Some of these vapes rocked, some didn’t
Tonight we break out some older vapes from the collection – some noteworthy and some destined to be forgotten! On the favorite side we have the RBT Zion/Milaana and the Haze Square. On the dud side we have the Flowermate Swift Pro, the Vivant VLeaF Go, the Hydrology9 and the eLeaf iStick. Riding the fence is the Ghost MV1 – I liked that vape but Troy doesn’t have fond memories of it!
What’s special, and not, about them
RBT Zion/Milaana – These vapes spanked! RBT came out with what is still probably the strongest heater for a vape I’ve come across, but paired it with manual controls. It’s a joy when you get the session right, but is too easy to fuck up.
Ghost MV1 – Really big, high tech, and a pretty penny. Then the oven door would break off and end the story. It’s a shame, because it was a complete vape with great accessories. This was one of the first attempts to make a mass-market on-demand convection vape, and it proved too hard.
Vivant VLeaF Go – This is where I thought the industry would go…a small, affordable, on-demand pocket rocket. Troy consulted Vivant on this vape, and it shows with a rock solid heater and cloudy performance. Unfortunately, they didn’t take his advice on cooling the vapor, and it only really shined on a bubbler. The hits were too hot to take directly out of the pocket.
Haze Square – I’ve talked a lot about this discontinued vape over the last two years. I really loved it for the short ride it gave me. I could pack up to a gram of herbs and take monster, on-demand rips anywhere. It’s the only portable that I felt like I could go out with and not need anything else. I have no proof, but I think this vape died due to manufacturing and materials issues. I would love to see the design picked up again and done right!
eLeaf iStick – The concept was solid and I was rooting for these guys. They were a bunch of growers that like to get together and taste each others flowers. This is the vape they made to elevate the tastes for their demanding pallettes. It worked as intended, but struggled to fully bake a bowl to my satisfaction. For low temp vaporists, this thing was great, and it could mate with most bongs!
Flowermate Swift Pro – This was a full-convection session-style vape that released under this label and the Boundless CFV. It was surprisingly all-convection, and had some cool features at its low price point. It came with an oven tool to remove the top and walls of the bowl so you could change the bowl material. They had glass, stainless steel, and even gold. Mine has a wood ring in it for max convection.
Hydrolgy9 by Cloudious9 – This vape was a disappointment for me. When I first saw it, I flipped over the pocket bubbler and stir tool for what had to be a big, strong oven. This would be great! I was so disappointed to find a small conduction oven on the bottom. That thing had no chance to give me full, lucious hits. And with such a large marketing budget, I couldn’t get away from it!
The Gallery
Here’s some eye candy while you wait for the stream to start Friday night!
Back row from left to right: Swift Pro, Zion, MV1, VLeaF Go, Hydrology9, iStick. Haze Square is in the front.
Here’s a pretty portrait shot focused on my fave, the Haze Square.
The Zion has a stem storage slot and an herb stash in the lid.
Here the Zion is ready for biz with my favorite obnoxious stem that cools anything!
Top view of Zion and parts. Cork stash lid to the left, lid in the middle, and the vape to the right. The heater is in the glass tube on the right side.
I always got a good hit off the Ghost MV1, but it was finicky, expensive, and unintuitive.
The MV1 was pimped out before it went belly up, with an external battery charger and a dosing capsule caddy (shown here on the left).
The Vivant VLeaF Go had everything needed to rock, except something to cool the vapor.
A look into the Go oven on the left, and the mouthpiece on the right. The hot vapor shoots straight from the oven to your mouth!
A cool feature on this vape – you could take out the heater for maintenance. And the parts were nice – ceramic housing for a stainless steel heater. On-demand heat, baby!
A closeup of the Go oven. This thing worked great on a bubbler!
My favorite defunct vape – the Haze Square.
Up and down buttons for temp selection, and a bowl indicator on the left. The mouthpiece stows away in a slot on the side.
When you remove the bowls (right), you’re left with the heater, battery and electronics (left).
Then you pull apart the bowls and you get this. The bottom half on the left and the tops on the right. Each bowl can hold up to a quarter gram!
The top left bowl has the concentrate pad in it, and the concentrat lid to the left. The other three bowls are ready for fresh herbs!
Firefly really changed the game with this heater configuration. It’s also used here and with the Taffe Bowle.
The coolest part about the square was the rotating bowls. You can literally reload in a split second with a quick twist.
I was rooting for the iStick, even though it had many hurdles to clear to make it.
A look down the top into the iStick. It’s a wire heater with a custom ceramic housing and a short silicone sleeve to mate with any bowl.
The Swift Pro was the first full-convection session-style vape I can remember. It launced around the same time as the Boundless CFV (same vape, different skin) and the Boundless Tera.
Another cool feature was the removable oven rings. They had several different materials to choose from to alter your sessions – a great idea that never caught on. In this pic I have a wood ring installed for even more convection.
I really don’t like the Hydrology9 vape. I think it’s because I had such high hopes for it based on their marketing, but the delivery wasn’t there. Who doesn’t want a bong in their pocket!?!
Remove the top cover to reveal the mouthpiece.
Here’s where it shit the bed. All that glass, water, and electronics to power a simple conduction oven that gets easily overwhelmed. Might as well buy a Flowermate.
And this drove me crazy. A stir tool for a conduction vape seems like a waste to me. I know some stir their conduction vapes, but I don’t.
Tell us what you think!
Got questions for the stream? Drop them in the comments below. Got a noteworthy or irrelevant vape from the past to nominate? Drop those below, too. Let us know what you think!
Planet of the Vapes
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Wow a couple of the vapes I don’t think I have seen you guys talk about. It’s funny you can still get the MV1 for about $50.00 Can. Usually in e-vape shops.