Artisan Vapes... Novelty, Superior, or Douchebaggary? Discuss...

[acstorfer]

So what's the deal with artisan vapes? Do we love them because they distinguish themselves from each other? Do we shell out the big bucks because they are better than their commercially mass produced counterparts? Perhaps we need something to fully fuel our need to be pretentious douchebags?

Okay, while I am going the superior than commercial route, I will absolutely fess up to the douchebag in me to shine as well.

When I had my P-80s, guests whom I felt worthy enough to suckle upon their teats did most definitely have to listen to a full history of the product, and a complete explanation of the rarity of them, and of course how lucky they were to be honored by the experience. I wish I could say I was kidding . Okay, I'm still a bit of a dick when people use my TetraX, but not nearly as profound. The thing is, Lamart vapes are that good (IMHO). They aren't just a pretty face.

All of my setups are artisan. All are hard to get. In my opinion, yeah they are definitely superior to the commercial stuff available. I will never look down at say the Mighty. It is a rock solid device, and it has earned an honored position in the rankings of vaporizers. Still though, I would NEVER recommend someone spend the $$$ on buying a new one. The artisan stuff in that price range destroy the Mighty.

That's where I fit on the matter, but just to reiterate I am a douchebag and I can be a pretentious dick with the best of them. I use to look at the pretentiousness of wine people and just felt pure dislike for them. My God, I am soooooo much worse

 

[Abysmal Vapor]

A true connoisseur of vaping art.. I am also in the naughty club , douchebag would be a compliment, hahaha ! My sin is not so much the way vapes look, but the purity of concept,but i can really relate to your case.
As for the mighty ,it is so ugly ,that i wont even put it near my face,cause it will just get too much .

 

[badbee]

I have to admit when I see those pictures from people who have the same vape in five different woods it makes me think of Imelda Marcos and her buildings full of shoes (yes I'm old). It doesn't seem entirely healthy. But then again, who am I to judge these things.

 

[Shit Snacks]

Haha I never thought I would be collecting multiples in different styles or material variations, but absolutely the artisan products are just superior, fortunately some are trying to step up and become more commercial, some commercial are trying to take some notes from artisans, but the mass-produced mainstream products are really underwhelming, most people are not interested in vaping because of all the extra thought and effort it entails, the few that are interested in vaping want something simple digital more often than not... We're best

 

[Farid]

I don't like the term "artisan" unless you're talking about something with serious artistic talent behind it, like Dan Morrison's creations, or some really nice custom stems. Not to discredit other manufacturers, but imo this industry has a long way to go in the aesthetics department.

Most small vape manufacturers are producing a product for a niche market: the types of users who exist here.

When designing a product for the masses, different criteria have to be met. The guys who really nail it can satisfy both parties' needs. Normal people don't have a different vape for every use case, they have one. People here have huge collections.

What I would love to see are more manufacturers bridging that gap. Imo what's needed to do that is to make something that's very good looking, very reliable, and very user friendly, while also maintaining good flavor, being easy to clean.

An on demand 18650 vape with the build quality of a box mod could do it, or something like a reliable grasshopper.

But to discount what the masses want is certainly pretentious, and vaping itself is already seen as pretentious when compared to smoking.

 

[XpeeN]

An on demand 18650 vape with the build quality of a box mod could do it, or something like a reliable grasshopper.

V3 pro? Ruffo?

 

[Shit Snacks]

V3 pro? Ruffo?

These are great mass-produced commercial grade vapes, but the vapor quality just can't compare to the top tier artisan vapes in my opinion based on my experience at least

 

[Abele Rizieri Ferrari]

Legacy Pro some say is good for flavor. Haven't tried myself, but Airvape is definitely a more corporate operation than the artisanal companies or one-person shop.

But most interesting new shit is coming from artisanal scene I think, and has probably come since inception of modern day vaping, for the simple fact there's not too many people doing it. The big corporate vapes have stalled the game and looks like last years it's just been shook up by all the shit that's coming out from people who are clearly fans of vaping, and some must've been fed up by the lack of innovation of the boring big corpo's. It's a great time to be alive for vas junkies and - imo this counts in vaping scene more than elsewhere - we have the artisanal crowd to thank for that.

