Volcano Vaporizer – Tips n’ Tricks

Here’s a new improved photo gallery based on user requests. One of the most daunting tasks for the new Volcano Vaporizer owner is taking it apart and cleaning for the first time. Here’s a step by step photo illustration of how to disassemble all the parts of the Volcano Vaporizer and clean using rubbing alcohol and sea salt. If it’s your first time taking apart the inner workings of your Volcano, this will help make sense of it. You’ll need some simple supplies; rubbing alcohol, sea salt, a large freezer bag or wide mouth jar, a pair of pliers, some q-tips and paper towels. Remember – a clean Volcano Vaporizer works better and more efficiently and tastes better!

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Loading the herb chamber on any vaporizer can be a tricky proposition. Using my fingers or credit/business cards can be messy with multiple tries to get it all in.

For all it’s amazing German engineering, the simple act of getting the material into the chamber was overlooked. I used to load my vaporizer with a business card… scrape it on, curl it up, dump in chamber. This works pretty well, but once in awhile the spring action of the card backfires and throws your goodies all over the place.

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I stumbled upon this idea while reading this article – Dr. Kush. And couldn’t believe I’d never tried it. It’s great. (more…)

UPDATE – Please see updated photos here – Taking Apart and Cleaning the Volcano Vaporizer

One of the most daunting tasks for the new Volcano Vaporizer owner is taking it apart and cleaning for the first time. Here’s a step by step photo illustration of how to disassemble all the parts of the Volcano Vaporizer and clean using rubbing alcohol and sea salt. If it’s your first time taking apart the inner workings of your Volcano, this will help make sense of it. You’ll need some simple supplies; rubbing alcohol, sea salt, a large freezer bag, a pair of pliers, some q-tips and paper towels. Remember kids – a clean Volcano is a happy Volcano! You can substitute Formula 420 for the alcohol and sea salt.

I think I’ve finally settled on my preferred method for vaporizing my herb. I keep the Volcano’s temperature dial set at 6 all the time. I fill bags at this temp until I get nothing. Then I save my leftovers for volcano butter that I make with my Volcano poo. Sure, I can get more bags by turning up the temp as I go, but I find the bad taste and less dense vapor irritate my lungs. Much better use to make vaporizer butter with the leftovers.

A Volcano vaporizer without an herb grinder, is like a car without gas. Proper grinding of the herb prior to vaporizing – whether your are using a Volcano, a Vapir or a Vapor Brothers Vaporizer – grind your herb!

How much to grind the herb? Very fine, but not so fine it falls thru the screen! The more surface area your create by grinding, the more active ingredients the heat can release. You cannot prepare the herb effectively without a grinder. I recommend a dedicated herb grinder for your Volcano vaporizer.

Grind again? Sure why not. If you start with sticky herb that has some moisture you will only be able to get the grind so fine. After a few pulls or bag fillings, the herb will dry out – making it easier to grind fine for vaporizing.

Aluminum Herb Grinders, Electric Herb Grinders, Plastic Herb Grinders, Wood Herb Grinders, No Grinder

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There’s some debate on the best cleaning solution for using on your vaporizer – Volcano or otherwise.

Good Old Hot Water – Hot water will easily remove gunk from glass and metal. However all that hot water can make for some nasty burns.

Rubbing Alcohol – Cuts right thru gunk. Gloves strongly recommended, along with ventilation and NO open flames!

Rubbing Alcohol w/Sea Salt – Same advantages and cautions as above, but with the added abrasive cleaning power of sea salt! Most effective and easiest to obtain.

Formula 420 – This is my favorite. It’s got the effectiveness of the alcohol with much more tolerable odors. It’s also got magic scrubbing abrasives. Yes, you do pay more but a little goes a long way, and frankly I think it does a better job than any of the cheaper alternatives. This was my favorite… but then I ran out of it and needed to improvise. I’m a big fan of rubbing alcohol and sea salt now. Just be sure to rinse and clean with mild soap and water as a last step.

However you decide to go about it – cleaning your vaporizer is of the utmost importance to it’s continued performance, and maximum efficiency in extracting the active ingredients.

Have a magic cleaning sauce we should know of? Let us know by posting a comment below!

Cleaning your new Volcano vaporizer can be a bit intimidating at first, with all the pieces and parts – but the cleaner you keep it – the better it will work. Here are a few basic tips for cleaning your vaporizer. (more…)

The Volcano Classic vaporizer uses a numbered dial for heat control. Once you get the hang of it, you’ll not need to refer to this table.

There are several schools of thought on temp settings for your volacno vaporizer.

The active ingredient in popular herbal mixtures vaporizes when heated to between 338 F and 372 F. This is not hot enough for the plant material to burn so many of the toxins associated with smoking are not released.

On the original Volcano vaporizer, this range is between 4.25 and 6.

Some folks prefer a lighter less dense vapor – they’ll set at 5.5 and get a very light mist in the bag, and probably get more bag fillings.

If you prefer a “smokier” experience, start at 6.5 and ratchet it up a notch with each successive bag filling.

How do you know when it’s done? Depending on the quality and the quantity of the material in the chamber you may get 3-4 bags of vapor. You’ll notice a change in taste and the density of the vapor mist in the bag.

IMHO, anything above 6.5 you might as well be smoking the stuff. I’d rather get nice tasty non-lung irritating bags and save my leftovers.

What to do with your leftovers? Volcano – poo as we call it? Whatever you do – don’t smoke it! and don’t throw it away!