Vaporizers have been invented as a way to eliminate the harmful effects of consuming your favorite materials — such as herbs, wax concentrates, and oils. That said, vaporizers (from the get-go) were made to help administer the benefits of the said materials to people who want to avoid the downsides of traditional consumption.

So, whether you’re simply in it for its potent psychoactive upshots or its medicinal properties, using a vaporizer can help you go around the negative effects of smoking or dabbing, which could take its toll on your overtime. 

Another benefit of using a vaporizer is that it makes consuming your select materials as easy as a pie. Before modern-day vaporizers became mainstream, conventional rigs required a lot of setting up. Additionally, one will have to familiarize himself or herself in wielding manual heating devices, like a blowtorch.

These daunting factors usually cause newbies to shy away from reaping the recreational and medicinal benefits of their favorite flowers and concentrates. But with the advent of modern vapes, all it takes for someone to start getting elevated and medicated is a simple push of a button. Furthermore, advancements in today’s technology also made temperature control easy for us. Pre-set voltage levels can help extract specific effects from your buds and oils.  

It’s also easy for people to take their sessions almost anywhere they go. Vaporizers nowadays are built smaller and lighter than devices made four — or even three years — before them. Today, you can literally put a vaporizer in your pocket and even stroll around town with one in the palm of your hands.

On that note, many individuals carry vaporizers with them almost all the time: athletes use vaporizers to relax their bodies after a punishing training session at the gym; professionals take a hit from their portable devices to boost their creative juices when they’re experiencing a block; and patients use it to help them manage constant joint or muscular pain without beating their livers with chemical-heavy drugs.  

Overall, using a vaporizer has its many advantages. Why stick to consumption methods that will hurt your body in the long run when you have a modern device that can give you the same effects minus the downsides of inhaling fumes from combusted herbs and wax concentrates? Why confine yourself at home when you can enjoy rips and dabs somewhere else? Why not use a vaporizer?  

Vaporizers come in many shapes and sizes. But to make things simple, let’s look at the types of vapes depending on the materials they are used for. On that note, let’s start with dry herb vaporizers.

Probably one of the first devices to have been developed, dry herb vapes are used to extract the active ingredients from buds, flowers, and other ground botanical plant matter without reaching the point of combustion. Common to these devices are an herb chamber, a heating element, and a mouthpiece — preferably with a screen. The herb chamber obviously holds ground materials and is built to either heat the materials using conductive heat or with convection heating.

It works in conjunction with a heating element that can typically be controlled using a dial or a computerized component. Meanwhile the mouthpiece and the screen ensure that no fine particle is inhaled by the user. 

Wax vapes, on the other hand, are used for extracts. Regardless of their consistency, a wax vaporizer is equipped with the right parts to help owners make the most out of their precious concentrates. That said, their common features include a wax atomizer, a heating element (which could be made out of quartz or ceramic), and of course, a mouthpiece.

Wax atomizers are built to hold the materials and keep them in place even when they melt in the process of heating as melted wax could damage the device should it reaches electrical components. A quartz heating element is usually used for improved cloud volume and potency while ceramic is favored by those seeking to preserve the wax’s flavor. The mouthpiece allows owners to conveniently draw vapors from the device.  

Lastly, oil vaporizers come with batteries that sport 510-threaded connections for cartridges. These carts can be pre-filled or refillable and have mouthpieces built right on them. A unique feature common to oil vapes is that they can be equipped with an auto-draw function, which basically means that it has no physical buttons on it as activating the device only requires the owner to inhale from the vaporizer.

Like wax vapes, the heating element from oil vaporizers can be made using quartz, but are oftentimes made with ceramic. Of all the three, they are by far the smallest and the most portable as they only require small-capacity batteries since oils burn easily.  

Key to enjoying your every session is choosing the right vaporizer, and doing so starts with knowing what material you prefer. Herb vaporizers are often the go to for classic connoisseurs as it has both the kick of potent cannabinoids and the natural taste of flavonoids.

Meanwhile, wax concentrates are known to hit harder thanks to the concentrated amount of active ingredients in them. They are also more expensive than herbs. Finally, those who want a mellow effect, should they want to still function normally for the day, go for oils.  

With that covered, the next thing you would want to do is to consider the size of your battery. The larger the battery capacity, of course, the heavier and the bulkier the body of the vaporizer is. The added weight, however, gives you longer operational life and will have you blazing trees and dabbing concentrates for days.

Conversely, a vaporizer with a smaller battery will need to be plugged in every now and then. Nevertheless, it gives you the benefit of carrying a lightweight, easy to conceal vaporizer. Knowing your priorities can help you determine whether you need an ultra-portable vaporizer or something you’re going to be good with carrying in a bag.    

Next is how much features you want packed in your device. Some vaporizers come only with the basic equipment, which allows it to do its job well enough for those who just want a dependable vaporizer. An entry-level device, for example, will be equipped with a basic battery — say, around 650 milliamp-hours (mAh) — that has a single heat setting, a simple mouthpiece, and a wax chamber that can hold a decent amount of extracts.

A more professional-level vaporizer, on the other hand, will come with a battery with a much higher capacity that is fitted with variable temperature settings, or heck, even precision temperature control. The mouthpiece could be compatible with various attachments, like a glass bubbler, which introduces the elements of water filtration and moisture conditioning. It may even get an integrated wax jar so you can store extra materials for when you need another dab when you’re out and about.  

Finally, you will want to look at your budget. For obvious reasons, a vaporizer that’s crammed with features will be more expensive than a base-variant device. Pretty much like cars, or anything else for that matter, vaporizer prices will go up the more advanced the technology is and the more premium the raw materials used to build it are.

