To Get the Most From Your Flower
I would say that when most people vape, their goal is just to extract as many medicating compounds as they can from the flower, within one single session. I believe that this is a logical and efficient vaping strategy, and the one I most often employ when I vape.
So, the first thing you do is grind your bud up. Vaping cannabis flower requires a much finer grind than smoking, so make sure you also have a high quality cannabis grinder as well, to really break your buds and get the most from them. After loading the chamber in your fully charged device, you close her up, and then power on.
Once your vape is turned on, you will then select a particular temperature. Most devices should offer settings for precise temperatures, or let you dial into a temperature range. If you are offered a range, then you simply just start at the lowest temperature. With precise settings, your first temp should be around 180°C. After choosing the first setting, wait for your vape to indicate that it is fully heated up, then inhale the vapors.
Very low temperatures don’t tend to produce too much vapor, and a steep drop off in vapor production is an indication to increase your heat level. Once your draws come out empty of vapor, increase your heat by about 20°C, wait for the device to re-heat, then continue vaping. You can keep repeating this procedure until you reach the highest setting, or 220°C.
Also note that many low-end vaporizers usually aren’t able to heat your bud evenly. So, if increasing your heat levels is still producing poor vapor, it will be necessary to open your chamber and stir and pack down the bud, in order to effectively continue vaping.
Once you hit the highest temperature and your vapor starts tasting not so great, it means that you have effectively vaporized all that you can from this flower. Open up your chamber, and then put all that brown stuff into its own air-tight container, because you are not done using this flower yet.
What Do I Do With The Stuff Leftover After I Vape?
I have been preaching this from the rooftops lately, because not enough people know that there are still cannabinoids left in that bud after you vape it: DO NOT throw away your vaped bud.
This stuff is called ABV or ABV, most people make it into edibles, but it can be used in a few diverse ways as an infusion, or on its own…
How to Infuse Coconut Oil With ABV
Customize Effects Using Specific Vape Temperatures
So, even though I don’t vape often at all, I still respect that vaporizing cannabis offers something that no other method of using weed can. Vaping dried cannabis allows a certain level of versatility from the flower, which can be appreciated by connoisseurs, or just by anyone who desires very specific effects from their herb.
The cannabis plant is full of different medicating compounds, chiefly, hundreds of diverse cannabinoids and terpenes. Each of these compounds have different effects, as well as different boiling points, or temperatures that cause them to turn into vapor. Therefore, heating cannabis at different temperatures, will allow certain compounds to be inhaled, while others stay trapped inside the bud. Since high quality vaping devices usually offer precise heat settings, this means that if you knew the boiling points of the different cannabinoids, you could, to a certain degree, be selective about which ones to inhale.
Indeed, many enthusiasts have found that by vaping only at specific temperatures, it is possible to receive several different effects from a single strain of flower. Vaping below 155°C will produce effects via some terpenes and cannabinoids, but will not cause any psychoactivity, euphoria, or pain relief. Between 155-165°C, it is possible to feel some very subtle effects from THC, usually this manifests as a slight buzz and improved mood. The range of 165-187°C is essentially the golden zone for vaping in the daytime, it should provide excellent flavour and a very clear-headed and stimulating buzz. Within 187-220°C is where you evaporate the entire symphony of cannabinoids from your particular strain of flower. In most cases, vaping in the highest range should start to produce effects more suited to night-time use: sedation, relaxation, and hunger. However, if you happen to have a strain with high levels of THCV (Red Congolese, Durban Poison, Green Crack, Moby Dick, Power Plant, Willie Nelson, Skunk#1), you may receive opposite effects from vaping up to 220°C, such as: energy, euphoria, and decreased sensations of hunger. And, just for reference, 232°C is the temperature where cannabis will combust, or burn, and hence release some toxic chemicals.
Below is chart that shows the boiling points for the 6 major cannabinoids, and the consequent temperature ranges that could potentially elicit specific effects.
Happy vaping! Comment below to share your own unique experience using different vape temps.
