Hemp Vaporizers for Dry Herbs, Concentrates, and E-Liquids

Vaporizers seem to be growing in popularity. From my own experience, vaporizers were simply nicotine delivery devices, turning eJuice into a vapor that I could enjoy. But with the recent surge of legal hemp, many people are looking to vaporize their hemp products without all the potential ramifications of combustion. Let's take a look at the variety of vaporizer products and how they can be used within the legal hemp space that has been created via the 2018 Agriculture Bill.

A vaporizer is an electronic device that utilizes electricity to generate heat to vaporize any organic compounds like water vapor and any active chemicals for inhalation. Consisting of a power source, material loading chamber, and atomizer, vaporizers can be used for a variety of mediums like concentrates, oils loaded into a 510 cartridge, and even dried herbs. Vaporizers are gaining popularity as it has been compared against combustion and can likely lead to a reduction in smoke-inhalation symptoms or illness, according to a study. (Earleywine and Barnell, 2007)

There are a myriad of different vaporizers on the market. With a slew of different features and options, it's easy to get confused if you are unfamiliar with vaporizers, so let's try to demystify them.

• E-Liquid Vaporizers: E-Liquid vaporizers utilize E-Liquid made from vegetable glycerin and propylene glycol as a medium to carry nicotine, CBD, or other compounds for consumption.
• Concentrate Vaporizers: These vaporizers can load in waxy concentrates, viscous distillates, or oils to create vapor for consumption.
• Dry Herb Vaporizers: These vaporizers utilize ground dried herbs with a heating element within an oven to raise the temperature, essentially boiling off any active chemicals from the loaded material into vapor form for enjoyment. Although heat is used, no combustion occurs as the active compounds turn to vapor before the dried herbs can combust. Dry herb vaporizers are offered with convection or conduction heating, or a combination of both.

Vaporizers come in a variety of forms when it comes to E-Liquids. With a slew of choices between Starter Kits and Pod Systems, these devices are all geared towards creating bountiful clouds of vapor from E-Liquids. These E-Liquids conventionally utilize nicotine, but there are other formulations that contain CBD and other cannabinoids. Just look at our CBD Vape Juice section for the many different cannabinoids. For those that are interested, check out our blog for the Top Starter Kits of 2022 and Top Pod Systems for 2022 to see a list of vapes that are compatible with E-Liquids.

Concentrate Vaporizers also come in many forms. Concentrates are extracted from the plant, concentrating the organic compounds from the plant into an oil that can be worked into different forms. Some concentrates are kept as a distillate oil, others are worked into other forms like batter, shatter, crumble, and more. Regardless of form, concentrated vaporizers work by loading a chamber with concentrated material to vaporize, eliminating the potential for combustion as the all vegetative material from the plant is discarded. Concentrate vaporizers can range from simple to use vaporizer pens to technologically advanced dab rigs, implementing new technology to propel the vaporizer market forward.

Let's take a peek at the best concentrate vaporizers from basic to advanced:

For those that love 510 hemp cartridges, these can be paired with a simple 510 vape battery, effectively turning the combination into a concentrate vaporizer. The Yocan UNI Pro Plus is the most advanced version of the Yocan UNI, offering a 900mAh battery, 1.8-4.2V output range, and has two-way adjustability to secure the 510 cartridge within the protective chassis. Offered with a threaded 510 connection, the Uni Pro Plus Vaporizer is ideal for usage with 510 threaded cartridges. If 510 cartridges are your thing, take a look at the Hamilton Devices Starship Vaporizer, perfect for loading one to three cartridges for mind-boggling vapor production and can be connected to a 14mm female water pipe connection to cool and smooth out the vapor.

Another concentrate vaporizer, the Puffco Peak Pro Portable E-Nail is a desktop vaporizer, allowing it to comfortably reside on your tabletop. Utilizing electricity to heat the bowl, users can load in concentrates and receive vapor, with the intensity of the heating depending on one of four settings. Equipped with a glass water pipe section, the Peak Pro can cool and smooth the vapor before consumption, leading to satisfying vaping sessions. Puffco provides plenty of accessories to enhance your device and sessions. Furthermore, Puffco has introduced a smaller, portable concentrate vaporizer, the Puffco Proxy, as a standalone modular concentrate vaporizer or can be paired with third party created glass.

Pictured Above is the Peak Pro Daybreak Colorway. It comes with a Gold 3DXL chamber with Joystick Top Cap to move your concentrates around.

The last type of concentrate vaporizer to cover would be the Lookah Seahorse Max. The Seahorse Max is a different kind of concentrate vaporizer, called a nectar collector. Instead of a chamber to load the material into, nectar collectors work by heating the tip, usually with a torch, to vaporizing temperatures. In the case of the Seahorse Max, electricity is used to heat the attached tip. Users can then gently dip the tip of the nectar collector into your concentrate to vaporize anything touched, while inhaling to consume the vapor. This must be done with great care if the concentrates are stored on wax paper or within plastic containers as this will melt the plastic or burn the paper. Concentrates used with nectar collectors should be kept with a silicone or glass container.

Dry Herb Vaporizers are a game changer when introduced to the world of hemp and cannabis. Offering users a different way of consuming their dried herbs, these vaporizers work by gently heating the dried herbs, allowing the organic compounds to boil off into a inhalable vapor, without burning the herbs. Most dry herb vaporizers operate off conduction heating and convection heating, with some special units using a combination of both methods. These heating methods change how each one is used, albeit the general concept is similar.

The Storz and Bickel Volcano Hybrid Desktop Vaporizer is the most recent rendition of the legendary Volcano Vaporizer. Assembled in Germany, the Volcano Hybrid Desktop Vaporizer is not for the faint of heart or wallet. Priced north of $600, the build quality of the Volcano Hybrid explains the higher price point. Utilizing convection heating, the Storz & Bickel Volcano Hybrid Desktop Vaporizer moves hot air throughout the packed bowl of dried herbs to evenly distribute heat and thoroughly vaporize any organic compounds. With the option to use the EZ Valve Bags or a new hookah-hose style delivery system, the Volcano Hybrid Vaporizer can be the life of the party or a reliable companion for the solo seshers, delivering consistent and flavorful vapor.

If you come from the realm of vaping, you definitely know dotmod. However, if you are from the hemp space, this name may be new to you. Dotmod, known for their high end vaping devices, has released the DotLeaf Vaporizer Mod. Utilizing a proprietary dry herb chamber, the dotLeaf can store the chamber inside the chassis, gently coaxing heat to vaporize the organic compounds of the packed materials. Outputting heat via conduction heating, what sets the DotLeaf Vaporizer Mod apart is the fact that the conductive heating comes from all sides instead of a single plane, resulting in a more even heating experience similar to convection heating.

Pax Labs has been on the innovative cutting edge of vaporizer technology. With the release of the Pax 3, Pax Labs has been heralded as one of the best dry herb vaporizers on the market with additional accessories to accommodate concentrates. However, the Pax 3 has been dethroned by its own successors, the Pax Mini and Pax Plus. With all three devices compatible with dried herbs, these vaporizers utilize conduction heating and intuitive feedback to allow connoisseurs to enjoy their dried herbs. Only the Pax Mini is strictly relegated to dried herbs, while the other two members of the Pax Family come with the needed accessories (Pax Plus), or must be purchased separately (Pax 3).

Earleywine, M., & Barnwell, S. S. (2007). Decreased respiratory symptoms in cannabis users who vaporize. Harm reduction journal, 4, 11. https://doi.org/10.1186/1477-7517-4-11