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FROM THE MAGAZINE

An Introduction To Vaporizers

A dummies’ guide about how vaporizers work and the various benefits of using them

BY LARRY LECHUGA, THE420TIMES.COM

People have been smoking marijuana for a long, long time. Our ancestors were smoking marijuana thousands of years ago. Thankfully, things have changed since then. First of all, people no longer look like the caveman from the GEICO commercials, which is a blessing in itself. Second of all, our increased knowledge about the properties of marijuana, along with advances in technology, have given patients of medical cannabis more options to choose from when it comes time to take their green.

Vaporizers are a relatively new technology, with the first models emerging in the early 1990s. Since then, the market for vaporizers has expanded considerably so that patients of medical marijuana now have a wide range of vaporizers, both high-end and low-end, to decide between.

If you’ve never vaporized your marijuana before, you should give it a chance. There are, indeed, various advantages of using vaporizers — not only your lungs, but your wallet, will thank you.

How Vaporizers Work

Vaporizers work by heating up your marijuana to the point at which the active chemicals in marijuana — THC and CBN — turn into a vapor. This vaporization normally takes place roughly between 356º F to 392º F, which is below the temperature at which marijuana combusts.

Vaporizers generally use one of two heating methods: conduction or convection heating. With conduction heating, the herbs are heated directly to the desired temperature via a metal plate. This method, however, has its drawbacks. Since the metal plate is in direct contact with only one side of the marijuana, it results in the cannabis being vaporized unevenly.

With convection heating, however, the vaporizer emits a stream of hot air that heats the marijuana evenly and, thus, results in more thoroughly vaporized cannabis. This is why convection-based-heating vaporizers are normally thought of as being superior to the other alternatives.

The Advantages

For some patients of medical marijuana — such as those with asthma — vaporizing is the ideal solution for taking their cannabis, since vapors are considerably easier to inhale than smoke. But vaporizers have benefits for just about everyone — not just asthma patients.

It’s hard to ignore the fact that smoking marijuana has inherently harmful side effects. In a 1999 report written by the Institute of Medicine, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing unbiased advice on matters regarding health, it was noted that due to the health risks associated with smoking, “smoked marijuana should generally not be recommended for
long-term medical use.”

The true value of vaporizers lies in the fact that they provide a way of sidestepping the harmful byproducts inherent to smoking; and, at the same time, they allow you to reap all of the medicinal benefits of marijuana.

A study undertaken in 2004 by California NORML and the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) supports this point. Upon comparing the products generated by a vaporizer to the smoke produced by combusted marijuana, they found that the products of the vaporizer consisted primarily of THC, the major active component of marijuana, while the smoke contained over 100 different chemicals including the carcinogenic toxins found in tobacco smoke (known as polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs).

“The analysis showed that the Volcano® vapor was remarkably clean, consisting 95% of THC with traces of cannabinol (CBN), another cannabinoid,” the report says. “In contrast over 111 different components appeared in the gas of the combusted smoke, including a half dozen known PAHs. Non-cannabinoids accounted for as much as 88% of the total gas content of the smoke.”

This is good news not only for your health, but your wallet as well. Since the products of vaporizers contain higher proportions of THC, you don’t need as much marijuana to achieve the same high as you would need when smoking joints. Thus, while purchasing a vaporizer might make a small dent in your savings at first, if you smoke often enough over time, vaporizing will save you money in the long run.

Get Your Own!

Vaporizers come in all shapes and sizes, so finding one that suits you might take a bit of shopping around. In any case, here are a couple of popular models that can help jump-start your search: Volcano Vaporizer, Vapir One, Vapolution, Vapezilla, Mystifire.

If you’re looking for a top-of-the line vaporizer, the Volcano Vaporizer is the way to go. Although pricier than the others, it’s one of the most efficient and easy-to-use vaporizers around. The other vaporizers have their good points, too. The bottom line is that they are all vaporizers and should produce the same benefits for everyone!