Desktop Vaporizers: Balloons, Whips and Why the Volcano Still Exists

Pen vapes come and go every year. The Volcano does not. It is a silver cone that plugs into the wall, blows hot air through ground flower and fills a plastic balloon you can pass around the room, and its makers created it in 2000.

A desktop vaporizer trades portability for control, and that trade explains why the old cone has outlasted so many newer devices. Three things keep it on shelves: steady temperatures, a balloon that turns one session into a shared one, and a research record no pen can match.

A German cone from 2000

The Volcano vaporizer came out of Tuttlingen, a town in southern Germany. According to his Forbes profile, Jürgen Bickel cofounded Storz & Bickel and created the Volcano with Markus Storz in 2000, and Canadian cannabis company Canopy Growth bought the company in 2018 for $177 million. Two years later, Forbes reported, the company marked the Volcano's 20th anniversary with 100 numbered Volcano Classics plated in 24-karat gold, at $999 each.

The machine also went medical. The Volcano Medic, which tops out at 210 °C (410 °F), is a licensed medical device in the European Union and has been one in Canada since 2010, according to a 2016 review in Frontiers in Pharmacology. In 2022, researchers counted only two vaporizers with EU medical device certification for cannabis flower, and Storz & Bickel made both, the tabletop Volcano Medic and the handheld Mighty Medic.

Hot air, a balloon and a valve

The Volcano vape is a convection heater. A fan pushes air over a heating element and then through a chamber of ground flower, so hot air does the work instead of a hot surface. Many portable vaporizers use conduction, with the flower pressed against a hot wall, and some combine the two.

Markus Storz's patent, first filed in 1998, describes the idea in one sentence: the produced vapors are collected in a balloon and thereafter inhaled using a valve mechanism with a mouthpiece, independently of the vapor generator. You fill the bag, pull it off and pass it around, and the machine stays on the table.

A whip is the other way to use a desktop unit. It is a flexible tube that runs from the heater to your mouth, so you inhale straight from the device without a bag. Forbes noted in 2023 that Storz & Bickel had added a direct draw whip to its Volcano Hybrid.

Empty the balloon soon after filling it. In a 2006 study of the Volcano in the Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, about 54% of the THC loaded into the chamber ended up in the balloon, and on average 35% of the THC people inhaled came straight back out on the exhale. When a filled balloon sat at room temperature, THC kept condensing onto its walls, and after 180 minutes almost none was left in the vapor. Emptied within five minutes, the balloon held on to less than 2% of the dose.

The research world's favorite vaporizer

Labs like the Volcano because it behaves the same way every time. Wikipedia's entry on cannabis consumption notes that a MAPS and NORML study of the device reported 95% THC and no toxins delivered in the vapor. Later studies kept reaching for it:

• Smoking against vapor, 2007. In 18 cannabis smokers, blood THC was comparable or slightly higher with the Volcano, while exhaled carbon monoxide rose only after smoking
• Lab comparison, 2016. Researchers called the Volcano Medic the only vaporizer thoroughly validated to scientific standards, and measured about 58% of the THC coming through in its vapor, against about 83% for an Arizer Solo. The same team found that temperature-controlled vaporizers turn THCA, the raw acid in flower, into active THC on the way out
• Infrequent users, 2018. In a crossover trial of 17 healthy adults in JAMA Network Open, the Volcano Medic produced stronger effects and higher blood THC than the same dose smoked, 14.4 against 10.2 nanograms per milliliter at a 25-milligram dose
• Patients, 2022. UK researchers wrote that most clinical research on vaporizing medical cannabis had used the Volcano, while most patients in their program preferred a handheld device

The 2018 result matters for anyone switching from joints. The same amount of flower can hit harder in a desktop vaporizer, so start with less than you would roll.

Desktop or portable

The desktop vs. portable vaporizer choice comes down to where you use it and how many people share it. In our experience, the differences fall into four groups:

• Power. A desktop unit runs off the wall and holds a temperature for as long as you like, while a portable vaporizer depends on a battery that needs charging
• Sharing. A balloon lets a whole room pass one fill around without anyone crowding the machine
• Capacity. Desktop chambers usually hold more flower than portable ones
• Space and cost. Desktop units take up a shelf and usually cost more, and a portable fits in a pocket

A desktop is the better tool at home for slow, shared sessions and steady temperatures. A portable is the one you will actually carry. Plenty of people end up owning both. A desktop also makes a session easier to repeat, since the same temperature, the same amount of flower and the same bag give you roughly the same dose each time.

Whichever you choose, grind the flower medium, not to powder, and fill the chamber loosely so hot air can move through it. Clean the screen and the mouthpiece with isopropyl alcohol now and then, and replace balloons once they turn cloudy or sticky, since resin on the bag walls is THC you will never inhale.

The unexamined day is a wasted opportunity. Reflect on what you did, what you learned, and how you can improve.

John Dewey

Temperature, terpenes and what to load

Vaporizers heat flower to about 157 to 210 °C (315 to 410 °F), which releases the active compounds without burning the plant. Lower settings keep more flavor. In a 2022 study in Scientific Reports, researchers heated five common terpenes at 100 to 200 °C and found that the share that came through unchanged varied from 97% to 98% for myrcene to 11%–28% for terpinolene. The rest turned into oxidized products. Their toxicity is not yet clear, but the authors point to allergic and irritation reactions linked to oxidized terpene oils. A 2024 clinical review in Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research adds that higher temperatures increase polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, a toxic by-product.

Start at the low end of the range and step up only when the vapor thins. Flavor-forward flower makes the most of a good vaporizer, and two of ours stand out:

• Ice Cream Cake, a Gelato #33 and Wedding Cake cross, is one of the few strains whose page names its terpenes, limonene, myrcene and caryophyllene, for a sweet, creamy, earthy scent with vanilla and a hint of pine. It reaches 27% THC in 55 to 65 days of flowering
• Tangerine Dream, a Cup winner bred from G13, an Afghan strain and Neville's A5 Haze, brings a sweet citrus profile with orange notes and an uplifting, relaxing effect, at 27% THC in 60 to 65 days

Myrcene, the terpene that held up best in the 2022 study, is on Ice Cream Cake's list.

Flower vapor is not a cart

A dry-herb vaporizer and a THC vape cartridge are different machines. The 2019 lung injury outbreak known as EVALI has been linked to the vaping of THC products to which vitamin E acetate (VEA) has been added, according to a 2021 study in Frontiers in Chemistry. The same study measured cartridge coils peaking above 430 °C (806 °F) on average, with a range of 375 to 569 °C, about twice the top setting of a flower vaporizer.

The 2024 clinical review found no EVALI cases tied to dried flower vaporization to date, and vaporizing flower releases less carbon monoxide than smoking it. Our look inside a vape cart explains what cutting agents do to the oil.

Built for slow, shared sessions

The Volcano is a convection desktop vaporizer from 2000 that fills a balloon you can pass around, and its medical version became a licensed device in the EU and Canada. Researchers have used it for two decades, and it can deliver a stronger hit than smoking the same flower. A whip skips the bag. A desktop wins at home, a portable wins on the move, and lower temperatures keep more terpenes intact. Dried flower vapor is a different product from the oil carts tied to EVALI, and it still deserves a light hand, since the same flower can hit harder as vapor than as smoke.

Fill the balloon, then empty it fast. Barney's Farm has been developing premium cannabis genetics since the 1980s, with over 40 Cannabis Cup wins. Explore our full seed catalog and find strains bred for every climate and skill level.