While I'm waiting: I'd tried a few terrible vapes about 10 years ago, but they were a waste of time and herb. Then this December I became tired, finally, of combustion. My lungs were speaking to me. Finding this site made me wonder if the tech had maybe moved on, and after much research I came to buy an Arizer Solo.
I was expecting a poor substitute for joints/bongs, but was resolved grin and bear it. I now realise it is the other way around. Vaping gets me higher, and in better ways, than burning stuff ever did. If you are lurking on this site thinking "yeah, but I'd miss smoking spliffs, and it's £150", well, I was there too. I was wrong (not about the price, obv). So with that said, here is my guide to using the Arizer Solo:
I think of this method as 'Magnum', owing to the combination of:
- Levels 3, 5 and 7.
- Unrivalled stopping power.
- Metaphorical allusion to the Selleck character's lifestyle, one of idyllic pleasure crossed with all-action smack-downs.
I use a grinder, and lightly pack the bowl. I tried using gauze(s) but found it added nothing and restricted space, YMMV. Over the course of a few days a very small amount will have found its way through the holes, maybe 10% of a bowl after 20 bowls, but it never ends up in my mouth.
- So, insert the packed bowl and heat to level 3. Leave for 30 seconds after this heat is achieved, then take 3-4 loooong slow drags. This is my favourite bit, and if I was a millionaire, all air I breathed would be this. It is vaping's biggest revelation for me, and puts weed far beyond wine in terms of the fancy flavours you can pull out of your flowers (my stash right now gives up ripe papaya and a kind of truffle/tequila/fat girl's thigh note at level 3).
- Click to level 5 while there's still plenty of these top notes left (it's possible to exhaust the bowl's vapour supply at lower levels, then click the heat up to to get more, but the higher settings taste nicer if there are some of the top notes left to blend in). Level 5 is where I stay for about 6-7 minutes, and it puts out thick clouds with a flavour that's pretty similar to how the growing plants smell.
- Finally, when the vapour at level 5 is thinning, I click it up to 7, and draw the remaining goodness out. This never tastes as nice as the first two stages (kinda like popped corn toasting on a dry pan), but seems to contribute a large proportion of the 'body high'. You can, as mentioned before, click through to 7 sooner and have it taste nicer, but I enjoy the flavours at the lower levels too much to mix it with level 7 vapour, which in any case doesn't take more than a half dozen drags to exhaust.
Notes:
- I often go for 3,4,6 instead, some herbs just seem to surrender their delights at lower temps, and some taste worse at 7 than others.
- I regularly find that the timer cuts out when I'm still drawing thick vapour at level 5. 18 mins would have been better than 12 for me.
- There is clearly still active ingredients left in the leavings. Do not smoke this. It is much nicer melted into a cube of chocolate, sprinkled on ice cream, stirred into jagermeister, etc. I've even tapped it directly into my mouth, though was pretty out of it at the time (don't burn your lips).
- If you don't have a grinder, it will still work well, but there will be more active ingredient left behind (see note above).
Downsides:
- Bowl a little small for my liking.
- After a few weeks of usage, the glass parts became quite loose when inserted. No big deal, but a little jangly.
The High:
I am able to get higher than with combustion-based methods. I also, after a heavy night, feel high the next day in a way burning it has never achieved. There is something different about the vibe for sure. It creeps up more, and isn't so dumbifying. I laugh more.
Economy:
I now use about 50-80% of what I used to go through. 80% if I'm trying to match the smash-down effects of a bong, but more and more I dig sipping it like a god-damn connoisseur, which requires less.
tl;dr- Buy one or more of these Arizer Solos. It is like cannabis use from the future.
![:\](/i/s/hmm.gif "Hmm :\")
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or two during a backroads hike! Good Luck!
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on the matter.
