What is Vaporizer?
A vaporizer or vape is an electronically powered device engineered to release the active compounds or chemicals from your desired plant material or herbal extract. Vaporizers vary in heating method but essentially heat the material to the optimum temperature avoiding combustion to release the desired effects, flavours and aromas. Since the material does not reach the point of combustion the harmful by products such as tar and carcinogens are not inhaled by the user.
The two categories of vaporizers are desktop and portable. Desktop units are large powerful units designed for at home use, while portable vapes are smaller devices built for on the go consumption. Both portable and desktop vaporizers have come a long way in terms of functionality and quality of vapour.
Key Benefits of Herb Vaporizers:
Flavour:
Vaporizers offer much richer flavour than you'd get with other devices. While this may not be important to everyone, it can be a big benefit for people who want to fully experience the flavour of whatever dry herb they've decided to use.
Efficiency:
It’s no secret that using a vaporizer, can lead to conservation of your herbal material. Not all vaporizers are built equally, and some are significantly better at getting the most from your material.
Discretion:
Portable vaporizers can be inherently discreet, you can carry a portable unit in your pocket, and hide it in the palm of your hand whilst taking a hit, which won’t hang in the air like smoke.
Cleaner Inhalation:
Smoking burns material, producing tar and other harmful by products when you inhale, while vaping extracts the essential compounds or chemicals from materials without them combusting thus avoiding inhalation of harmful toxins, furthermore, using a vaporizer eliminates the need for tobacco which has traditionally been mixed with herb when smoking.
Vaping or Smoking….
There are two common practices used when it comes to enjoying herb, there’s smoking and there’s vaping. Both are popular methods for inhaling the benefits of dry herb, botanical concentrates and e-liquids but they couldn’t be farther apart. Smoking burns material, producing tar and other harmful by products when you inhale, while vaping extracts the essential compounds or chemicals from materials without them combusting.
Herb vaporizers can be used to unlock the key chemicals or compounds found in herb and other such materials without burning them. Smoking ignites the material adding harmful by products to each draw, personal vaporing devices reach the ideal temperature for activating and releasing the essential compounds found in dry herb with minimal combustion. Most such devices will allow the user to find their sweet spot unlocking the desired effect along with flavours and aromas without introducing more harmful irritants to each hit.
Due to its convenient, cost effective, and efficient nature, vaping is growing as a popular alternative to smoking which has raised questions as to whether vaping herb is healthier than smoking it. While there have been few studies conducted on the effects of vaporizing herbs specifically, vaping nicotine is generally recognised to be at least 95% safer than smoking cigarettes by top UK scientists. Studies over the years have shown that vaporizing does produce fewer carcinogenic compounds than smoking because the material is heated but not combusted.
Some users choose vaping over smoking simply because it is more discreet in nature, you can carry a portable unit in your pocket, and hide it in the palm of your hand whilst taking a hit, which won’t hang in the air like smoke. Others choose vaping over smoking because they want to avoid tobacco, which traditionally would be mixed with herb.
Herb vaporizers come in a variety of types and budgets, with each and every unit offering a different experience and its own unique design, heating method, temperature range, and controls.
There are many options out there, from pens to fully fledged desktop-based sharing devices, but the essential purpose of vaping remains the same, to deliver clean, flavourful vapour that many prefer over smoke.
History of the Herb Vaporizer:
So, when did people start vaporizing?
One might think that vaping is relatively new, you may be surprised to hear that although a modern trend, the roots of vaping lie in ancient history. Let’s take a look at the history of herb vaporizers.
According to the Greek Historian Herodotus the idea of herb vaporizing dates back to the 5th century B.C by the ancient people of Scythia. He describes in his book “The History of Herodotus” how they vaporize hemp-seed, which may refer to marijuana.
The history of modern vaping devices
The idea of the modern-day vaping device was coined by a gentleman named Joseph Robinson in 1930, in 1927 the first patent for an ‘electric vaporizer’ was filed. The idea was to create a simple device to vaporize medicinal compounds instead of burning them. Unfortunately for Joseph, his invention never went to market but the desire to create a vaporizer was now out in the ether.
It was inventor Herbert A. Gilbert who is widely recognised as the inventor of the first vaporizer, he filed a patent in 1963 for a “smokeless non-tobacco cigarette” device and was rewarded with a patent for his work in 1965. Herbert created prototypes but failed to get it commercialised. Herbert was ahead of his time and his ingenuity marked the beginning of a new era.
Vaporizer development lay dormant until 1994 when a vaping enthusiast Eagle Bill Amato achieved some commercial success with the Shake & Vape Pipe which was developed specifically for dry herb. The vaporizer consisted of a glass pipe with a large bowl that could be heated using a pocket lighter, gently shaking the device would produce more vapour, hence the name ‘Shake & Vape’.
True commercial success
A number of attempts came after the ‘Shake & Vape’ but it was the renowned Volcano vaporizer by Storz & Bickel which saw true commercial success in 2002, and since then a plethora of ever more sophisticated vaporizers have come to market ranging from desktop plug in vaporizers to portable battery operated devices.
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