Discontinued Pax Vaporizer by Ploom

[Slightly Medicated]

I would say for being mostly conduction it does a pretty good job of roasting the chamber evenly. I would give it a 7 or 8 out of 10.

The top most layer is the stuff that tends to stay the lightest in color. I think the material is passing the heat off to the metal lid, so it does not get as hot as the rest of the flowers in the oven. I think the top layer gets the least amount of conduction heat as well. I would say the ABV is better then the Solo, but it is not on par with the DaVinci.

I feel like I get allot of hits off a fully loaded chamber. It also feels similar to smoking a joint. The form factor and everything kind of reminds me of the whole joint smoking feeling. That was something I did not expect. I could see myself enjoying using this while laying on the couch watching TV. The sessions can last long enough that you can puff through the program.

I have not tried to stir my oven in the middle of a session yet. I think it would make a mess. It might help make things roast a little more even. I will have to give it a try.

Edit: The video is at 55% uploaded to YouTube.

 

[VaporBoxed]

I dunno... it looks fairly uneven to me, no?

Yea its a little uneven, but a good stir and a better grind would help for sure.

I think party modes pretty cool, i wanna try vaping in the dark. Do you think it runs the battery down?

 

[ilovebOObs]

thanks for the reviews so far sm! been lurking this thread alot, just waiting for a solid review before i pounce on one. hopefully this will be a decent portable.

 

[Slightly Medicated]

I was wondering if party mode would run the battery down more myself. I don't know for sure.

I grind using a space case four part grinder. I do a grind till it falls through the holes. I could hold the unit upside down and keep grinding it for awhile. That would produce a finer grind. I know others grind longer then I do. I think stirring would help as well, although I am concerned that it will fluff up and spill over the edges of the device. I will have to give stirring a try on my next load.

I know the company said it would be a conduction vaporizer. I still just assumed they might be wrong and it would be more convection. I think they are right in saying this is a conduction vaporizer. It functions similar to a MFLB but you can't really shake the material in between hits since you packed it tight. The chamber is designed smartly. The heat does a good job of dispersing through the oven. I find only the very center and the very top part of the oven are uneven.

When the device is heating it is producing vapor. That is why if I let it sit for 15 seconds and take a draw I get a bigger it. The slower the draw the thicker the hit is as well. That is also why I think it goes in to standby mode so quickly. It does not sit there producing vapor, once it noticed you are not moving for about 30 seconds it turns down low enough to quit producing vapor.

My general experience with some conduction vaporizers has not been positive. I am thinking back to the old BC vaporizer with the hot plate and glass dome. That being said I am already impressed with how well this vaporizer works as a conduction vaporizer. The oven has been designed proportionally so that it produces pretty even ABV for a conduction style vape. So far it has been meeting and surpassing my expectations.

Oh and we are at 65% uploaded to YouTube.

 

[VaporBoxed]

Does vapor leak from the oven side? The reason im asking is because on the ploom site they show a picture of the unit with what looks like vapor leaking out of the bottom.

 

[Slightly Medicated]

I did not see anything leaking out of the bottom. I will keep an eye out next time I am using it. I know when I removed the lid with the oven pointing up the vapor started rising from the oven. You can see that in the video I am uploading.

 

[Slightly Medicated]

Okay the video is finally done uploading. I will embed it at the bottom of this post. Please let me know what you think about the video quality and such. I look forward to your feedback. (On a side note... sorry about the burn on my left wrist. I got it from the VHW a couple days ago. I was not paying attention, and I touched the heating element.)

To recap my first few hours with the unit. I have enjoyed it so far. It has surpassed my expectations. The clouds it produces are quite thick on medium and high. The form factor is nice. I had a little bit of an issue with the mouthpiece at first. I have since gotten the hang of closing the mouthpiece. The ABV is pretty consistent. It is not as good as a convection vaporizer like the DaVinci but for a conduction vaporizer I feel like it does an acceptable/good job. I will be experimenting with grind and stirring during the session to see if I can improve the ABV consistency. I did not experience any combustion so far.