 

[vapirtoo]

We are all vape nerds to varying degrees!
Vaporists are such a small market( niche ) that I wonder how do manufacturers make a profit?
Everyone who tries my vapes, love the effects, but they never get one.

 

[Shit Snacks]

Haha yeah only vaping is snobbery for me

 

[acstorfer]

These are great mass-produced commercial grade vapes, but the vapor quality just can't compare to the top tier artisan vapes in my opinion based on my experience at least

People look at something like a P-80 and just don't get how good of a vaporizer it is. It is extremely pretty, but holy crap it delivers a quality experience. I would love Lamart to consider making a line with the oven mass produced and a circuit board instead of a mod. It would be incredibly pocketable. Or even just an oven hardwired into a small mod with a nice, sturdy, pocketable housing. As long as the quality assurance is on point I don't mind it being mass produced.

I am including the fw7 to scale. I also do not recommend the mouthpiece in the TetraX. It is only in there to show how pocketable a Lamart can be.





It would be the best selling vape ever. On demand. Super portable. Super pocketable. Swappable batteries. I would still ideally go with a pcb over a box mod for cost, size, and some people give up on Lamart without learning how to dial in their mods. Super high quality. Super customizable experience.

Not sure what I'm on about. I'm very stoned!

I wonder how difficult it would be to hardwire the oven onto a mod so I can get rid of the cable?

 

[Shit Snacks]

I don't know I'm not sure it's actually mindless enough for most people

 

[darbarikanada]

I think there's actually 3 categories: the masses who are perfectly content with a pax or pen (and are rarely seen in these parts), people who aren't after that last 10% (or so) improvement vapes like the P-80 offer (i.e. people like me who are perfectly happy with a mighty), and people like the original poster (who I'd never call douchebags).

 

[acstorfer]

(who I'd never call douchebags).

That's only because you don't know me

 

[XpeeN]

These are great mass-produced commercial grade vapes, but the vapor quality just can't compare to the top tier artisan vapes in my opinion based on my experience at least

I wonder what's holding them back, do you have any idea? Maybe I should open another thread or pm you about it because it's unrelated to the topic :X

 

[Abele Rizieri Ferrari]

Better heater for faster extraction seems to produce just more flavorful vapor. Also clean air path, which preferably can be cleaned completely vs uncleanable air inlets on v3p which will gather dust and other shit that gets sucked into them...

 

[Shit Snacks]

I wonder what's holding them back, do you have any idea? Maybe I should open another thread or pm you about it because it's unrelated to the topic :X

Yeah it is the simple build and materials used, much more attention focus to keeping it pure and clean, but also most of them use more power from the 18650, and have larger mass heaters as well (so quite different!)

 

[Arawfish]

For me it matters most where my coins are going. I like knowing that I’m directly supporting very small, often single or double person operations. I’d rather support people like TnT Ed, than I would a company like Storz & Bickle. Especially since they were bought out by a pretty terrible “big business” weed Corp.
cannabis has always been anti-establishment and counterculture so I’m not trying to feed that machine by buying into mass produced crap from companies who only care about my money.

There’s also the added benefit of Artisan Vapes almost always performing far better than their mass produced counterparts.

 

[Abysmal Vapor]

I did not really got the hype for the v3pro.. I gave it a chance and it tasted like C3PO's ass... even after 40 burn off cycles... IMO people spoiled by the taste of TM and Tubo/Tetra line would hardly go back to mass produced vapes. Is not only important to make airpath isolated and from nice materials. What about heat dissipation that makes some vapes hot as hell.. You can easily detect the smell around the device,solder,circuitboards,cables,plastic,batteries... So that smell goes through the intake and here is your isolated airpath going to hell,still not as bad as directly ventilated the electronics with your lungs,but enough to spoil the purity of experience and leave you wondering : Wasnt vaping mainly about health or you are just weird?
How many vapes are there that claim clean and isolated airpath,but the robot fart smell is still present ?
That being said both TM and TUBO/Tetra heaters have downsides too. TM has circuitboard in the airpath, While Tubo heater has wire insulation and the whole box is glued with epoxy ... ,but both makers have take good account of heat dissipation ,so you cant even feel its there,unless you are like me ..., i'd say that they are the smallest compromise i can live with ,when i dont have access to my DIY desktops .
@acstorfer It is fun fact actually that it was me who pushed the idea for the TuboX line and wanted to have the heater separated from the mod.
Cause twice i had a mod fail in my built in TUBOevic and also were getting device too hot issues all the time, all that got solved with that move,also having it paired with 3 or 4 battery mod turns it into a totally different beast,you will need hurricane lungs also to really feel the power,but the difference is there.

