Anyone know why some bud produces little to no visible vapor?

Kalessin

Kalessin

Well-Known Member
Every now and then I get some weed that just doesn't make much visible vapor. It still gets me there normally, though sometimes I feel like it isn't quite as strong, but that may be in my head due to lack of visual feedback. Anyone know why some material does this and not others?
 
CarolKing

CarolKing

Singer of songs and a vapor connoisseur
Ususlly a more dry cannabis makes more vapor in my experience. There are a lot of variables with different strains. It has a lot to do with how good of a farmer your grower is. Doing everything right along the way including a well cured product. If cannabis is too damp it won't produce much vapor.

I've had cannabis with a lot of vapor but it didn't medicate very well.
 
Hashtag46&2

Hashtag46&2

Trichome Technician
I've correlated Trichome coverage to contribute to the density of Vapor.

My more resinous material consistently produces thicker, more flavorful clouds.

The flowers that are sparse in Trichome coverage, still produce vapor, but not as rich.

This is why I quit grinding, I want every single Trichome in my wand, not ruptured against the walls and teeth of my grinder, or sitting in the kief chamber.

However, I realize a majority of vaporizers require a grind to get sufficient extraction, but take a few draws at first to get the glands to "Melt" and re condense within the load.

Now stir and break up your material further to really expose the surface area.
 
little maggie

little maggie

Well-Known Member
Hashtag46&2 said:
I've correlated Trichome coverage to contribute to the density of Vapor.

My more resinous material consistently produces thicker, more flavorful clouds.

The flowers that are sparse in Trichome coverage, still produce vapor, but not as rich.

This is why I quit grinding, I want every single Trichome in my wand, not ruptured against the walls and teeth of my grinder, or sitting in the kief chamber.

However, I realize a majority of vaporizers require a grind to get sufficient extraction, but take a few draws at first to get the glands to "Melt" and re condense within the load.

Now stir and break up your material further to really expose the surface area.
Click to expand...
DBV? My vapolution requires buds instead of ground material but I don't really notice a difference. It seems to depend more on the herb rather than whether it's ground or not.
 
Hashtag46&2

Hashtag46&2

Trichome Technician
little maggie said:
DBV? My vapolution requires buds instead of ground material but I don't really notice a difference. It seems to depend more on the herb rather than whether it's ground or not.
Click to expand...
Howdy LM ...

I agree, it does have everything to do with the herb quality.

I was referring to the grinding in of itself , my old 4pc grinder ruptures my resin glands...and many fall into the kief chamber.

If I gently break up the nugs with tweezers or my fingernails, I can visually see the glands in my wand, which has resulted in thicker, more robust vapor.

So, I do break up the buds, but I feel like my grinder does more harm than good.
 
Quetzalcoatl

Quetzalcoatl

DEADY GUERRERO/DIRT COBAIN/GEORGE KUSH
yeah it's the quality. more complete trichomes (trichome + stalk not just the stalks) give you more cannabinoids to vaporize. sometimes the triches are hidden within the buds, crack one open and take a peek. low trich totals = less vapor. out of boredom one day I ground up some herb and threw a coin in the grinder to get as much kief off as I could off the bud and then vaped that. it still produced clouds and had some effect but not nearly as much vapor as the same bud ground straight to a dish and in my vape. low trich count could be a result of the grow itself (not the best due to a variety of factors, pulled early, etc), or in more extreme cases from tumbled weed (where the trichomes are removed before being passed on.) Then there's the odd strain that looks amazing and doesn't really produce much vapor and gets you really high, and the stuff that looks amazing and you have to vape 2-3x the usual amount to get the usual effects. if you're saving money on your bags from vaping you should treat yourself to the best possible :2c:
 
AJS

AJS

Calm Consistency
Hashtag46&2 said:
I've correlated Trichome coverage to contribute to the density of Vapor.

My more resinous material consistently produces thicker, more flavorful clouds.

The flowers that are sparse in Trichome coverage, still produce vapor, but not as rich.

This is why I quit grinding, I want every single Trichome in my wand, not ruptured against the walls and teeth of my grinder, or sitting in the kief chamber.

However, I realize a majority of vaporizers require a grind to get sufficient extraction, but take a few draws at first to get the glands to "Melt" and re condense within the load.

Now stir and break up your material further to really expose the surface area.
Click to expand...

Yes to basically all of this. I do find that dryness is good for vaping, but all in all, it seems to be a result of resinous trichome coverage. As someone who doesn't have direct access to perfect quality constantly, I have found many correlations between bud and vapor density. Too dry without much trichomes almost always results in a darker brown with less dense, less flavorful vapor.
 
stressed

stressed

Well-Known Member
i bought one gram each of seven different genetics. i tried them from low shelf to top shelf. i tried the low shelf (weakest) first. there was very little visible vapor. all the rest had a nice thick vapor (i use a bag). i keep my homegrown at 62% humidity and the store bought stuff was definitely drier. i didn't notice any difference in the thickness of vapor from my wetter weed vs the stor bought drier stuff. i was pleased to learn that my homegrown was as good or a bit better than everything i tried. the GSC was closest to my best. might be as good. at $300 an oz plus tax, i miss growing.

i didn't notice a difference between the 3 top shelf and 3 mid shelf genetics as far as vapor thickness goes.

