In the March/ April issue of our magazine, we featured the Herb Iron in our Latest Tech spread. This tool lets us smoke dry flowers with absolutely no direct application of fire.
After switching over from plastic butane lighters we thought it fitting to feature a review on the Herb-Iron. This time we’re going to focus on the benefits that can unfold after going completely butane free. There are a couple of items like this on the market now Herb-Iron plugs into the wall. The main component is a plastic body outfitted with the activation button. Attached to the top is a 1” ceramic tip that heats after holding the button down for 5-6 seconds. The tool rests on a metal stand and cools down immediately as the button is released.
The Herb-Iron heats the bowl without even touching the ceramic to the botanicals. Just heat the Herb Iron, hover the ceramic over the flowers and watch ’em burn. Bowls do taste better, after using an Herb-Iron I’ve found that I get more flavor. This is because terpenes and cannabinoids burn off when applied directly to fire. Since we’re not singing our flowers using direct fire we are preserving some of these valuable chemical compounds. The change in flavor wasn’t made completely apparent until after hitting a bowl with a lighter again. All of the flavor was masked by chemicals. What makes this fact even more wonderful is that there’s another huge benefit.
Bic lighters don’t only blast our dried flowers with butane. They also sit in landfills for generations. As a real tree hugging hippy who quit paper towels two years ago and hasn’t bought trash bags in a year and a half, I’m constantly looking to take control of my carbon footprint. When the realization hit that I was filling landfills with lighters, I had to find something. The Herb-Iron is made of plastic, but it will get us much more use before we throw it away than a lighter will.
