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5drive

It's definitely the best on the market (at least for now) in the catagory of butane powered, portable vaporizers. That heating element is a brilliant design. It does a great job of retaining heat once you've reached vaping temp.

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philmcneal

DaDornta thinks like I do, its good to know great minds think alike PT200 represent! Just need to replace my svape temp gauge, it keeps dying on me! its like 40 bucks for a new replacement but i guess i can take your word for the 1:30 min warm up time

SmokinCool

The vapman is my first vape and a major disappointment. I found it to be tedious to use, time-consuming, and wasteful. At US$140, the vapman is way overpriced for what you get.

The vapman consists of a carved wooden ring with a tiny metal bowl set in the center and a mouthpiece on top. You put a pinch of herb in the bowl, attach the mouthpiece, heat the bowl with a powerful butane torch (included in the kit), and then slowly suck on it. Recalling the vape use study that showed a significant amount of THC can be lost when you exhale, you want to hold the vapor as long as possible, a minute if you can.

Controlling the temperature is a pain. There's no way to tell how hot it is. If it isn't hot enough, you get nothing. If it's too hot, the herb smokes and it tastes like burnt popcorn.

The amount of herb in the bowl is just a tiny pinch, maybe as much as a bong hit. If you manage to control the temperature properly, it takes four heat/suck/hold cycles to exhaust the herb. That's going on four minutes to toke the equivalent of a single bong hit. This is ok for kind bud. But if your herb is mids, it'll take at least five or even more bowls to reach your destination. That's approximately 15-20 minutes of the heat, suck, and hold it tango for what you can do with a bong in a few minutes.

The design tends to lead to scorched fingers. After 10 minutes of continuous use the wooden ring gets pretty hot. If your torch hand shakes a little bit, it takes only a quarter second of that super hot flame on your skin to raise a burn. Don't use it in dim light.

In contrast with the hype, I found the vapman to be amazingly inefficient. Toking the same herb in a bong, I get to the same place with considerably less.

The only good thing I can say about it is that it looks unique and way cool, which doesn't count for much as it's been sitting in the bottom of my drawer for a month and I'll probably never use it again.

I want my money back.

http://www.vapman.com

dj Dozhe

I'm sorry to hear you had such a horrible experience. Of all the hand held, non electric vapes I've seen, this one is the sketchiest. I just got my first vape a few weeks ago and love it. I hope this hasn't turned you off to the idea of vaping.

bongoman

I'm sorry too that your experience with the Vapman is not enjoyable.

I've got one too and am actually loving it. I've also got a Vapolution and a halogen "Home" vaporiser by Element. They fulfill my 'at home' needs whereas the Vapman is my 'on the road' model. I accept that there are trade-offs for the portability of the unit and that there is a learning curve, but still find it to be an effective vaporiser.

I follow the manual - 2 x 3 second bursts for the initial 'cold' bowl with a 2 second gap. A straight 3 second blast when the bowl is warm - I'm yet to burn the herb and get vapor every time. Have you seen the video? I find if I do what he does in the 'using the vapman' video, I get good results every time, without fail.

Sounds like you are heating too hard and too long if the wood is getting hot. I'm yet to experience this issue. In dim light I light up the lighter away from the vapman and can then see where to apply the flame. A steady hand helps.

My initial impression was the efficiency. I know with the vapman that I've extracted everything from the herb. Especially if I re-grind the already vaped bowl and run it again in the vapman.

The bowl is very small and I agree that if you have a strong tolerance or mids, then you'll have to repack. But with good bud, I'm surprised at how stoned I get off a tiny pinch in the vapman.

I don't see the vapman as a 'primary' vaporiser for a regular user - for me, it's my travel model so I don't have to resort to a joint or pipe when I'm out and about. I pack it and throw it in my bag and off I go.

Having said that and despite having two well-regarded electrical vapes, I find myself often reaching for the vapman 'cause I don't have to plug it in and wait.

I think with vaporisers that it's a case of "your mileage may vary" - there is really no perfect vaporiser for everyone and they all seem to have their idiosyncracies especially portable ones.

