The Ubie

[daydreamer]

For the past weeks I have been searching for the perfect, all natural vaporizer. A vaporizer that does not contain plastic, glue, and other toxic materials. For hours I searched online, scouring through all the forums, online shops, and reviews.

After a couple days I happened to stumble upon "the Ubie". To my suprise, it looked like the perfect vaporizer, in that it was seemingly made only from glass, and affordable too. I decided to order the Ubie after reading a mix of reviews so I could receive the ubie experience first hand.

Upon picking up the Ubie for the first time, I realized that it wasn't made completely from glass. In fact, the mouth piece is half silicon and most likely attached with glue. If the Ubie gets too hot, it could possibly heat up the silicon too, strengthening the the release of silicon into the air. I reasoned that I could still take hits without the mouth piece firmly attached. Nevertheless, it was a strike against the Ubie manufacturer which claims that it's made from only Pyrex glass.

Now for the hit. Online I have read several different methods for how to use the Ubie vaporizer. On The Ubie website, it instructs you to hold a lighter just 2 cm below the tip. While this method is supposed to heat the air for you to inhale, it actually is quite unfeasible to perform. First, the air that you heat up, is rising very quickly. In order for you to capture that air, you would have to suck in incredibly fast. Yet the holes are too small for this maneuver to work. Instead, the Ubie vaporizer works more like a conduction vaporizer, as opposed to a convection vaporizer. This means that instead of heating the air, the lighter actually ends up heating the glass which then heats the herb inside. This process doesn't "evenly" heat the herb like the website claims, but actually ends up uncontrollably stinging the contents. Somewhere in between it's original state and burning, vaporizing does occur, but you are left with charcoal'd herb.

If I had to give this vaporizer a rating, I give it 2 out of 10. The two points are for it's attempt at making an all glass vaporizer pipe with a unique design. However, this vaporizer fails to meet the overall objective of cleanly vaporizing. Also, once dirty, it's a pain in the ass to clean. I wouldn't recommend to anyone to try or buy this vaporizer. In the end, all you are left with a charcoal'd pipe that is evidence you just burned a hole in your pocket.

 

[Pappy]

Thanks for the review. You get what you pay for! If it seems too good to be true...
Good luck with your next vape.

 

[Qbit]

Yeah from all reports this is obviously a minimalist vape. Minimalist in design, size and quality.

 

[VB-MFLB]

I owned an ubie for a few months and I rather liked it. Granted this was prior to owning a vapor brothers and a MFLB, but at the time it was an interesting alternative to burning. I would use it at work, where I could sneak away from people near some equipment that had a smell to itself and use this. It cut down drastically on the smell, which was mostly what I was going for. When I used it I would use a regular lighter and place it in front of the three holes, slightly farther away then if I was lighting a chillum, and I'd draw at a slow.light draw to pull the heat through. I never burned my stuff and generally got it brown. For 10 dollars I thought it was a good buy for the size and lessening of smell compared to smoking combustion style. Yes, if you compare this to other vaporizers, then yes its not that good. But in and of it self, for 10 bucks, If a local store around here carried one, I would purchase again. The nice thing is that its 10 bucks, thats generally what a cheap pipe would go for anyways. I would purchase this for carrying around into places one might get patted down or searched. Its very compact. Plus if it is found, your only out 10 bucks. There is no way I am going to try and sneak my MFLB into a place I get patted down, a hard square object is sometimes hard to conceal or convince the person searching that my johnson is square in shape and hard. Its like hiding a joint, always easy and simple. If you play around with it enough and figure out a good grind, a good amount to put it... the amount of stuff in the ubie effects how well it works as well, and the correct distance for the lighter, it can work to the benefits of not combusting. This was my experience none the less.

 

[DaProfessor]

A little long, so long story short: I think the Ubie can be worth it for some people, it's all technique. I think I can learn to use it. So I bought 2 and I'll post a review, once I either accept defeat or succeed in using the Ubie as my daily vape

I remember finding the Ubie when I was a vapor virgin shopping for my first vape. Of course all I saw were mostly negative reviews and I thought it was too similar to a light bulb vape in operation.

