If you’ve been following Ritual Colorado for any period of time it has likely become clear that ball vaporizers are the new wave. We’re big proponents of dry herb vaporization in all of its forms, but are uniquely excited about ball vapes which are the first consumer-available dry herb vaporizers capable of keeping up with any tolerance and consumption habits. Gone are the days of explaining to friends that after two 0.1g bowls they’ll be feeling it “I promise”. Now you can just sit your buddies in front of a QaromaShop device, load the bowl up (with as much as they want), and watch them expel cumulus clouds on their first session. Easy to clean, easy to use, digitally set temperatures; it just doesn’t get much better! Well at least that’s what we thought until we got our hands on the new 360 Series (Taroma 360 & Staroma 360) from QaromaShop this past week.
With the introduction of the 360 Series the game has changed! How? To start the extra-long coil and new bowl designs means that your herbal material sits in the middle of the heater vs. below it. This means you're getting heat from 360 degrees during your hit leading to previously unseen efficiency of extraction from a ball vaporizer. Put another way, the unique blend of convection and conduction heating available on the 360 Series is a first and allows unprecedented control of your session. Are you looking to sip some casual convection hits? No problem, just set to a medium temperature (we like ~440 degrees f), place the housing on the bowl, and immediately start hitting. Looking to upgrade that performance to a single-draw extraction? Start playing around with "heat soaking" where you place the housing on the bowl and let it sit for a couple seconds before you begin your hit. At 420 degrees I personally go with about a 20-second soak and get instant powerful vapor that clears my whole bowl in one bang with remarkably good flavor!
To be clear, this is not the first-time conduction heating has been available from a QaromaShop device. We’re big fans of heat soaking our Taroma XL on the Adapter XL Titanium Bowl to deliver those extra powerful hits. However, the mechanics of using the 360 Series are brand new and a welcome update. Plus, the heater coil providing the conduction vs. another material means much more efficient heat transfer that is immediately apparent on your first hit. Finally, the flavor possible all the way into deep extraction from the 360 Series is remarkable, largely due to the conduction heating coming from the glass bowls.
Sounds confusing, I’m just here to blow clouds! That’s the beautiful thing about the 360 Series, getting a hit is as easy as loading the bowl, placing the housing on top and inhaling. The real revolutionary feature of the Taroma 360 is the ability to customize your session for incredibly easy one-hit-extraction at low temperatures. Below we give an overview of several session styles possible with the 360 Series and talk about what type of user may prefer each. These are based on our experience testing the devices, although we certainly don’t believe this list is all-inclusive. The most fun aspect of any thermal extraction device is the never-ending potential for tweaking and customizing to find your perfect Ritual. Let us know your favorite way to session your 360!
The Easy Rider:
The Easy Rider is just looking to chill. Much less concerned with single-hit extractions and instead focused on having relaxed, easy sessions that deliver a satisfying high. We suggest the lower temperature ranges (370 – 420f) for these individuals which maximizes the time that the heater can be left on top of the bowl. Generally The Easy Rider likes a small-to-medium size hit before relaxing for 5 minutes and deciding how another hit sounds. This is super easy on the Taroma 360 as the housing can be removed from your bowl after the hit and will be ready at temperature whenever you come back for more.
The Hit & Chill:
The Hit & Chill is somewhere between The Easy Rider and The One Hit Wonder. They’re looking for full extraction but aren’t too concerned with dab timers and waiting to start their hit. Effectively, by being a Hit & Chill user you can experience the full terps of your first draw while experiencing ramping extraction efficiency ending in a completely tapped bowl. The key is to put the housing on your bowl, take your first hit, and clear the glass (we recommend using a carbed catcher, or the new mini version). Now, and this part is easy, just don’t take the housing off the bowl. Give yourself a couple seconds for the lungs to recharge, and get right back in there for hit two. Effectively you have been heat soaking your bowl since you first put the housing on, but you don’t have to wait for that sweet initial vapor. You can repeat this cycle for several hits, just be conscious of the flavor from your draws and take the housing off when you feel it's getting too hot. The Hit & Chill session is really a unique feature of the 360 Series as it allows a delicious convection-heavy first hit before gradually adding conduction to the system throughout your session for deep and even extraction.
The One Hit Wonder:
These big lung creatures have one goal in mind, extracting as much from the bowl in as little time as possible. And they’re kinda on to something… Those powerful single hit extractions deliver a unique high most similar to dabbing (or slamming a bottle of wine according to our friend Zak (check out his blog post here)). The handy table below summarizes heat soak time ranges based on operating temperature of your 360 housing. These are super helpful for getting those huge clears and also serve as a good reference point for the “Hit and Chill” users above letting you know how long you can leave the housing on at each temperature. But the most fun part, figuring out which combo is your personal favorite!
Dialing in Your Session - Patrick's Tips:
When it comes to heat soaking, the Ritual Colorado T360 runs at 420 and I personally incorporate a 20-second heat soak before I take my hit. The length of heat soak is largely dependent on your setup and draw speed so it is not unusual for personal times to vary.
A slightly different approach to heat soaking that may be helpful is to think of it in terms of total time that the housing is on the bowl. When I run at 420 degrees I heat soak for 20 seconds and then hit for about 40 seconds so my flower is done just over a minute after I put the housing on the bowl. This is based on a high airflow glass piece so your personal timing may vary, but when I get outside of this range I definitely notice the flavor start to go. If at the end of 1:00 your flower isn't medium to dark brown then I would suggest turning the controller up a bit or slightly extending the total hit time until you're happy with the extraction level. Likewise if you find your material is going dark too early in your session you can either turn the controller down or reduce the total time that the housing is on the bowl.
Finally, I like to make sure I'm not packing down the bowl which can restrict airflow and impact the quality of your hit. I like to scoop the flower into my bowl without tamping down the top to make sure it's a nice loose pack.