Ask a Stoner: Is a vaporizer really worth it?

Dear Stoner: I'm not a fan of edibles, and smoking is killing my throat. I keep seeing vaporizers in shops, but they're all pretty expensive. Is it really worth the $400 for something that looks like a turkey bag UFO?

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More About

• Steve Spielbong
• Kingston (Jamaica)
• Jacob Miller
• Psychoactive Drugs
• Marijuana

I.B. Coffin

Dear Mr. Coffin: We feel your pain. Literally. When the cold weather hits, smoking really hits us in the chest as well. Turning to a vaporizer is a good way to give the lungs a break, for sure. The biggest benefit most people see is that instead of tar-filled smoke, you're inhaling much finer and cleaner vapor. The reason for that is you're not burning and smoking the plant matter. Instead, hot air is pulled across the surface of the plant, vaporizing the THC as well as other cannabinoids like pain-reducing CBD. It's much less stressful on your body — so if you can find a vaporizer at a decent price, grab it.

Most sites agree that setting your vaporizer between 350 and 380 degrees is an appropriate temperature range. Some people like to crank them up to get a thicker vapor/smoke mixture, while others prefer to keep temperatures low and slowly work through a bowl. But different cannabinoids vaporize off at different temperatures, so finding what's right for you might take a few tries.

Dear Stoner:I wanted to throw a marijuana-buttered popcorn movie night. What marijuana movie should we screen?

Steve Spielbong

Dear Spielbong: The stoner-flick is one of the most loved sub genres of all cinema, even by those who don't consume. But a movie doesn't just have to be about pot — think Cheech and Chong or Pineapple Express — to be classic cannabis cinema. There are a wide range of cult classics that qualify, everything from Monty Python and the Holy Grail to award-winning movies like American Beauty.

And here's a curveball: Rockers. This 1978 Jamaican film about reggae drummer and Rastafarian Leroy "Horsemouth" Wallace features performances from a slew of Jamaican musicians, including Gregory Isaacs, Jacob Miller and Burning Spear, who acts as a Rasta shaman of sorts to help guide Wallace through his journey. The patois they speak is so thick that English subtitles were included. The plot is loose and basically secondary to the movie's other role as a documentary: It depicts with great authenticity life in Kingston as a hustling, ganja-smoking Rasta musician at the height of reggae's golden era. It's worth seeing even if you're not a fan of reggae music.