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.

    • Kroxx@lemm.eeOPEnglish
      1·
      4 months ago

      I don’t really like concentrates, they are hell on my lungs and I just like the effects of bud more. It’s too easy for me to overdo dabs and get uncomfortable but I can dose bud pretty easy.

      I would also say ball vapes are easier than dabs if you are using a blow torch, an enail dab rig would be the same amount of effort or easier.

      I can completely understand that it’s a lot, dynavaps are also simple great working devices from what I’ve heard and a ball vape definitely has a big step up in complexity compared to them.

      What I will say is all the complexity is in buying a ball vape setup, once you have a setup it’s so easy and buying a whole kit eliminates that but is $$$.

      Here is what my daily ball vape use looks like:

      Come home after work, walk by my ball vape table press the on button and the head heats up

      I go to the bathroom while it warms

      I come back to the table and grind my bud

      Put the bud in the bowl

      Place the head on the bowl

      Inhale

      Take the head off and go about the rest of my night

      So day to day use is actually super easy and I love having a heated head ready to go. Ball vapes are definitely complex but using them is pretty easy imo