Gearfuse Technology, Science, Culture & More
Storz & Bickel have a hard-earned reputation for building the most reliable and technologically advanced vaporizers in the world.
For over twenty years, their devices have set the standard for innovation within the dry herb vaping industry and their competitors have had to play catch up. Such is the standard of their devices, that their flagship, The Mighty is recognised as a medical device by the Canadian and Israeli government.
Furthermore, their desktop vaporizer, the Volcano has become a synonym for desktop vaporizers the same way ‘Hoover’ is for vacuum cleaners and ‘Google’ is for search engines. Finally, their ultra-portable device, the Crafty is valued for its discreetness and portability.
Last week, their latest vape, the Crafty Plus was released. It is now available to buy in all major UK vaporizer retailers such as Vape Elevate.
Based on appearance alone, The Crafty Plus may appear to represent evolution rather than revolution. However, under the hood, a lot has been improved.
Let’s take a look at the technological innovations of The Crafty Plus
The Crafty Plus has a long-life battery
The original Crafty was one of the smallest and most portable premium vaporizers that money could buy. Its size was always a marvel because it boasted several features larger devices did not have. However, sacrifices had to be made and that sacrifice was battery life.
The original Crafty is powered by just one 2,600mAh lithium-ion battery cell that will just about stretch to six ten minute sessions. This was considered quite poor for a £200+ vaporizer.
Somehow, they have managed to keep the Crafty Plus the same size whilst increasing the battery capacity by 50%. You can expect 90 mins of oven time which is enough to expect around ten sessions. This is more than enough to last even hardcore vapers an entire day.
Also charging time has been improved. The previous iteration of the Crafty took two hours to charge. The Crafty plus only 1.5 hours; a massive improvement!
The Air-Cooling Unit is a feat of engineering
Temperature can play a massive part in the taste of the vapour. Generally, the cooler the temperature of vapour, the better it will taste. Unfortunately, by their very nature, vaporizers rely on hot temperatures to evaporate the content of the oven. Hot vapour tends to taste pretty harsh on the back of the throat, especially after a big inhale.
The Crafty Plus tackles this problem with a nifty piece of innovation that really displays the genius of Storz & Bickel’s engineers; the Air Cooling unit.
The Air Cooling Unit is a compartment that sits between the mouthpiece and the oven. Inside, there are specially designed ridges that the vapour must travel past before you inhale it.
I’m not quite sure how, but these ridges have a cooling effect and somehow brings the vapour down to almost room temperature. The result is some of the most flavourful clouds you will have ever experienced.
Hybrid Heating Technology
Dry herb vaporizers typically make use of one of the two main heating technologies; conduction or convection.
Conduction means to heat via touch. Conduction heaters heat by direct contact. The vaping materials that are closest to the heating element are heated first and they, in turn, heat the material next to them; kind of like a chain reaction. To use a cooking analogy, they are like heating food over a fire.
Conduction vaporizers are great because they reach vaping temperature typically in under 30 seconds. However, because they rely on direct contact, the vaping material closest to the heating element can be at risk of combustion.
On the other hand, convection vaporizers work by heating the air inside the oven. This hot air then creates a hot atmosphere which in turn heats the vaping materials.
Convection vaporizers have the advantage of heating an entire oven’s contents evenly and efficiently. However, because it is the newer technology, convection vaporizers also tend to be more expensive. Also, they can take over a minute to heat up too.
The Crafty Plus’ hybrid heating technology takes the advantages of both conduction and convection whilst simultaneously eliminating their disadvantages.
The result of this innovation is maximum extraction from your herbs and quick and efficient heating.
The Crafty Plus is easy to use
The Crafty Plus has so many technological innovations that it is reasonable to assume it would be difficult to use.
However, that assumption couldn’t be further from the truth! The Crafty Plus is fully operational from a single button on the bottom of the device. From here, you can turn the vaporizer on and off as well as adjust the temperature.
There are now three temperature settings to choose from which is an upgrade from the original Crafty’s two. Also, the device has an extra heat setting called ‘boost mode’. you can use this towards the end of a session to maximise the level of extraction from your herbs.
The oven is quick and easy to load. You just use the grinder that comes in the box and use the funnel to knock the contents into the oven.
Most importantly, the Creafy plus has an almost non-existent learning curve. It has a nice, low draw resistance which means you just take it out of the box and be inhaling clouds with minimal effort required.
Finally, another feature that adds to its ease of use its smartphone app that can be downloaded for both Android and iOS.
The app adds several features to the Crafty Plus. Best of all is the ability to change the pre-programmed temperatures. This is nice for those of us who value personalization.
The app is a must-have download for Crafty Plus owners.
The Crafty Plus is portable and discreet
One of the original Crafty’s unique selling points was its high degree of portability. Fortunately, the Crafty Plus is just as portable and discreet.
The Crafty Plus has exactly the same dimensions and weight of the old unit. This is great. It means it’ll fit into even the tightest pockets and you’ll hardly even know it is there!
