So - I'm not really getting on with the mighty. I find the flavour lacking and I find it harsh and tickly on my throat even at low temps,. I don't like the long slow pulls, or the sipping method. I've tried it through a water piece too, I didn't find it made much difference. I wanted to love it, but I just don't. Frustrating, but there we go.
I'm determined to find a solution that works though, so I went all in on the dynavap. I ordered the Simrell Vortex XL on the recommendation of
@Cannabiker and I
love it. I also looked into IH's. The cheapest good quality one I could find was around £120, so I figured I'd just pay the extra £15 and pick up an ispire wand, which works amazingly well.
Now if I get a nice slow heatup before the first click then take a big pull while feathering the vortex carbhole, I get a mouthful of thick flavoursome vapour, and it really does feel like pulling on a joint, to the point where I've had to pull the cap off to double check I'm not combusting! I can finish a cap in two heat cycles of big cloudy hits that are bigger, more flavoursome and cooler than the mighty, even when I tried the mighty through water. I could potentially get used to this
.
I was surprised at the difference the vortex made.
@endof3d you recommended the stinger stem? So is that a replacement for the curly intercooler part that goes inside the vortex, or the vortex itself? What difference does it make?
A couple of things I've noticed about the dynavap. If the ground bud has any powdery content (which it usually does unless it's quite damp or you filter out the kief with a kief catcher) then that powder seems to get sucked into the dynavap chamber easily and clog it up and effect performance. I've taken to just jamming a tiny chunk of bud in there and it's been a revelation to be honest, it really works SO much better. There's never any powdery plant matter getting sucked through, but the bigger revelation is that I swear the hits seem bigger, more flavoursome and more potent. I guess there's technically more plant matter in there compared to fluffy ground bud so that explains the increased potency I guess. I also think the moment a bud hits the grinder something happens and the terpenes start breaking down as soon as they are exposed to the elements... I'm definitely noticing a real flavour difference with whole chunks of bud compared to ground. One of my issues with the mighty and to a lesser extent the dyna, is that you are always compromising between wispier hits with lots of flavour, or big hits with a very generic flavour (beyond a certain temp I find all strains seem to taste very similar in a vaporiser and I really dislike that). Both of these options feels slightly 1 dimensional compared to the full range experience of combusting. However, when I put a whole chunk of bud in the dyna it means the middle vaporises at a different speed to the outside, so when I'm done the outside will be very dark brown and the middle will be light brown. This might sound like a bad thing, but I think I end up with much more consistent hits as I'm getting the hard hitting potency of the higher temps from the outside of the nug combined with the flavourful terpenes that come with a lower temp hit from the center of the tiny nug. Whereas when it's pre ground it just all gets evenly more cooked as the temp rises so you get these 1 dimensional hits I described previously. I figure it's like a salad dressing, the parts need to be mixed properly to get the full experience!
Another thing I've noticed about vaping in general. It is not as hard hitting a high as combusting. I know the science disagrees in terms of efficiency of THC extraction in vaping vs combustion, but for me at least, it just isn't as strong. Nowhere near actually. The equivalent amount of weed in a pure small skin joint gets me noticeably more stoned compared to vaping the same amount in the dyna or mighty. I've tested it.
If I just vape weed all day I hit a tolerance ceiling, I was prepared for that as I'd seen others mention it, and it happens when combusting too, but I wasn't prepared for how very low that ceiling would be when vaping. I can feel the effects when vaping, it's enough to 'take the edge off' but I never feel fully stoned/high. Part of it is that's it's a different
type of high I guess. You never get the heavy, cotton wool behind the eyes and warm honey dripping through your veins that a single bowl of a nice indica hybrid will give you. At least I haven't found that through vaping yet.
I'm wondering if I might end up mixing it up, vaping throughout the day and rolling a pure joint or two in the evening for that nice couchlock. That would still be reducing my daily combustion by a good 95% so I could live with that.
Anyway, sorry for the long ramble, and thanks everyone for your thoughts.
@Siebter I had considered this, but here's the thing, I actually quit smoking everything for a good couple of years about five years ago when my first daughter was born, and only vaped e-liquid. I was chain smoking spliffs for over 10 years prior to that (in fact the first few years were mostly big dry bongs with nasty, low quality hash and cheap cigarette baccy
). When I quit I didn't really cough anything up or have any of those issues you and others have described. I also don't get a major smokers cough or hack up nasty stuff when I do smoke either. I just don't seem to have major physical reactions with smoking. I'm not under any illusions though and I'm sure it'll catch up with me, hence why I'm trying to switch to vaping.
