Homemade Vaporizer Pipe

Rather than smoking your herbs, do your health a favor and vaporize them. During the vaporization process, herbs are heated to temperatures at which their essential oils, which contain all of the herb's active ingredients, are evaporated and released as vapor instead of combusted to produce smoke. Vaporization provides the same effects as smoking, but saves your lungs from the harmful carcinogens produced by combustion and consequent health problems that result from smoking. Most commercially available vaporizers are expensive, but there is no need to purchase one when you can create one yourself with everyday household products.

Preparing the Light Bulb

• Procure a transparent 100-watt light bulb; the higher the wattage, the thicker the glass and the less chance of breakage. Slice off the bottom-most part of the metal component at the bottom of the light bulb with a sharp serrated knife to create a hole exposing the light bulb's inner contents. Leave the threaded metal sides of the light bulb base intact. Sand off any resulting jagged edges. Empty the light bulb completely of its contents using a pair of pliers. Sanitize the light bulb by soaking it in isopropyl alcohol, 90 percent or higher, for 10 minutes.

Preparing the Cap

• Obtain a two-liter soda bottle cap and ensure it fits on the light bulb. Larger bottle caps may be fastened on with duct tape, but smaller bottle caps will not fit. Poke two straw-sized holes in your bottle cap, about half an inch from each other using your serrated knife.

Adding Airflow Tubing

• Insert drinking straws into the holes on the bottle cap and ensure that they connect the inside of the light bulb to the outside by trimming them to size with scissors; the straws should penetrate at least one inch into the light bulb and be at least an inch away from the bottom of the light bulb. The drinking straws should be inserted at an angle perpendicular to the bottle cap. Instead of using drinking straws, you may opt to use glass tubes.

Sealing Off the Light Bulb Vaporizer

• Insert a couple pinches of ground-up herb into the light bulb from the open hole and screw on the bottle cap with the drinking straws. Grinding or breaking up your herb for maximum surface area will yield the most vapor. Less herb is needed to achieve the same effect when vaporizing as compared to smoking, so less is more. Ensure that the bottle cap is secured on by using tape if necessary; the connection between the cap and the light bulb should be airtight, allowing airflow via the drinking straws only. Turn the light bulb upside-down so that the bottle cap is on top and the herb on the bottom and your vaporizer has been prepared.

The Vaporization Process

• Vaporize your herb by lighting the bottom of the light bulb with a lighter or candle flame; the tip of the flame should remain in direct contact with the bottom of the light bulb. Move the flame in small circles around the bottom of the light bulb where the herb is to ensure even heating and maximize vapor yield. Inhale through one of the drinking straws when you begin to see a thin white vapor. Shake your herb around inside the light bulb to expose as much of it as possible to the heated glass and thus maximize vapor yield. Continue vaporizing until your herb becomes dark brown in color, which indicates that it is spent. Once vaporization is complete, you may smoke the vaporized herb, but it will taste much worse, and be far harsher and less potent than fresh herb.

Important Information

• It is difficult to control temperature with a homemade vaporizer because the source of heat comes from a lighter or candle flame; do not overheat the light bulb or you can scorch the herb, thereby producing smoke and defeating the purpose of a vaporizer. Be aware that the optimum vaporization temperature varies greatly with each herb; the right temperature for one herb may be too hot or too cold for another.