Vaporiser Guide

Prescription cannabis should be vaporised. Combustion voids your prescription.

Dry herb vaporisers are used to heat your ground flower so you can inhale and enjoy the benefits of your medicine. Vaporisers heat your flower to a much lower temperature than combustion (compared to when you light and smoke cannabis) This means that combustion is never achieved and, as a result, fewer toxic chemicals, including carcinogens, are released.

Heating via vaporising causes the oils in the plant matter to evaporate and form a vapour which is then inhaled via the mouthpiece of the vaporiser. This vapour is rich in cannabinoids, flavonoids, and terpenes - You get a lot of flavour and effects and you will find you will use a fraction of what you would use with combustion via a bong or a joint!

Cannabinoids, like other substances, have individual boiling points – that is, the temperature at which they begin to evaporate. For the majority of cannabinoids, the sweet spot sits between 150-220°C That’s why a typical dry herb vaporiser will apply temperatures of somewhere between 140-240°C.

In comparison, temperatures in a burning cigarette or joint can reach between 400°C and 900°C! Unfortunately, this means that a significant proportion of those valuable cannabis compounds are effectively destroyed before you even have the chance to enjoy them. What’s more, dry herb vaporisers allow you to incrementally increase or decrease the applied temperature, giving you complete control over your experience.

It really is hard to argue that dry herb vaporisers aren’t changing the way we consume cannabis. As more options continue to become available and products become more affordable, it is likely that more and more cannabis users will be interested in making the switch (at least some of the time).

Types of Vaporisers

Convection Vaporisers

Convection Vaporisers heat your herb through the use of hot air passing through it. Due to all the heat coming from hot air, there is usually a little delay between the start of your inhaling and the vapor production.

Convection setups can be used with either a fine grind or a medium grind and in these the herb should not be packed tightly into the chamber, just gently tamped into place.

This is to avoid restricting the airflow too much which results in the herb closest to the heater having vaporised full before the herb further from the heater.

This style of setup provides a slightly more free flowing air path. As the herb is not in contact with the heater, convection vaporisers tend to provide better preservation of the terpenes (flavour) throughout the vaporisation session.

Conduction Vaporisers

Conduction vaporisers directly heat your herb via contact with a heated surface such as a heated ceramic, glass or metal chamber. Due to this method, conduction vaporisers tend to require a slightly finer grind of material, which should be more closely packed into the chamber.

Once the desired temperature is reached, they are capable of very quickly producing vapor. The two main things to note about this style of vaporiser is that, because of the more finely ground, more tightly packed chamber, they tend to have more restricted airflow.

This can be an advantage if transferring over from smoking rolled material as it produces a more similar experience. The second thing to note is that due to the material being in contact with the heater, the terpenes (flavour) tend to burn off more quickly than with other styles of vaporizer.

This means that by the end of your session the flavour will have decreased significantly and, at higher temperatures, will have a more roasted flavour.

Conduction or Convention

Although not as clean as 100% convection vaporisers, today’s conduction vaporisers have great vapor quality.

Although not as efficient as 100% convection vaporisers, today’s conduction vaporisers don’t waste that much herb.

Most portable vaporisers are hybrid anyway.

Additionally desktop vaporisers are always convection.

Butane Vaporisers

Butane vapes are devices like the Dynavap that are powered by heating with a flame. These experiences feel more like smoking (although it’s still vaping!) but they take a little more care and aren’t suitable for everyone with naked flames.

Portable or Desktop Vaporisers

Portable vapes are either powered by an internal battery that can be charged at a wall plug or USB, external batteries like 18650 or manual flame powered butane devices.

A desktop device is usually more powerful and is kept at home.

Advanced Vaporisers

Once you have mastered vaping and want to try something more advanced, you can look into desktop ball vapes like the Elev8r and advanced portable vapes like the Tinymight 2.

There are many types of vaporisers to choose from. Below is just a few examples. Many other dry herb vaporisers are available.

Portable Vaporisers

  • The Mighty / Mighty+

    The Mighty vaporiser by Storz and Bickel is one of the most popular and easy to use vapes there is and has been a number one vape for some time. It is very easy to load and use, has the rechargeable battery and has an excellent warranty. However, it is the most expensive of the bunch at around £200.

    Key Features:
    Convection heating
    Ease of use
    Precise temp control
    Rechargeable battery
    Haptic feedback
    Isolated airpath

    Click here to find out more

  • The Roffu

    The Roffu vaporiser by XLUX is a newer vape to the market. It is an upgrade to the XMAX V3, and it provides some serious vapor with the stainless steel bowl. It has a removable 18650 battery which makes it great for traveling. This is one of the MCPA’s favourite vapes at the moment with the price being a very affordable £130.

    Key Features:
    Convection heating
    Digital display
    18650 removable batteries
    Stylish design
    Ease of use
    Isolated airpath

    Click here to find out more

  • The Dynavap

    The Dynavap vaporiser by Dynavap is one of the cheapest vapes available. It’s a butane powered device that a lot of people use to mimic the feel of smoking because you heat the tip with a lighter until it “clicks” and inhale at the mouthpiece. We now have induction heaters that can be used with Dynavap instead of flame. Dynvaps start from just £59.

    Key Features:
    Mimics smoking
    Butane powered
    Can be used with Induction heaters
    Stylish design
    Ease of use
    Small size

    Click here to find out more

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Desktop Vaporisers

  • The Volcano

    The Volcano vaporiser by Storz and Bickel is an iconic vape that changed the way we vape at home. Its easy to use and with forced air you can fill bags with vapor! There are a few versions of the volcano with the cheapest the classic starting at £278.

    Click here to find out more

  • Thermal Twist - Ball-less

    The Thermal Twist Ball-less, was designed in collaboration with Crossing Tech to bring a highly effective and competitively priced injector vape to the market.

    Removing the need for balls entirely, this was designed with vortex airflow and a metal core! Available in either SS316 Stainless Steel or Grade 2 Titanium.

    Click here to find out more

  • NewVape FlowerPot

    The NewVape FlowerPot is a modular vaporizer designed for use with either herbs or concentrates, or both at the same time. Although it works beautifully with very small amounts of herbs or concentrates, it also works incredibly well as a high-dose party piece, thanks to its super-fast heat-up time and simple operation.

    Click here to find out more

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