Looking at the Ubie again through more experienced eyes, I think it may be a workable idea. My thinking is that it is all in the technique, which the user may or may not be willing to/capable of doing. After rigging up homemade vapes, learning to use them with water pipes, learning how use water pipes (diff water levels, draw speeds, diff setups) to achieve certain results, etc. I feel that it is possible to use many things as a vape, as long as a few requirements are met. Ubie meets these minimum requirements.

After learning to use a friends VG and HD vape, it is obvious that they both can give spectacular results. However, most people need to develop their own personal technique. My technique for achieving consistent results with the HD vape differs slightly from my friend. It's all about the different little nuances each person has to master to get the perfect hit.

 

[Vicki]

I still have a couple Ubie's packed away. I never really cared for it, mostly because it was difficult for me to keep the flame exactly where it needed to be for vaporization. I may use them again at some future date, if I can find a lighter.

 

[gb902]

The Ubie was my first vaporizer, and it was my unique vape for almost one year.
It made me love vaporizing, since the moment I tried to vape some herb (but with tobacco it was awful). I have vaped so many times since the day I purchased it (everywhere), and I learned the tecnique on the first day.
I can load it with less than 0.05g, and get many hits of intense vapor (as soon as possible, I would make a video to demonstrate it, and show my tecnique).
The only 3 bad things: 1- very fragile, 2- particulate falls easily if you don't handle with care, and 3- you can't vape easily outdoor with even minimum wind.
To solve the third problem, I bought a torch lighter... too hot for the pyrex glass, so I have almost broken it (now it have a small crack in the glass, but I can use it anyway with a normal lighter).

After reading many discussion and reviews here, I considered my Ubie only as my first entry-level vaporizer, so I wanted to buy something new (and better), even if I couldn't imagine anything better.
So I bought a Vaporgenie bat, very popular and appreciated, but... I love it only for the design and reliability, and I never got fully satisfied as with the Ubie. I am learning how to improve my tecnique, because I don't want accept that a 50$ so well praised vaporizer is worse than the cheapest and simplest glass tube on the world.

After almost 1 year of using exclusively the Ubie in extreme situations, I repute myself one of biggest Ubie's experts on the planet so I am glad to help if I can, and as I have said before, I will post a video as soon as possible

P.S. The plastic on the mouthpiece shouldn't be dangerous if you use it properly, because it's not situated along the air path. Only if you make a very big hit for many seconds or using a big flame, the glass will get too hot (and the herb will continue to vaporize for many seconds), at this point the risk is minimal.

I'll never forget my first love...

 

[DaProfessor]

The Ubie is a little gem. It definitely has its limitations, but it does work well. I wouldn't call the ubie user friendly. The user controls their entire experience.

I give The Ubie an 8 out of 10. You just need to use it within its capabilities. Nothing compares to it in size and price. You need to use it somewhere with no moving air. I feel the ubie is a car/indoor vape. I wouldn't carry around a VG or HD vape for daily casual toking. They are larger and you definitely would be sad if you needed to toss it if shit hit the fan

Of all the portables out there, I think the ubie is the best for traveling through airports because it is small, easy to clean and unidentifiable when disassembled. I also feel that it is one of the quickest vapes. I can easily down 0.05g in 2-3 tokes. I can get 4-6 tokes out of a bowl that size, but it tends to give me more CBNs than I want (couch lock). For cleaning, I use a syringe to forcefully squirt iso into the main body and mouthpiece. I clean it every 1 or 2 uses. Sometimes I need to use a pipe cleaner to pull out the stuck pieces. I find it simple to clean.

It's won me over in only a few days. The first time I tried it, I inhaled too slow and used too much heat. It scorched the herbs a bit and put me in a coughing fit. I mixed the bowl by shaking the ubie and tried again. This time I inhaled faster and held the the lighter further away. I also removed the heat for the last 1/4 of the breath. I got a nice & smooth vapor.

I'm still perfecting my technique, but here's some tips. I only load it 1/4-1/3 full of roughly ground herb. I think this gives me a little forgiveness if I over heat things. If I over heat with a 1/2+ full load, herb scorches more easily. Use roughly ground herb or only the bigger pieces of however you usually grind. This helps prevent pieces from falling between the glass body and mouthpiece. Also prevent herb from being sucked through the mouth piece or falling out through the diffuser holes if you shake to mix.

