Best Portable Vaporizer for Vapor Purity (No off-gassing)

[FR0ST]

For the past few months I've done a tonne of lurking and research into what portable vaporizer I want to buy. I'm looking to get into vaporization mainly for medical purposes, mainly CBD concentrates, with the odd bowl of leaf. Most of the time I'll probably be vaping at home, but I'd also like to be able to vape CBDs in public when required.

My main priority is vapor purity, I don't want a vaporizer that has any chance of an unsafe air path, off-gassing etc. (I just wish more vaporizer companies would take vapor purity seriously, and release public test results!)

Initially the Lotus perked my interested, due the companies transparent attitude towards health and safety, with published laboratory results of their vapor purity. However I've been borrowing from my friend, and decided that I require a digital, so that I can guarantee consistent hits.

After much deliberation, I decided that The Crafty is the vape for me. Although Storz & Bickel have not posted laboratory testing for this model (and they didn't reply to my email either ), I'm reasonably happy that the components are all safe in terms of off-gassing at heat, and after watching a video of someone take it apart and point out the air path I'm pretty convinced it's a good clean air path.

There's a few other vapes that piqued my interest in terms of vapor purity, miniVAP, Volcano, and possibly the Airzer Air (Though i'm put off by some comments I've seen, and by the fact that they won't release public test results). The miniVAP and Volcano are also a little out of my budget.

I've also considered The Plenty and a few log vapes, but I think I'd rather have a portable, so I can dose CBDs in public.

So... Shall I buy The Crafty ? Do you guys have any other suggestions?

 

[sativasam]

Seeing as you are considering all the popular vapes why not just go for the best - the Storz and Bickel?

I have the Mighty. I know you hear its big compared to the crafty but I consider this a portable. It fits in my pockets fine. I'm not huge with massive pockets.

You can change the temp even while drawing on the device. While on the crafty you have to do that on your phone every time you want to change even one degree, which I think would be annoying.

Also Im pretty sure Craftys have had more problems in terms of braking etc. The Mighty is more powerful.

It's really easy to clean. And cleaning is never a bore anyway because it usually mean collecting the oily reclaim from the cooling chamber.

Im not a fan of the plastic, but it works like a dream. I can get from bud to vapor so easily theres no messing around, because the Mighty heats up so quick and the tools make things so easy.

Grind herb in the Storz & Bickel herb mill...

attach the filling aid to the mighty and wack in the gear...

pull out the filling chamber tool from the base of the unit and tap the weed down...

replace filling tool - Lock - switch on..

wait....

aaaaaand vape.

Heavy Clouds await.

 

[KeroZen]

All this talk about vapor path purity to end up considering a vape with a plastic vapor path...

 

[FR0ST]

Also Im pretty sure Craftys have had more problems in terms of braking etc. The Mighty is more powerful.

Hey @sativasam, thank you for the reply! Yeah this was my biggest issue when considering the Crafty, it did seem like there was a hell of a lot of them going back for repair. Although it seems they might have fixed the majority of these problems with the 2015 release. I thought the Mighty still had similar issues though?

And I'm pretty sure it has exactly the same heating element though, the only difference is that it has an extra battery, and the digital control on the model?

It's really easy to clean. And cleaning is never a bore anyway because it usually mean collecting the oily reclaim from the cooling chamber.

How do you go about collecting the reclaim by the way?

All this talk about vapor path purity to end up considering a vape with a plastic vapor path...

Yeah @KeroZen you got me there... I know it's plastic, but after reading the manual and checking the safety certification, along with watching a video detailing the vapor path I feel reasonably confident that the vapor path is not subject to any off-gassing?

It does make me wonder why Storz and Bickel havn't publicly released any vapor purity test results for the Crafty or Mighty though. (Whilst I believe the Volcano and the Plenty do have public results).

What would you recommend @KeroZen? I was planning to buy a vaporizer today for Black Friday, but it doesn't look like any of these big brands will come down in price anyway.

 

[lwien]

Seeing as you are considering all the popular vapes why not just go for the best - the Storz and Bickel?

The best? Why is it better than say..........the MiniVap?

