'the max setting?'
uh oh!
Yeah, anything past 2 will combust easily, but you can combust before that depending on your draw. However, when I am 're-vaping' some bud, I take some AVB and usually go to about 3 o'clock. The heating element gets red hot and I have to take care not to burn the herb, which isn't hard, but it allows me to extract practically
all of the goodness out of the bud and is an excellent sleep aid because of the high it produces.
My draw?
Slow and low. tokinGLX has a really good video around here of him hitting his SSV, kind of like drinking a milkshake, *gulp gulp gulp*, which is my same technique. It allows me to heat up the herb but each time I take one of the puffs I can taste it and determine if I need to slow down or heat it up to get my vapor.
I prefer my vapor thick, and it is almost always visible. Vapor looks noticeably different than smoke. It's much more 'misty' and has almost an oily look to it.... it's hard to describe. It dissipates faster and isn't as 'heavy' in the air as well.
Just experiment with the vaporizer. It's not an exact science and is different for everyone. There is always a learning curve with a new vaporizer, but if you have any more questions feel free to ask.
And yes, occasionally if I take a big hit I will cough, but that's only because my lungs are too full and not because it's combusting. Burning marijuana in a vaporizer defeats the entire purpose.