General vaporizer questions

Hey all.

I'm not sure if I'm doing this in the right section of the board, so I apologize if I'm not.

I don't know how many people here use vaporizers, but I'll try my luck anyway. I want to buy a vaporizer, even though I've never used one before. I've been smoking a lot of weed for a lot of years now, and I think it's time for me to take it easier on my respiratory system. I'm not really in a position to try any before I buy one, so I have to take a bit of a leap of faith here and hope for the best.

Anyway, from the few things I'd heard here and there, I came at this with the mindset that the Volcano was the way to go. I thought the price tag was a bit stiff, so I became a bit hesitant about the whole thing. While I can afford it, I'd feel a bit stupid about buying one if I later found out that I could get a product of comparable quality for less money.

Upon searching a bit more and reading a few threads on other boards, I saw that a few names of vaporizers came up a lot:

-The Volcano, of course
-The Extreme Q V-Tower by Arizer
-Silver Surfer
-HerbalAire
-Da Buddha
-Zephyr Ion

So, here are some questions. Feel free to answer any/all/some/none of them.

1- Have you had experience with the Volcano and/or with any of the vaporizers listed above (or even any unlisted kind you feel should be represented)? If you've only tried one kind, are you satisfied with it? If you've tried multiple kinds, which one did you prefer and why?

2- Is there a difference in terms of how efficiently each model will release the psychoactive ingredients I'm trying to enjoy? If so, does anyone know which kind does the best job of that?

3- Bags VS "whips". Which do you prefer and why?

4- Which of the models listed would be the quietest?

5- Would there be a difference in terms of how much smell is released by each unit? If so, which one of these models would be likely to create the least smell?

If anyone else has any other words of wisdom to share on the subject, please feel free to share.

This ended up being longer than I'd wanted it to be. I'm sorry about that.

Thanks, all.

I have the volcano - i find the high a little to light for me.. i have to "vaporize" a "bowl" of medication 3 times to get a decent effect, this takes 5-10 mins.. depending on how quick i can suck the bag down. and i need to do this twice an hour or so to feel medicated.

I can take the same amount of medication and "smoke" it via bong. and feel medicated for 1.5-2 hours ...

it's going to be hard for me to quit smoking :\

Medical Grade said:

I have the volcano - i find the high a little to light for me.. i have to "vaporize" a "bowl" of medication 3 times to get a decent effect, this takes 5-10 mins.. depending on how quick i can suck the bag down. and i need to do this twice an hour or so to feel medicated.

I can take the same amount of medication and "smoke" it via bong. and feel medicated for 1.5-2 hours ...

it's going to be hard for me to quit smoking :\

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Thanks for your reply.

I find your comment a bit surprising, I must say. Although I don't know this from personal experience, I've read that people actually get more effect from vaporizing than from smoking.

yea the volcano is the shit i got a pretty nice collection of smoking utensils and the volcano is deffintly by the top for some reason though i never get as high as i would smoking out of a bong or pipe but its a heathy way to smoke and its fun to have.

All right, so that's two people telling me they get higher from smoking than from vaporizers.

Does anyone here feel the opposite is true? I'm still a bit surprised since it goes against everything I read on other boards.

I thought the herbalaire was the bomb shit when I first got it... now I hate the thing and feel like it had a lot to do with my lung getting fucked up for the longest time. I do admit that I vaped far too much... but I don't believe the design of the herbalaire prevents you from using too much... you can't use ground up bud, it doesn't work well in it, its built for solid nugs and it vapes it all the way through... I don't think this process is very clean so I don't recommend this vape...

I'm planning on getting a silver surfer as they are the most legit whip type vapes... I intend to get the whip that isn't hands free so I can rotate it while I hit it to get the best few hits I can so I can stop without fucking my lungs up....


and as far as the higher from vapes or smoking... I feel that vapes offer a very different high out of the same bud... its like an entirely different experience than smoking... I don't believe smoking is givnig you toxins that are getting you higher, I believe that you are getting different cannabinoids that result in a different high.. same thing goes with vaping.

so I wouldn't say the vape is better or worse over all... there are pros and cons to each high. the vape high seems to be better for the daytime allowing for higher intensities without sacrificing the ability to get blown off of indica/afghani smoke at night...

I was turned off to vapes for a long time because of my experience with the herbalaire... but my buddie's experience with the herbalaire himself not having as good of vapor quality as the volcano causes me to look at the silver surfer... which would definitely match or surpass the quality of the volcano vapor and definitely hte herbalaire... with 100% certainty I'm not getting anything else but my bud in the vapor...

