I thought I‘d chip in because I‘ve owned both (Anvil and Tempest) for a while now.
While I very much appreciate all of these handheld, high-quality machined devices, to me the Anvil is undisputable king of that category. Here’s my breakdown:
Design/Build Quality: Build quality is just on another level on the Anvil (I have the blue Tempest, anodized…feel is a bit plastic-y even though there’s no plastic involved
), and the mechanism of the bowl being the moveable part (rather than the “cap” on the Tempest) makes a lot of sense to me. I place the Anvil on a magnet, twist it open - no spilling no nothing. I can then empty the bowl, reload and off I go again. I also have different size bowls for the Anvil, so I can prep a second hit in another bowl and just keep going. The Tempest has its bowl integrated into the stem, so there’s no “pre-loading” (unless one had a second stem) and adjustments to the bowl size also aren’t exactly convenient on the fly. But I acknowledge that this is very personal, the Anvil happens to meet my preferences better here.
Heat up: I heat both devices with the Wand. I have the Anvil Thermocore, and I get a wonderful roast with big clouds with around 30 clicks from the Wand — consistent & high quality every time. I just take it out immediately when I hear the big click and off we go. The Tempest also works really well with the Wand, heatup time is around the same as with the Anvil Thermocore, it’s plug n play once its little adapter in the Wand has been properly calibrated (= how “deep” the Tempest sits in the Wand). I did notice that reheating a still hot cap with the Tempest will lead to less reliable results / needs more care taken than successively heating a bowl on the Anvil. But that could also be user error. Both devices are superb to handle with the Wand and super convenient.
Vapour/Flavour: upon its second click, the Anvil is ready to go and produces a thick, tasty vapour cloud with the first draw, every time. It’s really excellent and I fairly quickly worked out how to get the roast I want out of it every time. Flavour is very good as well for that form factor and material (of course, nothing beats glass, at least for me). The Tempest to me is not quite as straight forward and if I don’t watch out, I STILL overroast my bowls with the Tempest from time to time. Also heat transfer into the ceramic balls takes a moment, so the first draw usually serves a heat soak more than a big first puff, at least the way I’ve been able to work it so far. But soon after the Tempest produces a lovely vapour and lots of it too, albeit I prefer the flavour on the Anvil (could be due to my occasional overroasting as well). Where the Tempest really shines is that the ceramic balls hold the heat for longer and so the Tempest extracts vapour on a single heat cycle for longer. In practice that means that I never feel rushed with the Tempest, I can take my time somewhat and still get the most out of the herb I’ve loaded into it. The Anvil cools down quicker, so there’s more “pressure” to take advantage of it all while it’s still hot
Effect: both together with my Screwball have WRECKED my sensitivity, so my tolerance level is fairly high atm, which means I’ll vape a few bowls in a row usually to get to the deeper end of it all. To me in terms of effect, they are quite similar, excellent extraction through and throuh. Where the Anvil shines though, is with its XL bowl, which seems to hold slightly more flower than the Tempest’s bowl at max capacity (0,25g vs 0,15-0.2g). Both produce amazing vapour that few if any of my electronic portables can match.
Ritual: the nice thing about these handheld, well-machined devices is that they make for a nice tactile experience as well. Both are great but I prefer the cigar-like, heavy duty feel and the speed of extraction & resupply of the Anvil. I have mine equipped with the XL mouthpiece (which is a must for the tactile feel in my book
) and it all just feels good. Passing it around and rebowling quickly is also very easy with the Anvil. The Tempest looks more high tech and has more “settings” (multiple airflow regulation points, multiple heatup indicators etc) — it’s flexible and fun and I really enjoy experiencing the heat transfer from the metal walls to the ceramic balls and into the green, but the Anvil just feels better & more “complete” to me.
Price: I live in Europe, so the Anvil with XL bowl and XL mouthpiece + its case end up costing around 350€ all inc if I’m not mistaken. The Tempest on the other hand comes equipped with a carrying pouch, replacement parts and another set of balls for a total of 269€, so the Anvil experience I prefer is also roughly 100€ more expensive.
In the end I don’t think one can go wrong with either, both are top notch handhelds that are extra convenient & functional when combined with a Wand. Me personally, I’ll recommend the Anvil over the Tempest to those friends who want the most “luxurious” experience a handheld can offer (beats out the Dynavaps, Stunner and Camouflet Convector XL I also own). The Tempest feels more like an “innovative” product and would be my recommendation to anyone who wants a hard-hitting, beautiful and novel handheld.
‘Tis a game of margins though, if you enjoy vaping both of these will do great