i'm going to go buy some more girl scout cookies today but the fucking store doesn't open until 9. i never vape and drive so in order to get high on some new weed, i have to stay straight for 2 more hours. it's annoying. :)
 
djonkoman

djonkoman

Well-Known Member
I don't have a definite answer, but my best bet would be the amount of trichomes. it seems logical, less trichomes is less stuff to vaporize. however, it doesn't match my observations 100%. I don't think I've ever had a very resiny/sticky/covered in trichomes bud that didn't produce adequate vapor, but I have had some buds that didn't look like much but actually gave a lot of vapor.

but apart from those exceptions it seems to match pretty well, price/sativa-ness also seems to play a role. the most expensive weed at my local coffeeshop, priced at 11,50 a gram and called 'pure haze' keeps giving plenty of vapor trough 2 cycles in my arizer air, often lasting well into the third cycle, while if I get a more average priced strain(7-8 a gram or so) it tapers off at the end of the 2nd cycle, rarely it will reach cycle 3 with still visible vapor coming out.

but still I don't really know why some buds barely give any vapor, those are usually not the most trichome-covered or expensive buds, but still they look the same as the ones that give an average amount of vapor.

(and with a load of kief on top of the weed it also lasts longer, and hash also lasts much longer with dense clouds, so that points to trichomes still being the most likely cause)
 
CarolKing

CarolKing

Singer of songs and a vapor connoisseur
Big vapor clouds doesn't = a fantastic product. The bottom line is, how well does your cannabis get you medicated. We all like seeing the big clouds though, I get that.:tup:
 
H

HomeFree

Well-Known Member
Lately I have been gently opening up my buds with my fingers (like a rose opens) and loading them up like that, kinda like how you would treat the bowl of a pipe. That way warm air can move across more surface area without breaking the glands due to grinding. Always with clean hands too. Some really dense herb I do grind though. After flavor and vapor production starts to drop off, it can be crushed up more for more vapor. Usually when I crush it back up there are very little or no visible trich's. Which correlates with vapor and flavor. I'm always worried about the heads breaking free and going through the screen of my vape, not getting vaporized and then being disposed of later.

Clouds can vary based upon ambient lighting, temp and humidity, so I mostly go by taste these days. Of course some strains are tastier than others. When I first started vaping I wanted lots of visible vapor. It's probably normal when you are used to smoke.
 
davesmith

davesmith

Well-Known Member
Glass Blower
Maybe the size of the trichrome heads may contribute. Certainly different strains seem to produce different sized heads and harvesting late/early could also effect the size of the heads. Small heads and big stalks =less vapour??

Just thinking out loud here.
 
davesmith,
De Verdamper

De Verdamper

Hans de Verdamper
Manufacturer
if you vape on lower temperature then the difference can be in the difference in terpene spectrum and only the highest cannabinoids.
if you vape on normal ore higher temperature and you dont get any vape, the weed is wet, ore there is a lack of tricomes.
some people make skuff of the buds before they sell them, so the bud looks great, buit is "empty" of tricomes.
 
nondarb

nondarb

.
Vaporizing isn't all about tricomes (and into this example im hesitant to think its all/mostly terps).. I have a friend who regularly uses mids in his EQ and its ALWAYS super cloudy.. Then again it's always very dry. I've seen it make more clouds than most any top grade time and time again, it certainly doesn't medicate the same however. Id say most the vapor is dependent on dryness and cure time and that actual potency plays a very small part.

Then again I'm no expert, just someone who has observed this phenomena first hand a few dozen times with numerous strains and grades.
 
KidFated.

KidFated.

Unknown Member
nondarb said:
Vaporizing isn't all about tricomes (and into this example im hesitant to think its all/mostly terps).. I have a friend who regularly uses mids in his EQ and its ALWAYS super cloudy.. Then again it's always very dry. I've seen it make more clouds than most any top grade time and time again, it certainly doesn't medicate the same however. Id say most the vapor is dependent on dryness and cure time and that actual potency plays a very small part.

Then again I'm no expert, just someone who has observed this phenomena first hand a few dozen times with numerous strains and grades.
Click to expand...
you should see the clouds when my buddy vapes brick....... Unreal.
 
herbivore21

herbivore21

Well-Known Member
nondarb said:
Vaporizing isn't all about tricomes (and into this example im hesitant to think its all/mostly terps).. I have a friend who regularly uses mids in his EQ and its ALWAYS super cloudy.. Then again it's always very dry. I've seen it make more clouds than most any top grade time and time again, it certainly doesn't medicate the same however. Id say most the vapor is dependent on dryness and cure time and that actual potency plays a very small part.

Then again I'm no expert, just someone who has observed this phenomena first hand a few dozen times with numerous strains and grades.
Click to expand...
Remember, exposing dry plant material to enough hot air for long enough = thermal degradation of plant material (inactive material), the results of which may make thicker clouds. However, this extra thickness to the clouds is nothing good.

In other words, remember that when vaping crappy flowers, heat past a point may get you more clouds from inactives, but you can only boil the actives that are there after all - more clouds do not mean any significant additional effect!

The best trichome covered bud should get you amazing clouds without turning your buds mid brown (mine end up a dark yellow/very pale brown when I'm done with them!).
 
stressed

stressed

Well-Known Member
i bought a 1/2 oz of kind of dry dispensary weed. very nice smelling and tasting and i love the high. blueberry muffin.

i was going to rehydrate all of it but out of curiosity i left 2 grams dry. i use about .1 for each bag and i didn't notice any difference in thickness of vapor. oddly enough, i noticed less of a smell after i put in a boveda packet and rehydrated to about 60% using a tiny bit of lettuce and the packet. it's still there just not as strong. i used boveda for so long i never noticed if it affected the smell before. could just be my imagination. :)
 
stressed,
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