For a year or two, I smoked pot out of a chimney--shaped wooden pipe. It came with a lighter, which was wrapped in a sort of braided--leather papoose. Papoose and pipe were handmade by a shaman--like fellow I met on the side of a highway in the Pacific Northwest. His wares were solid, but the smoke was harsh. So, not long ago, I switched to a vaporizer, or "vape," the Magic--Flight Launch Box.

Vapes heat marijuana buds to oven temperatures, at which point they release their psychoactive payload and gradually turn brown, without burning. Vapor feels easier on the lungs than smoke. Its effects come on more slowly and gently. But the essential quality of vapes is their discretion. Vapes are the antithesis of iridescent glass pipes and cumbersome bongs. They don't produce a lingering or pungent odor. They do for cannabis what brown paper bags do for beer and what collars do for dogs; they keep your neighbors from freaking out when you pass them on the sidewalk.

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