10 Tips On How To Get The Most Out Of Your Vaporizer

Miguel Antonio Ordoñez

Freelance Cannabis Journalist

Miguel Antonio Ordoñez

Last updated: April 8, 2020

Have you already made the switch? Thousands of others have. Vaping weed has become popular not only because it offers a pure and clean cannabis experience, but because it’s flavourful, discreet, and healthier than smoking. Then again, to get the most out of your vape, it requires a bit of care and just of bit of due diligence on your part. To help make your transition to vaping as smooth and successful as possible, here are 10 tips that will help you get the best flavour, clouds, and high every time.

1. KEEP YOUR VAPORIZER CLEAN AND REPLACE PARTS REGULARLY

No matter whether you vape dry herb, concentrates, or oils, sticky residue will build up over time. The residue will not just cause uneven vaporization that can negatively affect the flavour, but it can build up and shorten the lifespan of your vaporizer. In other words, you want to clean your vape regularly so you can always enjoy it to the fullest.

It’s best to clean your vape right after each session. It doesn’t take long, and you can make it part of your daily routine. This way, your vape will always be in top shape, ready to go when you want to get blazed.

For a simple routine cleaning, turn your vape off and wait for it to cool. Remove the mouthpiece. Take a small brush and remove any leftover bits from the herb chamber. After that, use some rubbing alcohol and a Q-tip to clean the inside of the chamber. Lastly, clean the inside walls of your device’s vapor path with a pipe cleaner dampened with some alcohol. You should also regularly replace your screens as part of your routine vape maintenance.

2. USE FRESHHHHH HERB

If you are vaping buds, fresh is always best. The reason for this is that vaporizing relies on the moisture in your bud. When you vape, you heat up your bud or concentrate to the point where the “good stuff” in it evaporates, turning into vapor you can inhale. Obviously, this won’t work too well if you’re using old, stale, and overly dry herb. Well-cured, quality bud will normally have a higher moisture content, giving you the best vaping experience.

How do you know whether your herb is good for vaping? Easy: Take some bud between your fingers; if it crumbles when you apply pressure, it’s too dry for a good vape. On the other hand, herb that is too moist, such as freshly harvested weed, isn’t ideal for vaping either.

3. USE A SMALLER BOWL

You will have a much better vape experience if you pack a smaller bowl. With almost any type of vaporizer, you want to fill it up at least half-way so you can get the best vapor production. However, if you over-pack the bowl, it will make for a more difficult draw and your bud is bound to receive uneven vaporization, which can be a huge waste of cannabis. By packing a series of small bowls instead of a couple larger ones, you will use the bud to its full degree, making for a highly enjoyable smoke. Again, you don’t want to under-pack the bowl either—so find a happy medium that provides the best clouds and high using as little weed as possible.

4. PACK YOUR WEED DOWN PROPERLY

In addition to how much weed you put in your vaporizer, how you go about doing so is just as important. You’ll want to give your weed a light yet firm pack to ensure you get some nice draws. Exactly how much to pack will depend on the weed, your vape, and your preferences. Reference the manufacturer’s website for any suggestions herein. The heating mechanism your vaporizer uses (conduction, convection) can also affect how well you need to pack your bowl. Conduction vaporizers—those that heat cannabis through direct contact with the heating element—often need a looser pack than convection vapes, where hot air is circulated through the cannabis.

5. GET THE PERFECT GRIND FOR YOUR VAPE

Building upon the last tip, the type of vaporizer you have will determine how fine you need to grind your weed. For most conduction vapes, you’ll want as fine a consistency as possible, allowing all of the small particles to be exposed to the heating chamber as you vape away. To make the experience more enjoyable, and to make cleaning easier, use a screen so you don’t suck through any plant matter. For convection vapes, a medium-fine consistency is advantageous as the slightly larger particles allow the hot air to evaporate all the cannabinoids without obstructing airflow.

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6. SET YOUR VAPORIZER TO THE OPTIMAL TEMPERATURE

Cannabis contains a whole lot of different substances, including cannabinoids and the aromatic terpenes that give weed its flavour. The thing is, all of these different compounds have different boiling points. For example, THC is released at a lower temperature than CBD, and individual terpenes have a range of boiling points.

Keep in mind that if your vape setting is too low, you may miss out on flavour and potency. The same is true of a vape that is set too high; the temperature may degrade active substances and release carcinogens via combustion. Although cannabis vaporizers are not meant to create huge clouds like those of e-juice vapes, you can increase cloud production by boosting the temperature of your dry-herb vape. That said, this may be to the detriment of potency and taste.

There is no “best” vaporizing temperature because everyone’s expectations are different. To learn more about how temperature can affect the vaping experience, check out our Ultimate Guide to Vaping Temperatures, which breaks down the ideal temp for different cannabis products. 

7. PREHEAT, AND BE PATIENT BEFORE TAKING YOUR FIRST DRAW

Although newer vaporizers have considerably cut down the time they take to heat up, there are still a lot of vapes that need over a minute. No matter what make and model you use, you should always allow time for it to fully heat up before you take your first draw. Most of the time, even if you need to wait 30–60 seconds, this shouldn’t be a big deal as this is just the perfect amount of time to grind up your weed. When your vape has finally reached temperature (indicated by a light, vibration, etc.), you can at last take your first draw. But don’t get too excited and try to take a big, tight draw as if you were smoking. You may want to prime the vape first by taking a few very gentle puffs. You will have the best vaping experience if you take a light draw with your lips loosely on the mouthpiece, like you would hit a roach.

8. STIR YOUR BOWL AFTER EVERY FEW PUFFS

With pretty much all types of vapes, you can benefit from giving the bowl a good stir a few times each session. With conduction vapes, stirring allows you to expose all of your finely ground weed to the heat source, making for an even and potent vape—without unnecessary burning. Convection vapes pose far less risk of combustion, but it still helps to stir the weed to get the most out of every particle. It doesn’t take much, just a few seconds of effort to ensure session after session of top-quality vapor.

9. GIVE YOUR HERB A ONCE-OVER, IT MAY NOT BE FINISHED JUST YET

When your session ends, this doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to toss out what’s left in your vape. Unlike smoking, a vape session won’t always use up all the good stuff in your weed so quickly. As long as your herb still has some colour to it, it’s probably still good to vape. And if there isn’t enough for a full sesh, or you don’t feel like it’s potent enough, mix it in with your fresh bud to make that last longer.

10. DON’T THROW OUT YOUR ALREADY VAPED BUD (AVB)

No need to toss your already vaped bud! Although AVB may not be suitable for vaping any longer as it’s lost its flavour, there are a whole lot of things that you can still do with it. As long as you didn’t vape your bud down to a black piece of coal, you can make it into edibles, tinctures, or cannabutter. You can even smoke it, and may enjoy the “roasted” taste. What’s great is that your vaporizer has already decarboxylated it, so your AVB is ready to go immediately! To find out more about what you can do with your AVB, be sure to check out this article.

Happy vaping!