Hi My name is Alex, I am fairly new to toking, and completely new to the city even though I signed up some time ago. I am writing for some advice about vaporizers, before I get on to my questions, I need to explain something about myself, that is that I am blind. I know your wondering how I am able to write this message to you now, and read your replies. The answer is that on my computer I have a program called a screen reader which is able to read any text that is on the screen to me with artificial speech, with it I can do pretty much anything anyone else can do on the computer such as read and write e mail, brows the net etc. I got into smoking weed probably just over a year ago while I was at college. Unfortunately the crowd I was hanging out with never got around to showing me how to roll a joint, I would ask them and they would always say either they were two stoned or they would when they had more time. So this is where I come to the vaporizer questions I have. I have a friend who lives quite far from me in the UK, he is happy to put joints in the post to me in a cd case, but I go through them fairly quickly. I have read about vaporizers and figured that maybe they are a possible way for me to make my weed last. So these are my questions, as I have never scene a vaporizer before, I guess these will probably seem quite obvious to everyone. From what I have read everyone seems to think the volcano is the best vaporizer out there, and of course its far healthier than bongs or regular joints. But from a safety point of view, would it be very easy for me to burn myself, as I understand it the chamber in which the weed is placed sits on top of the heating element, so would it be very easy for me to accidentally touch it and burn myself. Next, how does setting the temperature work? Is it done via a touch screen, or a dial? And if a dial, does the dial turn around smoothly, or is it one which you can turn one click at a time for selecting individual settings? Lastly, how does everything actually work together? As I see all these different parts listed on sites, like liquid cooling pads, along with fine and normal screen sets, what do these sets and pads do? I would really appreciate it if someone could please answer these questions, and if anyone else has any thoughts on potential safety problems or other issues I might encounter when using a volcano I would really welcome them. Many thanks for your help, Alex.
A lot of your questions really depends on the type of vaporizer you get. There are two main kinds, whip and bag. I personally own a Vapor Brothers which has a whip with it. To turn it on there is a dial but it just moves smoothly. There's no way to tell temperature on mine, so you would need to be able see where you position it. This would probably be difficult to you since you cannot see. My friend has a bag style bag which I use almost as much as mine. The problem is there are a few parts which may be hard for you to assemble. Also some of those pieces are extremely hot and even I burn myself on it. If you had to choose a vape to pick, you are better off getting one with a whip. But honestly I have no idea how someone blind would be able to learn how to use it. If you had someone to help I'm sure you would easily learn, but it seems like you're on your own. Hopefully this will make some sense to you, it's pretty difficult for me to explain this without being in your shoes. I can't imagine what it is like, you're one brave guy.
Hi thanks very much for your reply, I appreciate it. I understand what a bag vaporizer is, but what exactly is one with a whip? I suspect that setting the temperature would be a big problem for me. it is possible to get tactile dots to mark dials up, but that's only possible if the appliance with the dial has a fixed arrow on it that you would turn the dial to face. When I was at college, the thermostat for the heating was like that, the box had a fixed arrow on it, and the dial had markings on particular temperatures, and I was able to turn the dial and count round the markings to accurately set the temperature, and this was an ordinary thermostat with just the tactile dots added. But I presume of course a vaporizer probably wouldn't have a fixed arrow on it, which I would need as a kind of reference point when turning the dial in order to accurately count round the markings. Your right having someone sighted to help would be useful, but unfortunately you are correct I don't have that option as I live with my parents at the moment, and they don't know I smoke weed. It does sound like it might be quite hard for me to use a vaporizer, unfortunately looks like that means I might be stuck with having to get this guy to send me joints in the post as and when he feels like it.
Hey man I dont really know much about other vaporizers but I have a magic flight launch box and i think that may be your ticket to vaporization. You just insert the battery give it like 5 seconds to warm up and then take your hit. You control the temp with your draw rate so this should definitely be eaiser for you. Pluss its only 100 dollars so hey if it doesnt work out atleast you arent out like 500 like the volcano.
