Thermal extraction devices (THD) or dry herb vaporizers (DHV) are pretty neat. You might have heard of them by now. If not; this article was made for you!
Just to be clear, I’m not saying anyone needs to be using these devices, nor that anyone should consume weed. This is more of a PSA, to let you know that there is a really solid alternative to smoking cannabis.
Okay great, but like… What mate?
WEEEEEEEED, it’s great. Smoking, not so great. Edibles? Pretty great not gon’ lie to ya, but it does take quite a while to kick in and it takes even longer to wear out. Plus it’s a hassle to make, not a problem if you enjoy a bit of cooking or baking though. Not to mention that you don’t have to inhale several hundred degree vapour in through your spongy wet lungs. But we’re not talking about that right now.
Did you know that when you smoke a joint, the smoke isn’t actually what gets you high? The heat from the burning ember actually vaporizes the THC in the weed/hash adjacent to the cherry that hasn’t yet been set aflame. This vapor is then pulled through the joint into your body along with the smoke, which makes your brain nice and toasty, along with your lungs and everything else on the way there. When the ember reaches the weed from which you just got high, the leftover THC (of which there is actually quite a bit) just breaks down in the heat of the combustion, never to be consumed.
So the solution is lung collapsing, glycol ass e-cig vapes?
FUCKIN’ NO CUNT
‘Dry herb vaping’ or ‘thermal extraction’ is completely different from your regular e-cigs or whatever the fuck else.
What I just described, the heat from a burning joint vaporizing the THC and getting you high, dry herb vaping is literally just that but without the combustion or the smoke. You put your ground weed in a mf, your weed gets hot one way or another (via magic FYI) and then you can literally just suck the THC straight out of your weed. It’s as simple as that.
Okay… Why though?
Plenty of reasons to pick from:
- It’s less harmful (due to the absence of smoke and all)
- You get more high with less weed (wow actual source in a Redâkkie article?!?!?!)
- Being able to taste your weed (much much better) is terrific
- It’s a lot faster than rolling a joint (although not nearly as fun)
- It’s a lot easier than rolling a joint (although not as rewarding either)
- You can make edibles with vaped leftovers (getting you high after it already got you more high than if you’d smoke it whaaaaat)
- No smokey smell (pretty much smells like decarbing weed in an oven but a lot more intense)
- Potential to reach ultimate weed snob status
It’s not perfect though
There are downsides:
- You have to charge them
- It’s harder to take with you than some good ol’ compact and lightweight rolling supplies
- You have to clean em’ every now and again (the less you do this, the more it sucks)
- Significant up front cost (things cost money unfortunately)
- Even though it’s more efficient, theoretically able to save money, some people end up:
- Using more cannabis because they find it easier and more enjoyable to do so than ever before (which is of course subjective)
- Collecting vapes, spending more money than they ever did on just weed (which is more of an expensive hobby than an actual downside I suppose)
- Potential to reach ultimate weed snob status
So should I get one?
From my (biased) experience, most people who don’t consume nicotine on its own and just want to get high every now and again, generally prefer vaping weed over smoking it.
Heavier smokers might not like it though, because it’s not smoking. Nor will it ever be smoking. And that’s alright, the whole idea is that it’s not smoking. Although I would still recommend at least looking up “ball vapes” if you do not like the idea of not smoking your weed. There’s a lot of people online saying they only fully switched to vaping after getting a ball vape. And I can say from experience that it is superbly fucking magnificent.
If you haven’t gotten into weed purely because you don’t want to smoke, or if you do smoke it but would prefer, or are open to; a more efficient (and more expensive), less harmful and likely more enjoyable way to consume some grass; I couldn’t recommend getting a dry herb vape enough.
And if you’re immediately antsy about the price, calm down. You can get a really solid, small and portable device for around 100 euros nowadays, it’s nuts.
That’s about it I reckon. Cya