Collection: Portable Vaporizers

How to Choose the Best Portable Vaporizer?

Choosing the best portable vaporizer can feel like an overwhelming task, and that’s why we’re here to guide you through the process. There are so many portable vapes on the market and we want to make sure you can find the best vaporizer for you. Check out the portable vaporizers below and learn how they differ so you can find the right vape pen for your needs. As you scroll to the bottom, you can read some tips on how to use, clean and fix any portable vaporizer.

What is a Portable Vaporizer?

A portable vaporizer is designed to consume dry herbs, herbal waxes or oils. Most portable vapes and vape pens use conduction and/or convection to heat substances at a temperature high enough to ‘vaporize’ the beneficial substances in your herbs (converting them into a gas that you can inhale), without burning the substance. This results in a smoother, healthier consumption of herbs. Portable vape vapor is also thinner than smoke, allowing you to vape discreetly without bothering those around you.

How are Portable Vaporizers Different from Each Other?

Portable vapes come in all shapes and sizes but the main difference between them is the type of vaporizer. This is defined by the substance consumed when using the vaporizer. While there are 3-in-1 portable vape pens, most vapes are either dry herb vaporizers, wax vaporizers, or oil vaporizers.

There is no best. portable vape for everyone so a lot of your decision will come from personal preference. Your first choice will be the type of vaporizer. If you don’t already have a preference between a portable dry herb vaporizer, portable wax vaporizer or portable oil vaporizer, let’s take a look at how they compare.

Portable dry herb vaporizers tend to be larger than wax and oil vapes and you have to grind your herbs before packing into the vaporizer. However, they provide excellent flavor of dry herbs and require very little cleaning and maintenance. Dry herb vaporizers also tend to have a long lifespan. The E-CLIPSE vaporizer, Stoner Joe's Dry Herb Vaporizer, and Titan 2 Vaporizer are all great dry herb vaporizers, but the E-clipse is the most advanced of the three.

Portable wax vaporizers are a great way for wax enthusiasts to enjoy wax without having a dab rig. Many vaporizers in this category are referred to as portable dab pens because they essentially allow you to dab on the go. However, wax vaporizers aren’t perfect. They can get a bit messy due to the stickiness of wax but this can be prevented with quick, frequent cleaning. Some wax purists claim you can’t get a real hard-hitting dab from a portable dab pen, but our team thinks the Yocan Evolve Plus XL gets pretty close. Its smaller cousin, the Yocan Evolve Plus is slightly more compact and its great features and reliability make it one of our best-sellers. If you love vaping wax but might want to vape dry herbs and oils as well, we recommend buying the SteamCloud Box Mod with a Yocan Cerum Wax Atomizer. This atomizer will allow you to vape wax but you can swap this out for a dry herb or oil atomizer if you’re so inclined.

Finally, let’s discuss portable oil vape pens. These are the most common of all vaporizers due to their ease of use and portability. Many oil vapes take pre-filled oil cartridges so all you need to do is pop in a new oil cartridge, turn your vape on and it’s ready to go. These pre-filled cartridges also prevent leakage so there is little maintenance or cleaning required with these portable oil vape pens. Oil vape lifespans vary significantly. There are disposable oil vape pens that are changed with every cartridge or two. On the other hand, you can use a box mod type vaporizer like the Yocan Hive 2.0 or the SteamCloud Mini Oil Vape. These box mods have longer life batteries and more power and features than a simple oil vape pen.

How to Use a Portable Vaporizer

Using portable vaporizers varies a bit from type to type but we’ll give you some quick tips for each type of vape.

How to Use a Portable Dry Herb Vaporizer

The most important thing when using a dry herb vape is to grind your herbs before packing them. Most dry herb vapes use convection to bake your herbs and a fine grind ensures that the hot air passes over the maximum surface area of dry herbs. This gives you easy, smooth pulls and provides a strong vapor. Once you pack your vape, turn it on by pressing the power button (often 5 times consecutively but this varies) and wait until your vape is heated to start pulling. Take long, smooth pulls for the best results.

How to Use a Portable Wax Pen Vape

Use a dab tool when loading your wax vape or portable dab pen to limit mess and sticky fingers. Grab a dab about the size of a grain of rice and load it directly onto the coils in the heating chamber of your portable wax vape. However, be careful not to press down on the coils as they can damage easily from too much pressure. Once you’ve loaded wax, just close up the vape and turn it on. Portable wax vaporizers heat up instantly so you don’t have to wait to start vaping.

How to Use a Portable Oil Vape

Portable oil vape pens are as simple as it comes to use. Just attach the cartridge to the battery and start vaping. Some pens will turn on automatically when you take a pull while other you need to press a button as you hit it. More complex oil vape pens and box mods will need to be switched on to use. Like wax pens, oil vape pens heat up instantly so there’s no wait time before you vape. Many simple oil vape pens will continue to heat up as you use them so take pull after pull to get thicker, stronger hits. Alternatively, if the vapor becomes too harsh, just wait a minute and let the pen cool down before you take another rip.

How to Clean a Portable Vaporizer

Cleaning portable dry herb vaporizers is pretty easy. There’s usually not too much buildup, but if you feel a clog, remove any screens and clean these by soaking them for a few minutes in isopropyl alcohol and using an old toothbrush or cloth to remove buildup if necessary. Make sure you give them a rinse in warm water and let them dry completely before replacing them. Do the same with the mouthpiece if there is significant buildup of residue.

Wax vaporizers can get a bit messy, especially if you overpack them or leave them on their side right after use, so try to avoid doing either. Buildup within the heating chamber can be scraped when cool and placed back on the coils. If oil residue starts building up in the mouthpiece or outside of the pen, you can wipe it down with a wet wipe or a cloth soaked in alcohol. This cleaning should do the trick.

Oil vaporizers tend to stay fairly clean. If you have a simple vape, you’ll probably replace it before it needs a cleaning. Box mods can also be cleaned like wax pens so just give it a quick wipe if the outside starts getting sticky.

How to Fix a Portable Vaporizer

Portable dry herb vaporizers require very little maintenance and rarely have problems. If you’re not getting strong pulls, the battery might be low so just make sure you give it a full charge and try again. If it’s still not working, send us a message and we’ll sort you out.

Coils on portable wax vaporizers do burn out over time and need to be replaced. This could be as short as two months for heavy users and much longer for light users. Most wax vapes will come with replacement coils and you can find them in our shop when you run out. Always check to make sure your coils heat up before loading a new dab so you don’t end up packing a dab on dead coils. The battery on a portable wax vaporizer can last years as long as you follow a few simple rules. Don’t ever leave your wax vape charging overnight, unplug it once it is fully charged and don’t leave a dead battery sitting for weeks on end.

With oil vapes, the atomizer is located within the cartridge so there’s not much need for maintenance. Occasionally, these atomizers act up and die before you’ve consumed all the oil in the cartridge. If you aren’t getting thick enough vapor, try using a new cartridge. If your oil vape works with a new cartridge, you may be able to exchange the dead oil cartridge where you got it. If you are using a box mod, make sure you have the voltage setting in the range that the individual cartridge requires. Setting a voltage too high could burn out the atomizer early and in this case, you won’t be able to exchange the cartridge. If you have any other problems with your portable oil vape, let us know and we’re happy to help.