How Do Weed Vaporizers Work?

Weed vaporizers work through the process of heating herb choices to the desired temperature so that the chemicals inside the weed boil off to produce a vapor which can be breathed in. This is a great deal healthier compared with smoking or injesting the herb as it provides a much larger amount of control over quantity and it has considerably less dangerous side effects.


Weed vaporizers employ different methods of heating the herb like thermal conduction, thermal radiation and convection. Thermal conduction is the most typical approach in which the ingredient is placed onto a surface which is heated up by butane or a similar heat source which in turn heats up the herb that causes it to release its chemicals in vaporous form. Radiation uses an intense light source to send energy into your herb and is much less popular. Convection vaporizers heat up the air inside the vaporizers and having the air heat the herb.

Because different substances have different natural vaporization temperatures it is crucial for a weed vaporizer to be able to control the temperature. To provide an example, marijuana has a vaporization temperature of 177°C while tobacco has a vaporization temperature of 140°C. Being able to precisely set the correct temperature means that you get the most chemicals out of your herbs.

Some weed vaporizers include digital displays that display both the actual and pre-programmed temperatures so that you can set it exactly as you want it. It is a question of personal taste however for marijuana it really need to be higher than 140°C which is the temperature at which trace amounts of THC can be found but under 200°C as toxins start formulating at this high temperature. A lot of vaporizer users tend to stick to temperatures around 185°C as this is well below the toxin limit but high enough so that suitable amounts of THC and vapor make their way into the collection/inhalation device.

One thing to be aware of is the density of the vapor will not make any difference to the effect that inhaling the vapor has on you. Less dense vapor that you would get with lower temperatures can contain as much THC as the heavier vapor you get with increased temperatures.