It sounds like your volcano is broken. I've never turned mine up past 7. If you weren't getting vapor at 9 somegthing's wrong. Its definatly a different high but in my experience the weed goes a lot further in the volcano than any method of smoking. That being said I haven't used mine in months. Not because it doesn't work. It just doesn't satisfy the urge when I feel like smoking. I consider myself a conosuer and I don't feel like I get the full experience of a given strain with it. The only time I use mine is if I'm sick or have sub-par product that I don't enjoy the taste of. It also works great if you have some shake or uncured buds.