 

[FR0ST]

Hey @Iwien it seems like you've got quite a collection there! Any suggestions towards what I should get in terms of vapor purity?

 

[nosmoking]

Elevape Smart and Firewood 3 both have killer black friday deals and have no inert materials in their vapor paths. ESV is completely aluminum. The Firewood has a wood body with a ceramic/glass heater and glass mouthpiece and heating chamber. Neither will ever offgas and neither has any plastic near the heat chamber or vapor path.

 

[lwien]

Hey @Iwien it seems like you've got quite a collection there! Any suggestions towards what I should get in terms of vapor purity?

Being that air/vapor purity is your top priority, it's important to mention that the MiniVap is both CE and RoSH certified.

RoHS is the acronym for Restriction of Hazardous Substances. RoHS, also known as Directive 2002/95/EC, originated in the European Union and restricts the use of specific hazardous materials found in electrical and electronic products.

CE certification has more to do with manufacturing conformity to increase the safety during the use of all electronic devices.

These certifications don't come cheap and usually adds to the cost of the product but I would think that in your case, considering your top priority, these certifications would give some piece of mind.

I know that S&B's Volcano is also certified but I don't know if the same holds true for their portables.

 

[howie105]

The LSV has a glass and cremaic air path and is fairly easy to set up to meet individual needs and wants.

 

[mixchu69]

I would vote minivap or esv. I have the Teflon core minivap. If you don't mind waiting for warmup, the vapor is so pure. For my esv, I love the cool and tasty vapor, plus never have to wait for warmup. I love my mighty too, which I probably use the most, just out of convenience. I also love my haze v3 for its versatility (wax and herb). Just realized that I love all my vapes for different reasons.

 

[FR0ST]

Being that air/vapor purity is your top priority, it's important to mention that the MiniVap is both CE and RoSH certified.

RoHS is the acronym for Restriction of Hazardous Substances. RoHS, also known as Directive 2002/95/EC, originated in the European Union and restricts the use of specific hazardous materials found in electrical and electronic products.

CE certification has more to do with manufacturing conformity to increase the safety during the use of all electronic devices.

These certifications don't come cheap and usually adds to the cost of the product but I would think that in your case, considering your top priority, these certifications would give some piece of mind.

I know that S&B's Volcano is also certified but I don't know if the same holds true for their portables.

Thanks for taking the time to explain this @Iwien.

If you see page 6 and 7 of the crafty's manual it states that "The following symbols relate to the power adapter: RoHS". Not sure what this means though in terms of relating only to the power adapter?

There are also some certifications from "TUV SUD" on this page.

Although in my opinion this whole section of the manual seems slightly ambiguous.

I'm airing towards the Crafty or Mighty at the moment, as the jump in price (and decrease in portability, it's not a pocketable size right?) is pretty large for the MiniVap.

 

[lwien]

Jump in price? I just went to Mini's site and from what I saw, there was no jump price.

 

[420time]

or get a sr74x or a kiss alpha but they are concentrates only. from w9tech. or if you want a cheaper one go to oilvaporizer.com they have a sale going on.

 

[FR0ST]

The LSV has a glass and cremaic air path and is fairly easy to set up to meet individual needs and wants.

Yeah I really like the look of the LSV for this reason, although I think I'd like a portable so I can dose CBD's on the go. And take it around with me if I ever need to travel.

I would vote minivap or esv. I have the Teflon core minivap. If you don't mind waiting for warmup, the vapor is so pure. For my esv, I love the cool and tasty vapor, plus never have to wait for warmup. I love my mighty too, which I probably use the most, just out of convenience. I also love my haze v3 for its versatility (wax and herb). Just realized that I love all my vapes for different reasons.

Yeah I'm confident that the MiniVap is a winner for sure in terms of vapor purity.

I've not actually heard of the Elevape SV before! Do you have any information on in terms of the safety of components, air path, vapor / air purity? It looks like a cool little device!

Still very tempted by the Crafty or Mighty...

 

[FR0ST]

Jump in price? I just went to Mini's site and from what I saw, there was no jump price.

Really?

I can get a new 2015 Crafty vaporizer for around £190, or a Mighty for £220ish of Amazon UK. Whilst the MiniVap portable is €469, approx £330.

