have everything you need in a single portable vaporizer. Have a look at Furna to see what you think for yourself.
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Cannabis concentrates are stronger, more concentrated forms of marijuana that give you more potent effects. They're exploding in popularity due to legalized markets, and they give cannabis consumers a fun new variety of products to try and add to their repertoire.
If you've never vaped weed concentrate or dabbled in dabs, the world of concentrates can be a bit overwhelming at first. If you need an overview of what all the different concentrates are, check out our article about cannabis concentrates for beginners.
In this article, we'll focus on one type of marijuana concentrate: butane hash oil (BHO). Typically, BHO cannabis products are some of the most potent concentrates out there, with THC content of around 70-90%.
Butane hash oils, also sometimes known as butane honey oil, can come in a variety of forms and textures. You may be familiar with terms like wax, budder, shatter, and crumble. Although these textures can be produced using other extraction methods, these products usually are made from BHO.
First, we’ll look at how BHO extracts are produced. Then, we'll talk a little bit about how butane hash oil compares with other concentrates. Finally, we'll discuss how to vape BHO.
When BHO concentrates are manufactured, butane is used as a chemical solvent to separate the active compounds (like THC and CBD) from the trichomes of the cannabis plant.
The plant material is then discarded. The resulting butane hash oil is usually somewhere between golden and dark amber in color. It can have a consistency anywhere from a liquid oil to hard, glass-like shatter.
Professional manufacturers usually use what's called closed loop extraction (or closed loop system). This allows the butane to travel through the plant matter without being exposed to air. Since butane is a flammable solvent, producing BHO concentrate can be very dangerous.
Don't try to produce butane hash oil at home, even if you have professional BHO extraction equipment. Any errors in butane extraction can lead to disaster.
Although producing BHO oil can be dangerous if not done by professionals, consuming butane hash oil isn't dangerous. Of course, be sure to only buy from licensed producers in a regulated market. You want to make sure you're getting a concentrate that is safe to vape.
BHO extraction does involve using chemical solvents, but after the process of making the concentrate is done, the solvents are thoroughly purged. It’s possible that some trace amounts of residual solvents remain in the resulting concentrate.
Some cannabis consumers are concerned about the use of solvents, and they choose to stick to concentrates produced using solventless techniques. Unfortunately, doing this would restrict you to using just hash, rosin, and kief.
Some people claim that CO2 oil is a safer alternative to BHO oil. In CO2 oil, carbon dioxide is used as the solvent, and they argue that carbon dioxide has a longer track record of safe use in consumer products.
One big advantage of butane hash oil cannabis concentrate is that it usually packs a great punch for the price. It's one of the strongest weed concentrates out there, but because the extraction method is relatively cheap and efficient.
Butane hash oil does a great job of retaining the original cannabinoids (THC and CBD) from the original plant materials. However, some of the terpenes will be lost because of the high temperature of BHO extraction.
CO2 oil will have more terpenes than BHO oil, and a flavor closer to the original cannabis flower. But C02 oil is usually more expensive than butane hash oil.
BHO extracts can have a variety of shapes and consistency. BHO wax, the most common BHO concentrate, is soft and easy to break apart. Shatter, on the other hand, is a solid translucent substance that looks like glass.
There are also BHO oils and saps, but because they're more of a liquid consistency and tough to handle without making a mess, they're less popular.
Live resin is made from flash frozen marijuana plants that didn't go through drying and curing. Live resin has more terpenes than other BHO concentrates, and has a more complex flavor.
Other forms of BHO include budder, sauce, diamonds, pull and snap, and crumble.
The most popular way to use BHO wax is dabbing it, using a dab rig. A dab rig is a specialized device for consuming concentrate. You apply a small amount of concentrate to the nail, heat the nail with a torch, then breathe in the resulting vapor.
Dab rigs aren't for everybody, and many folks choose to enjoy their concentrates using a vaporizer. You'll need one designed for use with cannabis concentrate.
If you're planning to vape both dry herb and concentrates, you might not want two separate devices. That can become a pain in terms of clutter, especially if you're trying to stay portable.
With some dry herb vaporizers, it's possible to add a little bit of concentrate, as long as it's surrounded by dry herb. You're mostly just trying to prevent a mess that will be annoying to clean.
Other vaporizers will have specialized inserts that let you safely enjoy a concentrate-only session. However, these inserts can be awkward to handle, especially if they're still hot. Clean-up is also pretty frustrating.
The Furna vaporizer features an innovative concept that combines the best of concentrate vaping and dry herb vaping in a single device. Furna has multiple ovens: some are designed for dry herb, others concentrate, and finally, 510 oil cartridges.
You can instantly swap between ovens of different types, and it's extremely convenient to be able to load up ovens in advance. A single session can effortlessly go between dry herb and concentrate and back again, with no pauses. Check out Furna to learn more.
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Cannabis concentrates have been quickly becoming a popular way to enjoy the effects and benefits of cannabis. It's fun to have a higher-strength option that offers different experiences, especially if you have a higher tolerance to cannabinoids like THC.
There are lots of concentrates out there, and a helpful way to sort them in your head is by categorizing them according to how they were made. Some concentrates are made using chemical solvents, like butane, propane, ethanol, or carbon dioxide, while others are made with solventless techniques.
If you want to learn more about how all the different concentrates are made, check out our complete guide to weed concentrate.
After the concentrate extraction process is finished, the concentrate is cleaned to remove residual solvents. But some trace amounts of solvent will be left over.
Some people in the cannabis community have a preference for avoiding solvents in their concentrates, and try not to consume concentrates that were produced using solvents.
Traditionally, the most popular solventless weed concentrates have been hash and kief.
But a newer contender rapidly growing in popularity is rosin concentrate. Rosin is generally stronger than hash and kief, and you can even make your own rosin at home. (All you need is a hair straightener and some parchment paper.)
Let's look more deeply at this concentrate, from how it's made, to how to consume rosin.
Unlike other popular extraction methods like butane hash oil, rosin production doesn't use chemicals at all. Instead, high heat and pressure is applied to marijuana flower (or kief or hash) until a translucent sappy substance is squeezed out of the plant material.
Rosin usually preserves most of all of the active ingredients in cannabis. All the cannabinoids (THC, CBD, and others) and terpenes will be retained, giving you a concentrate that will deliver all the effects of the original herb.
This isn't true of all concentrates: many solvent-using concentrates will be a distillation of only some parts of the original weed strain.
Most distillates will have no terpenes, and might emphasize only one cannabinoid (usually THC or CBD) from the starting material. Although these concentrates can still be enjoyable, you'll probably notice a difference in the effects and high compared with the original source cannabis.
If a rosin is labeled as "live rosin", that means the cannabis flower that was used to produce it was never cured or dried. Instead, live rosin is made from fresh or frozen flower.
Don't confuse live rosin with live resin, even though they have similar names. Live resin is a different product entirely, and it's made using solvents.
Live rosin tends to look more opaque compared with translucent regular rosin. Some cannabis enthusiasts argue that live rosin has a better taste and more terpenes than other concentrates. It can also be more potent.
It's typically more expensive to buy live rosin, it can even be the highest priced concentrate at some dispensaries. But for some weed concentrate lovers, the higher price is worth it for the potency and flavor of a higher quality extract.
You can consume rosin a number of ways: vaping, dabbing, and smoking it. Ingesting rosin is possible, but you need to heat it up first to decarboxylate it and activate the THC. Eating rosin will take longer to take effect.
Also, the effects will be limited if the rosin was produced at a lower temperature, because the THC needs to be heated to be activated. So if you're looking for strong and fast effects, you're better off vaping or smoking rosin.
To vape rosin, you'll need a vaporizer designed to work with cannabis concentrates. Simply add some rosin to the vape's chamber, then heat it up to the desired temperature and inhale.
You can also do rosin dabs, by putting a small amount of rosin on the nail of a dab rig. The nail is then lit with a blowtorch or heated by an electronic element, and then vapor is produced that you can inhale. Dabbing rosin involves some specialized equipment and knowledge, so it's not for everyone, but it's one of the most popular ways of consuming rosin.
Smoking rosin is pretty straightforward. Just a chunk of rosin to a joint, pipe bowl, or bong hit. It's a good idea to put it on top of ground cannabis flower to keep things from getting messy. Adding rosin is a surefire way to take smoking bud to another level.
Remember, rosin is an extremely concentrated form of cannabis, so go slowly and with small amounts. You don't want to end up with effects that are stronger than you're comfortable with.
Vaping rosin and other concentrates can be a lot of fun, but for many cannabis enthusiasts, concentrates are only one of the ways that they like to consume weed. Usually, people want to be able to vaporize both dry herb (fresh cannabis) and concentrates.