I actually delayed going to dinner to wait for this to process so I could post the video. I was just as excited to get the video posted as you guys were to see it! I am going to head out now and get some dinner. I will also be testing the device out as I go to and from dinner. I loaded it with a finder grind, to see if it produces more even ABV. I will report back once I get home. I hope everyone enjoyed the video.

My next video will be a video of me vaporizing a fully packed oven the device from start to finish. That way you can see the cloud production and how the devices preforms through an entire session.

 

[RouX]

Thanks for the VERY current updates, SL! -it really has eased many doubts ive currently had.

-One request: After a bit of use, could you describe the cleaning processes to make this thing 'spotless'?
Since i drive state to state quite often for work, i want to have a vaporizer that , is not only sleek, but cleanable to the point that 'sniffers' are unaware. Absolutely despise the 'flower' hating states :/
Thanks for your contributions!!

 

[JoeKickass]

Loved the video but since you have such a nice camera a couple high res macro shots of the bowl and top (take out the mouthpiece) would be the icing on the cake

 

[JoeKickass]

Thanks for the VERY current updates, SL! -it really has eased many doubts ive currently had.

-One request: After a bit of use, could you describe the cleaning processes to make this thing 'spotless'?
Since i drive state to state quite often for work, i want to have a vaporizer that , is not only sleek, but cleanable to the point that 'sniffers' are unaware. Absolutely despise the 'flower' hating states :/
Thanks for your contributions!!

Sniffers can be tricky since the smell stays on whatever you keep your stuff in. I think keeping your car clean and putting things in fresh ziplocks before your trip will be much more beneficial even if the pax is stinking dirty

 

[Slightly Medicated]

Thanks for the VERY current updates, SL! -it really has eased many doubts ive currently had.

-One request: After a bit of use, could you describe the cleaning processes to make this thing 'spotless'?
Since i drive state to state quite often for work, i want to have a vaporizer that , is not only sleek, but cleanable to the point that 'sniffers' are unaware. Absolutely despise the 'flower' hating states :/
Thanks for your contributions!!

I had planned a cleaning tutorial as well. I want to ask the company a question about the removable screens before I do the official video. I plan on filming me cleaning the entire device so people can see how easy/hard it is to maintain. I am trying to use it for a day or two before I start cleaning... I want it to get a little dirty first. Usually I would try and clean my portable devices every other time I get back from going out with them.

Loved the video but since you have such a nice camera a couple high res macro shots of the bowl and top (take out the mouthpiece) would be the icing on the cake

Would you like those in video or photograph form? I know eventually I will do both for the full review. I can do which ever you prefer first.

I just got back home from the restaurant. Had a good dinner. I left the PAX out on the table to see if the waitress would comment on it. She did not even notice it next to the silverware. I guess that means it is kind of stealth? On the way home I fired up the device. I left it on medium the entire time. The whole 15 minute car ride I was getting puffs out of the device. The first 5-8 minutes were the thickest. It kind of tapered off some after that. I could have turned it up to high after about 10 minutes to finish it off. I wanted to see how it did after a solid session at medium temperature. I did not stir it. The ABV was relatively close in color. The top and the very center were lighter then then the rest. The finer grind did help some though.

I keep loosing track of how many hits I am getting. I need to sit down with a stitch counter so I can click it every time I take a hit. Then I will get some accurate numbers.

Tonight I will try to get another video made and uploaded. I want to show a full session and the clouds you get throughout the entire session. Might not have time to finish it all tonight but will get started at least.

 

[Mflbparox]

whats bettter pax or mflb????

 

[Stu]

Soldier on, SM... no rest for the wicked, you know.

You're doing yeoman's work, my friend.

 

[monacokid]

great to hear because im super interested on the number of hits, and was that a 15 min car ride with only one bowl packed with .26 in there? if so was it intensely vaped? the reason i ask is i want to know how quick you can get a session in, can you compare it to the speed of a desktop vaporizer or does it require many hits to finish off the bowl like the mflb?
also excited to see the video of just the cloud production as it seemed the vapor was kind of light in your video but was also kind of hard to tell due to the lighting

 

[Slightly Medicated]

Yea the vapor there was not really a great representation of what you can get. It was also the first few hits of the session really. I am getting set up for the next video. It will be Representative of what a "session" should be like.

