I’ve been using the original V2 e-cigs for several years now, and a few months back I upgraded to their new V2 Pro Series 3. As far as the e-cigs go, the new Series 3 is WAY better than the original. Better battery, MUCH MORE vapor, refillable, no comparison. Another reason I got the new one is that its cartridges are removable. In addition to the standard cartridge for e-cig liquid, they also offer a cartridge for wax and, of interest to me, a cartridge for “loose leaf.” The e-cig liquid cartridge is included with the vaporizer, $60 for the starter kit. The loose leaf cartridge was an additional $25. I’ve never used a vaporizer before, so I have only smoking to compare it to. , nothing about how it compares to other similar products. The battery, which occupies most of the long cylinder that makes up the vaporizer, is much bigger than the previous model, which was about the size of a cigarette. This one is about 12.5 cm (5 in) long and 1.5 cm (5/8 in) in diameter. They come in black, dark blue, and brushed aluminum. The cartridges are held in magnetically. There’s a little notch on one side, so you just rotate it till it snaps into place. The actual chamber is pretty small, a cylinder 15 mm (0.6 in) deep and 8 mm (0.3 in) in diameter (yes, I measured). That’s roughly the size of two pencil erasers, or two of those brass one-hitter bowls, stacked to make a tiny cylinder. I don’t know how much by weight it holds, but it’s not much. There’s a ceramic ring that shows how far to fill the cartridge, and a rubber mouthpiece that pushes in to seal it up. Filling the cartridge is a bit tedious. The bud has to be ground pretty thoroughly, and actually seems to work better if it’s a bit on the dry side. (I’ve started keeping a little bit in a jar with a bad seal just for the vaporizer.) I drop the ground bud into the tiny opening, then use the included tool to pack it down below the ceramic ring. This seems to be the critical step, and it can be a bit finicky if not filled properly. The chamber has to be filled to the ring when packed moderately firmly. Pack it too tightly, and it doesn’t draw. Don’t fill it all the way up, and you get little to no vapor. Side note: When I first got it, I had some hash dust from the bottom of my jar that I thought I’d give a shot with. It didn’t work, nothing, no vapor. I believe the problem was the same as I later found with bud, the chamber has to be full, not partially full. When it’s filled and the cartridge is inserted into the battery, it’s ready to go. No settings or adjustments, it’s one size fits all. You depress the button, and the light on the end turns red. After about 20 seconds, the light turns yellow, then about 5 seconds later turns green. At this point, it’s reached the proper temperature, and you can release the button and start inhaling. Typically, I can get about 5-7 good hits before the light goes out. I can then heat it up a second time with the same load and get another 5-7 medium to negligible hits. It seems to heat the bud fairly evenly as the discarded material turns a uniform medium brown. Kind of looks like tobacco when I empty it. A few other observations: The first time I tried it, I just happened to use some C99, which is a pretty sweet-flavored smoke. The vaporized flavor kind of surprised me. It was like a super-sweet hit of candy vapor. I was wondering if I did something wrong or had gotten some kind of flavored cartridge. After a bit more experience with the vaporizer and trying various strains in it, I realized that’s what it’s supposed to taste like. It’s the pure flavor of the aromatic terpenoids in the bud without all the crap that’s added to it when the plant material burns. Now that I’ve gotten used to it, I actually like the flavor and enjoy the subtleties in flavor that are covered up when smoking. Because of the small chamber and the effort involved in filling it, this is not the sort of device I’d use for convenience or if I was in a hurry. Considering it takes about two chambers to get a decent buzz for me, it will likely never be my primary smoking device. It’s also not something I’d ever use if I was smoking with someone else. It’s only real advantage, other than not inhaling smoke, is stealth. Much like an e-cig, I could easily grab a few hits just about anywhere without being detected. Funny thing, even though the vapor has very little odor, I can smell the cartridge a mile away, even when it’s been emptied. I store the cartridge in an air-tight container, and the smell almost knocks me over when I first open it. I guess it’s the unused resin that accumulates in it. Not that it smells bad, quite nice actually, but not at all discreet. The only cleaning I’ve done so far is with a Q-Tip and alcohol. It gets it clean as far as I can see, but I have a feeling there’s more gunk inside that I can’t see or get at. I’d like to be able to just soak the whole cartridge in alcohol, but I’ve never been able to get an answer from the company as to whether that would ruin it or not. One final thing, I don’t think I get the same effect from vaping as from smoking. Maybe the buzz is more subtle, but definitely different. Maybe because I rarely vape more than one cartridge at a time, which is about half of what I would normally smoke. But I still think the effect is less. In conclusion, I’d have to say my first vaping experience has generally been a good one. It’s not something I’m using all the time, but it is nice when there are people over so I can sneak off for a few hits without being obvious. Generally speaking, the V2 Pro Series 3 works as advertised, is small and portable, discreet (as long as you keep the chamber sealed up), and is relatively inexpensive.
