11 Things You Need to Know About Vaporizing Tobacco

By Christine Ivana Deduyo
Last Updated on

11 Things You Need to Know About Vaporizing Tobacco

If you are interested in learning about vaporizing tobacco, you are in the right place. I will be talking about vaporizing tobacco leaves using a dry herb vaporizer as opposed to vaping e-liquids.

#1. Can I Vaporize Tobacco Leaves?

We get this question asked very frequently. The answer is yes, you can vaporize loose leaf tobacco in dry herb vaporizers.

Dry herb vaporization has been around for a long time and it is a very popular way to administer medical cannabis. Most dry herb vaporizers are designed for vaporizing cannabis, however, the process of vaporizing tobacco leaves is the same.

Some dry herb vapes, such as the ALD Amaze WOW is actually designed as a tobacco vaporizer.

Tobacco Vaporizer - ALD Amaze WOW

So the answer is definitely yes. Not only that, but there are a lot of vaporizers already on the market that can be used for vaping tobacco leaves. More on that further below.

#2. How Vaporizing Tobacco Differs from Smoking Tobacco?

When vaporizing tobacco, you only heat the tobacco leaves to approximately 392 degrees Fahrenheit (200 Celsius), which is well below the combustion point.

Tobacco leaves combust at around 1652 degrees Fahrenheit  (900 Celsius).

Heating tobacco leaves instead of burning them enables the extraction of nicotine while saving you from almost all the tar and other harmful byproducts associated with burning. To learn more about the benefits of vaping against smoking, click here.

Smoking Tobacco vs. Vaping Tobacco

Side Effects of Smoking Tobacco:

• Lung, Heart and other grave diseases
• Elevated blood pressure and heart rate
• Chances of developing cancer
• A more unpleasant physical appearance: Discoloured teeth and foul-smelling fingers
• Harmful second-hand smoke

Benefits of Vaporizing Tobacco:

• Minimal to no tar, smoke, or ash
• No toxic and deadly chemicals
• Guilt-free and shame-free
• Vape practically anytime and anywhere
• No flare or fire

Countless tobacco smokers are not utterly convinced that vaporizing is such a big help to them but in terms of health benefits and other factors, don’t you think vaping is the smarter option?

#3. What’s the Difference Between “Vaping” and  “Vaporizing Tobacco”?

Vaporizing tobacco vs vaping

“Vaping” generally refers to using an e-cigarette with an e-juice. It is a liquid vaporization process when your vape heats up a liquid, called e-juice (or e-liquid). These e-liquids contain mostly synthetic substances, such as synthetic nicotine and flavors. Your vape heats the e-juice and as you inhale, nicotine enters your system.

There are many different types of e-cigarettes. Some of them have larger refillable tanks like the one pictured above on the right. Others work with prefilled pods. JUUL is the most popular pod system. So much so, that the expression “JUULing” has become a synonym for vaping.

On the other hand, “vaporizing tobacco” usually refers to using a dry herb vaporizer to heat up your tobacco in order to extract the nicotine. As you inhale through the heated tobacco leaves, nicotine enters your system.

The big difference is that with vaporizing tobacco leaves using a dry herb vaporizer, you are only inhaling through hot tobacco leaves and nothing synthetic is entering your body.

This is quite an important point as the ‘vaping crisis’ sweeps through the country and something like 500 people are hospitalized and some even died as a result of vaping related illnesses.

#3. Is it Common to Vaporize Tobacco Leaves?

Yes, it is becoming an increasingly popular alternative to smoking and even to vaping e-juices.

The recent vaping related illnesses and deaths have resulted in a lot of bad media coverage for vaping during the second half of 2019. This coverage has understandably stained the reputation of vaping.

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Despite the fact that commercially available e-cigarette products such as JUUL were not linked to the problem, people become more cautious of vaping.

More and more users are realizing that e-juices are synthetic. They are surely thought to be safe, however, vaping tobacco is totally natural on the other hand.

As the e-cigarette style, vaping takes a set back, vaporizing tobacco leaves is gaining momentum.

Using dry herb vaporization technology for tobacco is quite new in the United States but not in other parts of the world. We have members in our VapeFuse Community, who have been vaporizing tobacco leaves for a decade.