The car ride home: It was only one bowl of .26 packed in there. I was hitting it throughout the ride home. Sort of like you were smoking a joint or cigarette on the ride home. I could have quit about half way though, I felt medicated enough at the time. I kept using it though because I wanted to see how long it would last. I still need to get more sessions with the device to really be able to have a good sense of the averages though.

Anyway off to work on the 2nd video.

Edit: My video was at 100% exported and finishing up, but Adobe Premiere Pro froze on me... Yay! I am going to go to bed for now. To tired to keep dealing with the video exporting. I will get to work on this tomorrow when I wake up.

 

[JCat]

I have the same question as monacokid ... for instance with my Solo I can do a session in <10 min (grind, preheat, load, and takes <5 min to finish the bowl). Would speed/efficiency be similar with the Pax? (except better hopefully since you can get a .25 bowl in there!)

 

[m0sh]

whats bettter pax or mflb????

Its still way to early...and also Pax is double the MBLF price and offers fixed temperature unlike MFLB...so two different worlds

 

[ru_frothi]

That is some pretty good looking ABV.

looks very uneven to me. There are brown down peices and then still green pieces.... but he did say only 2 hits?

 

[VaporBoxed]

looks very uneven to me. There are brown down peices and then still green pieces.... but he did say only 2 hits?

I think he did only take 2 hits from that on each temp. The small load is definitely uneven and a little green but the bigger load seems pretty good. Thats about as dark as i'd want to get it.

@slightly have you tried stirring it?

 

[pakalolo]

whats bettter pax or mflb????

Its still way to early...and also Pax is double the MBLF price and offers fixed temperature unlike MFLB...so two different worlds

The answer would be subjective as well. We'd need to know what criteria were used to make the judgment, since whatever makes it better or worse for Slightly Medicated might not matter to another user. Having read The Vaporizer Blog MFLB review, I know SM would explain his reasons, however, so I'm interested in his opinion.

 

[Bluntcrush]

It's looking pretty promising as a stealth flower vape!! Thanks Slightly Medicated for all of your information!! You totally took one for the team on this one! Bravo!! I LOVE the future!!!

 

[Gandalf]

Thanks Slightly Medicated for taking the time and effort to review this vape and make the videos. I've been on a vaporizer buying spree lately and have considered adding this one to my collection, so the information is very helpful.

The Ploom sure is beautiful. Looking forward to more reviews coming in once they start to ship.

 

[TheKeeper]

Thanks Slightly Medicated for taking the time to post information on this new vape. I'm looking forward to seeing a video of an entire session with the Ploom.

 

[Slightly Medicated]

Last nights video is uploading now... I got it uploaded last night, and thought I could just post it this morning once I woke up. YouTube rejected it for the length. I had to do some extra steps to my account to upload a video longer then 15 minutes. Now I am re-uploading the video to YouTube.

The session lasted longer then a normal session. I sort of stretched the session out to the very end. I wanted to see how far I could take a bowl. I think for me a session will last about 10-15 minutes. This is comparable to my session length with the DaVinci.

I tried stirring the bowl with this last video. I think it helps the ABV some. It is easier to stir then I imagined. Personally, I might not stir every session. If I am at home I might bother to stir it. If I am in public or in my car I would not.

I knew the MFLB vs PAX comparison question would come. I did not answer it last night because I had to think about it. I want to try and answer honestly. Personally, I don't use the MFLB anymore. It does not do the trick for me much anymore. I don't like the battery management. They have a pass-through/power adapter that helps that issue, I have not tried it though. For me I would choose the PAX every time over the MFLB. I would also choose the DaVinci, Solo, and ThermoVape (T1 and Evolution) over the MFLB. If you count how many sessions I did yesterday, I would have needed 6+ batteries for the MFLB. That is allot of battery management. I also think the build of the PAX feels more substantial then the MFLB. The vapor production is significantly better then the MFLB. Personally, I perfer almost everything about the PAX over the MFLB.

I am going to work on another demo video this morning. I want to try and get a different angle then I got last night.

 

[kushcabbage]

hah magic who?