The Top 8 Vaporisers to Convert Even the Biggest Bong Head!

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! ! ! You Filthy Bong Lords ???

Enough is enough – it’s about time you took a plunge and invested in a vaporiser. Not only will vapes save your lungs… in the long run, they’ll save your wallet, too. ?

Gram for gram, dry herb vaporisers are vastly more efficient, in comparison to smoking; the reclaim from your chamber, known as Already Vaped Bud (AVB), can easily be re-used to make amazing edibles that’ll put you straight to sleep. ?

Through countless religious experiences, dry herb devices have already converted thousands of bong smoking Aussies to the VAPE LIFE.

Friendly Aussie Buds have compiled a list of what we believe are the best vaporisers on the market. These vapes provide a cleaner high than a bong or spliff – and get you super stoned, quickly, easily and effectively.

The Top 8 Vaporisers – 2020 Edition

Here in Australia, when someone mentions a ‘vaporiser’, the association is usually tied to those giant, fruity-smelling nicotine vaporisers… and maybe #VAPENATION!

However, those of you already “in the know” when it comes to dry herb vaporisers are well aware of whole other dimensions to the concept of vaping.

Most cannabis enthusiasts in Australia seem to believe that a cannabis vaporiser can only exist in the form of one of those awesome oil cartridge vaporisers – otherwise known as dab pens – which are an amazing way of enjoying cannabis. Unfortunately, these carts are still relatively new to the Aussie cannabis scene… so, while carts may be the future of mainstream cannabis, there are so many other fantastic vaporiser options available to Australian consumers.

What am I talking about?

Dry Herb Vaporisers – Of Course!

The chambers of dry herb vapes are packed with cannabis flower; in a very similar fashion to the cone piece of a bong. The odd, generally digital contraption will heat up the flower to a precise temperature, producing a vapour.

I’ve been using dry herb vaporisers for over 7 years – and I love them. They have become my favourite method of consuming cannabis.

Why? For me, it’s mainly about the health benefits. I also love the clean high it provides, which allows me to remain functional while ‘medicated’.

With years of experience using over 25 cannabis vaporisers, I feel as if I am now qualified to make recommendations on what I feel are the best vapes for their price and use.

If you need more reasons to vape, read 10 Reasons to Ditch the Bong and Start Vaping!

Cannabis Vaporiser Recommendations for Aussies

This article features eight cannabis vaporisers at different price points. They all have different intended uses, but we’re mostly focusing on the devices designed for heavy cannabis smokers (1.5 – 3.0 grams a day). Lower end vaporisers also feature, however; they’re usually intended for lighter users (less than 0.5 – 1.0 grams per day).

VapeXhale Cloud EVO

Want to replace the bong, without really replacing the bong?

You MUST check out the VapeXhale Cloud EVO!

This crazy vaporiser allows you to filter your vapour through a bong with its percolator, which makes for a much smoother hit. Percolators break up the smoke into smaller air streams.

The bong looking attachment you see below is known as the HydraTube. This is a bong where you insert the vapour from the bottom! These attachments are usually sold separately to the VapeXhale Cloud EVO, usually for around $100 – $250 (assuming you’re buying from an authentic vendor). You can purchase them on DHgate for around $50 AUD.

The Cloud EVO Vape is expensive! But it is, without a doubt, one of the most versatile vaporisers on the high-end vape market. It’s an awesome way to replicate a bong smoking experience.

It’s not the most practical vaporiser… particularly when it comes to its lack of portability. I personally don’t think that sharing it around a room works very well. However… the smooth quality of the vapour is pretty incredible. It’s one of the best vaporisers when it comes to flavour! You can watch a video of the vape being reviewed and used below:

The VapeXhale Cloud EVO sells for around $500 AUD (retail). They’re available for purchase from Australian Vaporisers, amongst other vape stores. This includes a dry mouthpiece, which is the standard alternative to the HydraTube mentioned above. On sale, you may be lucky to find this vaporiser for $350-$450.

Mighty/Crafty

Ahhh… the Mighty and the Crafty, by Storez and Bickel!

These are the same guys who make the Volcano; and they’re excellent portable vaporisers. They’re incredibly powerful – these things can hit as hard as a desktop vape!

The Crafty is the little brother to the Mighty… and is built more or less the same – except it has one less battery, and no digital matrix. The Crafty opts to use an app to control its temperature, while the beefy Mighty has buttons and a screen.

These vapes pack around 0.2 – 0.3g of herb inside of their chambers. The experience of packing a bowl is highly reminiscent of a bong or a pipe, which is lovely touch.

These things produce A LOT of vapour! The quality is also excellent – and they are fairly easy to clean, as well as not requiring much maintenance. The Crafty lasts around 30 minutes or so off a single charge, whereas the Mighty will last around 60 minutes. Another advantage of the mighty is that it can be used while charging… the Crafty can’t really do that.