Vaporizing tobacco is quite big in Japan, South Korea, even in Russia and in southern Europe, in Spain and Italy. In some of those countries, it is just as popular as vaping e-liquids.

Philip Morris backed tobacco vaporizer, called IQOS has 8 million users around the world and sold nearly a billion-dollar worth of products last year. IQOS is an acronym for “I Quit Original Smoking” and this vaporizer was authorized for sale by the FDA from April 2019.

A recent article in The Atlantic referred to dry herb vaporizers as a “new class” called “Heat not Burn” products. These products have been around for years, actually some even for decades.

Here is an example of a ‘heat not burn’ dry tobacco leaf vaporizer we received for testing back in early 2018.

Tobacco Vaporizer - EFOS E1 Convection Heating System

These devices work with preloaded sticks, called “cigarette stick” which is similar to a conventional cigarette, but a lot shorter. You simply stick the cigarette stick into the baking chamber and draw through it as if you were smoking. The whole process is very similar to smoking, but obviously minus the smoke, only vapor.

#4. Does Vaporizing Tobacco Smell?

Well, yes and no. Let me explain…

Vaporizing tobacco doesn’t smell anything like smoking it. It may ‘smell’ a little bit, especially to those who are familiar with its scent. This is not a smell of smoke, more like a smell of a tea or something being cooked. And even that is very subtle, most people won’t even notice.

Nothing close to that stinky smell when you are combusting your tobacco. No more smoke stink in your house, on your clothes, in your car and so on…

Vaping won’t stain your teeth or discolor your fingers or anything like that either.

#5. Do I Get the Same Satisfactory Feeling When I Vaporize Tobacco that I Get When I Smoke It?

This has been the predicament of those smokers converting to vaporizing then going back to smoking since they ‘don’t’ get that contentment. This applies a little more to e-cigarettes than to vaporizing tobacco. The reason is that e-juices contain synthetic nicotine.

When you are vaporizing tobacco, obviously the same nicotine is being delivered to your body that you would smoke. You won’t get as big clouds as you would with smoke, but you are likely to get some visible vapor.

Some smokers undergo withdrawal symptoms as they switch from smoking to vaporizing.

It is speculated that there could be some level of ‘desire’ for the chemicals in smoke, most especially carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide in the smoke is locking to the receptors in the red blood cells that carry oxygen, resulting in lower levels of oxygen in the body. The lower level of oxygen in the brain gives a subtle feeling of asphyxiation.

That ‘itch’ that you’ll struggle to scratch, that ‘craving’ you’ll scuffle to munch, that ‘longing’ you’ll write to have…

It’s true. You’ll get grouchy and frazzled for some time until you’ll find yourself wanting to ignite that stick to kill the ascending distress… but what is two weeks equivalent to a lifetime of being chemical-free?

READ RELATED STORY
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It is one hard habit to break. The people who got through this are the fortunate ones. The absolute thing for you to do is engage first with the starter kit vaporizers.

If you are struggling to switch from smoking to vaporizing your tobacco, try the below tips:

1. Think of yourself as a vaper, not as a smoker using vaporizing devices
2. Delve deeper into more exciting herbs and flavors
3. Get high-quality gadgets
4. Pledge to vaporizing as if it was your wife or husband and get used to it
5. Know the stories of how smokers switched to vaporizing. Check them out.

#6. Is It More Economical Vaping Tobacco Than Smoking It?

Overall it is in most cases. Let’s break it down to the two most important factors, money and time.

Is it cheaper to vaporize tobacco than smoking?

Alright, let’s do the math! In general, if you’re a pack-a-day smoker, it will cost you $26 per day which is roughly $728 per month and $8,736 per year. If you like to roll your own cigarettes you might have a slightly lower cost to work with.

Whereas when you purchase a vaporizer, it will cost you at a $100 -$1000 depending on the device, which you can reuse from time to time. Plus, the dry herbs which you save on with a vaporizer. Burning is not as good of an extraction method as vaporizing, so you get more nicotine out of your tobacco leaves by vaporizing them.

If you surely want to get that budget down, you can pay for a reusable vaporizer with dry herbs. Much savings, isn’t it? Well, it could save you quite an amount of money coupled with better health.

