No one is completely healthy all the time...I don’t think I’d recommend vaporizing herbs to someone who wasn’t interested and had no pain or other medical issues to deal with right now, but I would keep it in mind for the day more significant medical problems inevitably develop.
I haven’t tried the other herbs you’re talking about, but I know there are people who find real benefits from them, and I’ve found real benefits from cannabis even beyond replacing some medications.
Some people can develop a dependency or have side effects like a loss of motivation from excessive use, but those who can treat it like most people would treat other medications or who can use it recreationally in moderation are likely to see a lot more benefits than drawbacks. My guess is that’s true for some other herbs too.
The only reason I started using cannabis 4 years ago though is to deal with medical issues, and I wouldn’t necessarily recommend that someone like me who stayed away from all drugs that were not medically required start vaping for no reason (especially at an early age), but if you’re very interested and you make sure the herbs you’re interested in have a long and safe track record I wouldn’t try to dissuade you, and I would at least recommend that you keep these options in mind for the future when your body is in less great shape.
On the vaporizer front, The Mighty is a solid option but it’s one of many. It’s also generally used as a “session” vape which means you load it, turn it on and use it for maybe 10 mins or however long it takes for your herbs to be used up. Some other devices can be used on demand so you can just press a button and use it for a few seconds at a time to get smaller doses throughout the day.
As for putting things in your lungs, I’ve never smoked either, and as an almost daily cannabis vaper for the last 4 years I can say I’ve never had even a cough (beyond a brief coughing fit after too big a hit), never coughed up anything, never felt my lung capacity had decreased (in fact some people say it can increase lung capacity a bit), or had any of the other lung/breathing related issues that smokers commonly get.
I doubt that intentionally breathing in vapor is better for your lungs in most cases than not doing it, but it’s not a huge concern for me and I’ve never seen evidence that it causes long-term problems apart from *possibly* the carriers used in nicotine e-liquids which are often used in concentrate pens. Those are not a concern when using dry herbs or unadulterated concentrates though.
If you are looking at this just for fun and it’s just a passing interest I’d say it’s a rabbit hole you may not need to go down now, but if you’re very interested, not prone to becoming mentally dependent on having/doing certain things and don’t take it too lightly, it will *probably* have more of a beneficial than detrimental effect throughout your life. Right now though, it would probably be more for fun.
The last concern I think should be addressed is age. Our brains develop the most when we’re young, and there are at least some claims of long term brain changes in people who start using cannabis early. I don’t know whether or not that study should be believed, but since I’m cautious when it comes to any kind of drug use, at this point I would only recommend cannabis use in people much younger than you if there was an important medical issue they were treating.
At your age your brain is still developing (until ~25 is the general consensus) so if you don’t care it wouldn’t be a bad idea to wait a while, but tons of people start at your age or earlier without noticing any problems.
On the other hand, I’ve seen some people your age get too involved with cannabis and/or other substances and really lose focus which did negatively impact the course of their lives, so I don’t want you to think there’s no potential downside to recreational use of even such a safe substance.
In the end the choice is yours. I waited until I was forced into taking one drug or another at 36 to try cannabis (still never smoked, never had a drink, etc.) and while I wish I’d found it earlier to deal with pain/inflammation/muscle tightness/etc. I don’t regret not using it recreationally when I had the chance starting at least in middle school.
Do what you think will be best for you, and if you decide to start take a look at different vaporizer options before buying. There are a lot of good video reviews out there, and a lot of good info on this forum.
Last thing. If you do decide to try anything recreationally, as long as it’s legal for you I’d recommend cannabis over alcohol or just about anything else that might interest you because it is much more physically safe* and actually has significant physical and mental benefits for many people when used in moderation.
Just don’t make the mistake of thinking that every drug is benign because some of them can really mess you up!
* For example, one night of really excessive drinking can kill someone through alcohol poisoning while the estimate I’ve seen is that someone would have to somehow smoke 1500 pounds of cannabis in 15 minutes to die from the active chemicals in it.
