Howdy all!
Been readin this thread for about 8 months now and have now gone through about 6 different vaporizers, and thought i would chime in to share some of my experiences and thoughts on this matter.
I would like to start with the conclusion (an odd method but will save you some time
Since about two weeks since My first vaporizer purchase in November 07, i have been "smoke free" and have not gone back to traditional smoking methods. I feel way better in general and this has transfered into eating better and doing more physical activities on a daily basis. This has been the major benefit for me, however there are many more.
I will make the analogy between vaporizers and electric razors. Both do the same thing as their counterparts but in slightly different ways with slightly different results. There is a definite break in time ( it took me about 2 weeks with vaporizers ) but if you are willing to stick with it you will not want to go back and be very pleased with the results.
One of the BIGGEST factors for me was ensuring i was getting everything out of my herb. I was real concerned with my first vaporizer ( vapor bros. clone hands free whip ) in getting the most out of the bowls. I found it hard to tell if i had gone enough or too far. The BEST way for me to get over this was to learn to use the leftovers ( commonly refered to as duff ) for various extractions. I will get more into this later, but once you realize it does not matter if you dont use your herb enough in the vape because you can get better things from the leftovers, it becomes easier to let go of smoking.
My next big hurdle was time vs concentration. I really enjoy the ritual act of smoking and a whip style vape can deliver a new ritual which is just as pleasing. However after learning to fully utilize the whip, i found it would often take almost an hour, with about 15-20 good pulls to complete my bowl. Now i would be good and high, but sometimes i cannot dedicate this amount of time, and sometimes i would want really massive hits which are pretty difficuly to pull off without burning your material. Initially i solved this through a glassware adapter that let me use my existing glass water piece with the whip as a vapor concentrator. This worked well but had the downside of too much aparatus (a pain to set up and break down) . This was eventually solved by a "bag type" unit. The bag delivers all the concentration you need to feel like youve smoked and does it rather quickly, i can fill two bags and be really done within 5 minutes. Be carefull here, though as a bag unit does not replace the smoking ritual for me. I sold my whip unit to buy a bag unit, and quickly purchased another whip unit as i missed the ritual and almost wanted to go back to smoking.
Proper materials is a must. If you are going to vape then you will need a grinder. In all units i tried a grinder was a must. MORE SURFACE AREA = MORE VAPOR. You will also want to purchase the best quality herbs, the closer to "medical grade" the better. Higher quality herb = less vaping time and more vapor.
Proper vaporizers is a must as i found i couldt quit smoking without a good whip and bag style unit. It is important to be able to switch up as with smoking their are joints and pipes and bongs, all for different moods. YOU DO NOT NEED TO SPEND OVER $300 on decent units. I will follow with a seperate post regading the units i have tried, and some good info on duff to butter ratios for cannabuter extraction.
Thanks to all that have contributed to this thread!