Hey guys, Max here from Australian Vaporizers and today, as opposed to an actual review,
I've got a bit of a vape theory discussion for you.
It's all about convection vs conduction heating systems.
Something that people are talking about a lot more often since the release of units
like the Firefly 2.
So firstly, what are these heating systems?
How do they work?
Well conduction units, like the Flowermate, the Pax 2 and the Ascent heat by direct contact
with your material.
The walls of the chamber, which are usually ceramic or stainless steel essentially act
as the heating element.
Convection units like the Volcano and most other desktop vapes heat from a distance using
hot air.
So the element sits away from the filling chamber and the heats drawn over your herb,
whether it be by inhalation or with the assistance of a fan or pump.In short, you can think of
convection as a similar concept to a fan-forced oven and conduction as more of a hot plate
or frying pan.
There's also a third category which is Hybrid or combination heating.
These units, vapes like the Arizer Solo and the Mighty, heat the walls of the chamber
as well as a separate element underneath the chamber.
This is the heating assembly of the Solo and as you can see, its not a great distance but
these little ceramic heating discs are actually insulated from the main heating chamber.
If there was one conclusion that was drawn from our CFV Vs Swift Pro video, its that
there are a lot of pros and cons to convection heating, especially in something this small.
This is mainly due to size restrictions.
Convection units, recent releases excluded, generally have to be a bit bigger than their
conduction brothers to accommodate the distance between the heater and the filling chamber.
Of course there are small convection vapes available, but there are drawbacks.
Convection also requires more power and as we saw with the CFV, smaller batteries are
always going to struggle.
If you're after a portable companion and battery life is important, convection just isn't the
answer, its as simple as that.
Now desktop vapes obviously don't suffer from these power restrictions so this might not
be such a definitive point for some people.
The next difference is efficiency.
Not power efficiency but herbal efficiency or how much vapour you'll get per x amount
of material.
This is a bit of a tricky one.
I've used a lot of desktop convection units like the Volcano which are indeed very efficient
but portables like the Firefly 2 and the CFV require a fair bit of stirring to get even
heat coverage.
I'm inclined to say that, as a whole, hybrid heating is the most efficient but that's just
my opinion.
This is of course mainly referring to portable vapes but less stirring and denser vapour
production with smaller loads which is, after all what most people are looking for.
Next up is taste.
Definitely a big win for convection, hands down.
When your herb heats more gradually it just tastes nicer, simple as that.
Conduction units are a lot more prone to overheating in certain areas of the chamber and sometimes
that's all it takes to contaminate the flavour of your session.
I don't necessarily think that's all there is to it, but that's the best explanation
I can offer anyway.
Cooling capacity is the next factor and once again, another hands down win for convection.
The greater the distance between the heater and the tip of the mouthpiece, the greater
the cooling capacity.
There are a couple of exceptions, namely the Crafty and the Mighty but their mouthpiece
assemblies are a little more complicated than they seem.
You can get similar cooling from a conduction unit but only if you're willing to extend
the mouthpiece with a bit of tubing which isn't always ideal.
Last but not least, my favourite topic, Maintenance.
And yet another win for convection.
Build up in the chamber is usually a lot worse when the chamber itself is the heat source.
You'll usually get darker residue and more of it.
Same goes for the rest of the vapour path.
Additionally, most full convection units have external filling chambers (ie: Volcano, Extreme
Q, Vapolution 3) which means you can isolate the herb from the heat in between draws.
In saying that, there are 2 exceptions, the Arizer Solo and the Arizer Air.
Both hybrid units and both very easy to clean.
Perhaps even more so than a lot of full convection units.
So which is the system for you?
At the end of the day, the winner comes down to your specific needs.
Looking for outright vapour production and battery life, go for hybrid or conduction.
Don't care about battery life and just want the purest taste and best cooling?
Go full convection.
I personally prefer hybrid portables as they provide a nice balance between overall performance
and battery life but once again, this is entirely up to you.
Just to wrap things up today, I thought Id throw in a few of my current favourite units
for each heating system.
Convection Pick (Volcano) - Of course convection is a bit of a weird one with so many desktop
units in the mix but my pick for this category is the Volcano by Storz and Bickel.
As I mentioned earlier, the benefit of the external filling chamber is awesome.
Balloon inflation via air pump for the coolest vapour around and that all-important full-convection
flavour.
Conduction Pick (Pax 2) –My favourite conduction unit at the moment is the Pax 2.
One of the smallest portables available, super easy to use, reliable and good vapour production
for the size.
Bear in mind though that the Pax 3 and DaVinci IQ are yet to land here in Australia so the
Pax 2 might not be holding the title for long.
Hybrid Pick (Mighty) –Finally, my hybrid pick and that's the Mighty.
Whether I'm going to a friends place or just staying in and don't want to wait for the
Volcano to heat up, this is my vape of choice.
Sure the taste might not be quite as pure as some full convection units but its not
far off and the battery life, vapour production and temp control leave nothing to be desired.
In short, to me, the Mighty's the perfect balance.
So whats your favourite vape?
If you've tried different heating systems, which do you prefer?
Wed love to hear some opinions!
Anyways, that's all from me for now.
If you've enjoyed the video don't forget to subscribe to the channel.
Thanks heaps for watching.
This is Max from Australian Vaporizers.
Have a good one.