 

[seriousTone]

Not to discredit other manufacturers, but imo this industry has a long way to go in the aesthetics department.

I've always wondered why the hell most vapes are so weird/ ugly looking.

It's like the makers want to repel people away from vaping but that can't be the case so I still don't get it and don't think I'll ever get the answer.

 

[invertedisdead]

Well I decided to build my own vape in 2019 because nobody else would make what I wanted and there weren’t really many people trying to make vapes. I didn’t really feel like anyone else would
make it if I didn’t!

 

[gordontreeman]

I tend to gravitate towards the artisan pieces for sure. The aesthetics are part of it, but I also really dig that its the work of a single craftsperson. Like, my dyna's are convenient, perfectly functional, fun to use, and effective, but my p80 is very clearly the product of someone trying to make something beautiful and functional. I have to admit that like @acstorfer I also get a kick out of answering "where did you get that" with, "Let me tell you about this swiss made machine..." . I think there's some middle ground with e.g. TM. I have a hard time believing that the TP80 is all thaaaaaaat much better or different save in the aesthetics department.

More mass-producted stuff like the Fury whatevers, S&B products, and XMax's products can certainly be effective, but I dislike the way they usually do their ovens. I love how simple the vapes I own are to clean. I can see them being sort of "paraphernalia" ish, though--with the glass, ground joints, and such. Maybe that is off-putting to some? I applaud XMax/TopGreen for working to advance things beyond the hybrid convection/conduction scene, though. I just wish they'd do something simple and easy to clean with their mouthpieces, but they certainly score for a "taking it out to a show" device. And again, none of them have the individual personality that has nothing to do with function but just makes me love the more "artisan" vapes.

 

[rnartian]

Besides vaping, I'm in several other hobbies where I get to use my hands (and spend way too much money). That sorta draws me to people who do the same, you know? Maker communities especially are full of people learning from each other or investing in each other, and I really like those aspects reflected in the vape community. The most important thing to me is seeing creativity grow and being able to either be apart of it or contribute to it in some way and I feel like artisan vapes definitely fulfill that appeal.

They tend to use materials I prefer, they can afford to take risks because they know their market is niche and they typically like it that way--let's their creativity shine. Not to mention they usually look really freaking cool!!

 

[acstorfer]

@acstorfer It is fun fact actually that it was me who pushed the idea for the TuboX line and wanted to have the heater separated from the mod.
Cause twice i had a mod fail in my built in TUBOevic and also were getting device too hot issues all the time, all that got solved with that move,also having it paired with 3 or 4 battery mod turns it into a totally different beast,you will need hurricane lungs also to really feel the power,but the difference is there.

Well serious big time thank you for that! I ended up getting rid of my P-80s because I much prefer the TetraX. I don't know of you can see it lying on the opposite side of the fw7, but the TetraX is actually plugged into my Cuboid 200 which runs off 3 batteries. It is a freaking beast indeed!

 

[hausland]

I love anything artisanal, it just gives me that feeling of care and quality however much that may be just subjective / projected onto the device by me. I do own a Mighty and like it tok though, I trust(ed) S&B up to now, despite it being big corp and all. Also thinking about getting an Airvape Legacy Pro, also not exactly artisanal, so I’m open to it all despite my preference

When it comes to glass and pipes, I will always spend extra for a higher quality, hand made, artisanally infused piece over something more mass produced. I also care about materials used and the craftier products and producers tend to have better materials in operation.