@unsorted:
at what temp to you operate your solo ufo setup ?
i think its the long slow draws you have to take.
that seems unnatural to me.
an there is ground herb everywhere.
on the heating element, in the straw, in my mouth
Pack your stem lightly, medium grind. If you pack it down a little it shouldn't fall down when you turn the stem upside down, herb side down. Insert into the Solo and turn it on, select level 4 or 5. Watch as it climbs to temperature and the heating light goes off, after 8-10 seconds it will start flashing again because it's heating up to maintain temperature. Give it 30-60 seconds after it first reaches temperature to heat soak a bit. This will help you get thicker vapor a little quicker, which you need to get at first before yous tart to really understand the tempo of the Solo. Don't draw so hard that you're fighting the resistance of the vaporizer, it's restricted like that for a reason and it functions better when you're not fighting it.
Slow 10 second draw straight into the lungs, not the mouth. The first few draws will be lighter in vapor but very tasty (dependent on herb quality obviously). Heat to the herb means it boils everything off "from the bottom up" so stuff like terpenes that boil off at 180-200 something f, water content at 200f. The thick hits for me are usually draws 3-6, or more depending on how much I load (I use a "flat dome screen" to reduce the stem load approximately 25%). Draw slow, it will "get back to temp" in between hits. You may even want to explore temp setting 6 or 7 if you're looking for that "throat hit" of something like bong rips.
You'll have to practice this technique for a little while before you start experimenting with things like coarser grinds, or no grind at all. It can handle a broken off piece of nug and vape it thoroughly but it takes some finesse which comes with practice. I've also noticed (and others have noticed and agreed) that some herb will not produce as much vapor as other batches or strains, but will still give satisfactory effects. Seeing vapor coming out is visual feedback that a lot of us were used to when we were smoking which kind of goes out the window with vaporizing. I can go as low as temperature setting 2 (as 1 is essentially useless for us in terms of cannabinoid vaporization temperatures) and get really lit. Yeah, it's barely any exhaled vapor, and it takes a slightly modified approach in terms of draw rate, but the effects are there. A bit different than at level 7, but there for sure.
Also, moisture content has noticeable effect on vapor production. If the goods are damp or moist, you're going to expend more energy (heat) boiling off all the water and barely any cannabinoids, and your stem will fog up a bunch. If that's the case, leaving a small amount out on some paper to dry out for an hour or two suffices for me. This is also dependent on humidity of your location. I'm pretty sure when
@OF wants some material dry he puts it on some paper and then sets it on top of his internet router (for the warmth).
When the gong and bubbler's done with it though, it's like dark chocolate.
