The IQ2 is a sophisticated, yet fairly simple vape to use out of the box. Utilize some of our tips and tricks to dial in your perfect session.
What kind of grind?
Conduction vapes, like the DaVinci IQ2, perform best with a medium to fine consistency, so the heat can conduct evenly throughout your herbs. Any two-piece grinder will work great, just grind your herbs longer to get it finer. If you only have a three or four piece grinder, you can turn it upside down to grind the herbs a little finer before they fall to the holding chamber below.
If you don’t have a grinder or don’t want to use one, try loading whole flowers. The hits start out weaker, but are more flavorful!
Light packs for sippers, medium packs for hitters
For a fine grind, use a medium to tight pack for the best roast. Finer grinds thrive with a tighter pack, and just enough space for heat to evenly pass through your load. This style is best for sippers, who like to take their time with their sessions.
On the contrary, medium grind users should opt for a lighter pack and a soft tamp. Loose enough for air to pass through but tight enough to get an even cook throughout. With a small increase in airflow, this pack works well for big hitters.
Extend the “Pearl” as needed for smaller loads. You can reduce the size of the oven by 30% and still get great vapor but smaller batches produce wispier hits.
Play with the Air Dial
One of the new features we’re excited about is the Air Dial. For the best experience, we suggest sitting around setting 2 and 3. This gives enough flow for air to move and pass through your herb evenly and efficiently. Open it up a little more for bigger hits or close it down for easy sips.
Keep in mind, with tight packs, every air setting will feel constricted and closed off.
Dosage control
Davinci added a brand new feature that tells you how much you consume with each hit. Manually enter the specific amounts using the on-board controls, and let DaVinci math it out for you. It works fine, but the entry is limited to 9.9%, which is too low for many flower strains. The IQ2 will display the amounts consumed for each hit, but when the new app drops in March, you’ll be able to set alerts to tell you when you’ve hit your preset dosage for the session.
Check the flavor chamber
With the original IQ, you could remove the flavor chamber by hooking it with the stir tool and pulling it out. This method only removes the chamber cap with the IQ2. Davinci wants you to use the pointy end of the stir tool in between the chamber and silicone and pry it out. The flavor chamber will tell you when it’s time to clean. If you pull it out and see some gunk on the end, it’s time to clean the area under the oven. Check out our IQ2 cleaning and maintenance guide for the full rundown.
Should I stir?
Conduction vapes do very well without stirring, but sometimes you can get a few finishing hits with a quick swirl. The IQ2 heats from all sides but the top, with the "Pearl" in the way, so the top of the load will come out lighter than the rest. There’s not much to be gained from a stir at the end, but if you feel the need to, you can use the Flavor Chamber removal tool under the mouthpiece.
Vape your concentrates!
DaVinci took their first stab at vaporizing concentrates with the IQ2, and they did a pretty good job. The vape comes with a dosage pod, a ceramic extract disc, and nine pieces of organic cotton that work better than some other portable solutions, once you get the loading technique down. The trick is to load the ceramic disc into the pod first, followed by a piece of cotton, with your concentrates on top. It didn't seem to matter which end of the pod we loaded into the oven first, but if you insert it lid first, the lid can't fall out and burn you when you open the oven. The IQ2 gently vapes concentrates over the course of a session, instead of all at once.