These vaporisers are not without their drawbacks. The Crafty is known to have a lot of product returns due to malfunction… though, newer models have been released in 2018/19. I am unsure if they have improved!

Nonetheless, Storez and Bickel provides a generous 2-year warranty on these vapes. If your vaporiser dies, return it to where you purchased it for a brand new one!

These things also aren’t a cheap investment! The Crafty runs for around $300 and the Mighty for around $450. If you wait for vape stores to release discount codes, you’ll find them for around 10-20% cheaper!

Personally I have had the Mighty vaporiser for 4 years. It’s one of my favourites. It’s a heavy hitter, and easy to pack, with a long-lasting battery. It’s a little on the large side, but the durability and long life makes up for it!

I would strongly recommend the Mighty over a Crafty, especially if you’re a fairly heavy smoker. I would also take a look at dosing capsules, which allow for precise measurement and distribution when filling your chamber. This allows for easy self-control, and quick packing for when you’re out and about!

Lastly: the Mighty and Crafty both have a water pipe attachment. You can buy it from third party websites for around $30. The attachment makes it possible for you to plug your devices into a bong. The author can attest: this works phenomenally well. You can take huge, smooth draws of vapour, with the power of both of these machines, and a bong! It’s an absolute pleasure.

Vivant Alternate

The Vivant Alternate is basically a smaller knock-off of the Crafty, mentioned above! It sits at a super competitive price – retailing for around $180 AUD – and has quickly become one of my favourite vaporisers. This thing has a few big selling points.

Firstly – the Vivant Alternate has removable 18650 batteries. These are typical batteries in a vape mod kit. What makes this so incredible, is that the Vivant is one of the rare portable vaporisers that can take multiple batteries!

I upgraded my Vivant’s original battery to a 3000mah battery. It can take a solid 25-30 minute session, no trouble. Once they run out, I can swap the batteries with the two I have on charge, and keep going. I have a small carry case for the two extra batteries. Altogether, the batteries can carry this thing for 90 minutes!

Secondly, this vape is definitely one of the cheaper portables. It performs nearly as well as the Crafty, too. Expect thick clouds of vapour.

Unfortunately, the quality/taste of vapour compared to the Crafty is a let-down, to say the least. The chamber is also a little smaller than the Mighty/Crafty. This isn’t to say it’s horrible.

A few important things to know about the Vivant Alternate… you should update its firmware as soon as you get it. This allows you to set the switch-off timer for longer than 60 seconds, up to five minutes. You can download the firmware from the Vivant Website.

The Vivant will shut itself off when it overheats; a feature built into the device, to prevent the plastic from melting. This can be incredibly frustrating during seshes with friends. It’s a better solo vape, to be honest – if you’re in a bigger group, you may be a little let down.

Not to be outdone, the Vivant Alternate has a water pipe adapter. It’s just a basic rubber cover which goes over the mouthpiece – you can plug it into a bong with either a 14 or 18mm hole. The adapter provides super smooth hits, and is an awesome bonus purchase!

Arizer Extreme Q

The Arizer Extreme Q is THE low entry desktop vaporiser. It has a loyal fanbase – and for good reason! The Extreme Q fills up big bags of vapour, like it’s nobody’s business. It also comes with a whip/hose, similar to that of a shisha/hookah.

What makes the Arizer Extreme Q particularly great? Well, for one: it’s an all-glass contraption, providing a great quality of vapour. You simply load your herb in a glass chamber – which sits on top of the vaporiser – and the vape automatically turns on!

The Arizer Extreme Q also happens to have a remote – meaning you can turn off its air pump from your couch! Super convenient! If you ever lose your remote, you can even program a universal one. I did it with my home media Logitech remote, and it worked great! It was an awesome little gimmick to surprise my friends. ?

Should You Buy the Arizer Extreme Q?

The biggest let down of the Arizer Extreme Q is that it’s not all that easy to handle the glass chambers – they do get very hot. The silicone around the glass bowl/s helps… but when you’re incredibly high, it can be a slightly dangerous operation.

The bag fill-up time is also around 90 seconds, which is quite slow… this can also make bong users impatient, because they want that quick hit!

The real his vaporiser sits at only $249 with free shipping. So, it’s quite well priced – and very reliable. The Extreme Q is a great entry-level desktop vaporiser. I would recommend it to moderate users, rather than heavy users.

It is possible to buy a bong adapter, but I can’t comment on how good it is. I’ve never used it, myself. Check it out on the custom shop DDaveMods!

This was one of my first vaporisers. I have great memories of using it with my mates. It was the first vape we had that could be easily shared around. If you’re looking for a great entry level desktop vape… this is the guy!

