A question for those into vaping

[bmeuptoo]

I was wondering if those of you that use vaping as a delivery method trim the sugar leaves from buds that you intend to use for vaping. It is my understanding that the reasons for trimming the sugar leaves is that leaves burn differently than buds and a therefore create a harsh smoke. If you are vaping, seems like the leaves wouldn't create that harshness. I'm asking as I am just about to harvest a plant and rather than make oil from the sugar leaves, I thought about just leaving them with the buds. Any first hand experience appreciated. Thanks

[DeadlyFruit]

I use a dry herb vape sometimes but I typically trim pretty close so I may not be the best person to answer. With that said, I believe the logic is that the sugar leaves have a lower thc content so you are getting more plant material by weight to achieve the same amount of thc, which can create harshness (that and poor curing). As an aside, when you use a dry herb vape there should be no smoke because there is no combustion so it is not quite the same as rolling a joint with more leaf material, but I get what you are saying.

The shorter answer is some people leave on the sugar leaves when they are heavily frosted or otherwise visually appealing whereas others cut them off. I’m not sure there is a clear consensus. I like to cut them off (the tips - it would be close to impossible to get every sugar leave entirely). I dispose of all fan leaves.

On a separate note, I eventually found that a portable dry herb vape didn’t give me enough of the good stuff so I mostly just use edibles right now but eventually I am going to pick up a desktop model. One of these days I will have to take a T break and reset. What type of device do you have?

[bmeuptoo]

Thanks to all for taking the time to answer. I bought the Mighty+ for my wife. She really likes it. The little dosing caps don't hold much, but do a fantastic job of eliminating a lot of screen cleaning. Unfortunately I can't indulge at the moment, our company does drug testing, I'm just the gardener and chief chemist. :-) Someday I'll be back in the fun.

[Floopydoop]

I've got a DynaVAP M 2020, it's great for microdosing. Looks a bit crack pipey in terms of the 'ritual' of use with butane torch.
Using whole buds not even bothering to break them up, it's got a serrated tip that cuts right into a ripe bud and fills itself.
Use has a rather high learning curve and can be frustrating, but once mastered it's good. (wait for a sale)

[bmeuptoo]

Planet of the Vapes has that one, it looked neat and I may try it when I quit or retire, but my wife likes the simplicity if the Mighty

[grouchyoldman]

Hi bmeuptoo, I vape dry flower almost exclusively and as an experiment I did a really loose trim on a recent GG4 just to see if the sugar leaves would make a difference.

The results were ambiguous, I really couldn't tell the difference in harshness, but I'm picky about the temperature control and rarely hit temps above 390 degrees, so any extra "woody-ness" from the leaves might not have been activated.

Mostly though I just found the extra leaf annoying, like I wanted to get them out of the way before grinding. Purely aesthetics that.

Conclusion; I just finished trimming a Gorilla Cookies harvest and I cleaned those sparklers right down to the trichs and sent the sugar leaves to the tincture factory.

YMMV, so try it and see what you think.

[bmeuptoo]

Thank you for the response, I'll probably do the same with the leaves, only I typically make oil for gummies. I use the recipe that Nebula posted on the main site and my wife loves them. Every batch is an adventure. As a side note, The plant(s) that I an harvesting now are GG4, or so they were labeled. One plant was rather tallish and had a more Sativa look the other 2 were more squat with multiple colas and no training. They were all planted at the same time, the tallish one finished first and one of the other 2 next and the sugar leaves turned a dark purple, but the third has very few brown pistils at the moment and it is still all green. Has this been your experience. As I have said before, all of these varieties are new to me. In the early 80's we just grew whatever seed came in the bag! Did know about males and females though.

[DoSiGrow]

IMO dry herb vaping is less harsh than smoking but it can still be harsh, especially when you get to the end of a bowl. If I vaped trim, I'd probably set the temp lower than usual and step up gradually.

These days I'm using a Terra with a water pipe adapter that connects onto a double perc bong. The bong helps mellow the harshness, but like I said when I get to the end of a bowl I still cough.

[bmeuptoo]

They make a water pipe attachment for the Mighty+, maybe my wife will try that too.

[dilvish]

sugar leaves are not going to be harsh IMHO. It's the non sugar fan leaves that usually are and that's why many growers trim these leaves away before curing. They contain very little THC/CBD and are generally use for other things (like tea).