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.
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That seems like a lot of work just to vape some weed
Hey man, engineers like getting stoned too!
Materials scientist, I friggin love tinkering!
That’s totally fair, they are not consumer friendly right now for a couple reasons. There are also safety concerns that people should consider with these, I’ll probably mention that in the next write. They are pretty new conceptually, maybe in the next 5 years they will be in a better spot but right I view this as more of a hobbyist/ I want the bleeding edge of cannabis tech.
All that being said I personally think they are cool as hell but I wouldn’t recommend it for 2/3rds of cannabis users, maybe even more like 3/4ths. I would say get a mighty in some cases, TM2 in some cases, or something that fits another niche. Ball vapes are kinda on the fringe of the vaporizer space right now.
Most do have exposed heating elements, but cannabis hardware does have a covered heating element I’m pretty sure. Not all of them, I think it’s one of their upgraded pieces.
You are correct! I believe the b2 and b1 are shielded, crossing core (known for the core 2.0 e-rig) also sells a basically universal heat shield for like $15 I think.
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.
https://tools420.com/flowerpot-b2-vaporizer-review/
Looks like a good article on the b2 maybe, I didn’t read it the picture just has all of the components spaced out enough for me to label. I’m a big fan of visual aids and the first times I looked at ball vapes I had no clue what the hell was going on.
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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
