Did you know that vaping isn’t just all about fun, colourful and flavoursome e-liquids? You can also use e-cigarette devices to vape dry legal herbs (such as camomile, lavender and damiana); in fact, doing so can result in a fantastic vaping experience, if you know what you’re doing and get it right. In order to do that, though, you do require the correct equipment and to deploy the right techniques. So, how to do it best? Well, the following are some helpful pointers.
Equipment
Perhaps the most appropriate way to vape herbs is by using a vape pen. Usually deployed, of course, for vaping the best e liquid UK, these devices can be categorised in two separate, simple ways – there are either those that operate through using convection heat and those that do so through using conduction heat. Convection heating involves the warming of something without contact with a heating element; it works because the surrounding area becomes hot enough to heat the object.
By contrast, conduction heating in a vape pen requires you to make sure the herb content doesn’t touch the pen’s coils otherwise the parts of the herb in contact may combust, while those not in contact won’t heated effectively; thus, a good amount of the herb will be wasted. In order to prevent this with a conduction heat vaper, you can use a glass screen or filter.
Preparation
Before anything else, it’s important you have the herb you’re looking to vape prepared properly. If you can, what you’re aiming for is a healthy-looking stash that’ll grind with ease and without trouble; it should neither be too wet, nor certainly too dry so it’ll crumble when you handle it.
Once you’re satisfied with your stash, peck it neatly and evenly into your device’s chamber; remembering that the more surface area the herb has contact with the more of it will be successfully heated and used. Note that you may want to buy a mass-produced grinder to ensure the herb’s ground effectively during preparation; if it’s not ground enough it’ll end up packed too rightly and not enable enough to flow through when you vape, but if its ground too finely you may manage to actually inhale some of the herb itself when you vape.
Temperature
It’s fair to say that temperature requirements tend to vary between different vaping devices, but irrespective of that, dry herbs are probably best vaped at around 300˚F. While vaping herbs at lower temperatures can be advantageous for flavour, you’ll probably find it ensures you don’t use all the herb you’ve packed into the device; meanwhile, higher temperatures may certainly use all up all the herb product, but they’re likely to result in something of a harsh throat ‘hit’. Be aware too that, should you try vaping herbs higher than 400˚F, there’s a possibility the herb may combust, which would then result in the production of unhealthy smoke.
Inhaling
When inhaling dry herbs via vape pens, you’ll find it’s not necessary to deploy big, fast hits as you may have needed to when using a water pipe; instead, slower, more languorous hits are better. It’s worth noting too that attempting large, heavy drags can pull too much, possibly dragging herb towards the mouthpiece and lowering temperature and, thus, negatively impacting on the quality of your vaping experience. In a sense, it’s more like sipping at a drink rather than sucking down a shot of liquor; with a vape pen the emphasis is on savouring the flavour of the herb.
Keep things clean
Don’t doubt it, cleaning your vape pen as often as possible (i.e. after each and every use) will ensure you enjoy a satisfying herb vape every time. It’s important to keep up a regular cleaning regimen as herbs have a habit of depositing extract on a device’s coils, leaving them sticky and, if left uncleaned, incapable of burning the herb residue adequately and negatively affecting the taste each time you vape. Also, should you leave coils uncleaned, it’ll hasten the need to replace them, so unnecessarily driving a vape pen’s wear and tear.
How should you best tackle the cleaning of a vape pen’s innards? That’d be with pipe cleaners or cotton swabs, along with a specialised cleaning solution for or the likes of isopropyl alcohol.
But be sure you don’t pour cleaning solution actually in a vape pen; instead, dab a pipe cleaner or a swab with a little of the solution and apply it to the device’s dirty areas, perhaps having heated up the pen to loosen some of the remaining residue to aid its removal – never try cleaning these inside parts with water, though; otherwise you’ll open up the inside of the pen to potential rusting. Good luck!