As laws are reformed, questions about plant substances’ impact on respiratory function have increased. As a result there’s been a rapid shift in perception among the mainstream population and a palpable excitement about the many potential health benefits of vaporizing over smoking. This perceptual shift has led to more widespread acceptance and use of dry herb vaporizers.  

The human lungs were not intended to inhale the byproducts of combustion. Although smoking herbs does not harm lung function as dramatically as smoking tobacco products, the smoking habit can increase symptoms of respiratory irritation.  Albeit alternatives exist such as edibles, the rapid onset dose or bio-availability of inhalation is often preferred.

What is vaporizing?

Vaporizing is the warming and physical change of plant oils into gas vapors for inhalation.

What is a dry herb vaporizer?

A dry herb vaporizer is a heating appliance used for the warming of plant oils (from their raw plant material form) into gas vapors. Dry herb vaporizers help resolve issues related to combustion by offering a reduced harm method of inhalation.  The user inhales and draws the vaporizers’ heated air over the plant material without igniting, releasing the active compounds in a vapor that is relatively free from the byproducts of combustion.

What are the benefits of vaporization?

Besides the pulmonary benefits of reducing the negative effects of combustion, the vaporizer is consistently reviewed and chosen in scientific studies as the preferred method by participants.  The vaporizer, while introducing less heat, also produces a vapor which is cooler and easier to inhale, including more condensed vapor. Although the technology to isolate specific compounds within a dry herb vaporizer does not exist, the ability to vary the total mg of active compounds consumed per gram of plant material can be varied by adjusting the vaporizers thermal signature. Studies report that total active compounds consumed can be varied by as much as 80% with temperature adjustment. 

This added control is only available to vaporization, as when combustion starts, the added oxygen of the inhalation causes heat to rise to pyrolytic levels, there is no half way after an open flame touches plant matter and combustion begins. The vaporization process can be controlled to a greater degree primarily by controlling the rate at which the heated air is exposed to the dry herb (draw speed), the temperature of the air (adjustable knob), and the cross section of the dry herb exposed to that air (quantity of load).

This control over the energy which the dry herb is exposed can affect the rate and combination at which the active compounds reach their boiling point. Overall the landscape for herbs as a therapeutic tool has been greatly improved with the advent of vaporizers, which not only offer more of the active compounds available for consumption, but with fewer combustion related side effects, and a greater degree of control over how much is consumed.