Unfortunately, not very many vapes are able to handle both dry herb and concentrates - meaning you might need two vaporizers if you want to do both. You can sandwich some concentrate in the middle of a bowl of dry herb if you like, but that can sometimes get a bit messy.
Some vapes like the PAX, the Mighty, and the DaVinci IQ have optional attachments and inserts that allow you to use the devices for concentrates. However, it can be a time consuming process loading and cleaning them afterwards, and you have to be careful while handling potentially hot parts.
Furna has a more convenient solution, with their swappable oven system. With the Furna vape, you can instantly swap between a used oven and a fresh one, without any waiting.
Furna also has specialized ovens for dry herb, concentrate, and 510 oil cartridges.
It’s a breeze to switch from dry herb to concentrate and back again, going wherever your session takes you. Having multiple ovens also makes it way easier to keep everything clean. Check out Furna vaporizers to learn more about it.
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There are a lot of options out there when it comes to cannabis concentrates. It can be tough to understand all the differences between them, and even harder to decide which form of concentrate might be best for you.
Concentrates are all high potency in terms of cannabinoids like THC and CBD, compared with cannabis flower. But each concentrate has its own quirks and effects. If you'd like an overview, check out our full introduction to cannabis concentrate.
In this article, we'll focus on two different types of concentrates: CO2 oil and distillate. They're both concentrated weed in a liquid form, and both are oils. The most common way of consuming them is using a vaporizer, but you can also swallow capsules filled with either oil.
The biggest difference between CO2 oil and distillates is what compounds are in the oil. CO2 oil will be closer in character to the original weed strain, in both flavor and effects.
Distillate is produced with a specific goal: isolating one or more cannabinoids from the original cannabis (usually THC and/or CBD). Distillate is usually more highly concentrated, so it's stronger and less is required to achieve the same effects. Distillates can have THC content as high as 90%.
Usually, distillates will remove the terpenes from the original cannabis, leaving it flavorless. This can make distillates a better fit for use in edibles, as the taste won't mess with recipes.
However, the terpenes can have beneficial effects, so missing them will change the quality and vibe of your session.
CO2 oil is produced by using carbon dioxide to extract the cannabinoids from the cannabis plant matter.
The carbon dioxide acts as a solvent, and after the process is finished, it's removed from the resulting concentrate. It can still be present in trace amounts.
Because CO2 is a common solvent (think decaf coffee), some people are more comfortable with CO2 extraction when compared with other solvent-based extraction methods. It has a longer history in consumer products.
Still, always be sure to buy cannabis oil products from licensed producers in legal markets. Cannabis concentrates from unregulated suppliers can potentially be dangerous.
Distillate is an even further concentrated oil that goes through an additional distillation process.
In fact, sometimes, distillate is even made from CO2 oil itself. Other times, it's produced from a different concentrate, usually butane hash oil or BHO.
Although the solvents used in BHO are removed from the resulting oil, some people have a personal preference to avoid solvents like butane, propane, and ethanol.
Both CO2 oils and distillates can be good for various purposes. So you can think about what you're going for in a given concentrate session, and then try the oil that feels right for that moment. You can even have both in a single session.
If you're looking for an experience that matches the original cannabis strain well, both in terms of taste and effects, you'll want to go with CO2 oil. The carbon dioxide extraction process leaves the terpenes of the weed intact.
Terpenes are the compounds found in the marijuana plant that give it its taste and aroma. But they can also have varied properties that affect your experience, like relaxation, or alertness.
Some people argue that to get the proper experience of cannabis, it's best to keep the cannabinoid profile of the original herb intact. The cannabinoids and terpenes should have the full spectrum of compounds found in the plant.
This is known as the theory of the entourage effect. The basic idea is that the true benefits of cannabis comes from all the cannabinoids and terpenes working together to produce their effects.
A cannabis concentrate that doesn't contain the full spectrum won't produce the entourage effect. So distillates are thought by some to provide an inferior experience.
It's not fully known whether the entourage effect exists and whether a concentrate is full spectrum matters. You can compare your experience with both types and see if it makes a difference for you.
Distillate has its advantages too though. For one thing, it packs a serious punch into a small package. This means less weight to carry around (although cannabis concentrates don't weigh much to begin with).
They can also be cheaper. If you're a company looking to produce edibles at a mass scale, it can be easier to have THC distillate as your source for the cannabis ingredient. Distillate has no flavor so it doesn't affect the recipe.
Some people report that distillates give them a worse experience than other concentrates. They can be quite potent, and for some people, maybe that much THC without other compounds to balance it out can be unpleasant.
However, you can also get balanced distillate that includes CBD in the mixture, and many users report a more pleasurable experience when it's not just pure THC. There are CBD-dominant and pure CBD distillates too, if you don't want the THC high.
CO2 and distillate are sold in cartridges known as 510 cartridges, or carts for short. Cartridges sometimes come in disposable vape pens, or you can purchase 510 carts and insert them into a concentrate vaporizer.
Concentrate vapor is much more potent than dry herb vapor, and it also has a lighter odor when used.
And as a reminder, make sure to only buy oil vapes or vape pens from trusted sources in regulated markets.
Switching between vaping oil and dry herb can be a hassle. Dealing with two different devices is a pain, and just because you enjoy cannabis concentrate doesn't mean you don't also want dry herb a lot of the time.
The Furna vaporizer features a unique solution to this problem in a single device. Instead of having only one oven to vaporize herb, Furna has swappable ovens. You can switch one for another whenever you want.
Furna has a specialized 510 oil oven allowing you to easily switch to vaping CO2 oil or distillate whenever you want, even in the middle of a dry herb session.
It's incredibly convenient, and makes for an especially perfect combo when you're on the go, without the need to carry multiple vapes. Check out Furna's oil and dry herb vape to learn more.
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The world of cannabis concentrates can be daunting for someone that's used to traditional cannabis flower.
Shatter, hash, wax, dabs, kief, oils, and rosin: all these terms can be a bit intimidating. It's no wonder many people prefer to stick with the forms of weed that they're used to.
It’s true that marijuana concentrates might not be for everyone. They do tend to appeal to more experienced cannabis connoisseurs, or folks that are seeking more potent, intense experiences.
But cannabis concentrate could have a place in any herb enthusiast's toolkit. You don't necessarily have to have a large amount, or experience heavy effects. Concentrates tend to have a high THC content, but you can also find ones that are CBD-dominant and won't get you very high.
In this article, we'll provide an overview of the most popular cannabis concentrates out there: what they are, how to use them, and what you can expect.
Hopefully it's helpful to both people that have never used concentrates, and to folks that are more experienced explorers.
Cannabis concentrates are any product that's made from distilling the active ingredients in cannabis plants. By active ingredients, we're talking about cannabinoids like THC and CBD, and terpenes too.
These compounds are what give your weed its effects and aroma, and concentrates will have similar effects to the strain in its original form.
Marijuana concentrates don't include any of the excess plant material, meaning it's a much stronger, highly concentrated form of cannabis. They have a much higher percentage of THC, CBD, and terpenes compared to normal herb.
Cannabis concentrates can be consumed by themselves, or combined with other forms of cannabis. For example, you can sprinkle some in a joint to increase its potency or add different effects.
In order to produce concentrates, the trichomes of the cannabis plant are extracted. Trichomes are the gland in the plant that stores the cannabinoids and terpenes.
How are concentrates extracted? There are two main ways: methods that use a liquid solvent, and those that don't. We'll divide up this guide into these two broad categories.
Some extraction methods will remove everything but one specific cannabinoid (like THC or CBD), and others leave the full range of cannabinoids and terpenes intact. The experience varies greatly from one concentrate to another, so exploring your options and finding your favorites can take time.
But with all the options out there, conducting your research should be fun and stimulating.
Solvent-free extraction is also known as physical extraction. With a solventless extraction method, the trichomes are separated from the cannabis plant using a purely physical process, like pressing or shaking.
You can think of it as the trichomes being like the fruit of a tree. If you shake the cannabis enough, the THC-rich "fruit" will fall and can be collected.
The most common types of solvent-free cannabis concentrates include hash, rosin, and kief.
Hash is a very popular cannabis concentrate, and its use has a history that goes back over a thousand years. Traditional methods of making hash involved packing marijuana resin to make compressed blocks that can be smoked.
How hash looks and feels will vary depending on how it was made, and the amount of plant material left in it. Usually it's solid, but it can be brittle or malleable to the touch. It's usually light or dark brown, but it can be other colors as well.
Hash can be smoked, vaporized, or ingested, and is several times stronger than cannabis. Keep in mind that most dry herb vaporizers can't handle concentrates, and that you need to decarboxylate hash before eating it for it to have full effects.
