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VapeNator

The Steinel HG2310 is a high-end heat gun for the consumer market. It has a ceramic element that heats up in just a few seconds. Heat is adjustable from 120F-1200F and airflow from 3.6-17.6cfm. You can get it from Amazon for around $190 USD. The 9mm reducer that goes with it is another $10.
Some intended applications for this heat gun would be applying shrink-wrap, desoldering circuit boards, plastic welding, etc. It is super good at vaporizing marijuana, too.

One of the advantages to heat guns over some other types of vaporizers, such as whip vaporizers, is the quick heat-up time. The 2310 gets up to temp very quickly. I lack the tools to measure it - but I'd say maybe 4-5 seconds is all it takes. The heat gun also vaporizes the herb material very quickly, which is a plus for me. I can load up .10 grams and vape the whole thing in 1 large bong hit in less than 10 seconds.

Another great thing about this gun is the accuracy and evenness of the temperature. I notice a definite difference in the vapor as well as the post-vaping herb when I set the gun to 400 vs. 390 vs. 380, etc. What temp works best will be a matter of preference as well as how far the tip of the gun is from the herbs. My main set up puts the herb very close to the nozzle of the gun. I tend to like to set the temp @ 390, in that case.

Another feature that is cool is that there are 4 programmable presets. Sounds like overkill, I know, but it is actually pretty handy. I use 1 bowl for bag filling and another for single-serve vapor-bongs so I have a preset for each of those. I also have another for pre-heating - which is helpful when using the bag set-up.

This gun stays very cool on the outside and is well balanced and easy to set down without knocking over. This is important when you are vaporizing!
My favorite aspect of the heat gun is flexibility. You can either get huge bong hits of vapor or you can fill up bags of vapor. To do either - you do not need a whole bunch of other stuff. All you really need, in addition to the heat gun, is a $10 reducer (9mm) and a roor-style glass-on-glass bong. If you want to fill turkey bags you also need a party bowl - or possibly a brass or stainless steel funnel would work.







My turkey bag set-up calls for the stem to be removed from the bong and a party bowl inserted (yes -without the stem. it's ok, we don't use water in the bong, anyway). I take the stem and I put it inside a turkey bag and fasten with a hair-tie. I leave a few inch "collar" of plastic.

If only filling 1 bag, you'll want to preheat first, 'cause the first bag will be weak without preheating. Turn the temp to 500 and the fan to about 50% and run it into the bong for about 20-30 seconds. Turn the temp back to 400, the fan down all the way and turn off the gun.

Fill the party bowl with about .3 grams of herbs. Place the turkey bag upside down over the mouth of the bong - where your mouth would go. The glass bong stem will hang down into the bong - but is easily held up by the hair band. With your hand, you seal the bag around the outside of the bong using that "cuff" of extra plastic you left when attaching the hair-tie.

With your other hand, place the gun nozzle up to the party bowl and turn on the gun. Watch the bag fill up. When the bag is full, turn off the gun and carefully but quickly set it down. Remove the bag from the top of the bong and quickly place your thumb over the bong stem. If your thumb is not quite big enough you can wrap some of the extra plastic around 2 fingers and use those, instead.

Some vapor will escape. .but less than 10% of 1 inhalation once you get it down. It's preferable, in my opinion to using brass fittings and ball valves, which you can easily buy cheaply at home depot if you want. I really prefer bong hits and only use the bags on occasion. They are good for newbies or just for a change of pace. I do a few a week using this method. If bags were my primary method I would probably use a brass pipe and ball joint to avoid wasting any vapor. Better yet, I would buy a Volcano Valve set. I have used my house-mates valve set with this gun to very good effect.






There are some disadvantages to heat gun vaping. The primary complaint is that it uses herb up more quickly. This can be true but also can be mitigated by using the bong stem vs a vaporizer bowl for single-serve hits and also . . stopping after one or 2. You can do vapor bongs so quickly that it is common to do 4 or 5 when 2 or 3 would do nicely.

Taste is another category where the heat-gun falls short. Compared to a whip vaporizer there is practically no taste when using the bong. Filled bags taste comparable to a volcano - if the bag is new then it tastes pretty good.

Stealth is another area where the heat gun suffers. It is a legitimate tool which helps but it is a little noisy when using (about same as Volcano) and exhaled vapor-bongs fill up a room pretty quick. Imagine sitting inside a giant Volcano bag. My vaporizing room at home smells quite incriminating most of the time. Even so, vapor smells sooo much better than smoke!

Arguably, the heat gun methods take more some coordination and practice to learn. The consequences of mistakes can range from blowing the weed out of the bowl (common) to melting your bong to the carpet (hopefully an outside possibility). The first time I tried the bag method I tried it with no herb and the heat on 120. Practice makes perfect!