Does it take more time to vaporize tobacco than smoking?

It depends on your smoking habits. If you are buying packets of pre-rolled cigarettes, it may. If you are rolling your own cigarettes, you may end up spending about the same amount of time vaporizing it.

Instead of rolling it up, you pack a vaporizer chamber. Many vaporizers come with capsules that can be pre-filled and simply popped into the baking chamber when you are ready.

It saves you a lot of time and inconvenience on the go. Have you ever tried to roll a cigarette when it is raining or windy?

To be fair, I have to mention that dry herb vaporizers do need to be cleaned regularly. Residue builds on the parts that are exposed to the heat and cleaning is necessary for optimal performance. There are vaporizers that are easy and quick to clean, but it still has to be mentioned when we are talking about the time commitment.

Pre-filled capsules with tobacco leaf

#7.  Can I Vape Any Type of Tobacco Or Just a Specific One?

You can vape any type of dry tobacco leaves knowing it is free of additives. Simply empty a cigarette or buy rolling tobacco, you can vaporize them both. Many people vaporize pipe tobacco for its purity and flavor. It is really up to your preference.

One thing to keep in mind is how fine the tobacco leaves are cut. Some tobacco comes in smaller while others in larger chunks. Too large pieces don’t vaporize as well as smaller bits, so they might have to be put through a grinder before you can vaporize them.

As a general rule, rolling tobacco will be a good consistency for vaporizing in a dry herb vape.

#8. What Temperature Do I Need to Vape The Tobacco On?

The temperature has a vital role in the effect and taste of the vapor. Higher temperatures also give thicker vapor. Most vaporizers now are combined with temperature settings, granting the user the opportunity to try out different temperatures and determine the perfect temperature for their taste.

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Arizer Solo 2 Dry Herb Vaporizer

For tobacco, users have been commonly using between 125°C to 200°C (257°F to 392°F).

Some people start at a lower temperature and increase it gradually as they are getting into the vaping session. Feel free to experiment.

The secret to this is to find the “best spot” for your tobacco and your preference.

#9. Does Vaporizing Tobacco Help to Quit Smoking?

Although some people say that you don’t get the same sensation when you smoke tobacco as vaping tobacco, vaping is of big help to those smokers who would want to quit smoking.

Women using dry herb vaporizer

A lot of smokers have been continually shifting to vaping. Some would even say, once they have started vaping they already find smoking a cigarette disgusting.

On the other hand, some people keep vaporizing tobacco leaves for years before they quit or they don’t even quit vaporizing. It largely depends on the circumstances, however, you will still likely experience nicotine withdrawal when you stop vaporizing.

#10. Is it Safe to Vaporize Tobacco?

Vaporizing dry tobacco leaves with a good quality dry herb vaporizer is unlikely to present any danger to your health that you wouldn’t encounter via smoking. It is a common understanding that vaporizing your tobacco does not represent any added risk that you take on when you are smoking.

The recent vaping crisis in the media is for liquid vaping not for dry herb vaporizing. Batteries blowing up in users’ faces is another risk that is associated with vaping, but not with dry herb vaporizers.

It is very unlikely to overdose on nicotine as you are using natural tobacco leaves.

I guess most if not all people looking at vaporizing tobacco has been either smoking or vaping e-juices. Vaporizing dry leaves is safer than both of those.

The risk could come from not using a good quality vaporizer device that could leach toxins into your vapor. To avoid this risk, always try to use a reputable vaporizer.

#11. What’s the Best Vaporizer for Vaporizing Tobacco?

Portable vaporizers and pen vapes are best for vaporizing tobacco. A portable vaporizer is quite minute and could easily fit in a pocket or purse. They are also handy when compared to cigarettes, which require you to carry lighters and other accessories around with you at all times.

As surprising as it may sound, any good-quality herbal vaporizer may be suitable to vaporize tobacco leaves. It ultimately comes down to your preference for which one you use.

Many of them will state that they are not for tobacco on the box and in the user’s manual. This has more to do with advertising laws than with actual suitability.

We have reviewed dozens and dozens of vaporizers here on the VapeFuse Blog, and below are the ones we think are best suited for vaporizing tobacco.