Hash usually has 40-60% THC, significantly stronger than weed. Dried cannabis flower is usually 15-25% THC.
Bubble hash and ice water hash are also forms of hash which you can make yourself at home.
Rosin is a syrupy cannabis concentrate, usually golden or amber in color, and it's translucent. Rosin is made by using a hydraulic press to heat and pressurize the source cannabis, which can be either flower, kief, or hash.
It's quite similar to solvent-based concentrates like shatter and wax, but for people that don't want any trace amounts of solvent in their concentrates, rosin is a great alternative. You can even make it yourself using a homemade rosin press.
If the rosin is made from frozen fresh cannabis, and not dried and cured weed, it's called live rosin. Rosin is quite strong, as much as 75% THC, with live rosin generally stronger.
Rosin is most often consumed with a dab rig, but you can easily vape it in a vaporizer that can handle concentrates. There are also prepackaged cartridges. You can also smoke it from a glass pipe, or use a tiny amount to top up a bowl of cannabis flower. You can ingest it too.
Rosin can also easily be used in a vape that can handle concentrates — or found sold prepackaged in vape cartridges. You can also smoke it straight out of a glass pipe or use a tiny dab to top off a bowl of cannabis flower.
If you look closely at a cannabis plant, you'll see a light dust of crystal powder on the tips of the trichomes. That's kief.
Kief is one of the most common and popular concentrates because it's so easy to extract. Many weed grinders have a kief catcher as the bottom layer.
As you grind the dry herb, the ground weed will stay in the chamber above the kief catcher. But the powdery dry sift will slip through the catcher and stay in the bottom compartment of the grinder.
Kief is usually around 50% THC, but purer forms can be even stronger. The most popular way to use kief is just sprinkling it onto a cannabis joint or the bowl of a pipe filled with ground weed.
You can also eat kief, but it needs to be decarbed first to activate its full effects. Because it's so powdery, kief isn't easy to vape. But you can add it to ground cannabis in a dry herb vaporizer, just don't consume it on its own or it can stick to the sides of your vape's chamber.
Other cannabis concentrates use chemicals or solvents as part of the process to get the trichomes off of the plant, and extract the essential oils. Solvent-based extraction processes are more efficient, and are the main method used by the weed concentrate industry.
The solvents used are usually butane, ethanol, propane, and/or carbon dioxide. After the chemical process is done, the solvents are removed from the resulting concentrate. They may remain present in trace amounts.
In general, it's a good idea to only buy cannabis concentrates from licensed producers in a legal market. This way, you'll know the highest safety standards were followed in producing them.
Concentrates that were extracted using hydrocarbon solvents like butane or propane are all usually categorized together under the name butane hash oil, or BHO. These concentrates are probably the most common ones out there.
BHO concentrates usually manage to preserve the most cannabinoids and terpenes of the cannabis, with THC levels reaching 70-90%.
Butane hash oil concentrates are available at all kinds of price points and textures. If you've heard the terms shatter, wax, budder, and crumble, these all refer to the consistency of the concentrate, what it looks and feels like.
Most of the time these products will be BHO concentrates, although it is possible to achieve these textures with some of the other methods. They can be vaped or consumed using a dab rig.
If a concentrate is labeled as containing live resin, that means it was produced with flash frozen cannabis plants, as opposed to dried and cured buds.
Another category of solvent-based cannabis concentrates is CO2 oil. It's similar to BHO concentrates, but is produced using carbon dioxide, which is considered by some to be a safer, more common solvent than the ones used in BHO concentrates.
C02 is used for things like decaffeinated coffee and for pharmaceutical extractions, so it has a long history of use as a solvent. And by modifying the pressure settings during the extraction process, you can create different textures of CO2 oil concentrates.
Most commonly, CO2 oil will remain in a liquid form, and are often sold in vaporizer cartridge form, such as 510 oil carts. Disposable vape pens can also use CO2 cannabis extract.
Most CBD-dominant oils are made using CO2 extraction processes. However, not as many terpenes are preserved in the extract, compared with butane hash oil extracts.
A tincture is a cannabis concentrate extract in a liquid, usually alcohol or glycerin. Marijuana tinctures were popular in the 19th century and early 20th century before prohibition. They’ve recently resurfaced in popularity during the legalization era.
Tinctures can only be ingested, usually using a dropper to place drops of tincture on your tongue. Because it's an edible concentrate, it will take longer to take effect. You can expect it to take 15-45 minutes to start feeling effects, and as long as two hours before it hits its peak.
Capsules are similar to tinctures, but the cannabis concentrate is inside a gelatin capsule, and you swallow it as you would any pill. They can take a little bit longer to kick in compared with tinctures. Digestion in the stomach takes longer to take effect than sub-lingual application under your tongue.
Distillate is a concentrate that has been distilled to achieve more specific effects, and remove unwanted compounds. Usually, distillate will remove terpenes, changing the effects of extracts and making them flavorless.
For people looking for high THC levels, the cannabinoid content of distillates can hit 90%. However, the terpenes themselves can have therapeutic or enjoyable effects, so you might miss some of what has been removed. It all depends on your personal preference.
If you purify distillates a few steps further, you can get isolates, which only contain one cannabinoid from cannabis in them.
CBD isolate and THC isolate are the most common ones, but CBG and CBC isolates also exist. An isolate can get up to 99.9% purity, and have no smell, color, or taste.
There are a lot of options out there when it comes to consuming cannabis concentrates. But not all of them are user friendly.
Among heavy concentrate users, dab rigs are probably the most popular way to enjoy marijuana concentrates. A dab rig has a nail or dabbing tool that gets heated up with a torch, and you place your concentrate directly onto the nail.
Because dabbing requires specialized equipment, and has a learning curve, concentrates get a reputation for being complicated for beginners to use.
But as mentioned above, you're not limited to dab rigs. You can smoke, have capsules, tinctures, and even ingest some concentrates. Some can even be applied topically.
To vaporize concentrates, you can buy vape pens, or session vaporizers specifically designed to use concentrates. Vaping concentrates, whether from a vape pen or a larger vaporizer, will let you enjoy effects quickly without having to smoke them. You’ll also avoid the negative health risks associated with smoking.
If you're looking to vaporize both marijuana concentrates and dry herb, there are some dry herb vaporizers that let you consume both. Some are better in vapor quality and flavor than others, and the convenience and messiness of using concentrates varies.
For most dry herb vaporizers, vaping weed concentrates just isn't an option at all. Other dry herb vapes have the ability to vape concentrates, but they involve the use of awkward inserts you have to place inside the vaporizer chamber.
It can be a messy process, and the inserts can be hot to the touch. Although it's a useful capability in a pinch, if you're interested in using concentrates regularly, it probably won't cut it for you.
The Furna vaporizer solves this problem with a swappable oven system. Furna has ovens specifically for dry herb and for concentrate, and you can swap in whichever one you want. It's a much more convenient solution and takes the mess and frustration out of the process.
There are also 510 oil cart ovens which let you attach a 510 oil cartridge to the vaporizer. Having all the options makes Furna the most versatile dry herb vaporizer out there.
Also, if you want to keep a session going, you don't have to clean out and reload your vape. You can just load up multiple ovens before you start, or before you leave your house. Then you're good to go whenever you need to reload.
The swapping really is instant: the outside of the oven never gets too hot to handle, so you can handle it immediately. This way you can keep a session with friends moving smoothly, or easily stay discreet when reloading your vape in a more public setting. Check out the Furna vape to learn more.
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When you use a dry herb vaporizer and you're finished a session, don't get rid of the leftover vaped cannabis. You can save already vaped bud (AVB or ABV for short) for later. You can use it to make cannabutter, cannabis capsules, or just sprinkled on a peanut butter sandwich.
The strength of ABV varies depending on the original marijuana strain, how long it was vaped for, and at what temperature. The best indication of how potent AVB will be is its color. The spectrum of colors AVB is usually from green (strongest), to yellow, to brown, to dark, brown, and finally, black (very weak/no effects).
There can be exceptions to this rule. For example, if your original cannabis strain was dark purple in color, that's going to mean dark-colored AVB, regardless of how long you vaped it for, or which temperature settings you used.
Also, different dry herb vaporizers produce ABV with different characteristics, so it's possible your vape might produce lighter or darker AVB than the average. You'll learn over time.
You can check out our article on the best color for ABV for a complete guide. But for this article, let's examine the greener end of the AVB color spectrum. Is it still ok to use already vaped bud if it's green?
If your AVB is on the lighter end of the spectrum, you might be wondering if it could be too green. If your herb is yellowish-green, that's definitely fine, but if it's basically green, then you might have some cause for concern.
