I have been looking into dry herb vaping as a reusable some what healthy way to consume trees but I have seen some mixed reviews. Some say that vaping is even more potent that combustion while others claim that most dry herb vapes suck and only giant ball vapes can compare to a bong hit. Is it purely subjective or are there ways to figure out what is a worth while rig before buying it?
So the answer is “kinda”.
As mentioned, different temperatures extract different active compounds from the herb. It also cooks different flavor terpenes which affect how the vapor tastes.
When you load and electronic vaporizer, run a partial session, turn it off and then restart at the same temperature, you will find vapor production seriously diminished, and vapor taste changes to more of a “burnt popcorn” flavor.
You have several options in this regard:
Temperature-step. Some people enjoy a low temp session in the mornings, and then cooking the same load in the evenings for sedation. This works because you’re cooking a new set of compounds. The vapor flavor and production still changes, but it’s not quite as bad.
Microdose. There are different methods of microdosing with every vaporizer but basically you are cooking only as much as you need for that session and then reloading each time you use the device. This is great if you’re a flavor chasing snob like myself lol.
Now there are always exceptions to the rule - butane powered vaporizers don’t exactly play by the same set of rules. If you load up a Dynavap Vapcap take a puff and then let it cool down, you won’t notice a huge change in performance later when you re-heat the device. But that’s also because it’s not a flavor-chasing vaporizer, and instead it roasts the herb during the heatup phase which slightly alters the taste anyway - and the heat penetrates to the core of the load much quicker with a butane torch