With not everyone in the world being so accepting of cannabis, and the monotony of day to day life, it can be challenging finding the time, or discretion, to medicate. There are a few work arounds however. Medicate before your duties, and hope it lasts until they are done, rewarding yourself after; or invest in a portable vaporizer? Good idea. Let’s talk Flower vs Concentrate Vaporizers and why one or the other might be the best choice for you.
What is are Cannabis Vaporizers?
Cannabis Vaporizers are devices with an internal heating element and chamber, which is loaded with either flowers or concentrates. The element heats the chamber to a temperature set by the user, and is relative to each device’s particular pre-programmed settings.
Over the past few years, vaporizers have went from being this big, bulky device you could only use from the comfort of your own home, to a compact, portable solution to medicating outside of your comfort zone. These vaporizers offer the power of home vaporizers, but on the go, allowing for stealthy medication, anytime, anywhere. The only real issue is whether you prefer flower vs concentrate vaporizers?
Flower vs Concentrate Vaporizers
Cannabis Vaporizers come in various shapes and sizes. But there are an increasing number of pocket vaporizers that have been flooding the market as of late; and for good reason. You can’t tell you’re medicating!
Most of these types of vapes have either a removable or internal battery / energy source that sits underneath a coil/ atomizer heating element. This coil sits inside or under a loadable ceramic or stainless steel chamber. This is then activated by a certain number of clicks using the device’s on / off button.
Once activated, these devices will send charge to the coils or atomizer, cycling through heat settings by user inputted clicks. An LED on some part of the vape will glow a distinct colour for that temperature, flashing until steady. This alerts the user that the session has now started, and the cannabis in the chamber or bowl heated by the element, is ready to be consumed.
This is most certainly an industry standard that carries suit for all categories of pocket vapes. There is always some form of light indicator to let you know when to start pulling from the product. We carry a few types of disposable / preloaded pen type vapes. Outside of disposables, there are three types of vaporizers you can buy; dry herb vapes, concentrate vapes, and hybrid vapes.
Dry Herb Vapes
Dry vaporizers are for, as you can imagine, dry herbs and flowers! This means all of your favourite strains can be loaded up into the chambers of these baddies, and get ripped.
Dry vaporizers work off very small amounts of cannabis, and are great for conserving weed. Although we will never stop smoking joints here at HGA, we do acknowledge that vaporizers do work better for situations that require us to be “scent free”.
When you take flame to cannabis, not only does it have a distinct smell, but it burns at nearly 900 degrees at the cherry. This makes the necessary change in cannabinoids from their acidic precursor forms to the active compounds we need from our medicine.
Unfortunately a lot of those very cannabinoids are wasted in that process, despite it being many people’s go to for instant medication. As well as extra things being inhaled that are related to burning, but not to a THC buzz.
Vaporization is a bit different. When flowers are heated past 275+ degrees, the cannabinoids will change from their precursor forms, into forms that our body can process and make the most of. The cannabinoid carrying resins will literally be lifted off of the green grounds in the chamber. They then find their way into your lungs via vapors from the mouthpiece of the device of your choice.
You can vape the same bowl multiple times in a vape pen, and it is recommended, especially with vapes such as the Airvape Xs [1], that has varying temperature settings. Work your way up from low to high heat over the course of a couple sessions on low and again on medium, until your herb has gone from its natural green to a finished brown. Bumping the temp up to high will get the last bits of goodness out of your herb, leaving it with a “popcorn” type of taste. This lets you know the bowl is finished. Remember; always pull gently from the center of mouthpiece for vapor filled tokes, and to prevent any clogging.
DaVinci MIQRO
I have had great success with the DaVinci MIQRO, it’s an excellent vape with a ceramic bowl and zirconium ceramic vapor path and mouthpiece. These features are amazing as they cool the vapor and the parts that you touch never get hot enough to burn you.