Volcano Vaporiser

The Volcano is a dry herb legend. I have more memories with this bad boy than any other bong, vape, whatever!

The Volcano vaporiser came out in the year 2000, which means this vape is 20 years old. Today, it’s still regarded as one of the best vaporisers on the market. Volcanos are well known for their fast, efficient bag fills. It’s the ultimate sesh machine! Filling up bag after bag and sending them around a full room is an incredible experience!

The Volcano comes in three editions – the classic, the digit, and now… the hybrid. The classic has a dial, with heat levels between 1-9. The digital has exact temperature settings, shown on a screen.

There are also two different types of valves – the “easy” valve and the “solid” valve. The easy valve provides extra balloons, each with their own mouthpiece. They are intended to be limited use bags/valves, as there is no easy method to replace them. They are great for a sesh! The solid valve allows for bags to be replaced easily by purchasing a roll of the bags, tying them at the top.

The easy valve is a far better choice, in my opinion… but replacement bags are expensive ($$$). Watch the video below for how to hack the valve, so you can use the normal replacement bags.

Bags need to be replaced every so often. Eventually, they get a gunky, oily yellow residue, which impacts taste. Bags can also tear/leak after some time. If you get a Volcano, replacement bags will become a must.

What makes the Volcano vaporiser so special?

The fact that it fills up giant bags of vapour in just 45 seconds. These bags give huge hits; the Volcano’s chamber can hold 0.4 – 0.5g of dried cannabis, easily. You’ll get around 3-5 bags from a well-packed chamber. I typically stop at 4, which helps me to collect more potent AVB for my edibles. Having just one of these chambers entirely to yourself will send you into outer space! You’ll wonder: how on earth did I only use that much weed!

The Volcano vaporiser is German engineering at its finest. They last forever, and will not let you down! They do come in quite expensive, at $550 for the Classic and $700 for the digit. Keep an eye out – they do go on special, often attracting a discount of 10-25%. You can also check on Gumtree and the Facebook Marketplace; they’re known to pop up on from time to time for around $250 – $400.

Volcano Hybrid

In late 2019, Storez & Bickel released an updated Volcano vaporiser – the Volcano Hybrid. This amazing device allows you to use a hose attachment in place of the bag – delivering direct, instant hits, without having to wait for the bag to fill up. It also has an app, offering a bunch of interesting options. You can fill up a bag in 3 portions, at 3 different temperatures! It might be a bit of a gimmick for most people, but this feature may be appealing for a serious medicinal user. It would be super helpful for extracting a specific mixture of compounds that they need from their cannabis.

If you want the ultimate vape to sesh with…..The Volcano is far and away the best pick!

Arizer Solo 2

The Arizer Solo 2 is the successor to the Solo 1. As the name suggests, it’s made by Arizer, a Canadian company. This device is sleek and beautiful. It’s also simple to use.

This vaporiser provides some of the tastiest vapour I have ever had. This has to be thanks to its glass stem/mouthpiece, which Arizer calls an “Aroma Tube”. The Arizer Solo 2 vape has quickly become a personal favourite. Its super-fast heat-up time makes it efficient, and it’s so easy to clean! I get massive clouds – and it tastes great!

The battery life is also top notch. Arizer claims that the battery lasts for around 3 hours when fully charged. I would guess it’s somewhere between 2-3 hours. I get more than a full day of use from a single charge on this vape. I’ve had no problems with it – the vaporiser just works super well.

The unit can be packed with around 0.1 – 0.15g of cannabis flower. In comparison to some other units, it can’t hold all that much. It does go through the chamber fairly quickly… it has to, to produce those dense vapour clouds! The digital screen allows you to select the exact temp you wish to run this vape at, which is a handy feature to help you choosing which cannabinoids you wish to extract!

This beautiful vaporiser will run you only around $290-$320, without any discount! Prices can get as low as $230-$260 – incredible for a vape of this quality.

If you’re feeling a little cheaper… consider the Solo 1, which sells for around $230-$250. It works effectively the exact same – just with a slightly larger body, and no digital screen.

An easy way to clean the mouthpiece is to boil the stem in full cream milk. This will remove the oil and resin. If you wish, you can drink the milk after – it’s safe to consume, and you’ll get high from the oil!

The Arizer Solo can be plugged into a bong with a 14/18mm attachment. While it can be a little awkward to do, it works quite well. A downside is this vaporiser’s lack of portability factor. The glass stem makes it difficult – there’s no way to protect it, other than to place the vape in a small carry case.

This is the perfect at-home portable vape, but if you’re wanting to use it out in public, it’s not very discrete. It also has a chance of breakage. Regardless, I love this thing – it helps me manage my consumption so effectively, and the vapour is delicious.

