Vaping: It’s pretty sweet. I mean, I could see how you could be made to feel weird feelings when confronted with the thing that you called from the ether by typing “” (I was just going to type “crazy vape dragon man” but Google suggested “maniac” so I, feeling kind of wild, went with it), but we are not, probably, here to talk about vaping , especially because those deal mostly with nicotine vapes, and I think we are just better off not going too ; spoiler alert: it ends in 2015.
Weed vaping, however, is worth discussion. It supports good, healthy practices, and many machines deliver an adjustable dose so you can feel free to set it to microdose or to get lit. There is a stealth element about it; if you spent your years before (and since) legalization ducking out and keeping steady high, the vape – short for vaporizer – can become a formidable weapon in the hands of a skilled ninja like you.
Today’s handheld vaporizers, little cylindrical or rectangular units, and “pens” (which they often vaguely look like) are the descendants of the old-school table-top Volcano-style – a bagful of smokeless THC, a true-melt-your-face-and-ask-for-more situation. My first time using a table vaporizer evokes memories of very numb cheeks and a type of circular laughing among my brother, his brother-in-law, and myself, that somehow approached Australian aboriginal music in its circular, echoic resonance. It was pretty deep. I had been high a few thousand times before, but this was an entirely different classification of altered and I instantly appreciated it.
There is a wide range of features currently available in portable vapes – things like the ability to be used with dried flower and a wide range of oils and, now, distillates, You can find a range of temperature settings to ensure the heat-induced release of specific cannabanoids, the ability to modulate air flow to allow for anything from a sip through a tiny straw to a true head opener. The fancy ones can run in the $200-$300 neighborhood. Basic disposables (which have a decent lifetime) that can be as easy to operate as putting it to your lips and inhaling can be had for 40 or 50 bucks.
Back to that high for a minute – shall we agree to call it “subtle but powerful”? This is the clearheaded high that can really be enjoyed to make whatever endeavors that accompany it, be they in the pursuit of labor or pleasure, enjoyable to the Nth degree; small warning: this may be the device that brings your cannabanoid ingestion to the next level. Now, I see that as a good thing; I’ll leave you to your own decisions.
And back to that stealthiness: the beauty of the cannabis vaporizer, in any and all of its permutations, is its complete absence of smoke. Smoke can be problematic for a variety of reasons, especially to someone with medical sensitivity. It is also strictly verboten in many social settings, especially those outside private property. The vape delivers a hit made entirely of plant material without any combustion and you exhale little more than a wisp and a whisper. This can happen in bathrooms, theaters, balconies, stairwells, and all other range of spaces with almost none of the angst that can accompany putting lighter to bud. Give it a go, DGO.
Christopher Gallagher lives with his wife and their four dogs and two horses. Life is pretty darn good. Contact him at [email protected].