When I use the ubie, I hold it in position with one hand and operate the lighter with the other. I place it in my lips so it lines up right between my eyes. This gives me a familiar reference point to help me hold the lighter in the correct position. I also angle it upwards (penguin style) with two of the three heat diffuser holes on the bottom. Seems to work better and lets you see the vape body and lighter flame, again to help you find the right position for the lighter. This position also keeps the herb at the mouthpiece end. I light the flame and hold it under the ubie like the official instructions say. I inhale slowly and move the flame around slightly until I feel heat on my tongue. Then I inhale quicker and monitor the heat with the feeling on my tongue. If I feel the heat beginning to rise quickly, I move the lighter away slightly, then move the lighter back. The goal is to pulse the heat like above, or get lucky and hit the sweet spot where the heat is stable. It all depends on what temp I feel on my tongue.

There are a few things that bother me about the ubie. The glass body is thin. If you drop it onto concrete from any height, I'm sure it will break. The vapor is also fairly dry. However, I vape through bubblers on a daily basis, so I'm used to moist vapor. Also the vapor is not as tasty as going through water. You also need to be someplace with almost zero air movement. I've only used regular flame lighters so far, but I'll experiment with jet lighters once I get one. Might help with the flickering flame problem. It's also difficult to load the ubie without a table and holder. I wouldn't expect to reload it without cleaning it first. It's something you use once. Despite these annoyances, the price, portability and simplicity make up for it.

It's nice to finally have a portable vape that meets my requirements. I needed something the size of the MFLB or smaller. I didn't like the MFLB because the eventual odor the unit has. I also didn't like the batteries I would have to carry around. I bought the ubie two pack and now I just carry two pre-packed ubies, a lighter and an optional small vial of extra herb in a small tin. Best thing is it's easy to stash and if worse comes to worse, I could just toss it and not be out a lot of $$$. I really like the idea of carrying preloaded ubies.

 

[VB-MFLB]

I tended to not clean mine as much. Its been a while since I last used, but im not sure how dirty it got. Are you getting alot of residue or do you just prefer a super clean piece generally? Is it a combustion issue only or does it happen when you get just vapor? Glad to see a nice detailed review and instructions. I use to use my ubie only inside with minimal to moderate air flow. It was nice to have air circulation, as that always makes me feel better with smell and all... as with the ubie if you mess things up you may get a slight smell with combustion, so it would also be good to use around a place that may have stronger odors or ventilation systems.

You totally right on the sneak ability too. Being so small its so much easier to hide.

peace and love vapor brothers and sisters

 

[shantytown007]

I apparently ordered up a pair of ubie's at some point last week (they arrived today- thanks past drunky self!) and just finished testing with about .05g of top shelf- me likey.

Didn't have any issues with combustion or smell, but on the flip side I've had a good amount of experience with the MFLB and the 'tongue thermometer' technique. Anything else I write about it DaProf has already written much more eloquently above.

Question though- can anyone recommend a good case to hold these in? A little too fat for a dugout, a little long for an altoids tin, and I have a feeling i'll get a bloody leg if I try to carry loose in my pocket.

 

[hemp;)goofy8cheerio]

cigar container

 

[PerseusStoned]

Not to readily brandish pointed fingers, but having your only post on this site be a negative review of a product sort of hints at competition mud-slinging. Your review did seem pretty full of personality, so I find it unlikely, but I'd urge anyone to read further reviews before making a final decision about the product. This will doubtless become the place for such reviews anyhow.

 

[DaProfessor]

Question though- can anyone recommend a good case to hold these in? A little too fat for a dugout, a little long for an altoids tin, and I have a feeling i'll get a bloody leg if I try to carry loose in my pocket.

Altoid tin. That's what I've been using. Fits 2 Ubies and a small or regular Bic, if Bic's aren't below you I use small neodymium magnets to hold things in place. You can also throw an ID card or something on top and there is still room to put Altoids.

 

[zoo]

I originally bought two or three ubies around ten years ago to use for smoking opium. They worked ok enough for that purpose if you used a tube extension in that the ubie tended to get a little hot. They tended to foul up real quickly too.

 

[Learner]

Use roughly ground herb or only the bigger pieces of however you usually grind. This helps prevent pieces from falling between the glass body and mouthpiece. Also prevent herb from being sucked through the mouth piece or falling out through the diffuser holes if you shake to mix.

