Vaping - you’ve probably heard of it (especially in the last few years). To some, it's an enjoyable way to consume cannabis. For others, it’s a little controversial. To set the record straight we put together a brief guide to vaping including the different kinds of vaping, how to vape, different vape accessories, cartridges, and more. Check it out below!

A simple question with a simple answer. Vaping is essentially the act of heating up cannabis (either in flower or concentrated form) into an inhalable smoke or vapour. Depending on the THC or CBD concentration, this also is a pretty effective way to get super stoned, super fast.

It’s important to note that, yes, you can vape nicotine as well as cannabis. Since we are a brand interested in all things weed-related, we’ll only be talking about vaping cannabis in this article.

Interestingly enough, some of the first vaporizers ever created were purposely developed for weed. Today, there’s two main kinds of vaporizers for weed: 1.) Herb Vaporizers 2.) Extract Vaporizers.

Herb vaporizers, or vapes specific to dried flower, can be differentiated between conduction, convection, portable and desktop vapes. All these vapes work by heating up the flower so the vapour can be inhaled. The only difference is the method used to heat up the weed.Conduction vapes require direct contact between dried flower and a hot element.Convection vapes also have a heating element, but instead of coming in direct contact with your flower, the heat works to create hot air that vaporizes the dried flower.Portable vapes run via battery.Desktop vaporizers, or the OG vapes, usually have the most gadgets and features. They’re also usually pretty costly and may not be the best for beginner users.

On the other hand, extract vapes come in the form of wax or oil pens, e-nails, e-rigs, and conceal batteries.Weed pens are handheld devices that vaporize concentrates including wax, oil, or any other kind of extract into a vapour.E-rigs are basically bongs for concentrates - they use water to heat up the concentrate so you can inhale it.E-nails use a hot tool called a nail that sits in the rig and heats up the concentrate directly.Lastly, conceal batteries are vapes where the oil cartridge is concealed inside the device. They’re usually magnetic and can connect to any 510 thread cart.

Some users swear by extract vapes since they're known to be less harsh on your lungs. That being said, unless you’re going for a high CBD product with little to no THC, most extracts can run upwards of 75% THC, about 3 times more than your average dried flower. For that reason we strongly recommend that new users start slow and go slow!

For the sake of ease, we’d say that vape pens or concealed vapes are probably the most popular. They’re super easy to use, are usually the most affordable, and are great for beginners.

There’s generally 4 different parts to a vape pen.
1.) Cartridge - carts contain the cannabis oil that will be vaporized. Typically, they’re made of plastic and can be used until there’s no more concentrate inside - then you just toss the cart in the trash and buy another one!
2.) Atomizer - this is the heating element that vaporizers the oil.
3.) Battery - usually rechargeable, the battery heats up the concentrate. Some batteries have a button that you need to press, other’s activate upon inhalation.
4.) Mouthpiece - this one is pretty self explanatory. This part of the vape is where your vapour is inhaled!

Just like dried flower, there are many different kinds of cartridges that you can use. There’s high THC carts, CBD carts, Indica, Sativa, and Hybrid options. The choice is up to you.

It can be! Just like anything that you might be passionate about, it really depends how much money you’re willing to spend. Vape batteries and cartridges may set you back roughly $70, whereas dab rigs and desktop vaporizers can cost between $300 - $600. If you’re new, stick to weed pens and learn as much as you can about concentrates - knowledge is power. The more you know and the more you’re interested, the more willing you may be to spending a litt more. Plus, you’ll probably appreciate it a bit more too.

With all the media and horror-stories out there, you might be a little apprehensive to try vaping. While it may seem like vaping is way more dangerous than rolling up a joint and smoking it, that’s not necessarily the case.To set the record straight, we aren’t promoting one way of consuming cannabis over the other (we aren’t scientists), but we can tell you that there is a massive difference in quality between legal market and black market concentrates.

To produce most concentrates you need to take a very important step that essentially takes out all the nasty chemicals and dangerous elements out of the extract so you aren’t consuming it - This can be a pretty expensive step. Since the black market doesn't adhere to the same regulations as the legal market, products created in the illicit market usually forego this process.

The result? People who purchase concentrates and carts from the black market end up inhaling chemicals that are extremely harmful to the human body. As a genuine point of caution, please only purchase your carts and concentrates from legal market retailers. It might be more costly, but it is 100% worth the safety and assurance that you are getting safe products.

Want to learn more about concentrates, dabbing, and other extracts? Check our our other articles: A Guide To Shatter, A Guide To Cannabis Diamonds, What's The Difference Between CBD and CBD?, and More.

By Nadia Bortolazzo
Nadia is an MA graduate and a Digital Marketing Specialist at Burb. Her writing is guided by her interest in challenging and expanding the ideologies surrounding cannabis culture.
Instagram: @nadiabortolazzo.