Arizer Air and Solo Vaporizers for Tobacco

The Arizer portable devices are quite suitable for tobacco for a number of reasons. In my opinion, they are one of the best vaporizers for tobacco.
We love the Arizer portable vaporizers here at VapeFuse and they are also recommended by other trusted vaporizer reviewers, like Cannavapos.

First up, they are Canadian made representing great quality. They are easy to clean and maintain, which is an important factor when you vaporize regularly. The Arizer Solo 2 and Air 2 vaporizers both offer digital display and by degree temperature control.

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Arizer Solo 2 and Air 2 with tobacco leaves

PAX 2 or 3 for Dry Leaf Tobacco Vaporizing

The Pax vaporizers are not my favorite for medical cannabis, but they are quite good for vaporizing tobacco in my view. With tobacco, you can keep it on a lower temperature setting so it doesn’t heat up in your hands as much. It is reasonably easy to pack and to use. PAX is a very popular model in the US and comes with a 10 years warranty.

You are likely to use it several times a day and if any problems develop, you are covered by the warranty.

PAX 3 for Vaporizing Tobacco

ALD Amaze WOW Vaporizer for Tobacco

The ALD Amaze WOW is one of the few dry herb vaporizers that was made for tobacco. The WOW is one of the oldest Heat not Burn vaporizers that are blowing up in the US now. They are made in China and very popular in Europe. This is the lowest priced vaporizer on this list by a big margin. Around $50 or so gets you an ALD Amaze WOW tobacco vaporizer.

The WOW comes with little capsules that you can preload, making loading your vaporizer very easy. They have recently introduced Version 2 of the WOW, you can check out our detailed review here.

ALD Amaze WOW dry herb portable vaporizer

Iolite Butane Powered Vaporizer by Oglesby and Butler

This is the oldest vaporizer on the list. The Iolite Original has been around for over a decade and it is not the latest technology. However, it is worth the mention as we have received multiple praises for this vape specifically for vaporizing tobacco.

Iolite Original Vaporizer for tobacco

Read a comment from a member of the VapeFuse Community who has been vaporizing tobacco for over 8 years.

“I’ve been using Iolite’s as my preferred vape for about 8 years now. I use them for tobacco and my health has never been better. When I smoked I used an asthma puffer at least three times a day and one month after using a vape instead of smoking, I threw my puffers away and have never used one since!

I’ve also used Whispers, both Pax models, Flowermate 5.0, VaporBlunt, Magic Flight Box and a couple of pens.

I don’t like the flavor of the liquid nicotine in the pens and that’s why I use vapes so I can use my preferred tobacco. As I said the Iolite is my favorite.

The features I like are that it’s easy and quick to charge, it doesn’t turn itself off to save charge (I find this the most annoying feature of all the charge-up models), the heat setting and most of all, the flavor – there’s something about the taste through charge-up models that I don’t like. BUT, over the years I have found that from time to time the Iolite’s can have the problem they stop starting up anymore. I always use extra purified butane, usually Newport but sometimes Vennti.”

Conclusion

This concludes the 11 most important things to know when you are thinking about vaporizing tobacco leaves. Heating up your tobacco leaves instead of burning them may as well be the future of tobacco, who knows. One thing for sure is that more and more smokers switch to vaporizing dry tobacco leaves and many of them never look back.

I hope all your questions regarding vaporizing tobacco has been answered. If you still have any, or if you have any experience vaporizing tobacco, please let us know in the comments section.

Quitting tobacco smoking is indeed one of the easiest and at the same time, toughest decisions you can make. With the help of improving technology, it is only up to you how you decide.

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Christine Ivana Deduyo

Christine Ivana Deduyo

Registered Nurse. Helping sick people to get better. Passionate. Altruistic. Bringer of comfort. Anti-smoking advocate. Fan of Vaporizers. Empowering change. Hoping to transform this world into a smoke-free society.

24 thoughts on “11 Things You Need to Know About Vaporizing Tobacco”

  1. I only vape dry flower cannabis, but if I was a cigarette or any kind of tobacco smoker, I would definitely try dry vaping tobacco!

    With the current cost of cigarettes (not to mention the adverse health risks), and the unknown dangers of using e-cigarette carts today, this sounds like a great alternative.

