How to Use your Balloon Bag Vaporizer
A lot of people send questions about their favorite vaporizers, making sure that they are using them properly in order to get optimal performance out of them. So we decided to go into a little further detail about the intricacies of certain models of vaporizer. While each vaporizer is unique with its own special learning curve, we have whittled down a few imperatives for certain specific categories. Today we will be looking at the leading balloon bag vapes and how to get the most out of your herbs with three of the most popular models: the Volcano, Extreme Q, and Zephyr Ion Vaporizers.
If you own a Volcano Vaporizer, widely regarded as the Rolls Royce of balloon bag vaporizers, then you are in for a treat. This is by far the most powerful and reliable vaporizer ever created and if you’re fortunate enough to own one, we recommend doing it right. So here’s how you get the most out of your Volcano and get a nice big bagful of tasty vapor like this one:
If you are using the Volcano Classic, we recommend turning the temperature to halfway, placing the dial at the 12 o’clock position. This will give you medium level heat at roughly 360 degrees Fahrenheit. Flick the red button to activate the heating chamber and let the Volcano heat up before placing the herbal loading chamber on top of the unit. In the meantime you can shred your nugs in your favorite grinder and load them into the Volcano valve chamber. You’ll know that it’s at temperature when the yellow light on the front illuminates. At this point you can go ahead and place your loading chamber on top of the unit and flick the Green button which activates the fan. Don’t leave your bag unattended because this thing fills up quickly and you don’t want your bag to explode from over-filling, so be sure to watch it like a kitchen pot.
Volcano Digital Vaporizer
The Volcano Digital Vaporizer follows roughly the same rubric: set the temperature using the up and down arrows on the digital display, then let it heat up to your selected temperature before connecting the loading chamber and bag valve. As with the Classic model, we recommend setting the Digital Volcano to 360-380 degrees if you are a novice vaporist. More experienced aficionados will do fine setting the temperature to between 390 and 410 degrees. The increased heat creates a more pungent and potent vapor, but it also expends your herb faster. So it’s a bit of a tradeoff. You’ll get more stoned by going up in temperature, so you probably won’t have to use as much material. Speaking of digital display units, let’s move to another great balloon vape. The Extreme Q Vaporizer bag doesn’t stand straight up like a Volcano, but it still packs a serious punch.
If you’re vaping with the Extreme Q by Arizer, the process is a little different from the Volcano. With the Q, you want to pack your herbs into the “Cyclone Bowl” prior to activating the heating element. Also you’re going to want to go a little bit higher in temperature on this one in order to get a nice milky bag. We recommend setting your digital temperature display to 400 degrees and let the Extreme Q heat up to temperature with the herbal chamber engaged. When you see the LCD display reach your desired temperature, then switch on the fan to setting one, which will load up a nice thick bag full of vapor. Make sure you’ve cleared ample desk space because the Q inflates horizontally as opposed to the Volcano which goes totally vertical.
Our final balloon bag vaporizer is the Zephyr Ion Vaporizer, probably the coolest looking vaporizer of the group. We found that while it looks cool it’s not as fast as the Q and not quite as powerful as the Volcano. Still this is an excellent home vaporizer which doesn’t take a whole lot of trial or error in order to achieve mind-blowing results. The one aspect that makes the Ion a little different from the other two aforementioned vapes is its basket system. Rather than simply setting your herbs in a loading chamber, the Ion employs a protective cover over the herbs which locks the bag valve into place.
As with the Volcano, the Zephyr Ion should be pre-heated before inserting your weed in the basket chamber. The default temp is 100degrees which can be adjusted using the + and - arrows on the base of the device underneath the bright digital display. As with each of these desktop vaporizers, make sure that you grind up your herbs super finely before placing them in the Ion herb basket. Make sure the basket is sitting flush with the bottom of the loading chamber and then close the lid. Then attach your valve with the balloon connected to the “straw” which pops out of the herbal chamber. The manufacturer recommends (and we concur) that you practice this with a couple “dry runs” before attempting with the vaporizer on.
Once the bag is connected to the straw, you can press the fan button on the front of the Ion to start the flow of vapor into the bag, where it is collected to cool before inhalation. It’s important to remember to remove the herb basket between bag fillings so none of the essential ingredients and active components go to waste. Be mindful, the basket in the Ion and the loading chamber of the Volcano and Extreme Q will probably be very warm to the touch so a light cloth or pot holder may be helpful to have onhand.
We hope this has been helpful. If you have specific questions about these processes, please leave them in the comments below. Thanks for reading this Vaporizer Review blog and remember to Keep Calm and Vape ON!
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Very informative! This was really helpful for me being an old timer. This definitely helped me in setting up the balloon for the Vapir Rise I bought online. I bought it from a place called vapor depot or vaporizer depot and they referred me to this site prior to making my purchase and I found this site to be extremely helpful overall. Before and after I bought my vape. There should be more sites like this out there dedicated to informing new users about products and techniques.
That chick is nipping out through her shirt, nice! Is she one of Stephanie Bloom’s friends? You guys should definitely bring her back for more reviews in the future.
Also, can I use the same balloons bags I have for my Arizer Extreme with my friends Volcano? He is out of bags and does not want to buy so I was gonna bring over a few of mine to his house.