I heartily recommend the 2310 heat gun and heat gun vaping in general. I think whip-style vaporizers are better at conserving herb and, arguably more flavorful but, in my experience, they are more time consuming to use. It can take 20 minutes to vaporize .1 grams in my Vapor Brothers unit compared to a few seconds with my heat gun.

The Volcano is more elegant if bag-filling is your thing. The Volcano is majorly expensive. The Volcano only does bags, too, whereas you can do bong hits, bags or forced-air whip with a heat gun. I would get a heat gun and Volcano Valve set before I'd get a Volcano.

If you want high-end vaping, the heat gun method is probably the cheapest and most flexible. While $200 is not cheap, you get a lot for your money with the 2310.


Here is a pic to help explain the turkey bag method!

Attached Images

roor_water_bong_7_0_green_3_piece.jpg (31.3 KB, 14 views)

 

Vicki

I've actually tried this heat gun, and it was great. A tad too much vapor for me all at once, and it seems to use a lot more herb as well.

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beezleb878

interesting

VapeNator

It can use a lot of herb - especially if you use a vaporizer bowl. The minimum amount I could use in the GotVape Vaporizer Bowl and get even vaporization was about .3 grams. That is way too much in 1 bong hit and it ends up getting wasted after you've inhaled all you can.

With the bong stem method, I can use anywhere from .05 to .1 grams - about 1 whipload. That is do-able as 1 hit. I played around quite a bit trying to find the exact right amount to get a full hit but not waste any.

Of course, I can do 5 or 6 of these before the first one even hits me . . . so in that regard it can lead to excessive consumption, too.

Buzzby

I've recently found that you can use a whip-type vape in much the same manner as the way you describe the heat gun. All you have to do is turn the temp way up and draw really fast. You move a much higher volume of air at the right temperature through the load, vaporizing almost all of the THC in a couple of tokes. The only problem with this technique is that if you don't draw fast enough the weed can get too hot or even ignite.

I got tired of how long my VaporWarez would take to go through a small load and started playing around to see if I could speed up the process w/o impacting the quality of the hits.

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5drive

Nice review VapeNator. If your taste runs to heat guns it's hard to beat the 2310. There will continue to be a market for the heat gun as a vape, mainly for bong lovers and 'do it yourselfers'. But for the most part, if you're going to vaporize instead of smoke, you understand and accept that the process takes more patience, and most people are definitely interested in the conservation part of vaporizing. As for price, I beg to differ with your Volcano comparison. It's well established that the herbalAire is just as efficient as the 'cano and half the price. I've been testing mine almost daily for over 18 months. The new Extreme is priced in the same $250-300 range and is also a dual mode vape. Add in the Vapormatic/Mystifire and the even cheaper Vapir One and the options for dual mode use pile up. And while I would trust the Steinel for reliability over the Vapir products, the 1 yr. Steinel warranty is 1 yr. short of the warranties for the herbalAire and Extreme.

But if anyone comes around looking for heat gun info, we'll direct them to your Steinel report. Best heat gun review I've seen anywhere.

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SpiralArchitect

Damn.

That is really cool, what a great review man. I have always wanted a heat gun, but I just recently bought a Vapor Warez. It does the trick, but I find taking massive bong hits of vapor very appealing.

Yup. It's not too hard to just flip it on, let it warm up while you grind some bud, and sync up some tunes.

Again, great review. Makes me really want one just for the sake of fun.

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VapeNator

Thanks!

I agree that the dual-mode (manual draw and bags) vapes would do it for most people. I haven't checked out the HerbalAire but it sounds pretty cool. I wasn't thinking about it or the other new-generation dual mode vapes when I was talking about the Volcano. The Volcano is the only retail bag filling vape I have experience with. I hope to get the chance to check out some of the new ones soon.

One thing I'd add is that the bong method is nice for heavy users. I tend to vape about 2oz/month. Back when I had only the Vapor Bros I felt like it was permanently attached to me . .lol! I find the heat gun/bong set-up to be almost as fast (not quite) as smoking. Plus . .as SpriralArchitect has mentioned . .guns that shoot hot air are just cool things to have.

5drive

See? You're supporting my theory. You're a bong fan. The toughest breed to sell on vaporizing.

I don't think you'd like the herbalAire. herbie's just a little guy. Takes a while to fill a bag. It will take a bigger pump though. I'm fine with the stock pump. It's quiet-just hums a little.

VapeNator

I am completely sold on vaporizing, though. I haven't smoked in several months and I can't believe what a difference it has made. Not only are my lungs better than ever (I don't smoke cigs) but the high is more enjoyable and cleaner. My smoking room and paraphanalia are sooo much easier to keep clean, too.

2oz a month generates a lot of tar and ash if you're smoking it - I know, I did it for years. You either spend a ton of time cleaning pipes or everything smells like resin - not to mention spilled ashes, bong water, etc. It's nice, just for practical reasons, not to have to deal with the mess of smoking.