As we’ve briefly covered above, the heating elements and the heating styles of vaporizers can be different depending on the effect the vape is trying to achieve. Let’s start with the basic — conduction heating. Heating a material — be it herbs, wax, or oil — through conductive means, can be considered the basic form of vaporization and can be found on more affordable vaporizer devices.

This involves a heating element powered by the battery that is connected to a surface that heats the materials placed on it. Herbs, for example, will be heated from the bottom-up as the heated surface in an herb chamber is typically placed on top of the heating element. Conduction vapes are known for their ability to quickly transfer heat to the materials since they come directly into contact with the surface. As a result of the abrupt heating, vapors produced by conduction vapes are more viscous and are more potent. However, they could burn the materials placed on them if the vape owner is not careful.  

And then we have convection vaporizers. Convection vapes does not place the material directly in contact with a heated surface, instead, it employs the use of air to thoroughly vaporize the materials.

The heat produced by the heating element is distributed evenly to the materials which means that you get an even burn every time you vape. Convection heating is often seen on high-end vaporizers and usually on dry herb vapes. Since the heated air is supposed to pass through the ground materials, it is recommended that convection vapes are packed loosely.  

There’s also what the vaping community calls hybrid heating, which combines the two aforementioned heating styles. Many argue that it’s the best today’s market has to offer as hybrid heating offer vaporizer users the best of both worlds. It can provide the needs of both those looking to use their devices as recreational tools and those who will use them to medicate. Many of modern multi-functional vaporizers use this heating style as it is good for vaporizing almost all types of materials.

Through hybrid heating, one can achieve fast and potent results while still achieving vaporization without combustion. The combination of contact heating as well as heat delivered by hot air creates an environment that completely heats herbs, wax concentrates, and oils. Many praise it for its clean vapor production but others value hybrid heating for its economic effects. No herb, wax, and oil are wasted, allowing consumers to make the most out of their materials.  

Maintaining a vaporizer is key to prolonging its longevity. That said, it is important for both beginners and veterans alike to know the basics of vape maintenance. Let’s start with getting to know your device.

It’s important for a vaporizer owner, like yourself, to know how to operate the device as blindly operating it can lead to damage. That said, the user manual that comes with the vaporizer is your best friend.

Take a few minutes to read on it and familiarize yourself with the functions of the vape. You may also watch YouTube videos and read blogs about the vaporizer you have purchased so you may get to know it better. After all, having your vaporizer in your hand while half-baked might lead you to press a couple of buttons you should not be pressing.  

Next is battery charging. As we all know, almost all vaporizers nowadays use rechargeable batteries, and knowing how to take care of your batteries means extending the lifespan of your unit.

The recommended charging time can usually be found on the user manual, but for good measure, never leave your battery charging overnight. Many vaporizer batteries, especially the old ones, can get boated and may leak when left charging overnight.

Similarly, the battery performance may degrade when you leave the battery plugged in for more than the recommended hour. Symptoms include shorter and inconsistent battery life.

Also, make sure to use the battery charger or charging cable that came with the device. Using an incompatible charger may result to damage. Also, you will want to charge your batteries before storing for a long time as it can cause the battery to go dead.  

Finally, you must know how to clean your vape. For obvious reasons, submerging the vaporizer in water will lead to liquid damage. That said, it’s best to use cleaning wipes or a dedicated cleaning cloth to remove leftover materials or smudges on the vaporizer’s body. Further, you may want to look at removing any residue on your atomizer.

Most coils on vaporizers can be cleaned by performing a burn-off. That means you just have to press the power button for a few seconds until the remaining wax concentrate or oil in your coil evaporates. In the case of dry herb vapes, you may use a brush to remove any fine herbs that might be caught in the corners of the chamber before performing the said burn-off.

We have already brushed on a few vaporizer accessories earlier, citing the glass bubbler as an example. Glass bubblers are small glass attachments that can hold water. Here, the vapors produced by your vaporizer will pass through. The water in the glass bubbler will slightly filter the vapor and to some degree, remove the impurities from it. Similarly, using a glass bubbler can moisturize the vapor and remove the harshness from it. Another vape accessory are terp pearls, which when used with wax concentrates create an even burn and can help maximize the yield of your dabs. Terp pears are quartz pearls used when dabbing. They spin around so as to scrape any wax concentrate that might get trapped on the walls or the bottom of the wax chamber. And while we’re still on the topic of wax vaping, let’s look at dab caps. They are specially-designed caps that allow a vaporizer user to control the airflow on a device. Capping it would restrict the airflow, increasing the temperature and the potency of the vapors produced. Removing the cap allow more air to get in and in turn make the vapors cold and less potent.  

There are also mouthpieces with integrated dab tools. Instead of using a separate dab tool, certain mouthpieces have built-in dab tools which help conserve extracts since ant leftover wax will also melt when the vaporizer is fired up. And since we’re talking about dab tools, let’s check out heated knives. They are wax concentrate cutters that have a battery attached to them to heat the cutting component. One use for it is to get through hard waxes, but they can also be used to melt the wax prior to loading it onto the wax vape.  

Other accessories come in the form of hanging rings and lanyards. They can help when you need to use vaporizer when at an event, like a concert or a music festival. Instead of putting a vape in your pocket, you can simply let it hang on your neck or maybe from your wrist. Doing so will help free up pockets for other essentials such as wallets and smartphones. Wax jars are also essential accessories. Some vaporizers sell wax jars that can be attached to the bottom of vaporizer batteries. This way, you no longer need to carry a separate container for your extracts. All you need to do is just open the portable wax jar, and reload your wax vape — all while you’re on your foot.