As you might know, you can't eat fresh cannabis and expect to experience THC or CBD effects.
The cannabinoids need to be activated by being heated to a certain level, otherwise swallowing them will do nothing. Luckily, vaping takes care of what's called decarboxylation for you. So ABV is ready to be eaten, right away.
If your AVB is really green, then it might not be fully decarboxylated, or decarbed. Meaning some of the cannabinoids inside won't be activated, and it will be a waste if you eat it as AVB.
This isn't very likely, but if the herb doesn't feel brittle to the touch, or you vaped your cannabis very lightly and at low temperatures, it's possible it didn't get fully decarbed.
So you should consider vaping at slightly higher temperatures for a little longer if you think this might be the case.
Another option is you can just decarb the ABV directly, by heating it in a pan in the oven. Don't go over 200° F (95° C), because then you'll start losing THC and CBD.
As long as your AVB is decarbed, which will almost always be the case even with greenish vaped bud, you're good to use your ABV in edibles. In fact, it's probably ideal for use in edibles.
Darker colors of AVB tend to be weaker in strength, and taste worse. It's a flavor you might not want to get mixed in with your tasty edibles, especially if your ABV is dark brown in color. When it comes to black AVB, you might not even want to use it. The effects will be minimal and the taste will be the worst.
Green ABV on the other hand will have the best flavor, and the highest strength. Making it perfect for AVB usage. But the best color will depend entirely on your goals.
Most people who enjoy AVB go for medium-temperature vaping sessions, which should produce yellowish or light brown ABV, which will still have quite a bit of strength left for use in edibles.
If the taste of AVB really turns you off, you can also put it through a process called water curing to improve the flavor. It takes some time, but it's pretty easy to do.
You just put your ABV in a giant "tea bag" made of cheesecloth, then soak that bag in a bowl of room temperature water. After a couple of hours, drain the dirty water, and add fresh water. Repeat that process for up to 7 days: the longer you do it, the more of the bad flavors you'll remove.
If your priority is how much THC will be in your AVB edibles, then lighter sessions producing lighter colors are your best bet. Yellowish AVB, green color ABV, or a mixture between the two, will give you the strongest and best tasting AVB.
Already vaped bud in this range of the color spectrum will also taste better, and will be in less need of the water curing process. But the downside to using a lower temperature when vaping is that your sessions won't be as strong.
For many cannabis users, it's fun to plan ahead and choose less THC-intense sessions when vaping cannabis, and then have reliably stronger and tastier vaped weed.
The most popular uses of already vaped bud include making cannabis oil from coconut oil, AVB butter, and AVB capsules. You can even smoke AVB, but it won't be very strong, and will taste worse. You'll also waste some of the cannabinoids because they'll be burned away before reaching your lungs.
Because the quality of your ABV will be based on your vaping session, you need to make sure you can control the temperature precisely. If vaping weed at a low heat is your goal, you'll want a high-quality vaporizer so the temperature control is precise.
You also need to grind your cannabis before vaping it, and to clean your vape whenever it starts to get clogged.
Otherwise, you can easily end up with hot pockets that over-vaporize some parts of your herb, ruining the consistency of your AVB and potentially messing up your plans for the leftover weed.
The Furna dry herb vaporizer delivers amazing tasting vapor, as well as highly efficient airflow and precise temperature control. This means you will get high-quality ABV for later use.
Furna also features oven swapping technology, which is a really cool innovation. You can fill more than one oven with dry herb, and then instantly swap a used oven for a fresh one.
This especially comes in handy when you're on the move, and there aren't any convenient or discreet places to clean and reload your vape. Check out the Furna vape to learn more.
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Using a dry herb vaporizer is a better alternative to smoking marijuana (or tobacco products). Vaping is easier on your respiratory system and lungs compared with smoking. It smells and tastes better, and it's more efficient with your herb, letting you save money on cannabis.
That said, there are a lot of myths and urban legends out there about using vaporizers. It can be confusing out there for someone trying to figure out if dry herb vapes are for them.
Let's see if we can untangle some of the confusion, and get to the bottom of what's fact and fiction when it comes to vaping.
This is probably the top myth about vaping. In 2019, the United States experienced a wave of vaping-related illnesses. Hundreds of people were hospitalized with severe respiratory illness, and a handful of people died of it.
This resulted in a wave of negative press about vaporizing, and for people that didn't read past the headlines, it seemed to be an urgent warning about the safety of cannabis vapes.
Many of the vaporizers that caused problems were actually nicotine products: e-cigarettes. Some of the vapes were cannabis vapes containing THC. But they were oil vaporizers, not dry herb vaporizers.
And even more importantly, these products were created by and sold through the black market. Because they were not subject to the same control as regulated and licensed manufacturers, these oil vapes and e-cigarettes were actually dangerous to use.
It's possible they had added vitamin E acetate, and that caused the vaping-related illness. Regardless, the tragic event makes it clear that you should buy all cannabis products from licensed, regulated producers in legal markets.
And this is doubly true when it comes to oil vapes, because of the risk of vaping-related illness from illicit products.
Smoking weed might be less harmful than smoking cigarettes, but you still inhale some bad chemicals and carcinogens when you smoke marijuana. But with vaping, you're not actually burning the weed, you're just heating cannabis up to release vapor.
Because you're not breathing in smoke, vaping is considered by researchers to be healthier than smoking weed. It also results in less lung irritation and coughing.
Again, sometimes the headlines about vaping can be confusing.
For example, a July 2021 study in the Journal of Adolescent Health claimed to show that vaping cannabis was twice as bad as smoking cigarettes or smoking weed. And countless articles were written with "vaping cannabis is worse for you than smoking" headlines.
But overwhelmingly, the kinds of vapes used by the participants in the study were oil vapes, not dry herb vapes. And yes, heavily using low-quality oil vaporizers might indeed be worse than smoking.
More research on the topic is definitely needed. But all those bad headlines about vaping have nothing to do with the safety of dry herb vaporizers.
Vaporizing cannabis is actually stronger than smoking it. A 2018 study compared THC levels between smokers and vapers. The people who vaped had 40% more THC in their bloodstream.
It's easy to see where vaping can get this reputation though. We've all had an unsatisfying vaping session one time or another. In the earliest days of vaporizing, the cheaper vapes were so terrible they had basically no effect. Or they were so difficult to use that it would be tough to get consistent sessions.
For others, they might have been passed a vape once and it just did nothing for them compared with a joint.
And the sad truth is, a lot of dry herb vaporizers out there are of low quality, and don't deliver satisfying vapor at all. They might heat the weed inconsistently, or just be made of low quality parts that affect the vapor path.
Another factor is maintenance: vapes need to be cleaned regularly, and more often if you're a heavy vaper. Eventually the vapor path will get clogged and start affecting how much THC is in your vapor. If you get passed a clogged vape, it’s not going to be as fun as one that’s in proper working condition.
Finally, if you're using a convection vaporizer, then you might have to pull for a little longer and in a steady controlled way, before you finally get some vapor. If you're using a conduction vaporizer like Furna, it's more or less foolproof. Just breathe in and enjoy consistent, satisfying hits with no wait time.
Buying a quality dry herb vaporizer might be a pricey up-front cost, but there are a number of ways you end up saving money in the future. For starters, as mentioned above, a study demonstrated that you get 40% more THC and CBD effects from vaping compared with smoking.
This is because when you smoke weed, you're burning a lot of the THC and CBD before you get a chance to breathe it in.
On top of that, you can even use your leftover vaped weed and get high from it a second time. These leftovers are known as already vaped bud or AVB.
Some people might think vaping costs too much. Smoking a joint is simple, all you need is rolling papers and a lighter.
But in the long run, vapes actually save you money. And for some people, that might be even more of a selling point than vaping being easier on your lungs.
Some people claim that dry herb vaporizers have no smell at all, but that's just not true. They create way less of an odor compared with smoking cannabis though. And also, the smell doesn't linger in the air or on fabrics for very long.
But if anyone is expecting vaping to be undetectable: sorry, it still will smell like weed. But using a vaporizer smells less than smoking, and much easier to be discreet.
This myth about vaping is a weird one. Vaping actually tastes better than smoking, because you're able to taste the clearer flavor of the cannabis, without any flame or smoke affecting the aroma.
Maybe if you've got a truly terrible strain, it's better to smoke it than fully taste its awful flavor. But 99% of the time, a vape will give you better taste than smoking.
Where does this myth come from? It could be in part that people have a certain nostalgia for smoking joints, or even cigarettes. Or maybe they're just not vaping properly, so they find themselves unsatisfied with a vape session.