I have also had good experiences with the Magic Flight launch box, but the bowl is an aluminum screen, so I can’t recommend it to you as that became an issue of contention for me. I have also owned an iolite. It broke in a month. I took it apart to fix it as their warranty required me to mail it for proof. In the days before legalization this was a deal breaker. Once I got the case off of it I realized that the iolite is just a glorified refillable lighter under an aluminum bowl. Yikes. I don’t recommend iolite.
Although vaping flowers doesn’t quite give off the same smell as burning them does, carrying them and packing the bowl or chamber of your vape does smell, and although there are work arounds to sorting out the smell carrying it, such as smell proof containers, you can’t quite mask the smell of packing it without extra steps, so keep that in mind on your discreet vaping adventures.
Concentrate Vapes
Concentrate Vaporizers
Like dry herb vaporizers, concentrate vaporizers usually have the same build, however most vaporizer companies are making the switch over to full ceramic coils or chambers. That is the main difference between dry vapes and concentrate vapes; dry herb vapes usually have a heating element such as a coil that will heat the chamber above it, creating a convection cell to evenly heat the material, whereas with concentrate vapes, the concentrate is more than often applied directly to the coil, however recent advancements have led the industry away from that, and on to building full ceramic chambers that operate more similarly to dry herb vaporizers.
Our favourite is by far the Puffco+ [2], a stand alone concentrate vaporizer that fits in your pocket, and looks nothing like the bigger bulkier units available. Claimed to be the “first ever pocket nail”, Puffco rocked the vaporizing boat last year with releasing their new Puffco+, which features a fully ceramic, coil less chamber, setting the bar high for other vaporizer companies to follow suit.
This innovation leads us away from poorly tasting pocket dabs, which can be the case with some vaporizers that care coil based. The coils heat up very fast, with little temperature control, as power is sent to them in pulses. This method can result in the burning of one’s selected concentrate.
Vaping concentrates
The full chamber convection is met with either a glass dome, or in this case, a ceramic dart. The dart prevents a bubble-up of the concentrate out the mouthpiece, and even vaporization of the concentrate. Vaping concentrates has little to no noticeable smell, and carrying concentrates to pack bowls on the go has become easier than ever with silicon carrying cases becoming the norm [3]. Concentrate pens such as the Puffco+ are perfect for patients who need to medicate with absolute discretion.
Hybrid Flower AND Concentrate Vapes
A fairly recent addition to the portable vape world are portable vaporizers that can handle EITHER flower or concentrates. PAX created the first vape I saw that can do this. The friends I know that have one all love it. But for hybrid vapes I am more interested in the Focus V Carta. You can check it out on HGA here The pics make it look big, but those 18350 batteries are the same ones that power the MIQRO, so this is still a pocket vape. And, the water bubbler mouthpiece is an amazing addition to a vaporizer.
Parting Thoughts
Pocket vaporizers are a very worthy investment if you need to conserve, but more importantly if you need to be stealthy. Not everyone can medicate when they want to, whenever they want to. Devices such as cannabis vaporizers help to make this happen all while drawing minimal attention. Flower vs Concentrate Vaporizers really depends on your personal preference. Good options are available no matter what you like best!
Flower vs Concentrate Vaporizers
For those who prefer flowers over concentrates, checkout the Airvape Xs. You’ll get a stand-alone dry vaporizer that gives you control over a range of temperatures. It is great at evenly heating and vaporizing material.
Or check out the DaVinci MIQRO. It’s a discreet, well designed, quality portable dry flower or herb vaporizer with a 5 year warranty.
For those who prefer concentrates over flowers, definitely peep the Puffco+; their team has pushed for the advancements that other companies are trying to adapt to, all while keeping it sleek, stylish, and functional. The unit also has a built in session mode for when you want to pingpong it with a friend.
If you want a rig that can handle BOTH concentrates and flowers, then the Focus V Carta vaporizer will be right up your alley. And we carry extra batteries and backup parts if you ever lose anything from your kit.
For those who need to hide the smell completely, concentrates and their vapes, are your new best friend. For those who need to hide the smell, but are urban ninjas with packing their bowls in secrecy, then the dry herb vapes are for you. All in all, be safe, and medicate to your heart’s content discreetly!
Cool Links!
2) Puffco+