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Canada's answer?
In the mid 90's, a few pioneering lads in Canada developed what they called a "vaporizer". This was
nothing more than a heating element, a globe and a tube to inhale the vapor. This "vaporizer"
later became the famous BC Vaporizer. Still available today, the BC vap is an inexpensive way
to get yourself a vaporizer. It consists of a heating element (modified soldering iron), a metal
"dish" attached to the tip, a base to hold everything, and a glass globe (a glass jar) to hold the
vapor on top. The unit is very simple in design, and that is the real beauty of it. Through the
convection process, heat is transferred from the heating element, via the metal dish, to the ground
up herbs and eventually creates vapor when the proper temperatures are reached. Eventually, and this
is contrary to the literature you will find on the BC vaporizer website, quite a bit of smoke is produced
as the herbs begin to burn. The unit works, but I don't think the design can really compete with
today's technology anymore. I say this for a number of reasons. First, it creates smoke in pretty large
quantities. As I said before, once the herbs heat up too much, they burn. There is no on/off switch
or power level knob to help keep this problem at bay. I don't think unplugging the unit every couple
of minutes is a viable alternative. Second, the BC is inefficient. The unit is not air tight, and because
of this, vapor escapes while you are relaxing between inhaling. You cannot turn the unit off or lower it, or
remove the herbs, so some of (a lot in my mind) your herbal material gets wasted. Does the BC unit work?
Heck yes it works. Would I recommend one? Not unless you absolutely could not spend more than $75. But,
the way I see it is, if you can spend that much, use your buddy's vapor brothers or vapor doc in the
interim, and wait another few weeks until you can afford one.
Another thing about the BC, and this is totally subjective, is the fact that it is pretty cheap looking.
The unit is made out of plexiglass, which to some sounds cool, but there is a jar top glued to it and then
you screw the glass jar piece on to it to create the globe. I don't know about you, but I don't need
to have something like that sitting on my coffee table.
In conclusion, the BC vaporizer is probably the one that really started it all back in the 1990's. The
unit has earned its place in the vaporizer hall of fame. It is time for the BC to step back and let the
newcommers take the spotlight. Just like we would not expect you to use a wooden snowboard, we would not
expect you to buy a BC vaporizer. But, we tilt our hats to the legend...the BC Vaporizer.
We hope this brief explanation helps you on your quest for information about vaporizers. We would like
to add that the vaporization of herbs has not been approved by the FDA to the best of our knowledge and
using any of this information or products listed in this article is at your own risk.
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