Ganja in the mist

Like getting high but not a smoker? Too busy to get all Betty Crocker and whip up a batch o’ pot brownies? Then it’s time to get on the smoke-free bandwagon and try a vaporizer.

Perhaps no long-term side effect of marijuana use is as detrimental as its effect on the lungs. Sure, no one knows for certain how unhealthy pot-smoking is (like the feds are going to fund any research), but chances are that if you’re a heavy smoker, it’s going to be harder for you to run a mile than somebody who abstains altogether—that is, if you don’t use a vaporizer.

Thanks to what’s essentially a glass soldering iron and tube, vaporizers allow you to burn THC oil while altogether avoiding smoke from plant matter, and with it lung-damaging carcinogens.

“It’s definitely the healthiest way [to smoke],” a local retailer who preferred to remain anonymous said.

The retailer puts the number of vaporizer brands at 60, but of these they recommended the VooDoo—a bright red device shaped like a “D.” Unlike lower-end box-and-tube vaporizers, the VooDoo allows the user to fill plastic bags full of THC mist, and has a dial and built-in fans for temperature control.

“Different herbs have different temperatures,” the retailer said. “Like any new toy, there’s a degree of playing with them that’s involved.”

The goal, the retailer said, is to burn plant matter at just the right temperature so that nothing is visible when you exhale.

“If you start to see mist [when exhaling], you’ve got combustion,” the retailer said. Combustion’s well and fine, but if you want to smoke green and stay “green,” learning how to use a vaporizer will keep your stoney habits sustainable.