As for the price, yeah, it is expensive. And that put me off for a long time. But it's still cheaper than the Supreme. And sure, it's way more than a Vapor Genie, but I'm prepared to pay a premium for not inhaling butane. That the Supreme gives you a temperature read out is very nice and I'd like that, but he doesn't ship them out of the USA (I live elsewhere).

I can understand the price when you see the 'making of' video - maybe the manufacturers need to consider a lower cost method of making them. But for now you are paying for a hand made product from Switzerland.

I also think it is best suited for using alone - the bowl is too small for mulitple users. Maybe for two people and you're not in a hurry.

 

5drive

Why do you say that? Have you seen the how it's made video, and the demo of the guy using it? Of all the negatives you could possibly apply to this vape, sketchy is not a description I would use, whether you use standard or urban definitions. It's a well designed, well made vape. Definitely the most intricate butane powered vape.

With vapes, the simplest ones (butane) are the hardest to use effectively. You have to control both airflow and temp. SmokinCool may never like the Vapman, but the fact that he didn't get good results is more due to learning curve than poor design.

Unlike SmokinCool, bongoman is an experienced vaper. I can attest that using the Vapolution requires a little finesse. Although that's certainly no guarantee he can handle a butane vape, his experience jibes with the results the guy is getting in the 'how to use' video. The other reason I know it's a decent vape is that Vaporstore is the US distributor, and they don't sell junk. They wouldn't bother to import a Swiss made butane vape that sells for $140 with torch or $125 without, if it didn't perform.

When you watch the 'how it's made' video of this vape it's easy to see why it sells for more than twice as much as the VaporGenie and Vaporstar. Those two are much simpler vapes. Is the Vapman worth the extra $. Some will think so, others won't. Eventually we'll hear from some users that have used both Vapman and one of the $50 units.

Hey SuperTorch! You wanna loan out one of your Vaporstars to bongoman?

dj Dozhe

Watching the video is how I came to my conclusion. I think any vaporizer that requires you to hold a piece that heats up as used is an indicator of poor design. While there are more steps and pieces to this hand held than there are on the other models, I don't see that as a reason to put it on a higher level. I find the price to be quite out of balance with the actual product. I agree that any vaporizer, especially one powered by butane, has a much larger learning curve than an electric, but a poor design doesn't help.

To each their own. I'm just calling it like I see it.

bongoman

The forthcoming PocketVape seems to solve a few design issues for portable vapes - one shortcoming of many vaporisers, both butane and electric, is that the harder you hit, the weaker the vapor. Which is counter-intuitive.

An ideal vape wouldn't suffer a temperature dropoff if you pull hard.

From the PocketVape videos, it seems he has solved the constant temperature issue. But then again, it seems you are gonna have to pay $400-500 for the benefit.

5drive

Maybe you should ask bongoman how he's able to get such good results from such a poor design.

I agree. From what we've seen so far, the Pocketvape's revolutionary design should put a huge distance between it and the other butane vapes as far as ease of use and consistent performance. It remains to be seen if he'll keep sales relatively low by pricing it high. Some people are gonna pay whatever price he sets to get a vape you can pull out of your pocket, take a hit from, and safely return to your pocket in under 10 seconds. But there will be a lot of people who won't be willing to pay a Volcano price for a vape smaller than a pack of cigarettes. Others simply won't be able to afford it. Warranty and reliability will also be an issue. Making the built-in lighter easily and cheaply replaceable will be important too.

dj Dozhe

Maybe you're confused about something. I gave an opinion from something I saw, and reviews I'd read up until that point. I never said I used it. That means my opinion on this isn't worth shit. Other people have stepped up in this thread to say they've used it and had success, and their opinion counts more because they've actually used it. With oven gloves.
I never said it was a bad vape, I can't, I've never used it.

speaking of great results from a poor design, I have the vaporwarez and I get great results. It would be nice if I didn't have to prop the back up with books, but I do because of the poor design. That's doesn't mean the entire system is poorly put together, it means that aspect was poorly designed.