The Firefly 2+ is built for flavor, but it definitely takes some technique and best practices to unleash all of its potential. Follow our tips below and you'll come out on top, whether you have the Firefly 2, or the improved Firefly 2+.
do you have any Firefly 2 tips?
Expectations
The most important thing with any vape is to get your expectations in order. With the Firefly 2+ vaporizer, taste is great almost all the way through the bowl, but the biggest clouds will only be there in the middle of it. Early draws are pure taste while later hits are going to thin out until it is done. If you’re not happy with the vapor, try different combinations of grind, pack, temperature, and draw speed.
Coarse grind
Unlike most convection vapes, the Firefly 2+ performs best with a coarse grind. or even just hand torn herbs. The top of the bowl has no screen between it and the cooling path, so if you grind too finely, the bits will get sucked away from the heater. Coarser material will stay put and vape better in the Firefly vapes.
Firm pack
Again a bit counter-intuitive for a convection vape, the Firefly 2+ needs the herbs packed firm enough to stay in place and not sucked away from the heat.
Anything less than a full bowl doesn’t work well either, because the air stream will push the herbs to the sides and flow right by, without producing vapor. If you only want to fill the bowl half-way, use the concentrate pad on top to hold the herbs in place.
Draw slow, then ramp it up
Draw slowly at first, increasing speed during the draw. Play with your draw speed to find your sweet spot.
Start slowly, then ramp it up, and at some point the noise will sound like a blowing wind. The sound of the wind is a nice indicator for your draw speed. Try to make the windy sound for the last part of the draw, when the oven has reached the set temperature.
Should I stir?
Stirring is a necessary evil of convection vapes, and you will want to stir the Firefly 2 once vapor production drops. I do so by dumping my material into my palm and then back onto the unit. I then push the herbs into the bowl with my finger and put the lid back on.
If you’re into rituals in your routine, this can become a fun one and I find it relaxing.
Auto-shutoff
The heater will auto-shutoff after 30 seconds, but if you want to draw longer, just give one of the buttons a quick release to restart the timer. The light will go out when you let go of the button, and will come right back on after you touch it again. If you do it quickly enough the temperature of the bowl won’t drop much.
Troubleshooting
If you’re following the grind and pack suggestions but not getting good vapor, the two most likely culprits are the lid and the mouthpiece. They need to make a good seals, otherwise air will leak in and thin out the vapor.
Look at the Firefly from the sides and see if the lid is crooked. If the mouthpiece is not installed correctly, you can usually see that it's off a bit, but not always. Push the mouthpiece straight into the unit and see if it clicks into place a little better.
Finally, make sure your batteries are fully charged!
The full Stickstones method
Some people find the Firefly 2+ a little finicky, but for me, it seems to have been designed for how I love to vape!
I prefer not to grind, because I think it takes some of the taste away, and I love the wispy, ultra-flavorful first hits I get using whole herbs. So when I heard this was a convection vape that likes coarsely ground herbs with a tamp, I figured it might work well with whole, unground herbs...turns out it does!
Here’s how I do it:
- Start by packing some unground herbs into the bowl. I like it to pack it firm, and leave some room between the herbs and the glass window. Most of all, I don’t want any air gaps between the herbs and the sides of the bowl. I want the hot air to be forced into the herbs, not around them.
- Select your favorite temperature. I start on 370℉.
- Hold both buttons (assuming you didn’t change the settings to use one button) and wait for the blinking green light to turn solid. You’ll see the distinctive orange Firefly glow of the bowl.
- Now start to draw slowly, increasing speed during the draw. The unit will auto-shutoff after 30 seconds. If this happens during your draw and you want to keep going, just give one of the buttons a quick release to restart the timer. (The light will go out when you let go of the button and will come right back on after you touch it again.) All of your hits will be wispy and tasty until you crumble up the herbs.
- Take two or three hits, depending on how dry your herbs are, remove the lid and flip the unground herbs. Pack them back down in there, close the lid, and get back to it.
- Take one to three more hits, again depending on how dry your herbs are.
- Then open it up again and crumble your herbs. I like to dump them into my palm and crush them with my fingers. If done right, you won’t get any sticky residue on your fingers. If you do, then you need to give it a couple more hits to dry it out more before ‘the crumble’. After crumbling, pour the herbs back onto the vape and push them into the bowl.
- If you left a little space between the herbs and the window when you packed, your crumbled herbs will fill the bowl more than when you started. Just tamp them down into the bowl. A light to medium tamp will work fine. If you got aggressive and filled the bowl to the top with unground herbs, it will probably be a little too full after the crumble.
- After repacking, go back to hitting it like before, but be ready for some thicker vapor!
- , or use the stir tool I stuck on the lid). You should be able to get a few more good hits after stirring. Repeat until there’s no more vapor.
