How do I vape - it can't be this hard?

June 21, 2019 6:11 PM

Marjiuna is now legal in California. I have never smoked. I have never tried weed before. I was curious. I did some research, decide to start with vaping. Bought a and battery. Read the directions carefully. First effort, nothing happened. Second try, cough so hard that my throat was raw for hours afterwards. Clearly I'm doing something wrong - help me figure this out.

More details: First effort: held button for 2 seconds, sucked in a deep breath, nothing happened. 20 minutes later, right after a friend took a hit (maybe it was more warmed up). tried the same thing again. This time I coughed so hard my throat hurt long afterwards. The general experience for the next 30 minutes was mildly unpleasant - throat hurt, chest tight, heart racing slightly, body felt weird. Pretty sure that is not the usual experience - no body would do that fun. What did I do wrong?

The specific brands were from Himalaya, their standard battery with a Kashmir Kush (indica) cartridge.

I read about the idea of breathing into the mouth and then lungs but have no idea how you actually do that so if that is the answer, I need help to operationalize that concept.

Also, would consuming more than just one hit give me a better experience?

Thank you for your advice. I'm such a newbie here and the friend who was with me was no help at all.

posted by metahawk to Health & Fitness (14 answers total)

Some people don’t get high the first time they’re exposed to cannabis - I didn’t. But I sure did the second time (and all the times thereafter). So, maybe just give it another go.
posted by something something at 6:16 PM on June 21, 2019 [1 favorite]

I've never vaped but was a long time smoker until 10 years ago. The smoking action people are talking about involves pulling the smoke/vape into your mouth by holding the cigarette/e cig between your lips and opening the mouth with your lips still pursed and not breathing in. Now that the vape/smoke is in your mouth you breath in. I still don't know why that doesn't irritate while breathing smoke straight in does but it works. I also didn't get high the first few times, and then I did.
posted by merocet at 6:25 PM on June 21, 2019

Best answer: I think maybe you're starting off a little advanced -- that experience sort of sounds like taking a big hot hit of concentrate with no tolerance. I can't speak to your vaporizer brand but try small short hits. Draw a noticeable amount of vapor into your mouth, inhale completely, exhale, wait a couple minutes, evaluate how you feel, and readminister as desired. I don't think you'll need the "big bong rip" experience to get high off concentrate, if you're cannabis-naive.
posted by polyhedron at 6:29 PM on June 21, 2019 [2 favorites]

Best answer: I missed that you're having trouble drawing vapor into your mouth before your lungs but it's sort of like drinking from a straw. Seal your lips around the vaporizer and pull air through it with your mouth muscles (you have to close your glottis or whatevs and expand the volume of the cavity formed by your tongue and palate), then inhale. If you do this too deeply you'll probably end up swallowing vapor, which is less than ideal but not as nauseating as smoke.

also, put on some music (lol)
posted by polyhedron at 6:35 PM on June 21, 2019 [1 favorite]

Edibles might be a friendlier way to start.
posted by k8t at 6:51 PM on June 21, 2019 [5 favorites]

I don’t agree with the edibles. You have less control over how high you get and it can last much longer. I was a newbie about 2 years ago. Small, short inhalations with about 10 minutes in between are good. 1-2 seconds of drawing in at the most. Suck it in just like soda from a straw, then when you are ready, inhale. As you get used to it, straight inhalation will get easier. There’s a bit of a learning curve, but with a vape pen, you can reproduce the same amount of high by knowing how many seconds to draw in. To do the dishes, I count to two. To go to sleep or for entertainment, I count to 7.
posted by MountainDaisy at 7:20 PM on June 21, 2019 [13 favorites]

Practice with drug-free vape fluids, available at any of the zillions of vape shops around you. They will happily sell you mint or menthol or a zillion other flavors, including ‘tobacco’ and bubblegum.

Learn how to use the machinery and your lungs, independent of learning how THC effects you.
posted by SaltySalticid at 7:23 PM on June 21, 2019

You have less control over how high you get

This is no longer strictly true; in California you can get edibles all the way down to 1mg, which makes it super-easy to titrate your dose.
posted by aramaic at 7:36 PM on June 21, 2019 [2 favorites]

I would suggest starting with a pre-roll from your local shop.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:37 PM on June 21, 2019 [1 favorite]

I think the first time you either didn’t hit it hard enough or it wasn’t warmed up enough (don’t know about the vape you’re using). The second time it sounds like everything was working as expected but you just hit it a little too hard (inhaled too much vapor). It can be tricky to find just the right amount/strength/speed of draw on a vape. When you do, though, it’s tastier than burning.
posted by Weeping_angel at 8:49 PM on June 21, 2019

Best answer: Second the short 2-3 second draw. Hold it in for a few seconds and exhale. You should see just a hint of vapor. It's not big deep bong rips or clouds of vapor. Wait 10 minutes or so because it also doesn't kick in nearly as fast as smoking does where you know you're getting stoned within a minute. Mostly the reason the mouth-hit then inhale helps out is the temperature of the vapor. Letting it sit in your mouth for a moment drops it a few degrees so you're not hitting your throat/lungs with 400° vapor. Also second the bit about some people just not getting stoned at all the first time.

There's the slightest chance that a cartridge is bad or being drained too fast by passing it around quickly. The liquid inside is pretty thick and it takes a bit rest between puffs for the liquid to flow back over the coil. If you heat a coil without enough liquid seeped into it, it gets like red-hot hot and you get some nasty burning and really-hot air.
posted by zengargoyle at 8:58 PM on June 21, 2019

I had a hard time with this initially too. You need to have the battery set correctly to start. Then you have to pull slow and steady. I would actually pull and exhale a bit to see the smoke coming out so that I knew that smoke was coming out. Then I would hold it in.

I would also add that I hadn't smoked in 20 years and it took a bit of getting used to to get and feel "high" and enjoy it. Now I don't really enjoy being buzzed or drunk, but I enjoy the subtle pleasantness of vaping.

Good luck
posted by kbbbo at 7:34 AM on June 22, 2019

I’d recommend looking into flower (dry-herb) vapes rather than cartridges, if I were you. The high is a lot more well-rounded and pleasant than most concentrates (especially for folks not looking to get knocked into outer space), and it’s more difficult to over-do it. Plus, vaping flower won’t cause your tolerance to skyrocket the way concentrates cane. Also, cartridges are more likely run into pesticide issues than flower.

The initial outlay is pricier than a cartridge battery, but the efficiency will pay for itself pretty quickly if you end up partaking regularly. Take a look at the Dynavap M (butane powered) and Arizer (electric, several models) if you’re interested in some starting points for dry herb vapes.
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 1:28 PM on June 22, 2019

What works for me is to take a partial inhale on the vape pen and then continue inhaling without the pen, a nice long breath of regular air to cool and dilute the vapor.
posted by bink at 11:20 AM on June 23, 2019 [1 favorite]