The grind cannot be too fine with the ubie.

It is also very fragile. It doesn't take much to chip or crack the ubie's glass.

Good, low-cost, portable vape.

 

[SmokingElectricity]

i might grab a couple for going to concerts... i see puffitup has them now

got my MFLB past a metal detector at a concert once, not sure if i want to chance that again.

i saw someone posted they used it for opium. how well does it work with hash or pressed kief?

 

[jmoore714]

Use the container from those cyclone blunt wraps. Put a little foam or piece of a sponge on both ends. Looks pretty safe in mine. I defiantly love my ubie. I think i prefer it over my friends MFLB because it seems like you can take bigger hits. Its really hard to use in windy conditions and not too user friendly at first. Its not hard to burn yourself with it either. Once mastered, its easy to take huge vapor hits.For $15 its one of the best buys you can make. 9 /10 from me.

 

[MagicBartender]

BUYER BEWARE!!

VERY Important story...
while I was visiting, my friend ordered off Ebay, what we TRULY thought were Ubies, to try!
She bought them & sent me mine after I returned home.
I was immediatly struck by poor quality & found out instantly that the two parts did NOT fit together at all, rendering it useless!

So, I contacted the "MANUFACTURER" of the *REAL Ubies, Tim. at AmericanSmokeless.com, Who was MORE than kind & said he was sorry. & couldn't understand how it was possible. BUT, that he'd send me another right away! But I'm JADED & Skeptical...You know?

TODAY I learned...YES it was/is FAKE!!! JUST today I received the replacement from Tim at AmericanSmokeless. And IT is a WELL made of BEAUTIFUL piece in which the parts fit to perfection! A COMPLETELY different thing!

I THINK (I say think...because this has ALL just developed today! I contacted Tim to inform HIM someone is selling CRAP under HIS product name. AND my friend who has the info as to from whom she purchased them on Ebay. And, I am waiting to hear more back from them. I will let you know if More develops!) the CLUE is that rubber tip. The REAL one has NO need for that tip!~

I'd really HATE to see Tim, who makes a WELL made & WELL thought out piece, get a BAD name because of this scam-er!
AGAIN PLEASE Be CAREFUL what you buy!

All my VERY best &
Cheers, Magic `*>~[

 

[charliedontsurf]

So in my quest to try every vaporizer and also to find the best low-cost one, I ordered a pair of Ubies from puffitup. After discount, two came to 16.50 shipped, not bad at all, and the extras were awesome, thanks Randy. So what of this little vape?

Dog will hunt. The Ubie is indeed a low cost, relatively effective, primarily-convection vaporizer. It's made of two very thin glass tubes, with a silicone sleeve fitting over half of the mouthpiece in order to form an airtight seal between the two. Both pieces have three smalls holes into one of its end. Aside from the thinness of the tube itself, the actual pieces seem see properly blown and annealed. I wonder if these are American or Chinese made? I have not been able to remove the silicone sleeve from the mouthpiece and hope, nay pray, it isn't glued on. The Ubie doesn't get overly hot at that point at all when used properly, but the idea of it still makes me cringe.

I had a surprisingly small learning curve to deal with. By the second bowl I more or less had it down pat, and found that a jet lighter is far more predictable and clean tasting than a bic, which is no great surprise.

The ubie can be used with a waterpipe surprisingly easily and effectively! All you need is an o-ring and a 14mm female glass on glass joint. I massively prefer using the Ubie this way to using it dry, because while it's obviously smoother through a waterpipe, you more importantly get the instant, obvious visual feedback of the piece filling with vapor, and you also have clear and complete visibility of the bowl's contents themselves. I know waterpipe usage might seem strange to some, but I can't look at a vape these days without thinking how it might A) be used with with a waterpipe and B) how a bag-blowing setup could be accomplished. In this case, I found waterpipe usage with the ubie to be more pleasant and natural than native.

The bowl itself is one of the weaknesses. You have to use a very rough grind because there is no screen, just the three holes in the mouthpiece portion which act as a sort of screen. Too fine a grind will fall along the sides of the mouthpiece while in use, getting it out of the hot air stream. The interior tube should be a larger diameter relative to the outer tube, the amount of excess space around it exacerbates the above problem. Stirring is easily accomplished with a casual shake or two.

