Welcome to High Tech, iDigitalTimes’ cannabis-focused gadget review column. Click here to see some of our other reviews or scroll down to get our thoughts on the O.penVape FIY Kit bundle.
If you ever needed proof that big things sometimes come in small packages, look no further than O.penVape's new Fill-It-Yourself (FIY) vaporizer kit. Despite being the smallest vaporizer pen we've tested thus far, and a giant pain in the ass to fill, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the O.penVape FIY Kit to anyone who lives in an area where cannabis concentrates are easy to come by.
As hilarious as it may sound, given my job reviewing various new pieces of technology, I'm something of a luddite when it comes to my cannabis consumption. I still prefer the average bong over a vaporizer. I'd rather sprinkle a little hash over a bowl than use the growing number of dab rigs on the market. And I'm not a big fan of the various foods, beverages and concentrates for sale in medical/recreational states like my home state of Colorado.
So, when I tell you the O.penVape FIY Kit has changed my entire outlook on concentrate vaporization, know that those words come from a man who (just days ago) would never have admitted any form of concentrate consumption could be more enjoyable than traditional smoking. It might not be the easiest vaporizer to fill, particularly when compared to its loose-leaf competitors, but an extremely user-friendly design and price makes the $50 FIY Kit an easy recommendation.
The O.penVape FIY Kit retails for $49.99 and half a gram of CO2 cannabis concentrate averages around $30 (before tax) in the Denver area. That means for $80, which would typically buy you three-and-a-half to seven grams of cannabis (depending on location), you can have enough THC to last most user at least a week. And subsequent fills aren't even going to cost half that much.
At a glance, the O.penVape FIY Kit might be the least-conspicuous of the vaporizers we've tested. The device itself isn't much larger than a No. 2 pencil and the vaporizer can be separated into three distinct pieces. Most of the device is painted matte black, with the O.penVape logo providing the lone splash of white paint on the vaporizer's shell, while the glass frame of the heating chamber lets users keep tabs on how full the cartridge is at any given time. Best of all, when combined with the O Juice, many CO2 concentrates don't look much different from the various e-cigarette solutions currently on the market.
So let's talk about that filling process. As I said before, preparing the O.penVape FIY cartridge isn't an especially complex task. It does, however, require a fair amount of patience and a willingness to sacrifice a bit of THC in the name of overall efficiency. Not much, to be clear. But you'll probably be cleaning a bit of leftover concentrate off your tools, and work surface, when everything is said and done.
First, you'll need to acquire some CO2 cannabis concentrate, which is typically sold by the syringe at your nearest dispensary and/or recreational shop. Once you get home, heat up some water (not boiling) and toss the syringe in for a couple of minutes to heat up the oil. My preferred method is filling a coffee mug about halfway, throwing it in the microwave for two minutes and then holding the syringe in upside down -- so the end with the oil isn't actually in the water -- and waiting a few minutes. Then you'll need to mix the oil with some "O Juice", a clear liquid included with the O.penVape FIY Kit, before loading the mixture into a syringe and injecting it into the FIY cartridge.
It's not an especially complex process; however, filling the FIY cartridge can be something of hassle. Even when warm, cannabis oil isn't exactly the easiest substance to work with. Filling the cartridge generally took me anywhere from 15 minutes to half an hour, depending on how much of the oil/juice mixture I was creating at the time, and it took two syringes, a small plastic instrument that resembled a miniature drywall tool and a fair amount of patience. If nothing else, loading your O.penVape will likely give you a new appreciate for the person(s) who prepare pre-filled concentrate cartridges for dispensaries. But the FIY Kit doesn't need long to prove its worth the trouble.
Once loaded, the O.penVape FIY Kit is like the marathon-runner of portable vaporizers. I can generally go about a week without having to charge the O.penVape, give or take a day or two, depending on how frequently I've been using the device. And a full cartridge is good for hundreds of hits, each of which is thick enough to make you wonder if the O.penVape FIY Kit is actually combusting the CO2 cannabis oil instead of vaporizing it. Your lungs will certainly be able to tell the difference, though.
The biggest downside is that the O.penVape FIY Kit isn't going to be of much use to a significant portion of the cannabis-consuming public. Not only was the FIY Kit built specifically for THC concentrates, which still aren't easy to find in most states, O.penVape's latest creation only works properly when paired with the CO2 cannabis oil extractions popular in states like Colorado. Which means you're out of luck if you don't live in a medical/recreational state and/or you've never seen cannabis oil at your local shop(s).
Charge time can also be something of a headache. The O.penVape FIY Kit needs a good three to four hours to charge, before its very first usage, and a consistent two to three hours of power when putting a new charge on the battery. Neither is exactly a deal-breaker, considering the O.penVape will use that charge for a week (or more), but it'd be nice to see flash charging integrated into the pen's successor.
Like most of the vaporizers we've reviewed, the O.penVape FIY Kit seems destined to be something of a niche device; one that will appeal to a very specific crowd but lack any sort of crossover appeal outside of medical and recreational states. If concentrates aren't available in your neighborhood, O.penVape's latest vaporizer isn't going to do much for you. But the FIY Kit is going to be hard to beat in homes where concentrate consumption is preferred. It really just boils down to your personal situation.
Full Disclosure: The O.penVape FIY Kit used for this review was provided by an O.pen representative; however, the manufacturer was not given any sort of editorial oversight/privileges.
Be sure to check back with iDigitalTimes.com and follow Scott on Twitter for more cannabis-related gadget reviews throughout the remainder of 2015 and for however long the industry continues to churn out new/interesting gadgets in the years to come.
