The Volcano Hybrid is a vapor powerhouse that will feel instantly familiar to anyone who’s used earlier Volcano vaporizers, and it has a whip! Our Quickstart Guide will slide you right into the vapor zone, without breaking out the new smartphone app.
Set it up
If you bought the Volcano Hybrid and have never vaporized before, you’re in luck, because Storz & Bickel included everything you need to get going strong out of the gate, except the herbs. Unpack the Hybrid, get familiar with the parts, and find a solid, flat place to set it up. The base is eight inches in diameter, and you’ll need 31 inches of vertical clearance for a full bag.
Attach the power cord to the Volcano and plug it in. Grab the whip, one bag, the loading chamber, a grinder, and your herbs. If you don’t have a grinder, Storz & Bickel put one in the box for you. It’s orange, and in the bottom of the box, in the styrofoam.
Turn it on and set the temperature
Turn the heater on by pressing the “Heat” button. The Hybrid will show two temperatures on the display, and start heating up. The orange one on top is the actual temperature, and the white one on the bottom is the set temperature. For this first session, push and hold the “+” button until the set temperature on the bottom reads 390° F, or 199° C. If you need to toggle the temperature scale between Celsius and Fahrenheit, press the “-” and “+” buttons at the same time. Both temperature displays will read the same when it is ready to vaporize, and the fan will pulse on for a split second to alert you. Now is a good time to prepare your herbs, while the Hybrid is heating up.
Medium grind
The Hybrid isn’t very picky about how you grind your herbs, but a fine grind can get messy, so we suggest sticking to a medium grind. The included Storz & Bickel grinder works well. Choose whichever grinder you want, and grind about half a gram of herbs to a medium-sized consistency.
Fill the loading chamber
Open the loading chamber by twisting it counter-clockwise, and fill the orange half with your dry herbs. It can hold up to half a gram, and should only be filled up to the point where the metal wall flares outward. Close the filling chamber by twisting the halves together clockwise until it stops, or about a quarter-turn.
Whip or bag?
Now the great debate begins. Volcano Classic owners don’t get the luxury of picking between a bag or whip, but you do! The whip shines when you’re sitting next to the Hybrid for a while, leisurely taking flavorful hits at your own pace. It’s also great for smaller doses, or anytime you’re afraid of blowing up more vapor than you’ll use. Bags work well when you don’t want to be tied down to the Hybrid’s location, and for sharing across the room. We shared some more thoughts on the difference in our Volcano Hybrid Review.
Using the whip
If you choose the whip, attach the loading chamber on the Hybrid with a clockwise quarter-turn, slide the orange part of the whip (tube flexer) onto the loading chamber, and hit it. Take as many draws as you like, and remove the filling chamber when you’re done. If you’re going to take longer than a minute between hits, remove the filling chamber after each draw, so you don’t overcook your herbs.
Using the bag
If you reach for a bag, pull out the black mouthpiece, stretch the bag out, attach the loading chamber with a clockwise quarter-turn, slide the bag onto the loading chamber, and press the “Air” button. The Hybrid will start filling the bag. Stop it by pressing the “Air” button again. Remove the bag, and replace the black mouthpiece. Press the mouthpiece against your lips and inhale. The vapor will only come out when the mouthpiece is pushed in.
It takes about 35 seconds to fully fill a bag, and each bag holds around three to four big hits. Try not to fill the bag with more vapor than you’ll use, or the vapor will get harsh after around five minutes. If you’re new to vaporizing, fill it about halfway for a starting point. You can always come back to the same bowl to vaporize more later.
Shaken, not stirred
The Volcano Hybrid heats differently than earlier Volcanos, and can fully extract without any stirring. You can try removing the filling chamber and giving it a few shakes between bags, or every few whip hits, but it’s not necessary. It’s more important that you don’t leave the filling chamber on a heated Hybrid unattended, or it will cook everything out of your herbs. Just make sure not to touch the metal ring on the bottom of the hot filling chamber!
Departures from the manual
The Volcano Hybrid comes with one of the most complete manuals in the industry, and it’s an excellent guide. Our Quickstart Guide doesn’t follow it exactly, and we don’t want to confuse you. Either set of instructions is fine for a first try, and we encourage you to experiment and find your favorite settings. For this guide, we changed the following:
- The manual says to preheat the herbs for five seconds with the fan on. This will preheat the herbs, and make for a potent bag. However, this risks losing some precious taste, and we prefer to err on the side of catching every last terpene. Try both and see which you like better.
- The manual says to attach the bag or whip to the filling chamber before placing on the Hybrid, and we did it after. It doesn’t matter which way you do it, but we found it slightly easier to attach the loading chamber before attaching the bag or whip.