(I guess I should have stated in the thread that I was in the UK, vaporizer prices here suck).

or get a sr74x or a kiss alpha but they are concentrates only. from w9tech. or if you want a cheaper one go to oilvaporizer.com they have a sale going on.

Thanks for the info 420time! I'll take a look at these vapes for sure. It might be a good alternative for me to get a cheaper (but still safe) concentrate pen vape. Then a good desktop vape for home use.

 

[lwien]

As far as I know, the prices for the Mini that you quoted above are not increases. For the past few years, those prices have been pretty consistent. If anything, they may be less than when what they were more than a few years ago.

 

[FR0ST]

Ah, I just meant that it's a lot more expensive than the Crafty and Mighty is all. It's got an extra £100 on the Mighty.

 

[sativasam]

The mighty does have similar issues but from what I understand a bit less. I think this is mainly because battery's have been a problem with the crafty. As the mighty has two batteries they work less hard and I think maybe less problems there. The mighty is more powerful because it heats up quicker. It also has a longer battery life than crafty. I'm not sure though if this is the best unit for oils as I don't use oils often. I think a lot of oil/wax use might get messy. I'd be interested to know how it hold up to that.

You can collect oil from the cooling unit with somthing like a screwdriver and put it on parchment paper.

Some one mentioned the Haze V3. I think that's worth a look as it has 2 bowls. One for herb one for oil. A bit cheaper than Mighty.

Or you could get a Maud-Dib and an MFLB

 

[mestizo]

Ah, I just meant that it's a lot more expensive than the Crafty and Mighty is all. It's got an extra £100 on the Mighty.

Right now Hermes is having a 20% off sale.
Black Friday code for the minivap site it: MVWEEKENDSALE2015
That will lower the price to pretty much equal to the mighty.

 

[SiDankies]

The Air doesn't have pure vapor? Since when..?

 

[Vakas]

Have you looked into FireFly? The vapor quality was as good as my Evo.

 

[lemmeadem]

A fair few people have done tear-downs on the Airs/Solos and aside from very very early model Solos, the results are nothing but pleasing. The purity of the vapor is inherent with the glass tubes (you can always take the mouthpieces off the new Air stems and just place your lips on the thread at lower temps) and it's certainly cheaper than the devices mentioned. If you don't mind me asking, why the insistence on lab-based, publicly available purity tests? Generally the materials used and an airpath isolated from electronics will tell you all you need to know about vapor purity.

I know you've said you want a portable but if you're looking for absolute purity I can do naught but recommend the VAP2. It's pretty much the be-all end-all in terms of low-price, all-glass vapor path vaporizers. Your choices in the portable range are kind of limited - seeing as you're just coming into vaping, I wouldn't recommend the ESV as other people have - I've used it on and off a fair few times and it requires a pretty hefty commitment in terms of learning curve. You've said you don't want to use flame-based vapes because you want guaranteed hits - I'm of the opinion that you can definitely get guaranteed hits with practice but again there's a learning curve and you're limited to a few vapes like the Vapman/Lotus/VapCap/etc. If you're going to be using concentrates more than you would herb, I'd definitely recommend the Vapman.

I wouldn't recommend a Crafty or Mighty, either, seeing as they still seem to be having troubles here and there and are plastic. Definitely not a Pax/Pax 2. Considering all, I'd either go a MiniVap (semi-portable at its best), an Air/Solo, a Vapman/Lotus or something like a Persei/Cera (although I'm pretty sure they're not being made anymore). Outside of those, I can't personally recommend anything but I know people who would recommend other vapes and opinions are just that.

How's the MFLB for vapor purity? Anyone?

 

[FR0ST]

The Air doesn't have pure vapor? Since when..?

No I didn't say that, in fact I'm sure that the air does have an an excellent vapor path ! All I meant was that on a couple of occasions I had read of people complaining about Arizer's attitude and lack of transparency in the past.

The best example of this I've found is in the following thread: LINK

Whilst this thread shows that the newer Solo models, and most likely Air models too, should now have excellent closed vapor paths, there are some comments about half way down the page, started by "hellomyfrients" and "darkrom", about how there used to be an incomplete seal between the electronics and the airpath. And about Arizer's reluctance to release public data about the materials used.