LOVE MY EXTREME q AND THE BALLOONS EVEN IF THEY ARE A SHIT HEAD TO GET ON.. CRITICAL+_ NOW11

The science behind vapes suggests that it is more efficient than smoking, and I find that to be true. I like collecting vape in a bag as opposed to a whip style. I however had to quit because vapor sends me into a coughing fit. None of my friends cough from it, but it makes me violently choke. Smoking makes me cough, but it is proportionate to the hit I take; nothing different than anyone else. I once did a post asking if others choked from vapor and the common thread seemed to be that we all had asthma.

I am currently experimenting with green dragon tincture. Just took 1ml a bit ago and waiting for the effects to come on.

Heisenberg said:

The science behind vapes suggests that it is more efficient than smoking, and I find that to be true.

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Yeah, that's the impression I've gotten from everything I've read so far, with the exception of the first replies to this thread.

kia vape on low end..........silver surfer mid range...............volcano top end.........................the extreme is best bag vape under the volcano............silver is top of line whip vape..............kia is damn nice for low end cost..........anything else and you are on your own.........my god have mercy on your soul

zaph said:

-The Extreme Q V-Tower by Arizer


1- Have you had experience with the Volcano and/or with any of the vaporizers listed above (or even any unlisted kind you feel should be represented)? If you've only tried one kind, are you satisfied with it? If you've tried multiple kinds, which one did you prefer and why?

I'm very satisfied with what I have! I had a portable one before this one and it blows it away!

2- Is there a difference in terms of how efficiently each model will release the psychoactive ingredients I'm trying to enjoy? If so, does anyone know which kind does the best job of that?

It does good enough to get me high!

3- Bags VS "whips". Which do you prefer and why?

Bags. I love just sitting with a bag and inhaling it. Whip get's tangled.

4- Which of the models listed would be the quietest?

Mine is supper quite.

5- Would there be a difference in terms of how much smell is released by each unit? If so, which one of these models would be likely to create the least smell?

the vape smells like burnt popcorn

If anyone else has any other words of wisdom to share on the subject, please feel free to share.

This ended up being longer than I'd wanted it to be. I'm sorry about that.

Thanks, all.

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The accessories vaporizer comes with are great! Especially the remote!

Imo, I perfer the whip over a bag of stale vapor.

That said, if you were going to drop moniez on a volcano go buy an extreme q and a hotbox.<$330 for both.

i have always been a heavy smoker and ive tried lots of times to give up, then i bought my volcano about 31/2 years ago..........at first i smoked and used it, thought it was ok....then i used it during day and just had 1 or 2 joints in the evening, eventually i got it down to 1 joint, after a while that joint started tasting and feeling real nasty, i havent smoked in over 3 years, best money i ever spent.

Ya after I vaped exclusively for a month everything I tried to smoke tasted like shit. slowly got back into smoking now I vape and smoke everyday. I like the mixed high especially at work.

Thanks for all the replies.

oOBe RyeOo said:

The accessories vaporizer comes with are great! Especially the remote!

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I'm increasingly leaning towards the Extreme Q, mostly because I don't know whether I'm more suited to a bag system or a whip one. My only reservation is that it's often described as a "jack of all trades and master of none", in that it doesn't do bags as well as a Volcano, and doesn't do whips as well as a Silver Surfer. Since I plan on using the vaporizer for a long time, I want to make sure I'll be happy with what I have.

secretweapon said:

Imo, I perfer the whip over a bag of stale vapor.

That said, if you were going to drop moniez on a volcano go buy an extreme q and a hotbox.<$330 for both.

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I'm not familiar with the Hotbox, but it looks like a direct draw/whip system. I'll have to check some reviews. I'm guessing that you think I should use the EQ for bags, and the Hotbox for whip. If that's the case, wouldn't a HerbalAire do a better job as a "bag only" unit than the EQ? From what I've read, they're both hybrids, but the HerbalAire really comes into its own as a balloon vaporizer.

I guess I have more research in front of me.

Get the SSV, or volcano, each are high end for their respective traits bag/whip

To keep everyone posted, after doing a ridiculous amount of reading about it, I've now decided to go with two vaporizers: the HerbalAire, and the MFLB.

honestly I used to love the herbalaire but now I don't feel that it does either job it does as well as the super silver surfer does whip or the volcano does bags....

learn from my experience don't buy a herbalaire..

poplars said:

honestly I used to love the herbalaire but now I don't feel that it does either job it does as well as the super silver surfer does whip or the volcano does bags....

learn from my experience don't buy a herbalaire..

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Oh well, by the time I'd posted that, I'd already ordered it. Did you have the old pump or the new one? From what I've read, it would seem that with the new pump, it's pretty close to the Volcano for bags,

smoke a doobie. The box vapes are alright you can get them anywhere you can pipes basically....the volcano is way overpriced. If you need something portable i highly reccomend the iolite handheld vaporizer, i have one and it works great.