5 Tips and Tricks for the Firefly 2

Updated: October 6, 2023

The Firefly 2 is a great portable vaporizer but it has been receiving quite a bit of negative attention lately mostly stemming from the fact that it may not be the most user friendly right from the start like other high end units like the Crafty+.

This is mostly because people who have become accustomed to session style vaporizers had to learn a new technique in order to get used to the on-demand heating of the Firefly 2. Once you get the hang of it the Firefly 2 is a great device and can output some serious vapor.

I have owned the Firefly 2 for about 2 months now and I thought I’d share some tips and tricks to get the most out of this excellent unit and especially how to get a decent amount of visible vapor. You can also check out our full Firefly 2 review here.

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1) The Grind

How you grind your cannabis has a huge impact on how the Firefly 2 operates. Most conduction session vaporizers such as the Davinci IQC benefit from a finer grind because more of the cannabis surface area is touching the heating chamber.

Because the Firefly 2 is a convection unit we actually found a courser grind worked best, for a few reasons; first, the courser grind will give you better airflow, because this unit uses convection to cook your cannabis you want to make sure the air has room to move through your cannabis to cook them.

With a finer grind, we found more restriction to airflow and a more uneven cook as the hot air tended to cook the bottom more aggressively than the rest of the cannabis. Now when we say we recommend a courser grind this does not mean an uneven grind, you want the consistency to be very even with your cannabis just more fluffy than fine. I found using the ZEUS Bolt 2 grinder gave me the best consistency to use with Firefly 2.

The other reason you want a courser grind is to prevent cannabis from travelling down the vapor path and building up on the screen. The way the air pathway is set up it is very easy for finely ground materials to find their way into your screen which again will restrict airflow over time. Courser ground cannabis has less of a chance of moving or being sucked out of the chamber and downed the vapor path.

2) The Pack

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How you pack your cannabis in the Firefly 2 will also influence the vapor production during your session. Personally, I recommend filling the bowl so that the lid of the Firefly 2 is helping to keep the cannabis in place, packing the cannabis down to a medium tightness. This means that the cannabis is not completely loose as if you just dropped them in, but not so tight that air will have trouble flowing.

After about 2 to 3 draws I recommend stirring the bowl and with your thumb gently packing down the bowl again to promote a more even cook.

From experience using cannabis that is too moist and packed too tightly with the temperature maxed out will lead to combustion. This only happened 3 times to me and it was because my cannabis was moist, I was packing the unit to tight, and had the temperature maxed out. The combination of moisture and the tight pack meant that the air could not flow properly and instead caused the bottom cannabis to burn.

Users that want to avoid the combustion at high temperatures usually tend to prefer the conduction type units like the Arizer Solo 2.

3) The Draw

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How you draw from the Firefly 2 mouthpiece really makes the difference between a lackluster exhale and an impressive haul. The Firefly 2’s air path is a bit more restricted than most units such as the Utillian 722 which encourages you to draw from the unit like you are sipping hot tea through a straw.

For best results, press and hold the power button to begin heating, when the green light turns solid let the unit sit for an extra couple of seconds to allow the heat to build and then slowly begin to draw from the unit. You are going to want to draw for the entire duration of the heating cycle for the best result.

I found that you want to start your draw slowly but as you get to the end of the draw you can start to slightly increase draw speed to get an even better draw.

Mastering the draw is probably the biggest learning curve with the device and will take some trial and error but just make sure to slowly draw for the entire 30 second duration and in the last 10 seconds or so increase your draw speed slightly.

Also, be sure to keep drawing a few seconds after the heater shuts off to ensure you are using all of the available heat for better extraction.

Using this draw method along with the rest of the tips when it comes to your cannabis and packing the Firefly 2 should yield much better results than your first experience and in no time you will be enjoying the full force of the Firefly 2.

4) Power Tuning

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If you are like me and want to get large amounts of visible vapor, as you get with the Mighty, then I highly suggest you make sure your Firefly 2 is updated to the latest firmware so that the Power Turning option will be available to you.

Power Tuning will allow you to adjust the base temperature settings up to 111%. This means that if you set the unit to the highest setting which is normally around 215 celsius but max out the power tuning the temperature output will be closer to 235 celsius. This is great for people who really want to get dense vapor out of there device, but be warned as I mentioned when talking about packing the unit, this can cause combustion in the right circumstances.

For best results, I personally have found having the unit set to the highest temperature for cannabis with the power tuning set at 105% gave me the best results of both flavour and vapor production.

5) Extending Battery Life

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One of the biggest complaints with the Firefly 2 is that the battery indicator does not give you an accurate reading of the battery life.

This is definitely something I have run into and I have had several batteries tell me they are dead even though the unit is telling me they have 50% left.

I have found a trick though to get the last bit of juice from a battery that is still may have a bit of juice in it.

The initial heat-up seems to put the most stress on the battery and it seems that if a battery still has some power but not enough it will tell you it’s dead during the heating cycle.

To extend the life of the battery in this situation, pop out the half-dead battery, insert your second battery that is fully charged and run the Firefly through the initial 5 – 10 second ramp up heating cycle. Once you have done that pop out the new battery and put in your half dead battery and voila, you can get almost another full session out of the battery that was just reading dead. However, users that want to avoid going through this hassle usually tend to prefer devices like the Zeus Arc GTS Hub that can give you 6- 9 10 minute sessions depending on the temperature settings.

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Final Thoughts

Personally, I love the Firefly 2 vaporizer, it is very easy to use once you get the hang of it and the on-demand heating cannot be beaten in terms of convenience. It may take a little more effort to get the unit working as intended, but that really is half the fun of this unit. Once you figure out your own technique you will find it very hard to switch back to another unit. If you have any tips or tricks of your own we would love to hear them. And if you are in the market for a Firefly 2 plus be sure to stop by our shop to pick one up. You won’t be disappointed.

If for some reason you still find yourself unsatisfied with the performance of your Firefly 2 and are looking to pick up a replacement, feel free to check out our updated ranking chart for the best dry herb vape on the market.

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About Author
Avatar for Alex Karakatsanis

Alex is a cannabis enthusiast, long time vaporizer lover, writer and filmmaker. He is also a board and video game nerd with a penchant for hosting a weekly board game night. Partygoers have been heard saying things like “is anyone else going to show up?” and “I don’t think I can make it next week”. He strives to make people laugh at every opportunity and sees cannabis as a helpful tool in doing so.

The reviews and ratings are based on personal and decade-plus of industry experience. Such content is based on the opinion of the Editor/Author. They are solely provided as a basis for research and should be used only as guidance. We encourage thorough research by all visitors to attain the most objective viewpoint before purchasing.