When I first heard about vaping in its early days I was sceptical. Another trend or hipster fad that I believed the medical powers that be would soon arrive at a conclusion that it was unsafe and unhealthy.

The early examples I saw people using in the streets resembled a light sabre minus the light part. They were almost a statement item and were easily noticeable with the huge cloud of vapour billowing above the user as they exhaled. Not for me, I thought.

However, 15 years later as I approach my mid 40’s, my opinion has changed…….180 degrees in fact. I am now a newbie vape user, I vape dry herbs for both medicinal and recreation reasons.

In my teens, I smoked joints and bongs most weekends with my mates. It was our weekend go-to pleasure pursuit and every now and then one of us would inevitably ‘pull a whitey’, which would often have us headed home sick as a dog. And of course after a couple of bongs, the paranoia. I hated it! After leaving college it became a thing of the past and I left it behind with mixed views, mainly down to the paranoia.

Skip some 20 years and after serving in the military for nearly a decade and having a son, life has changed considerably. During my time in the army, I sustained life-changing injuries overseas and after numerous surgeries and rehabilitation, I was able to keep my leg. Since the injury, I have been on and off opioid pain killers. Codeine, morphine, tramadol etc. All of which worked in the short term and came with unpleasant side effects.

One of my oldest friends from my youth suggested I try vaping dry herb cannabis. Initially, I dismissed it, with the instant memories of pulling a whitey and the paranoia I’d always associated with cannabis.

I kept the idea in the back of my mind and after a couple of months and hours and hours of online research, I decided to investigate the option. Firstly the vape itself, to a complete vape newbie it’s a little overwhelming at first. There are literally hundreds of options available, from desktop to portable and then convection or conduction heating options.

I eventually settled with a Wolkenkraft FX Mini. Next, the actual weed, it was all pretty much solids back when I smoked in the mid-’90s, we had slate, squidgy black and very rarely skunk. After asking a few friends with contacts I found someone who sold some grass, apparently, solids aren’t anywhere as popular or available here in the U.K. as they once were. Add to that the cleaner more natural appearance and cultivating of grass, it was a no brainer.

So there I was, a 40 plus year old with a brand new vape and a small amount of pungent-smelling green material. I was nervous there was no doubt about that. I’d read about micro-dosing and its benefits for medicinal and recreational use, so that was my plan.

I measured out a small amount of dry herb and vaped it at a low temperature of 170 degrees. The results were genuinely surprising to me. A clean natural taste with a mild euphoric feeling and I was in complete control of my faculties.

The old unwelcome paranoia I’d always associated with cannabis didn’t and hasn’t made any form of appearance. I’ve now been vaping for a couple of months and can truly say it’s changing my life. I haven’t had any prescribed pain killers since and I’m in total control of the pain from my injury.