To get good tasting vapor and satisfying effects, you'll want to make sure to grind your weed before vaping it, and to clean your vape regularly. And you'll need a quality dry herb vaporizer, of course.
It's a myth that portable vaporizers are bulky, attention-attracting devices. It was true a long time ago: the first few generations of vapes were awkward looking and difficult to bring around.
But the newest vaporizers are much more portable, and vaping nowadays will attract far less attention compared with smoking. Mostly because the smell is so much subtler than smoking a joint.
That said, using a vaporizer next to someone while indoors is still pretty obvious. So use your discretion when vaping in public. Although it's not as in-your-face as smoking, vaping is still an activity best saved for certain public situations and not others.
It's a myth that portable dry herb vapes are actually convenient to use when you’re on the go.
Sure, they're lighter and feature better battery life than they used to, but dry herb vapes share one big problem when you're bringing them around with you: they're annoying to reload.
If you're planning to only have one vaping session all day, that might not be an issue for you. But if you're planning to use it more than once, or want to have a group session with friends, you'll have to reload your vaporizer.
Reloading your vape isn't as convenient as it could be. First, you have to empty out the oven and clear out all the vaped herb. Then, you have to wait for it to cool down. Finally, grind up some more weed and carefully load it into the chamber of your vaporizer.
It's not always convenient to do all that when you're on the go. And it's definitely not discreet.
The Furna vaporizer deals with this issue with its unique oven-swapping system.
You can load up multiple ovens with cannabis before leaving the house, or before a session with friends begins. Then, when one oven runs out, you can instantly swap in a fresh one, with no waiting or awkward reloading.
Furna also has specialized ovens for concentrates and 510 oil cartridges which are just as easy to swap in, giving you even more versatility and convenience.
So it turns out the inconvenience of vaping is a myth after all. Because now there is a portable dry herb vape that's truly convenient to use.
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Dry herb vaporizers have a lot of advantages compared with smoking cannabis. One of the most fun aspects of owning a dry herb vape is already vaped bud (AVB or ABV).
After you're done vaping, the leftovers still have some potency left.
Throwing your AVB away is a waste, when there are so many easy ways to make use of already been vaped bud.
Vaporized weed is ready to go, you can eat it straight, add it to coffee or tea, put it in a peanut butter sandwich, or make it into butter or oil for use in a recipe.
Or you can put them in capsules!
One of the easiest ways to use AVB is buying some gelatin capsules and filling them. ABV capsules, also called caps, are simple to consume. Just swallow one with some water and wait for it to kick in.
In addition to being very discreet, capsules also let you bypass the taste of AVB, which some people dislike.
Check out our full guide to how to make AVB capsules if you want to learn more about the whole process.
But how long do ABV capsules take to kick in? How strong of a trip can you expect? Is there anything you can do to make caps work faster, or stronger?
Unlike fresh bud, AVB is already decarboxylated, meaning it's ready to be eaten. The cannabinoids (THC and CBD) will already be activated during the vaping process.
Capsules of AVB are an edible, so like many edibles, their strength can be a bit unpredictable.
And don’t forget, the strength of ABV will also vary, you can't be 100% sure about what to expect from a capsule of AVB. It will depend on the strength of the cannabis strain you started with and how heavily you vaped it.
Capsules can take as long as 5-6 hours to kick in, if you're having them on an empty stomach. Usually, they’ll hit faster, starting around the 45-minute mark, but they can take time to hit their full strength.
Having ABV caps with food will speed up the process, especially fatty foods. Cannabinoids like THC and CBD are fat soluble, so taking a capsule with food that has some butter or oil in it will help move things along.
Because AVB can take a long time to start its effects, it's best to experiment with just a small amount at first.
This might mean a slightly weak first session when you're testing out a batch of AVB for strength, but it's worth it to avoid potentially getting too high, many hours after you swallowed the caps.
There are a few steps you can take to speed up the process. If you grind your AVB before putting it in the caps, that should help a little, because there's less work for your digestion system to break down the vaped weed.
You can even use a coffee grinder to get the grind very fine.
You can even make ABV coconut oil, and then insert the oil into your capsules. This will eliminate the need to have food with butter or oil when having a capsule, and it'll kick in faster because it's in a liquid form.
There's also a few things you can do to make your ABV caps more powerful. First off, you can pack more AVB weed into each capsule by packing it in as tightly as possible. Grinding it with a coffee grinder first will help you fit even more into each gel cap.
You can also make sure your AVB is more potent to begin with. This could mean starting with vaping a stronger weed strain in the first place. Or it could mean switching up how you vape it.
You can also keep future ABV in mind when you're vaping your weed for the first time. If you vape your herb at lower temperatures, and for less time, the resulting AVB will be stronger, and taste better.
If you use your vaporizer's maximum temperature for as long as possible, you might be getting the most out of your weed at the vaping stage, but its second life as AVB will be a lot weaker.
If you're going to use AVB, it can be more fun to strike a balance between the two sessions.
Your vaping sessions will be nicer because you'll cough less at low and medium temperatures, and the taste will be better. And eating ABV afterwards will taste better and be stronger.
The last few hits from a dry herb vape at the maximum heat are weak and taste bad anyway.
To get the best quality AVB from your vape, there are a few more things you can do. It's important to grind your fresh weed before vaping it. Ground herb will help airflow in your vape and make sure that the cannabis gets evenly heated.
Grinding your herb will improve not only the strength of your vapor during the session, but also your AVB afterwards.
If your vape doesn't heat your weed evenly, then you can end up with pockets that don't get properly heated. Then those areas won't decarboxylate, and then won't give you effects when you eat it as AVB.
Above all, you want a high quality dry herb vaporizer that has precise temperature control and gives you consistent ABV for later use.
The Furna vape lets you control the temperature and strength of your sessions with ease. It also features an oven swapping system which lets you easily keep track of strains and load up multiple ovens in advance before leaving the house.
It's also incredibly easy to clean and maintain, letting you easily get excellent airflow and even heating over the long-term. This means the best possible vapor and ABV, and the most efficient use of your bud.
You can instantly swap any used oven for a fresh one. You can even get specialized ovens for concentrate and 510 oil cartridges. The Furna dry herb vaporizer is the most convenient and tidy portable vape out there.
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Vaping using a dry herb vape is supposed to taste good. Because you're heating your cannabis without burning it, you end up tasting the pure flavor of the weed strain, with no smoke or burnt tastes added.
If the vapor from your vaporizer has an odd, nasty flavor, or is producing strange smells, something is going wrong. Maybe you've set the temperature too high, or that your vape is in need of some maintenance. Sometimes it's hard to know when your dry herb vape is done.
Let's figure out what's going wrong, and save your bud from being wasted on bad hits!
When using a combustion method like smoking a joint, you're dealing with an uncontrolled flame. The weed won't burn evenly, and some of it will be destroyed before you can even enjoy the effects of the herbs.
Vaporizers work by heating up marijuana to a target temperature. Once the bowl reaches a high enough heat level, cannabinoids like THC and CBD are released into vapor.
The flavor will be very strong before the first few hits, but as the terpenes are vaped, the herb will become flavorless. If you keep vaping the same weed at a high temperature, it will eventually start tasting bad and burnt.
There's no single best temperature for every strain and every vape session. Different vapes will heat herbs differently too. Ultimately, it comes down to your personal preference and your particular vaporizer.
Vaping at low temperatures will give less effects from your herb, and usually tastes better. Higher temperatures will give you stronger vapor, and more visible clouds, but will taste worse.
Many users like to start with their vaporizers set to a low heat, and then gradually increase it during the session. But you should never be experiencing truly terrible flavors.
If the vapor from your herb has a bad burnt flavor, it could have been vaporized too much. At high temperatures for prolonged periods, vaporizers will burn pockets of herb in the chamber, especially if the vaporizer isn't heating the material evenly.
Past a certain point, it's not really worth it to keep vaping the same buds: the effects will keep decreasing, and the taste will keep getting worse. If you open up the chamber, vaped weed should be brown in color. If it's very dark brown or black, you took it too far, and that's why the taste was so bad.
If this is the problem, try vaping with your vaporizer set to a lower temperature setting. This should improve the smell and taste. Cheaper dry herb vaporizers often lack proper temperature control, so if your device is low quality, it can undercook or overcook your herbs and change their taste.
After a weaker first hit, the next hits from a vaporizer are usually the most flavorful. This is because the terpenes in the marijuana buds are the first substance to be heated and vaporized. Terpenes are what give a strain of cannabis its smell and taste. Once the terpenes are done, the vapor will become flavorless.