    Reply
    • You are right, I think a lot of people who vaporizes dry tobacco also vape cannabis flowers and it makes a lot of sense for them to try vaping dry tobacco. Just like yourself, I don’t smoke tobacco either, however if I did, I would surely be vaping dry tobacco and try to decrease it gradually and eventually try to quit tobacco all together.

      Reply
      • I only vape dry flower cannabis, but if I was a cigarette or any kind of tobacco smoker, I would definitely try dry vaping tobacco!

        With the current cost of cigarettes (not to mention the adverse health risks), and the unknown dangers of using e-cigarette carts today, this sounds like a great alternative.

        Reply
  2. Where is it $26 for a pack of smokes? Even in Canada where theres like 700% tax on smokes a pack only costs around $15

    Reply
    • Hello Tristan, thank you for the comment.
      We are based in Australia where at the time of writing this article, a pack of cigarettes cost $26. Australia is the word’s most expensive country to be a smoker and since the writing of this article there have been further price rises on tobacco products and a pack of cigarette is now over $30 in Australia. New Zealand is not far behind, but not quite as expensive as Australia.
      I hope this helps.

      Reply
      • Would you have any advice on making it so the tobacco doesn’t gag you. I vape weed all the time no issue. Tried tobacco for the first time and it tasted awful, was really dry and closed my throat off. I used the the same fresh tobacco I normally use for cigarettes a Black Widow vape set to 392f (I normally use 410 for weed).

        Reply
        • Hello again Tristan,
          Tobacco is surely a very different taste to cannabis, however many users who vaporize dry leaf tobacco say you get used to it after a while.
          It also depends on the quality of the tobacco leaves as terpenes and flavonoids (the compounds that give the smell and taste of plants) are very volatile. Meaning they degrade quickly, so the older the tobacco the less intact these molecules are.
          Also, tobacco tends to have more strong, pungent terpenes and flavonoids, such as 2-Methylbutanal, 3-Methylbutanal, Acetic acid and other strong pungent molecules. They take some time to get used to.
          Many dry tobacco vapers use butane powered vaporizers to minimize any impact on taste from the electronics in battery powered vaporizers.
          I hope this helps and all the best with your vaping journey.

          Reply
      • ..and now my pouch tobacco is $49-$51 for 25g which is one of the main reasons that I am researching dry herb vapes. If I can wean myself from tobacco to a mix of tobacco and herbal blends, then just herbal blends I’d be very happy

        Reply
        • That’s right, prices keep going up, even though tobacco is already so expensive here. Having said that it might be a good thing if it pushes more smokers towards vaping and then from there, quitting is much more likely. Thank you for your comment and all the best!

          Reply
    • In Australia right now, a pack of 20 cigarettes has just gone up to $27.80.
      I have a dry herb vape that I use for marijuana and am considering trying it out with tobacco as well. You could probably get a couple of vape sessions out of a single cigarette too, so would cut the cost in half at least.

      Reply
      • Great idea Mags, it sounds like the constant price increase of tobacco is encouraging more and more smokers to look into dry herb vaping their loose leaf tobacco, which is a good outcome. Will be interesting to see where it goes in the future.

        Reply
  3. I dry vape non-aromatic high quality pipe tobaccos that I grind down to very fine grain out of a Pax 3 and a Boundless CFX. I would say that my nicotine addiction / smoking habit has RISEN since I started vaping. The ease of use, the non-disgusting effects of smoking etc make it so much more approachable, but also resulted for me in a higher nicotine addiction. So if you’re a current smoker or use e-juice nicotine, I would suggest swapping over to dry herb which is much healthier for you, but be aware that your habit could get worse. The Pax is great little device, just clean the inner tube race often. The CFX is fun and cheap, but mine broke within 6 months from a 2 foot drop, the company did offer me a replacement at half off.

    I have never felt that “punch” you get from a good cigarette or the occasional blue moon JUUL hit from dry herb tobacco vaping, but I still get what I need out of it. I burn 392-420 F if I really want a hard hit that will give a similar “punch” but it’s not the easiest thing to handle.

    Reply
    • Thank you very much for sharing your insights Renel, very useful indeed. Great point about the potential for nicotine addiction to increase with the ease of dry herb vaping. Thank you once again and all the best.

      Reply

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