Vaporizing Tobacco (not e-cigs)

[Piruz]

Update: as I continue my endeavor to vaporize tobacco I'm beginning to realize just how efficient this vaporization thing is. Even Dokha tastes a lot better that way, kind of like when I first smoked it years ago (before its smoke slowly began to numb my taste buds) and is absolutely vaporizable and does (with the right heating technique) produce good amounts of cloud and flavor if only you can handle that extra nicotine harshness (vaporized cold blends feel like smoked medium blends and vaporized medium blends feel like smoked hot blends and I don't even want to imagine what vaporized hot blends are going to be like so be cautious if you vaporize Dokha and go for the absolutely coldest blend you can find before you work your way up). It's actually been a while since I've felt that pure Dokha taste in my mouth and nostrils, that green, fresh and spicey taste of the leaf without the taste of tar and smoke.

Not just the unembellished taste of the leaf but the buzz is more or less the same (stronger, of course, though I have to admit feels a bit different, almost as if the buzz is felt by the upper part of your body as opposed to smoking which in my experience has a more whole-body buzz kind of feeling but you deprive yourself of nicotine long enough and I promise you your body won't even tell the difference). The effects of the nicotine in all kinds of vaporized tobacco can be felt by retrohaling too so if you don't want to inhale then you're still not completely missing out on that part.

Virginia tobaccos seem to produce the most favorable effects so far (though, again, Dokha can be a first best if you can handle that extra nicotine harshness and are used to smoking hot blends anyway and would do anything to taste Dokha in your mouth like I would lol). Virginia gives off good amounts of cloud (probably more than Dokha), with sweet nuttiness being very pronounced and a strong nicotine hit that can be felt even if you've had nicotine minutes before. Dark fired leaf tastes more or less the same vaporized or smoked, and doesn't seem to lend itself that much to vaporization in my experience.

Please bear in mind, though, that I am pushing the heat to the max, and going beyond the click for a good 7 to 10 seconds but avoiding combustion by slowly moving the cap away from the torch as I continue to heat beyond the click, and am always aiming for full extraction in one heating cycle. Other might do it (and enjoy it) differently.

 

[Piruz]

The only thing left to address regarding satisfaction felt in smoke vs vapor is addiction to carbon monoxide and tar (if there is such thing). I'm not sure if it's an addiction in the pharmaceutical sense of the word or just the way your body is used to metabolizing the nicotine and alkaloids in tobacco (or weed for that matter).

If combustion is not an addiction in itself, then conceivably the best way to hasten your body's adaptation to the new delivery method (vaporizing) is to deprive yourself of nicotine over long periods (in the hours) before finally vaporizing tobacco so that your body (initially) only gets its fix when its receptors are most active and deprived. That way you are forcing it to learn how to metabolize nicotine/other tobacco alkaloids and oils from vapor. If combustion is an addiction, however, then you will feel some level of withdrawal when you quit smoking no matter what you do.

I've never smoked or vaped weed so I don't know if weed smokers who switch to vaping THC or vaporizing actual flowers complain about the same kind of craving for combustion, but I'm willing to bet carbon monoxide and tar are their own thing when it comes to addiction to smoking (both tobacco and weed).

Any input regarding this cursed factor is appreciated.

 

[Farid]

This is also common with cannabis users who switch. With cannabis, there is a strange phenomenon that I've experienced, that I've heard others express as well: that is, when switching to vapor there is a sense that something is missing, and it's not as satisfying as smoking. But then once you have totally made the switch, and are accustomed to vapor, if you switch back to smoking, the smoke seems unsatisfying and lacking in effects.

I don't want to speculate on the science, other than to say that we are creatures of habit. What we are accustomed to will always be the most satisfying. For smokers, this can even apply to switching brands of cigarette.

 

[Piruz]

Yes, I can confirm this as well. Sometimes (in fact more often than not recently thanks to what I assume is quality control issues by UK largest Dokha vendor Enjoy Dokha) a small change in the proportions of my favorite (medium) blend can upset me so badly I end up feeling sick and tired for weeks or even months (not to say or deny that the quality of their blends have become lacking, but that they're not as consistent as they use to be).

This change of blend proportions goes unnoticed by most customers (as I'm assured by ED), and I assume I have a very delicate palate when it comes to smoking especially Dokha. However, when it comes to vaping, the "missing component" is noticed by many (if not most) ex-smokers, depending on how long they've been smoking their herbs.

But in my case it's not lack of satisfaction (in fact I was baffled by how satisfying the experience was when I first did it properly, especially when done after a period of abstinence), but lung irritation due to vapor components. When vaping Dokha, I feel the harshness in my throat (not an altogether unwelcome feeling per se) but not enough "other stuff" in the tobacco vapor to mimic the original experience. When vaping Virginia, however, I feel both the nicotine and the "other stuff", but also what I can only describe as warm, caramelized vapor staying in my lungs and causing an unwelcome reaction, almost as if alkaline vapor feels more welcome than acidic.

I'm gonna try vaping both straight Virginia and Burley (the latter is low in sugar and high in nicotine but not high enough to cause the same problems as vaped Dokha), and then other kinds of tobaccos. This is the only way to go and hopefully by the end of it I'm gonna find my sweet spot and be able to help others make the same potentially life saving switch.