But that isn't to say that any of this is true or not.

Have you looked into FireFly? The vapor quality was as good as my Evo.

Yeah @Vakas, I was really tempted to get a FireFly. I'm borrowing a friends Lotus at the moment, and it's great! But I feel like I'd like a vaporizer with more complete control over temperature.

And whilst I understand that the FireFly is made to never reach combustion temperatures, i'm still not sure! I feel like I'd wish I'd bought a vaporizer where I can set an exact temperature every time.

A fair few people have done tear-downs on the Airs/Solos and aside from very very early model Solos, the results are nothing but pleasing. The purity of the vapor is inherent with the glass tubes (you can always take the mouthpieces off the new Air stems and just place your lips on the thread at lower temps) and it's certainly cheaper than the devices mentioned. If you don't mind me asking, why the insistence on lab-based, publicly available purity tests? Generally the materials used and an airpath isolated from electronics will tell you all you need to know about vapor purity.

Yeah, almost everything I've read (other than the link above) does indicate that the Solo and Air are excellent in terms of vapor purity.

If I know for certain that the air-path is clear, isolated from the electronics and the materials involved, then I certainly wouldn't mind about a lack of lab-based vapor purity tests. The problem is, from what I've seen most companies don't seem to give out all that information (no schematics of the air-path, or materials involved) - It normally requires a third party to take the vaporizer apart, and then release their findings to the public. (Like the Solo, the Crafty, etc).

I know you've said you want a portable but if you're looking for absolute purity I can do naught but recommend the VAP2. It's pretty much the be-all end-all in terms of low-price, all-glass vapor path vaporizers. Your choices in the portable range are kind of limited - seeing as you're just coming into vaping, I wouldn't recommend the ESV as other people have - I've used it on and off a fair few times and it requires a pretty hefty commitment in terms of learning curve. You've said you don't want to use flame-based vapes because you want guaranteed hits - I'm of the opinion that you can definitely get guaranteed hits with practice but again there's a learning curve and you're limited to a few vapes like the Vapman/Lotus/VapCap/etc. If you're going to be using concentrates more than you would herb, I'd definitely recommend the Vapman.

I wouldn't recommend a Crafty or Mighty, either, seeing as they still seem to be having troubles here and there and are plastic. Definitely not a Pax/Pax 2. Considering all, I'd either go a MiniVap (semi-portable at its best), an Air/Solo, a Vapman/Lotus or something like a Persei/Cera (although I'm pretty sure they're not being made anymore). Outside of those, I can't personally recommend anything but I know people who would recommend other vapes and opinions are just that.

How's the MFLB for vapor purity? Anyone?

I've tried to google VAP2 but couldn't find anything by that name?

To be fair I love my friends Lotus, and I'll probably get one at some point as a backup. But I feel like I'd really like a digital that's more discrete for public use. I certainly wouldn't want to start flame touching the Lotus at work or on a bus or something .

I'm pretty happy that the Crafty is perfect for my needs, small and stealthy enough, and I'm reasonably happy that the air-path and materials are decent as far as I can tell (although it's definitely not ideal being plastic). But I am worried about the reliability.

MiniVap is tempting, but the size is pretty off putting for a portable. Which kind of brings me back full circle to my original choice which would have been an Arizer Air.

Ah... It's so hard to choose .

 

[sativasam]

I think despite all the horror stories considering reliability with the S&B portables, no one else can compete on vapour quality and production. I worried about it braking too before I took the plunge. But I have a Volcano for home use and an MFLB as a back up if that occurs. So I'm not worried. If it brakes I'll send back my unit. If it brakes after my 2 year warranty then it's not that big a waste of money considering how good the unit actually is. I paid£230. That's £115 a year or £9.50 a month however you want to look at it. I'll just get another one assuming there is nothing better on the market. Don't let the horror stories stop you experiencing this amazing vape!

 

[lwien]

I think despite all the horror stories considering reliability with the S&B portables, no one else can compete on vapour quality and production.

THAT is simply not true.