My suggestion for you would to possibly get either a bag or whip.. I have the volcano classic, the newer version is digital but i don't care for it. As for you "seeing" with your hands where the dials is and what it is set at I have a possible solution. Get someone who can see to help you do this the first time then you wont need them afterward. Get from either target, walmart, or someplace that has little bumps or dots. Like they use for brail, ( i doubt its easy to get those, but I figure since your blind as you mentioned, you might be able to get some of those little bumps that help people to read through brail. Have the person with sight, use them to place on, or above the lone indicated with the number setting with a bump. (they can super glue it). Once this is done, have them do the same for the dial line, but have them put 2 or 3 little bumps in a row, so as to make a straight line with it. Then line up the dot to the line of dots, and your golden in knowing what the temp. is set at. As for safety concerns. I will describe the machine as best I can with it not being in front of me. Mostly metal with a rounded pyramid form to make up the unit. Flat top reveals a rubber ring, and then a metal mesh screen. This is the screen that gets heated when making the vapor. It gets hot, and then air is blasted through the wired/metal screen through the weed, which is in a separate' little rubber/plastic container, that has its own little metal screen, merely to have pot from falling out. The air goes through screen, through the weed, into the bag. Here's the safety point. When your done. Once you un-clip the container from the bag, and then connect the bag to the mouthpiece. the original container full of pot you have, will be extremely hot on the bottom, and on the metal screen on bottom on it, as well as the top metal screen and herb damper. Make sure to not burn yourself. I take the container by the middle, they have a rubber ring that is cooler to the touch, still hot though, and i place it on a surface I wont mind getting a little bit heated. After each bag, I pull out the metal damper/screen from the top, mix the weed around, and then put the screen/damper back in place. It helps extend the life of the bud. If you have any further questions. feel free to ask me. Also, there is a vaporizer thread, that has hundreds of posts from people with tips on it. The link is here for you: http://forum.grasscity.com/toking-tools/596210-helpful-tips-vaporizer-users.html there is also a link that discusses and reviews many different type of vaporizers, I recommend it and the previous link: http://forum.grasscity.com/toking-tools/632891-vaporizer-101-discussion.html Finally,the website fuckcombustion.co is essentially second, third, and last site, you'll ever need to go to about vaporizers and everything about them and the weed they make/use. HIGHLY recommended. Good luck, enjoy, and welcome to Grasscity. If you have more questions ask them. I'll be more than happy to help you and others.
hm..magic launch flight box would be a great starter vaporizer, because you can taste and smell when herb has been used up all the way..its going to take some trial and error like anyother vaporizer. also an iolite would probably be good for your situation since you dont have to watch/baby sit the vaporizer it just does it thing and you just enjoy it. i suggest going over to fuckcombustion.com and posting your original post. they are experts and it would make their day to help you out in finding what can suit your needs. i hope you find a unit that can help you out. good luck sir.
I would suggest a purple days or myrtle zap style vape, they are by far the most easy to use, low maintenance, high efficiency vapes on the market.
Growwwwwwllllllllllllll, wow I bet that sounded weird, being read by the computer. Seriously, you need to get a vape that you won't burn yourself with. I would suggest a Magic Flight Launch Box, or a Purple Days. Thing is the Magic Flight has a delicate screen, if you felt it, you would have to be gentle. The purple days, I believe can be left on all the time. Good Luck.
Alex, I typically never suggest just one vape when one is asking for recommendations, but considering that you are blind, I believe that the very best choice would be the Purple Days mainly due to it's extremely simple design. No bag and valves to be concerned about. No glass wands and whips to be concerned about. No temp controls to be concerned about. Only has two parrts. The vape and the stem/bowl. Think of the stem as a very slim test tube with the bowl on one end along with a screen. The vape itself resembles a wooden coke can with a hole on top. You suck up the herbs into the stem, just like you would be sipping a drink through a straw. You then stick the stem in the hole (I just tried it with my eyes shut. No problem), and again, slowly suck like sucking on a milk shake through a straw. That's it. The vape is designed to stay on 24/7 (draws about 8 watts, same as two night lights), so it's always immediately available. I really do think that any other vape would be a bit more to a lot more complex to use for one who is unsighted. Now here's the catch though. I take it that you live in the UK. Purple Days does not ship outside of the US, but I'm quite close with Tom, the owner and inventor of the Purple Days, and in your case, he may make an exception. If I can be of any help in this regard, please don't hesitate to ask. Take care.........
Hi, thanks very much for all the great replies and advice, apologies for the late response, but was having internet issues for a lot of yesterday. From reading some of the above replies, it sounds like volcano could be extremely tricky to use, due to all the hot components, I would think that it would be very hard to work with once it was all heated up, and safety is of course my biggest concern, as I can just see it now, accidentally touch a hot part of it, and of course your arm jerks reflexivly, and you could easily send the vaporizer flying and easily set the room on fire. At least volcano doesn't sound like something I should try out as a complete newbie, and also if I was going to, I guess it would be important to have someone sighted who can help, but that's not an option at the moment. Minimal cleaning and maintenance is also important to me, as it wouldn't be very easy for me to take parts down stairs for washing without being asked some very awkward questions. I will read up on all the vaporizer recommendations, descriptions, reviews etc and see what people say about them. but it sounds like its now just a question of deciding between the main recommendations. Lwien, thank you very much for your kind offer, you are correct I am in the UK, as I said above I will take some time to read up on all the options, and I will of course keep the city informed how my vaporizer journey goes. Can vaporizers take solid resin material? Or only bud? As I tend to smoke both.
Sundaddy, when you say the magic flight has a delicate screen, can you explain why it is delicate? As I can be gentle, but of course assembling it would require me to touch the parts, and how delicate is delicate?
OK, here's the deal. The screen is so fine, I would best describe it as almost a fabric type feel. Now that screen, is micro welded to a couple of thick copper rods, but they form a rectangle shaped trench in the middle. The trench is where you put your herbs. The problem lies in the fact that if you put too much pressure down in the trench from feeling around for it or brushing it out, the welded areas could tear away, and the box would not work any more after that. Magic Fight has a lifetime warranty though, so it might be worth a go. Good Luck with whatever you decide to do.