If your vape tastes bad or like burnt popcorn, even at the beginning of a session, then some other smell is overpowering the terpenes. The next tip to try is cleaning your vaporizer. Vapes will accumulate resin build-up from vaped weed over time, blocking air flow and making your herbs taste stale.
If you're never in the mood to clean your vape, I don't blame you. Cleaning anything is a chore, and vaporizers are no exception. But if you want to improve the quality and flavor of your vapor, you've simply got to clean your vaporizer.
Follow the instructions for your vape model. You'll likely be wiping down the bowl of the vape with isopropyl alcohol, and soaking some glass or metal parts in isopropyl alcohol. Make sure your vape isn't hot anymore before getting started.
If you have a desktop vaporizer with a whip, a long tube which connects the vape to the mouthpiece, that's one part that can strongly affect the taste of vapor and make it nasty. Make sure to clean it thoroughly, or replace it if it's a lost cause.
After you've cleaned your dry herb vape, wait for the parts to dry completely before vaping. Once it's ready to use, you can turn it on with no herbs in the chamber to burn off any lingering alcohol that will affect the flavor.
Another potential cause of weak and bad tasting vapor is that the airflow in your vape is being blocked. You should always grind your cannabis before packing your vaporizer. If it's too solid, airflow will be blocked, parts of the herb will be difficult to reach, and the chamber won't heat evenly. The hits will be very unsatisfying, and the flavor will be weak.
For most vaporizers, grinding your weed finely will yield best results and help your vape heat it efficiently. For convection and desktop vaporizers, you can grind the herb a little more loosely.
When you pack your vape, make sure you've filled the chamber, but don't overfill it, that will prevent airflow. You want the bud to be somewhat densely packed, without being so dense that air can't pass through it.
Tamping down the herb after you've loaded it can help you achieve the best density. Over time, you'll get a feel for what grind and packing level works best for your vape.
If your vaporizer is going to taste good and be efficient with your herb, it has to be easy to pack and clean. Portable vaporizers can be difficult to deal with, because loading them properly is often inconvenient and not very discreet.
An oven swapping vape like Furna solves this problem. You can pre-pack more than one oven with dry herb before leaving the house. Instead of having to clean out the chamber and reload in an inconvenient location, you can instantly swap the used oven for the fresh one.
After all, if you're trying to be more discreet than smoking weed, the smell of smoke is only part of the picture. You also want to think about how easy it is to reload your vaporizer. This also helps when vaping with a group of friends. You can instantly load a fresh bowl when you need one, instead of waiting for your vape to cool down, cleaning it out, then reloading it.
Furna even has specialized concentrate ovens and ovens for 510 oil cartridges, so swapping for your favorite cannabis concentrates is just as simple. All the options at your fingertips, in a single device! Check out Furna vapes to see how convenient vaping can be.
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If you're new to using a dry herb vape, it can be tough to know whether your bud has any potency left, or if it's time to reload the chamber. Sometimes vapor is visible, but other times it's very subtle and invisible. Just because you can't see anything doesn't mean nothing is happening though.
Is there a particular color cannabis should be after it's done vaping? Are there any other ways to know if your dry herb vaporizer is done? Let's look at how different vapes heat herb, and what happens to the material in the process.
You've probably used a "combustion" method like smoking a joint to enjoy cannabis. It's easy to know when your herb is done when you smoke: it turned into ash, and there's nothing left. You couldn't get another hit off of it if you tried.
Dry herb vaporizers heat up cannabis to a high temperature, and release cannabinoids like THC and CBD into vapor. Lower temperature settings will produce fewer effects than high temperatures. You can always also start low, and gradually increase the heat during a session.
When you use a dry herb vaporizer, the cannabis doesn't disappear: just the cannabinoids inside the plant as they are released into vapor. So it can be tough to know when there's no potency left.
In general, the first hit will be a little weak, as the dry herb still needs to get hot enough. Then, the next bunch of hits should be full strength. The number depends on the size of your vape oven or chamber, but you should be getting 5-10 full-strength pulls of vapor. The taste should be fresh and flavorful as you inhale, and you should feel effects as soon as the air makes contact with your lungs.
After that, the draw will get noticeably less flavorful and probably feel less potent too. However, your vape is likely still good for about 2-5 more draws after those full-strength hits. How much you decide to extend the life of a session is up to you. At higher temperatures, you'll get the most possible effects out of your herb, but it may burn slightly, creating a worse smell and flavor.
Dry herb vaporizers can use two different heating methods: conduction and convection. Convection vapes tend to be large desktop vaporizers and not portable, but do a slightly better job of evenly heating the herb in the chamber.
Conduction vaporizers are more compact, but because the chamber directly touches the heating element, some vapes might heat the cannabis unevenly. So the color might be lighter or darker in some areas. If you find that this is often the case with your vape, try giving the dry herb in the chamber a stir halfway through your session.
Another key step: make sure you grind your weed before you load your vape. Use a fine grind for conduction vapes, and grind a little looser for convection devices. Grinding will help with even heating, and make your device as efficient as possible.
Vape sessions vary from device to device, so there are no hard and fast rules. A lot also depends on the strain and the temperature settings you used when vaping.
But in general, your herb should be a light to medium brown color when you're done. If you can still see pockets of green, then there's definitely more pulls left. Give the herb a bit of a stir and keep going! Light brown means you can likely still get some effects out of it, but it will have less of a taste.
It's fine to vape your weed further until it is dark brown, but the odor will become worse, and so will the flavor. It still won't be anything like smoking, but higher temperatures vaporizers can release some carcinogens. If your cannabis looks black, you went way too far. Empty out your vape, and reload it if you're still eager for more.
Bonus tip: you can save leftover herb for use in edibles and capsules. This is called AVB, already vaped bud, also sometimes called ABV. It will taste worse and have less potency if you heavily vaped it at a high temperature and overtoasted it. You can even sprinkle AVB in coffee!
In order to keep your dry herb vaporizer heating evenly and delivering amazing tasting vapor, you have to make sure to clean the device regularly. If the airflow gets clogged at all, that will make it difficult to heat the herb properly.
Most vaporizers include cleaning accessories, and a tool to help with disassembly of the mouthpiece and any removable parts. Usually, removable metal and ceramic parts are soaked in isopropyl alcohol, then set to try. But each vape has its own specific maintenance guide, so be sure to consult your manufacturer's instructions.
Most new users of vaporizers decide to go with a portable vape. They're less expensive than desktop vaporizers, and more versatile because you can pack them in your pocket.
But not every vape is created equal. You'll want one with the following features: compactness, accurate temperature control, long battery life, and ease of cleaning. You also want enough power to produce good quality vapor - most lower-end vaporizers don't deliver the same efficiency and value from your cannabis.
If versatility is a priority for you, you should consider the Furna, a vaporizer with oven swapping technology. You can load up multiple ovens in advance, and swap one for another with no wait time.
Reloading your vaporizer is often inconvenient when you're on the move, so it's nice to be able to set it all up in advance. Vaping is less discreet when you have to bring out a tool and some accessories to have a second bowl.
Furna even features optional cannabis concentrate ovens, making it just as convenient to switch between dry herb and concentrates. It also has the best battery life out there, making it the ultimate in portable vaping. Check out Furna now.
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Portable dry herb vaporizers are extremely popular, and you'll see lots of people vaping using these devices around town. But they're not the only type of vape out there.
There's also a style of vaporizer designed specifically for use in the home. Desktop vapes (also called tabletop vaporizers) have advantages and disadvantages compared to their portable cousins. We'll go over the differences in performance, features, price, and have a look at the range of desktops on the market. And we’ll see how desktop vaporizers compare with portable vapes.
All dry herb vaporizers work along the same basic design. They heat up dry herbs (like cannabis) using precise temperature control. Once it reaches a high enough temperature, the herb releases cannabinoids into vapor.
The herbs are heated in a bowl or chamber, by a heating element located in the unit. This avoids the drawbacks of combustion methods like smoking a joint: smoke is a lot more harmful to lung health than vapor.
Most desktop vaporizers use a convection heating system. In vapes with convection heating, the heating chamber isn't directly beside the heating element. Instead as you take a draw from the mouthpiece, the device will heat the air, and then pass the hot air over the herbs in the chamber.
Convection heating is very efficient with your herb, and can deliver high vapor quality and large clouds. However, it takes longer for the unit to heat up to the target temperature. Convection vaporization also requires a lot more power, which is why most convection vapes need to plug into a wall outlet to work.
Most tabletop devices have features and accessories to make them more user friendly and enhance the vaping experience. Different models might include a whip (a long tube), or could be balloon style with a fan and bags. They might feature hands free usage, a remote control, or other accessories.
