The Arizer Solo II Vape Delivers a Crisp Mobile Weed Volcano

When choosing the right vape for smoking weed, partakers have an important tradeoff to consider when it comes to portability and potency. Do you aim for something that’s discreet enough to vape casually while waiting in line at the club or something strong enough to pack a punch anywhere? For an ostensibly portable device, the Arizer Solo II definitely falls on the “knock you on your ass” end of the spectrum. Despite being more than a year old, it still holds up against almost anything else on the market in its weight class.

The Arizer Solo II is technically portable, but this is definitely not its chief advantage. It’s bulky enough so that you’d probably never actually use the belt-clip carrying case it comes with. You wouldn’t whip out the Arizer Solo II at a concert or other public-ish place, especially considering its weight and size. It weighs around half a pound and is too bulky for your pocket. And once the whole thing is on and heating up with its shortest glass aroma tube, it still stands about eight inches tall.

There are rainbow-colored, Gandalf-inspired glass bowls that are more discreet than this thing when it stands at its proudest, tallest height of almost 9 inches.

And yet, the Arizer Solo II is among the best heavy-hitter “portable” vapes that Inverse’s tester has ever experienced, at least in terms of overall quality and value. The company describes it as the ideal wireless at-home device or even the single best vape for communal use in a party atmosphere. It’s even ideal for a quick private puff before walking into a movie theater. And because its battery allows for up to 20 sessions before needing a charge, you don’t always have to worry about battery when on the go either.

Coming in either black or cobalt blue, the Arizer Solo II is essentially a heavy-duty, no-nonsense vape. You can’t get it in any fancy colors and the quirkiest part of its personality is the smiley emoji that says goodbye to you every time you shut it off.

The device feels and functions like a condensed version of the iconic Volcano, shrunk down to an impossible size and made mobile. (But there’s no fan, so you can’t fill any bags — for that, you’ll need an Arizer Extreme Q.)

Inverse’s tester found the airflow as crisp and clean — or as unclean — as you could possibly want.

A decent plus is the LED screen on the front, which proudly displays the device’s temperature at any given moment. This Arizer does indeed heat up very quickly, and you can watch the temperature increase in real-time from 0 to 400 degrees in around 20 seconds (see what they did there?). That’s impressive, especially when the exterior barely registers an increase in temperature against your hand.

You can also adjust the temp to the exact degree in either Celsius or Fahrenheit, though Arizer suggests vaping between 190 and 210 degrees Celsius. In theory, this level of flexibility allows you to target different kinds of cannabinoids in your marijuana, whether you want to activate THC or CBD more.

But perhaps the best part of the Arizer Solo II is its chamber design. Rather than packing a chamber inside the device that leads you to procrastinate cleaning it for months at a time, you instead fill the tip of a boro-silicate glass chamber tube, insert that into the device, and draw from the other end. This “all-glass vapor path” gives it an unparalleled quality of flavor, perfect for actually tasting the flavor notes in more high end strains.

If you prefer a more holistic method of consumption that doesn’t require drawing through a weird mix of ceramic, metal, and heavy plastics, this may be the vape for you. It’s not the best vape for when you’re no the go, but what it sacrifices in the name of mobility achieves a vastly superior overall experience.

So do you want a better quality draw? Or simply something you can use anywhere? If it’s the former, then this is the decently-priced vape for you.

TVape has the Arizer Solo 2 for the price of $239.99, or you can also pick it up directly from Arizer for the same price.

Welcome to Inverse’s Quick Hits, an ongoing series that looks at the future of vaping technology for both tobacco and cannabis with an eye to both new vapers and old hands alike. At Inverse, we focus on the science of anything and use our imaginations to help shape the future around us. With Quick Hits, we want to examine how these new and emerging technologies are transforming the vaping process and re-thinking consumption in tomorrow’s world. Inverse hopes to bring vaping to wider audiences by unlocking new experiences — and flavors — for our readers.