Vaporizers have come a long way since they first came on the scene. The advancement has been phenomenal in the last decade.
The crude setup from the start has evolved into a sophisticated, feature rich and technology driven device that boasts an amazing range of shapes and sizes, portability factor and heating methods. Even the basic raw materials that these vaporizers accept have grown exponentially.
A vaporizer is nothing but a device that converts aromatic herbs, dry herbs, wax/oil concentrates and e-liquids into vapour form. People around the world use it for an array of reasons.
While some exploit vaporizer for therapeutic benefits there are others who migrate to vaping to quit smoking habit. There is yet another category of vapers who indulge in this activity for leisure or socializing.
There are three types of vaporizers.
Desktop
– As the name suggests, a desktop vaporizer is static in nature. It cannot be carried from one place to another except within a limited space. Moreover, they use electricity which lowers its portability further.
Most of the desktops are built along the principle of convection heating which translates into richer and purer vapour. Most of them are also just Dry Herb Vapes. So a lot of burning can occur.
Portable
– Portable Vaporizers are slightly larger than pen variants, and available in a plethora of form factors, engineering options and features. Although not as discreet as vape pens they are the largest selling class of vaporizers.
Available for a wide range of users; from beginners to advanced, portable vaporizers have captured the hearts of vapers and the vaping community all over the world.
Pen
– Pen Vaporizers are extremely small, sleek and discreet. They are also no-nonsense vaporizers that offer instant high due to lack of temperature control features and advanced heating system.
However, as mentioned above, these are highly discrete which enables vapers to carry and use at will. Vape pens tend to heat up fast and therefore need proper handling.
Check out our breakdown on different types of vaporizer.
So, how do vaporizers work?
Whatever may be the reason to switch over to vaping, the one question which troubles every new vaper is “How vaporizers work?” Actually, the principle is quite simple and one could even say that it still functions like a good old vaporizing arrangement.
However, before getting into the nitty-gritty of its mechanism let us first understand the different components of a modern vaporizer.
Here is the breakdown of a typical vaporizer.
Battery | Electricity
Now, this is the heart of any contemporary vaporizer. Most of the vaporizers today exploit either a battery ( Portable Variants ) or electricity ( Desktop Variants ), but there are others which use flame based heating elements.
The current breed of pen and portable vaporizers use state of the art, heavy duty and sometimes programmed batteries as their power source.
Oven | Heating Chamber
In its simplest form an oven, or the heating chamber, is a small container which holds the active ingredient. Moreover, there are different ovens for different raw materials.
While dedicated vaporizers tend to have just a single oven, others offer a combination of dry / wet options. This typically requires add-on chambers which are really easy to switch.
These are made from assorted materials such as porcelain, ceramic, stainless steel and advanced materials like Zirconia, one of the toughest, and stress and scratch resistant materials known to mankind.
Heating Method
Conduction Method
If a battery is the heart of a modern day vaporizer, the heating method is its soul. In fact, the quality of the vapour directly depends on the way the dry herbs/essential oils are heated.
In most vaporizers metal coils or elements are used to perform this task. However, some devices use ingenious methods and combinations of materials to generate fuller and perfectly flavoured vapour.
These days’ creators use creative ways to enhance the heating system further. Using titanium coils wrapped around solid metal rods is one of them. In its native form the plant matter is directly heated by the system to produce vapour.
Checkout: - CONDUCTION VAPES VS CONVECTION VAPES - WHICH IS BEST?
Convection Method
On the other hand convective system uses indirect heating method. The botanicals are heated by passing hot air through it. This produces vapour which is cleaner and purer than the conductive method.
However, it also has its own set of drawbacks. Devices with indirect heating system do not offer fuller vapour. On the positive side, the combustion quotient in convective style is almost zero.
Radiation Method
This is the third heating option exploited by vaporizers, but not really popular.
Delivery Mechanism
Delivery of vapour is another crucial parameter which can change the quality of vaping considerably.
Typically, pen vapes and most of the portable vaporizers offer direct draw system while the desktop variants provide three options – ejecting the vapour into the air through high speed fan, balloon bags and direct inhalation. Nonetheless, there are certain types of portable vaporizers which offer long conduit tubing and bubbler attachments for cooler vapour.
How do vaporizers work?
The answer – A vaporizer typically roasts the raw ingredient such as dry herbs or concentrates and converts the same into vapour which is then delivered to the user through a series of cooling chambers.
Vaporizers that boast significant distance between the heating system and the mouthpiece tend to offer cooler and flavour rich vapour.
Checkout: - Best Dry Herb Vaporizer