The ‘Sticky Brick’ Range

The Sticky Brick is garnering a lot of recognition, all around the world, for their charming handmade vaporisers, made in the USA. They require a butane torch in order to heat up a glass piece, which then vaporises the herb.

This method amounts to one of the cleanest and tastiest vapour experiences ever. The vaporiser is contained in a wooden box; Sticky Brick offers a variety of finishes. Since this vape has zero electronics, you don’t need a battery. There is very little that can malfunction with these vaporisers, as a result. The glass piece may break, and may need replacing – but that’s as bad as it gets.

The Sticky Brick range sits between the $180 – $280 mark, all depending on the size and model. The components are also magnetic. This thing really feels like an incredible vape when you’re changing out and cleaning its parts.

Sticky Brick Junior

The Junior comes in at around $190-$210. It’s also all you need to get started with a manual vaporiser. It’s a little harder to use than the two mentioned below… but still, a perfect starter vape.

The Junior can easily fit around 0.3g of flower; this one packs quite the punch!

Sticky Brick OG

The OG Sticky Brick comes in around $250. It is a beast of a unit. This thing can pack 0.5g of flower; you can have a true sesh using this piece. This is a beautiful addition to anyone’s collection.

HydroBrick Maxx

The HydroBrick is the high-end sticky brick vape, is priced at around $280. Basically the same as the OG vape, but it comes with waterpipe/bong attachments. This allows you to funnel the vapour through a whip into a bong (14/18mm in size), for the purest vapour quality. If you’re really wanting to get the feeling of a bong… get this setup! You even get to ‘light it up’ like a bong.

All of the Sticky Brick vapes have an excellent build quality. The company offers a lifetime warranty on the body of their vaporisers. The glass, however, only has a 15 day warranty against manufacturing faults.

When you buy a jet lighter for these ones, I would strongly recommend one that allows you to see the fuel level. A single flame will also make your life easier.

Dynavap

The Dynavap is another American-made vaporiser which has gained massive popularity in the last few years. Much like the ‘Sticky Brick’ range above, it’s a manual vaporiser; meaning you need to use a small jet lighter or (some other heat source) to get your hit!

Manual vaporisers can help bong smokers make the transition from a bong to a vape much easier – the ritual of setting it up and lighting it up is still there!

The Dynavap is basically a nifty metal pipe that you pack on one end. You then put a cap over it, and proceed to heat the cap while spinning the vape. Eventually, you’ll hear a small click. Once you do, cover the carb, and take a hit!

Reheat it further, and you’ll get a pop. That’s when this vape is at temp, and truly ready to hit. The vapour of the Dynavap is so tasty, words struggle to convey.

A downside with the Dynavap is that is really only allows you to fill around 0.1g of cannabis into the chamber. This makes it very hard for a heavy bong smoker to make the swap.

Still, it’s a great way to manage how much you’re taking in! It also packs a waaaaay bigger punch than you would expect.

The Dynavap can combust (read: burn) your weed, making it taste like crap. Kinda defeats the point of vaping… but maybe you shouldn’t let that discourage you. It only takes a little bit of practice to learn how to successfully heat up your Dynavap. Watch the video below as a guide.

The Dynavap itself has many different design models: stainless steel, titanium, and wooden parts included. This makes the Dynavap a pretty unique and, well, dynamic vape.

The best part about the Dynavap is that it’s super cheap! They start at around $80 and run all the way up to around $250 for a custom kit-out. It’s a good idea to read a few reviews before deciding on which model to buy… but know that a basic Dynavap will most likely please you and meet your everyday needs.

As for bong attachments… this thing can (surprisingly) be plugged into a bong with an adapter – either 10/14/18mm. I don’t really know how effective this is, but I have heard some people spruik about it, using a 10mm dab rig!

There are a few other cool options for this awesome little vape… such as using an induction coil to heat up, rather than a butane lighter. There are a few people who have even made custom boxes. Take a look at some of these induction boxes – some of them are even portable!

The Variety of Vaporisers is Something to Celebrate!

As you can see, so many vaporisers exist out there – each tailoring themselves towards a particular demographic of cannabis smokers. Hopefully, this article has made the appeal to the everyday bong smoker, and made them aware of healthier, more cost effective options.

But… I understand, of course – there is an appeal about getting a quick hit. The feeling of pulling through a cone is truly unlike anything else. So, for that reason, I recommend a slow transition from bong to vaporiser. Start by hitting a cone, then using the vape to top yourself up. Try and see if you can use the vaporiser 50% of the time. As you slowly do this, you’ll get more used to the vape high. You’ll be surprised to see how much weed it saves!

Do you have any other vaporiser recommendations? Are you a bong smoker that tried a vape and didn’t like it? Let us know in the comments down there.