Best Weed Vaporizers for Every User: How to Find the Right Vape

Updated on 2/7/2022 at 11:31 AM

Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all in cannabis. Flower shoppers get dozens of options on modern strain menus. Edibles enthusiasts have a cornucopia of flavors and textures at their fingertips. The options for cannabis experiences expand every day, and that includes vaporizers—devices that heat flower and/or oil rather than burn through combustion (combustion = via pipe or joint). It's not just about a range of aesthetics and pricing in vaporization options; it's a whole world of radically different forms of technology, concentrate consistencies, and lifestyle preferences, and it's only getting more interesting.

Here's our guide of the best vapes for every kind of cannabis vaper.

I am a flower girl; I understand the hesitation with the new mechanical world. But when it comes to a low-maintenance, compact, physically small vaporizer that operates with the quality of a device much larger, the Dash is the perfect transition piece for glass/joint diehards to incorporate vaping into their lives. It's lightweight, while still containing a glass glazed stainless steel heating chamber that hits three temperature settings (375º F, 401º F, and 428º F). No bells; no whistles; just a great flower vaporizer for anywhere.

Medical grade components, from the all-ceramic air path to the glass-lined oven. Dual use for concentrates and flower. The latest from high-tech and high design brand DaVinci really takes custom controls to a whole new level (and they backed it up with a ten year warranty to boot). Not only can you customize temperature, but you can customize the actual air flow and adjust for easier draws or bigger, denser vapor. You can input the potency percentage of your strain and the amount of herb or extracts, and your IQ2 will track and report the actual dose of cannabinoids per draw and per session.

You know the one. The edgelord friend who's never one to follow the trends. Absolutely zero judgment here—I owned a Microsoft Zune. Firefly has been the Android to PAX for years, and while the latter invested in the cartridge form, Firefly stayed the course to create the best version of their unique devices, which use a distinct heating mechanism to fluctuate the temperature throughout your draw. They prioritized the perfect draw itself, refining the volume and pull of the inhale over the different models. It also cools down super fast—a major perk for everyone who's burned their lip on a scalding mouthpiece before.

There's a big price jump with this one, but that's because this has remained the ultimate standalone flower vaporizer for over 20 years. This is the one where the bag fills up with vapor, and you sip your hits as you like off the bag. Like a cordless hookah. The controls are simple and straightforward, and there is not a smoother hit out there. If you choose to invest in a trusty Volcano, you can rest assured it will probably be the last vape you ever buy. And if you’ve got warmer-toned decor in your living room, they dropped a 24k gold-plated version of the classic.

I get it, the thought of dealing with loose concentrates is intimidating. There's nothing wrong with enjoying the ease of the classic, 510 thread vape cartridges you buy at dispensaries or CBD stores. But that's not the end of your options, either. PAX makes their uniquely sized version of a reusable, rechargeable vape pen that can be used with PAX Era Life cartridges available in many legal states, often with many of the state's best and brightest cultivators. G Pen has a similar thing going with their Gio vape pen, designed for exclusive use with Gio cartridges, which are broadly available. These models will be built better, with less risk of the operational errors that come with the average reusable batteries sold next to cartridges in dispensaries.

When I visited Japan a couple years ago, I saw people placing their cigarettes into small handheld vaporizers to basically vape cigs indoors. This is that same concept, but instead of having to roll an entire joint to vape it, Omura constructed little tubes for filling with fresh ground flower. The entire device is very compact, very chic, and still uses the same heat-not-burn technology that vaporizes flower without producing carcinogens, all designed by award-winning industrial designer Michael Young. For people who aren't into the messiness of filling and cleaning the oven inside your vape, this efficient, cartridge-like experience may possess a certain appeal.

It may not be shocking to hear that Dr. Dabber takes dabs very seriously. This is like the Volcano of concentrate vaporizers. It has capacity for six temperature settings from 500-750° F, a quartz bowl with seamless flow to the glass mouthpiece, impressive battery life—a request often brought up in the feedback from tens of thousands of customers that informed this latest redesign—plus very slick ambient lighting details along the sides.

Not every vape enthusiast resides in a weed-friendly state. For those requiring a more subtle device, who don't necessarily want to sacrifice function, this line of petite oil vaporizers is worth considering. A compact pack-and-go style, this is the smallest, sleekest vaporizer I’ve seen that allows you to fill it with your concentrate of choice. Their pens feature a patented air flow technology that uses circulation to help users get every last bit of cannabinoids and terpenes through the last draw, and they come in a variety of fun jewel tones.

Calling all custom builders and chronic tinkerers: this one's for you. Vuber has a patented glass filtering system that promises the best flavor in the industry, acting as a "better barrier than ceramic" and reducing clogging issues. They designed airflow to accommodate high-volume hits, and most impressively—the Core cartridge can handle almost all ranges of viscosity. Pick your concentrate, fill the cartridge, and pop in their patented Pulse battery for the ultimate pull. The Pulse reads the resistance of the cartridge and automatically optimizes the settings for a consistent hit, regardless of viscosity (and yes, you tinkerers can put it into manual mode for dialing in your own settings). An LED screen indicates battery life, resistance, voltage, and wattage.

That's right—lasers. There's no heating of metal or plastic going on. The Beam uses light to heat the oil, which allows for vaporization at a lower temperature that preserves terpenes (usually the first to burn off when temperatures rise). It can handle sticky resins and distillates as well as solids like budders and wax, and it's impressively compact for all that science inside. This is the cutting edge of vaporizing, and the endearing part is it started with the founders disassembling a Bluray player. Now, every premium Beam piece is designed and assembled in Petaluma, California.