So I’ve used portables for years and desktops a few times. The last couple years I’ve kept reading about ball vapes and they sounded cool but honestly I got intimidated and stopped looking into it. There are so many options and components and you have to worry about compatibility etc… Well I hope to make a series of posts addressing all of this to help other people be more comfortable approaching getting a ball vape!

At a glance, what is a ball vape? Simply put a ball vape heats up an e-nail, that then heats up a metal or glass housing, that houses hundreds of 2-4mm balls (where the name comes from). These balls are made from materials that have good heat retention properties, silicon carbide(SiC), ruby (corundum), alumina, zirconia, and many more. These balls heat up as well and when you draw air though the balls the air heats up and passes though the herb vaporizering it.

What’s the benefits? The reason small 2-4mm balls or jewels(lil diamond shapes) are used is because they have a large surface area compared to larger (5+mm) shapes and you can get a higher packing density(more balls/volume). This heats the air passing though very uniformly, leading to a much more uniform extraction (less green and black ABV). It also allows for a very open airpath, while being able to maintain temperature. The housing and balls (often referred to as a head assembly) have a huge thermal mass so you can rip the hell out of a ball vape and the heat will keep up! A ball vape offers a one hit extraction from flower, kinda like dabbing flower if that makes sense.

There are three main components you need to start a ball vape setup:

-PID controller

-a coil that is compatible with the PID

-a head assembly that fits the above coil and balls

The rest is a bowl, bong, and any adapters you want. These depend on injector vs difussion style but that goes past the scope of this post.

All of this is just a very general picture of a ball vape written as succinctly as possible. I will dive much deeper into the setups, parts, and adapters in future posts.

Image from tools420 site in comments, I just wrote over it.

  • wolfshadowheart@kbin.social
    3·
    8 months ago

    Unlimited convection in a desktop is pretty much unrivaled, I will say though.

    I stick to the VapeXhale Evo ($300ish but discontinued) and the Tiny Might 2 ($350) myself, but I used e-nails for concentrates and I’ve used the Cannabis Hardware setups and they are pretty much the best way to inhale a bong rip and get as much vapor as you want.

    Plus, with the right one (and only a measly investment of… nearly $650…) it is basically a one-time set-up never need to clean (sans bong) the vape/rubies/PID controller itself never needs to be clean, just kept free of flammables.

    For the price range you’re looking at pretty much the new Volcanos, or a full fledged Cannabis Hardware flower+concentrate in one rig, and having a Volcano for cheap I would far prefer the ball vaporizer. I just have enough vapes to justify not needing it, and even though I want to say the open heating element too, but they actually make one that keeps it covered.