It works, and works surprisingly well for what it is, especially through a piece and with a jet lighter.

Edit: it also occurs to me that the ubie could be cleaned enough for international travel, which only a few vapes can really boast.

Edit: I contacted the creator at Americansmokeless.com, who was pretty nice about everything, although didn't answer my question yet about the silicone. I found out the Ubie IS made in America, which is nice. He also said his company has "suffered terribly" because of crappy imitations being passed off as his product.

Edit: the Ubie is excellent for solid concentrates, far better than a 9 dollar vaporizer jury rigged to a waterpipe should be. A normal O-ring will make it mate with both a 14mm GonG and a 9mm slide.

 

[kingpoop]

Hey everyone! I've been lurking around the forums looking for the perfect entry level vape and decided on the ubie simply because of the cost. I figure at 14 bucks (on amazon) I didnt have much to lose! The reviews for the Ubie tend to be a bit harsh though with most saying it doesnt work well. The only Ubie review s that said it was worth it were from here! So I've tried it about twice on some tea herbs but not any MJ and i dont know if im using it correctly. I can taste the herbs but I dont see any vapor. I feel heat on my tongue, the glass gets hot, and I think the herb nearest the end turns crisp. Is that all there is to it? Should i be seeing visible vapor forming or something? Advice please from you Ubie experts!

Modnote: The following 4 posts were merged into this thread.

 

[charliedontsurf]

Not many herbs in nature produce the tasty, visible vapor than our favorite tends to. This alone may be why you are tasting it and hopefully seeing a darkening of the product while not seeing visible vapor.

Since you're new to the business of vaporizing I'll try and make this simple. You are just drawing the heat of a flame into the holes at the end of the device by inhaling. Your rate of inhalation is important insofar as a faster inhale rate will decrease temperatures while a slower rate will increase them. Inhale at a slow, steady rate while very slowly bringing the hot air produced by the flame closer to the air holes in the ubie - just keep closing very slowly until you see and taste your product and have a good hit. The small bowl should cash in 2-5 hits or so. You should definitely be able to get tasty hits of reasonable density with the ubie and proper herbs. Try using a jet lighter as well, and if your ubie has one airhole which is larger than the others, only use that one.

 

[jeffp]

.. but if it doesn't work out for you don't give up on vaporizing. the ubie was my first vape and while i think with time i could have learned to use it, i lost interest; smoking was so much easier.
i then took a stab at what seemed to be the best vaporizer, rather than the cheapest, and bought a Silver Surfer, and even though it was almost $300, I fell in love with it immediately and felt it was money very well spent.
There's some great vaporizers under $200 so if you're inclined do some reading here you could end up with a truly excellent, reliable and easy to use vaporizer down the line.

But yes, you should see visible vapor when you exhale. And more importantly, you should feel it expand in your lungs. Vapor is very tangible, just like smoke is tangible, just a different quality of sensation.

 

[charliedontsurf]

You're right in many regards Jeff, but I think the Ubie is underrated. It's alot more functional than some give it credit. My review/ramble a number of posts back is telling of what I think of it in more detail, but as someone with, like, way too many vaporizers right now, I still think the Ubie has a place as a truly disposable vape. I find more fault with the bowl system than I do the actual vaporizing mechanic of the device.

Kingpoop, if you have a piece with a stem that will accept it, add an O-ring and try it out of glass. It will make the whole process much more obvious and rewarding.

Just occurred to me this wasn't where this post isn't where it should be..

 

[kingpoop]

Im determined to get the Ubie working as intended, dont think i'll it give up anytime soon. Im sure my lungs will thank me! It was this, or a vaporgenie pipe or bat. With my budget though, dropping even 60 bucks on that would have made me feel really guilty. My worries are that since you can only fit so much into the tube and still have airflow it wont be enough to get a full effect. I

Charlie, how long does the Ubie generally last before it breaks, seeing that you said its disposable? If I need to replace it often maybe i ought to get a VG. Also, reading your past replies, silicon? The ubie i received is all glass no silicon!

 

[jeffp]

Interesting concept; connecting the Ubie to a bong with an O Ring. Never considered that but it makes sense.
Just a matter of finding a properly sized O ring to mate with the Ubie and fit over the downstem.
Don't think it would work out with a straight tube as material would fall through the Ubie and into the bong, correct?