Some units include a whip that connects the mouthpiece to the main device. This makes it more convenient to hit, but makes the vapor path longer. Draws will be a bit weaker and less flavorful.
Many devices are equipped with an internal fan, and don't require the user to inhale. The vaporizer will fill a bag with vapor for you! Once the bag is full, users can take hits from the bag. This method is great for group sessions, because it makes using a vaporizer so simple.
A desktop vaporizer can also use a hybrid of both vaporizing systems, letting you choose between using a whip and vapor bags depending on the session. The Volcano Hybrid is very powerful, and considered the best desktop vaporizer in many reviews, but it isn't cheap. The Arizer Extreme Q is a lot more affordable, but doesn't offer the same smooth hits and vapor quality.
It's a classic, but in general the Storz & Bickel Volcano line gets the best reviews. There's the classic Volcano, the hybrid version, and a gold-plated version. They definitely look cool and are built with durable materials. Although powerful and consistent, they cost a lot of money and might not offer enough value for the cost.
In general, if your budget isn't unlimited, a desktop vape might not be worth the price. The increased power and vapor production might not be worth paying a lot for, while also sacrificing portability.
For folks looking to vape at home, desktops can be the perfect solution, especially if you're looking for a larger bowl size. But most new users choose to go with portable vaporizers.
Even inside your own house, a portable vaporizer can be more convenient than a tabletop system. You can move from room to room with ease, and it'll heat up at a faster speed. But for many people the lower cost is in itself the biggest selling point.
The one problem with portable vapes is that they can be tough to reload while you're on the move. You need to open the vaporizer, empty out any remaining dry herbs, wait for it to cool down before loading it again. It's awkward and usually inconvenient. Especially since you should grind your cannabis flower before you vaporize. (Or you’ll get weaker vapor and waste herb.)
Furna lets you prepare your vaporizer for an excursion in the most convenient way possible. You can load up multiple ovens with herb in the comfort of your own home. Then, when you're out, you can instantly swap a used oven for a fresh one whenever you want.
The ovens are made of food-grade stainless steel, but Furna also has specialized concentrate ovens with a ceramic element, making it just as convenient and mess-free to enjoy cannabis concentrates. These ovens can be loaded and swapped just as easily. The vapor path is all steel and ceramic, material that won't change the flavor of your herb, so you can experience the pure flavor of your strain.
Furna also features excellent battery life, with each charge lasting for 15-20 vaping sessions, and a much more full display than most portable vapes. In terms of portability and versatility, it's the best option out there.
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Consuming cannabis using dry herb vaporizers has many benefits when compared with traditional combustion methods like smoking. Dry herb vapes are easier on the lungs, more discreet in terms of odor, and allow the flavor of the cannabis to come through more clearly. They’re even more efficient too, allowing you to extract more THC and CBD from the bud, and get more bang for your buck.
But it’s not always easy to clean out the oven or chamber of the vape in between uses. For example, if you’re on the go, it can be tough to find a convenient and discreet location to reload. And owning a portable vape isn't as fun if you’re always worrying about how you’re going to reload the chamber.
Several vaporizer manufacturers have come up with solutions to make it more convenient to reload the chamber of your vape. Storz and Bickel have aluminum dosing capsules (or "caps"), and DaVinci offers ceramic dosing pods. Furna has gone one step further, redesigning the vaporizer in its entirety with the introduction of swappable ovens. Let’s compare these three different approaches and look at the advantages and disadvantages of each device.
The Crafty and the Mighty are manufactured by Storz and Bickel, who also make the Volcano desktop vaporizer. Both the Mighty and Crafty include one dosing capsule with each unit. These dosing capsules are made from aluminum and the caps hold 0.1g of herb each.
Filling dosing capsules is straightforward. Pack ground dry herbs into the capsule to the same density you normally would pack the vaporizer chamber. If you have more than one dosing capsule, you can load up more in advance.
Then put the dosing capsule into the chamber of the vaporizer, and set the temperature as you normally do for a vaping session. After finishing a dosing capsule, you can remove it and swap it for one with fresh herbs. Allow at least 30-60 seconds for dosing capsules to cool down.
Some users choose to exclusively rely on dosing capsules, not even bothering to use the vaporizer without them. These users report that dosing capsules keep the vaporizer’s oven in tidier condition and reduce how often it needs to be cleaned.
A magazine of 8 dosing capsules costs $7. Although they can be cleaned and reused up to a point, dosing capsules are meant to be disposable. If you vape frequently, you may find yourself needing a new magazine of dosing capsules often.
You may also want to purchase some accessories to help with the loading of the dosing capsules: Storz and Bickel sells a plunger to help load dosing capsules, as well as a multi-tray filling set that helps you load 40 dosing capsules at once.
To clean the dosing capsules, you can just use isopropyl alcohol and a cotton swab. It can sometimes be tough to pry open a dosing capsule for cleaning. Also, the metal bends easily, which makes it tough to re-use them.
The disposability of dosing capsules and the amount of time you have to wait in between sessions make for some pretty big disadvantages. If dosing capsules seem like a feature you’ll want to use frequently, you might want something more quick and convenient.
The small size of dosing capsules (only 0.1g) means you might need to be reloading multiple times in a single session. Read more about the pros and cons of the Crafty vaporizer.
DaVinci, the maker of the IQ2, Miqro, and Ascent, has a similar system to dosing capsules with their dosing pods, but they only work with IQ2 vaporizers. The DaVinci IQ2 includes one dosage pod with purchase, and you can buy a set of 6 extra pods, which includes a silicone carrying case for each one. They’re more expensive per pod than Storz & Bickel dosing capsules ($25 for 6), but are less disposable and can be reused.
Made of ceramic, they let you preload up to 0.2g of dry herb or extract in a single pod. Fill the pod with ground herb up until just below where the cap locks into place, then tamp the herbs down with a tool to compress them. Close up the pod, then put it in the vaporizer chamber. You can swap in a fresh pod whenever you need a refill, instead of having to clean out the chamber between sessions.
When removing a pod, you’ll need to use a specially designed tool that hooks into the top of the pod while it's inside the chamber, and allows you to lift it out. Be sure to wait until the unit has cooled down before trying to remove the pod from the chamber. To clean the IQ2’s dosing pods, use isopropyl alcohol and a cotton swab.
The pods are an improvement on Storz and Bickel’s dosing capsules because they’re larger and less disposable, but they still have a frustrating waiting time in between sessions when reloading. Also, it’s not always convenient to reload the pods, which kind of misses the point.
When reloading, you’ll need to be somewhere where you can lift the pod out of the vape chamber with the specialized tool, and that might not be easy in every situation where you’d want to bring your portable vaporizer. Loading the device is more conspicuous than the dosing capsules, making the IQ2 dosage pods the least discreet option of the three. Read a more in-depth review of the DaVinci IQ2.
Storz & Bickel dosing capsules and DaVinci’s dosage pods are helpful accessories that make it easier to reload the chamber of their vaporizers, making them more portable and convenient. But with its swappable oven system, Furna has built a vaporizer designed from the bottom-up around the concept of being able to easily reload from one session to the next.
Instead of inserting dosing capsules into the oven of your vaporizer, with Furna you get multiple ovens which can easily be swapped once the herb in one is cashed. Each oven holds 0.2g of herbs, as large as a DaVinci dosing pod, and more than twice as much as a Storz & Bickel dosing capsule. To load the ovens, simply add ground herb with a funnel and tamp down the herbs with a tamper. Both accessories are included with purchase.
Furna ovens are made of high-quality food grade stainless steel, and are built to last for the long-term. The Furna complete kit comes with two ovens, and extra ovens can be purchased for $45 each.
Furna also has specialized concentrate ovens available, making it just as simple to swap when you feel like having cannabis concentrates. Some dry herb vaporizers claim to be able to handle concentrates, but loading them involves inserts that can get hot and messy.
Unlike the DaVinci or the Storz and Bickel vaporizers, you don’t have to wait until the dosing capsules cool down before removing a used one, or use a special tool to remove it in the case of the DaVinci pods. With Furna, you just pop the used oven out and swap it for a fresh one instantly, which is especially convenient when sharing a session with friends.
There are a few other added benefits that the swappable oven system makes possible. The ovens have unique identifiers, so the vaporizer knows which oven you’re using. Each oven can have their own assigned symbol and default temperature setting.
When you have an amazing session, it can sometimes be tough to remember the settings you used for that strain of herbs. With swappable ovens, you can easily keep the same settings and duplicate your session as closely as possible.
With dosing capsules, it’s easy to mix up which strain is in which. Dosing capsules all look alike, and are small and difficult to keep track of. And the wrong dosing capsule at the wrong time can be less than ideal! You don’t want to be accidentally dipping into a sativa late at night, or vaping a THC strain when you were planning on a CBD session.
