Alternative vaporizer is a term coined by the vaping industry to help clear up confusion between those who vape e-liquids/nicotine and those who vape herbal concentrates, oils, or dry herbs.
There are various types of alternative vaporizers, including tabletop models that are designed to stay in one location and portable models that can be taken on the go. Some alternative vaporizers use convection heating, which involves heating the substance with hot air, while others use conduction heating, which involves heating the substance through direct contact with a heated surface.
Types of Alternative Vaporizers
Alternative vaporizes can be portable or tabletop and fall into one of three categories: dry herb vaporizers, concentrate vaporizers, and hybrid vaporizers.
Dry Herb Vaporizers
A dry herb vaporizer is a device used for heating and vaporizing dried herbs, such as cannabis, chamomile, lavender, or other herbs, without burning them. The vaporizer heats the herbs to a temperature where the active compounds are released as a vapor, which can be inhaled. Dry herb vaporizers come in various sizes, shapes, and styles, and can be powered by electricity, batteries, or butane gas. They may also include features such as temperature control, LED displays, and different types of heating elements.
Concentrate Vaporizers
A concentrate vaporizer is a type of vaporizer designed specifically for use with concentrates, which are highly potent extracts of cannabis or other plant material. These vaporizers typically use a heating element to heat the concentrate, creating a vapor that can be inhaled.
Concentrate vaporizers can come in a variety of forms, including portable handheld devices and larger tabletop units. They can also use different methods of heating, such as conduction or convection heating, and may have additional features like temperature control and customizable airflow to allow users to tailor their vaping experience to their preferences.
Overall, concentrate vaporizers offer a discreet and efficient way to consume concentrated forms of cannabis. However, due to concentrates having varying degrees of viscosity, you need to make sure the vaporizer you purchase has the ideal atomizer, heating element and oven for your concentrate of choice.
Hybrid Vaporizers
A hybrid vaporizer, as you may have guessed, is a vaporizer that can be used with dry herbs or concentrates.
Portable Vaporizers vs. Tabletop Vaporizers
With battery power comes freedom, and today’s portable vapes provide just that, but that hasn’t always been the case.
In the past, portable vaporizers had two significant flaws: their ovens couldn’t maintain temperatures consistently, and their batteries had a short lifespan.
Today, however, they provide much more consistent battery performance (multiple sessions can be had without the need to recharge) and also offer outstanding heating capabilities.
Despite drastic improvements to portable vapes, tabletop vapes still outperform them significantly in certain aspects, the most obvious being the raw power advantage of drawing its power from an outlet instead of a battery.
Many tabletop vapes also utilize fan-based convection heating, which drastically reduces the chance of unwanted combustion and/or charring.
Tabletop vapes often have larger capacity ovens, reducing the amount of times you need to refill them and extending sessions well beyond what can be had with a portable vape.
The only real drawback to tabletop vapes, other than their lack of portability, is their cost, which can be significantly higher than your average portable vape.