Hey guys - been away for a week, just caught up on everything I missed.
First, I'm happy to report I took the TM away with me and it just performed incredibly. I did a little traveling, which took me through a friendly area for a few days, so I was able to pick up some new fuel for the TM. The type of stuff I can't really get at home. It's so satisfying opening up a bag of quality, legal, lab tested bud instead of street weed...I'm really jealous of you guys with that convenience.
Anyways, before I went away I picked up a couple of Jyarz and C-Vaults. More importantly is the Jyarz, because the one I decided to use first ended up being a perfect companion for on the go TM usage. I went for the Chico, ground some flower up, filled that little guy up - and bam, instant, on the go loading using the straw method. Hiking, boating on the a lake, quick load in the hotel room before heading out - really a great combo. Loading was quick and easy no matter where I was. Depending on your usage style, one of those filled with pre-ground could last you a day or 3. Its small enough to disappear into a pocket and the smell is contained very well. The C-Vaults just came in handy for my newly acquired stash.
A few pages back some of you guys were talking about temp stepping, returning to half vaped bowls, starting temps. Funny I came back to read that, because I was sampling one of the new strains out last night in the TM and ended up blasted and trying to analyze the difference between temp stepping starting low, taking it high and starting at a med-high temp and leaving it or making it a smaller temp step.
In the few weeks of having the TM, once I got my preferred stem/load set up (or, so far anyway - either way, I've been keeping that consistent so I can see how the temps effect things) I started paying attention to different temp methods. I've mostly been doing longer, drawn out, temp stepped bowls but also with quite a few bowls starting at a higher temp and killing it in a couple of hits. Those longer temp stepped ones I generally leave and return to, while the hotter ones I vape and dump.
A long temp stepped one could start for me anywhere from 3/3.5 - 5.0 and could end anywhere from 5.5 - 8.5. It depends on what I'm feeling. If I'm trying to avoid the deeper high I'll dump it closer to 6. If its closer to evening I'll end up around 7 - 8.5 and dump. Moving in increments of .5 - 1.0 I'll usually take a hit or 2 at each increment. The time between steps just really depends on when I feel effects tapering off or when I want to feel more.
Still, stepping it this way, no matter the temps, is a longer lasting, less intense high than a couple of higher temp rips. Logically I assume its because you're not only just vaping the lower temp stuff which generally gives you a lighter high anyway, but you're getting a smaller range of vaped goods per hit. For example if I start on 4, a couple hits later I'm not getting vapor, so I put it down for a bit and come back to it maybe 20-30 minutes later at 5. Now I'm only getting whatever vapes between 4-5, as opposed to 0-5. Repeat that for 5 - 6, 6 - 7, and so on. It's a great way to stretch a bowl and not get too sedated, even at the higher end of things. Like I said, even finishing at 7 using that method I've slowly released everything over time in small increments. So finishing at 7, I'm really only vaping whats left between 6/6.5 and 7. Completely different than starting with fresh bud at 7, because you're getting 0-7 all at once.
Doing it like that, starting fresh at higher temps is also great for me, in different ways. I like to do this if I'm home relaxing vs out and about, or if I have things to do at home. Starting at 6 or higher I find a couple of rips will toast the bowl and it will be a much quicker session so I'll finish the bowl in a few hits and immediately dump. I end up with a more sedative high, but of course since I killed the bowl I have to re load more often. Which is fine for me, because I get a much stronger high this way and I find the taste is preserved better because its being killed in one go vs leaving it, letting it cool, return to it later... it doesnt get "stale" that way. I might do a little temp stepping with this method, as in starting at 6-6.5, hit till no vapor, and repeat immediately at 7.5-8.5.
Alternatively, I could temp step quickly, but I find that the TM gets a little too warm for me when I try this. Not the body itself, but I find the stem/CU getting hot, which translates to hot vapor. It's just not my preferred vaping style. It takes too long, time wise as well for me.
Sorry for writing an essay/ranting about my high thoughts lol. Thanks for reading if you made it this far. Just a guy whos been out of the loop for a week and had a bunch of high over-analyzing that I had to put down somewhere. Maybe it could help somebody else figure out what works for them. Also - typing this I thought of something else to try - "pre heating the flower" at a low temp, like 3.5, followed immediately with a high temp rip, at 7-8.