Furna’s oven mouthpieces also have changeable colored nibs. So you can keep track of them at a glance, without having to insert them into the vape.
When cleaning a Furna oven, just wait for it to cool down, then use the provided brush to clear out the herb. Then it’s ready to be reloaded. For deeper cleans, which are only necessary once you see residue building up, some isopropyl alcohol is all you need, in combination with the brush included with the vaporizer.
If you plan to use your dry herb vaporizer while on the move, pre-loadable solutions like swappable ovens, dosing capsules, or pods will probably appeal to you.
But if you’re thinking of going this route, it makes more sense to buy a vaporizer that was designed explicitly for this style of use, not a vape where it was added on as an accessory. Instead of having to deal with hot inserts while reloading the chamber, you can have the instant satisfaction of another session right away by swapping in another oven.
With Furna, you also won’t be continually replacing disposable dosing capsules, or having difficulty keeping track of which cannabis strain is in which dosing capsule. The capacity of dosing capsules can also be an issue.
So if reloading with maximum convenience is a core feature that you are looking for in a dry herb vaporizer, you’re best off purchasing the Furna.
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A portable dry herb vaporizer is a total game-changer compared with more traditional methods of consuming cannabis like smoking joints. They're more discreet, produce very little smell, and are easier on your lungs to boot. You also save money because vaporizing gives you stronger effects from the same amount of herb.
But there are so many vaporizers on the market, it's not easy to know where to begin. We'll break it down for you, first looking at what features you might want in a new vaporizer. Then we'll compare the most popular and advanced vapes and track down the best portable vaporizer. We'll also look at differences in heating technology and how that affects vapor quality, flavor, and convenience. Let's do this!
Most folks that are new to vaping choose to go with a portable vape: they're cheaper, and way more versatile. A giant desktop vaporizer like Storz & Bickel's Volcano produces amazing vapor, but it's expensive, and meant for home use. For some users a desktop vape can be a perfect fit: our post about how to choose between a portable and desktop vaporizer can help you decide.
The most important feature that you'll want in a vaporizer is accurate temperature settings. If your vaporizer can't reliably heat up your herb, your sessions will be mediocre and you'll waste bud. The device needs to have enough power to heat the material in the bowl, and fast, while still fitting in your pocket.
Build quality and the device's material components are crucial. To ensure great flavor, you also want a heating chamber and vapor path made of high-grade materials like stainless steel, ceramic, and glass, that won't change the taste of your dry herbs. When you take a draw, you want smooth, tasty hits of the pure flavor of your weed strain.
Features like heat up time, battery life, and cleaning are important too. Ease of cleaning is one area where many portability-focused vapes fall short. When you postpone cleaning because it's not easy enough, the vapor path of your unit will become clogged. If your device has bad airflow, you'll draw poorly, and deliver mediocre hits. The flavor will also become terrible. Once you notice a lot of draw resistance, it's cleaning time.
A portable vaporizer should also have easy-to-use temperature controls. An easy-to-read display is helpful too, especially in low-light settings. How easy it is to control temperature settings might seem less important than core performance, but if you're investing in a dry herb vaporizer, you'll probably want to use it a lot. A small inconvenience now can become annoying in the long term, session after session. Quality is important, but so is ease of use.
Vaporizers work best when they can heat up your herb to an exact temperature, heating the herb evenly and extracting the most THC and CBD from your weed. If your vape can't be precise about temperature control and heats your herb unevenly, you're going to end up wasting some of your stash.
You get what you pay for with a dry herb vape, and the cheapest portable vaporizers are underpowered, and don't get as much flavor or effects out of the herb. If you're only going to vaporize rarely and don't care about being efficient with your cannabis, this might not matter, but for others, it's a top concern.
Vaporizers are worthless when their batteries are dead, and you don't want the experience of your vape dying on you just when you're about to have a perfect session in the great outdoors. Most devices charge via USB, while some have replaceable batteries. Recharging speeds can vary quite a bit too.
Size is also a key factor. You want a device that's compact enough to meet your needs, but not one that's made compromises to achieve its small size. You probably also want to consider the design of the vaporizer - it's more exciting to have a vape that you think looks cool, and that's fun to hold.
Dry herb vapes aren't always easy to clean. And although that might seem minor, if you don't feel motivated to regularly clean your vaporizer, you're going to end up with worse, less effective vapor. And you'll waste some herb.
Another drawback to portable dry herb vapes is that it's not always convenient to reload them when you want to have another bowl. You're dealing with hot parts, and packing the bowl with herb when you're outside or in a public location isn't easy, or discreet. An oven-swapping vaporizer like Furna lets you load up multiple ovens in advance, letting you instantly reload whenever you want.
It wasn't always the case, but in 2021 there are ton of excellent portable dry herb vaporizers out there, although they still all have advantages and disadvantages. In terms of the best of the best, the Mighty vaporizer by Storz & Bickel, the Furna, and the Davinci IQ2 consistently get top reviews.
The PAX 3 vaporizer by Pax labs is probably the most popular conduction vape, although it's not always easy to control it. You need to use an app to access some settings, and using the app might not always be convenient. It has good power and quality vapor, but low ease of use when it comes to maintenance and cleaning. The Crafty is also a solid choice that's a bit more affordable, and less powerful, than the Mighty.
At a slightly lower price point, you can also find decent vapes, but they have more disadvantages and deliver lower vapor quality than those top five. The Arizer Solo II, DaVinci Miqro, Firefly 2, the Boundless CFX (and Boundless CF) are all satisfactory if you're looking for a more affordable device.
Older models like the DaVinci IQ, and PAX 2 might also be worth considering, but you'll miss out on the features and better battery life of the IQ2 and PAX 3. It could just be better value to upgrade, despite the higher price.
If you're thinking of going with one of these mid-market devices, or a Solo II or Firefly 2, you really might as well go that last mile and get a Mighty, Furna, Crafty, or PAX 3, which provide more power and better value over the long-term. Ultimately you're going to save money, because your weed budget won't have to be as high compared with combustion methods like smoking.
The Arizer Air and Argo are also popular inexpensive choices, but their battery life leaves a lot to be desired compared with the Arizer Solo II (or Arizer Solo 2, for non-Romans). Most of the ultra-cheap vapes aren't worth considering, but the DynaVap VapCap is a good price if a one-hitter-style vape appeals to you. It doesn't use a battery, though; instead, you heat it with a lighter.
Vapes can use one of two heating methods. A conduction vaporizer will heat the herbs in the chamber directly beside the heating element, while a convection vaporizer heats the air around the chamber. Most portable vapes that make use of a convection heating system actually use hybrid heating, combining both convection and conduction.
Both styles can produce great vapor, and convection tends to heat your herb slightly more evenly. Some people claim that convection delivers better vapor quality, but as long as you grind your herb and pack your bowl correctly, conduction vapes will also deliver powerful, reliable vapor. Just pay attention to airflow and regular cleaning of the vapor path to keep your sessions smooth.
The Mighty is probably the best hybrid vaporizer, while its little sibling the Crafty, and the Firefly 2 also have their proponents. But there are also drawbacks to convection vaping: they're bigger and less convenient to carry around, take longer to heat up, and have lower battery life. The Mighty might be an excellent vape, but its size makes it better suited to carrying around the house. It's not small enough to fit in your pocket for a hike. Still, they offer great performance and consistency, even if they're not pocketable.
The Mighty, IQ2, and Crafty are all great vaporizers, but Furna edges them all out when it comes to portability. Furna's oven swapping technology means you can have the best possible vaping experience when using it on the go. No need to awkwardly clean out the chamber and reload your vape in public - instead, do it at home, then easily swap ovens whenever you like.
It also has the best battery life of all, managing 15-20 sessions per charge. In comparison, the Crafty doesn't have great battery life, and it's also a bit bulky. The Mighty is even bigger. They both also take longer to heat up because they use convection heating.
Furna has a highly durable build quality, and the mouthpiece can be flipped inwards anytime you like, making the device a solid brick shape. This makes it more resilient, more compact, and keeps lint and other materials out of your mouthpiece. It has an isolated air path, delicious and consistent vapor production, and a lightning-fast heat up time. There isn't much of a learning curve, it's simple to use, cleaning it is a breeze, and the controls are intuitive.
And you're not just limited to dry herb with Furna. You can also get a concentrate oven that can be swapped in just as easily. Some other dry herb vaporizers let you make use of concentrates, but it's a lot more awkward and potentially messy than just swapping in a concentrate oven. Check out Furna to learn more about the most convenient vaporizer out there.
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