Introduction to Vaporizers
Vaporizers heat materials to just below the point of combustion. A vaporizer is a device that can extract active ingredients from a variety of compounds. A vaporizer can provide an alternative to smoking, and they can be used with tobacco, and a variety of other herbal blends, as well as essential oils.
Vaporization can be an alternative to smoking. Instead of using a flame, you are using heat. Keeping the temperature below the point of combustion releases fewer byproducts.There is less irritation and a more aromatic compounds released from the material vs smoking, but the over-all effect is similar.
With no combustion vaporizers can can even sometimes be used in places where public bans have been issued against smoking. In addition, vaporizers can be a much more effective, healthy, and safe way to administer medicinal herbs.
One of the most recent studies on the technique of vaporization and herbs by the University of California in San Francisco examined the effectiveness of a vaporizer compared to using combustion with a flame, and the results showed that vaporizers release more active ingredients and produced far fewer byproducts vs combustion.
Vaporizers produce an almost clear or opaque vapor that is cleaner than smoke. Vaporizers still use a massive amount of heat to trigger the reaction, but stopping short of combustion greatly limits the byproducts.
They can be used for direct inhalation by using a bag or tube, and they can also be used to pump vapor into a an area around the user. A vaporizer releases the active ingredients of plant material, including tobacco and many other therapeutic or medicinal herbs or blends as well as essential oils.
No combustion is evident with vaporization. Therefore no smoke or taste of smoke is evident. The smoke taste is nonexistant which creates a different flavor vs smoking foods or for other culinary vaporizer uses. The vapor ideally contains virtually zero particle matter or tar, and significantly lower concentrations of noxious gases such as carbon monoxide. In all cases, smoke contains enormous amounts of toxic byproducts such as tar and nitric oxide and these byproducts may irritate the mouth, throat and lungs.
Combustion can also destroy a lot of the material being used, so vaporization potentially releases more of the active ingredients from the same amount of material. The fragrance of vaporized materials is much different, but it can also go a lot further because you don't destroy as much as you do with combustion.
The two main types of vaporizers are conduction and convection vaporizers. Convection vaporizers are a heat plate or other heater that you set the material on and then you heat up the material as if you are cooking it right under the point of burning it. Convection vaporizers blow or move a steady stream of hot air and they ideally hold the air stream at a constant temperature. Most vaporizers are convection because they rely on the air flow in one way or another. The original vaporizers that essentially were a heatplate and a glass dome on top are the conduction style that is not generally used in modern vaporizers.
Convection vaporizers are most of the market now, and pretty much all that we sell. These vaporizers use fans, pumps, or direct inhale to administer the vapor to users. Some vaporizers use a medical grade tube to inhale the vapor. They often have some kind of mouthpiece to keep any heat away from your mouth and to ease in the cleaning process. Other vaporizers use a fan or pump to blow the air into a receptical or into the area around the user.
A common receptical is balloons or bags to hold vapor. This allows you to use it for different types of applications, and it is convenient because the bag is separate from the device and easier to use in a lot of situations. The bag is made from heat resistant plastic.
Most vaporizers have more than one conceivable way to use or deliver the vapor. Pumps or fans expand the possible uses. The most basic direct inhale vaporizers are generally inhalers only, but the uses still vary depending on the situation.
Small portables tend to be restricted to more individual use, and fans or pumps are not so practical for handheld models. Nonetheless, handhelds have come long way and many are very effective, although generally the larger desktop models are a little more effective because they have more surface area to control the heat.
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