Arizer Solo Portable Battery Powered Vaporizer

Vaporizers

July 20, 2012

Rob Schmidt

Every weedist should have a vaporizer, preferably one with variable temperature settings. My favorite vaporizer at the moment is my Arizer Solo Portable. The unit itself is fairly non-descript and certainly does not look like marijuana paraphernalia. It actually looks more like a fat laser pointer and is smaller than a Red Bull can. The unit is a nice size that fits comfortably in your hand and is a solid piece of equipment manufactured in Canada by Arizer Tech. But that’s just the superficial stuff. More importantly, the Arizer Solo does its job very well.

There are quite a few portable marijuana vaporizer options on the market these days, each with their own pros and cons. The Arizer Solo uses a glass whip (straight or bent at an angle), which adds no extra flavors or smells into your vapor stream. Some units use plastic whips, which can cause taste issues, especially when vaporizing at high temperatures. The Arizer Solo is a rechargeable battery powered unit with a ceramic heating element which heats rapidly. It has a 7-step temperature control allowing for cool, almost clear “daytime” vapor mists or a warmer, nice thick controlled “nighttime” vapor from your weed of choice (more information on temperature settings and vaporization can be found in our previous post).

Included in the box is a small grinder (though we suggest that a real weedist pony-up and purchase a multi-piece grinder) and a small glass bowl designed to allow vaporization of other herbal substances (though my herbal cup has never been out of the box). The Arizer Solo’s 7 temperature settings, used to tailor your vapor, are as follows:

Temperature Level 1: 50° C / 122° F
Temperature Level 2: 185° C / 365° F
Temperature Level 3: 190° C / 374° F
Temperature Level 4: 195° C / 383° F
Temperature Level 5: 200° C / 392° F
Temperature Level 6: 205° C / 401° F
Temperature Level 7: 210° C / 410° F

I highly recommend the Arizer Solo to any weedist looking for their first vaporizer, or just a well-made battery powered vaporizer. What follows are some Arizer Solo tips and tricks that we have learned through our use. What other tips can you share?

Arizer Solo Tips and Tricks:

Before using your Arizer Solo for the first time be sure to let it warm to the highest temperature several times to eliminate any residues present from the manufacturing process and any taste associated with them. This should be standard practice for all electronics-based vaporizers.
Although the Solo vaporizer is very easy to master, start with a higher temperature [i.e. 5 or 6] and work your way down as you gain experience. This will result in an optimal vaporizing experience.
Even when you find your favorite temperature, remember it may be necessary to adjust as needed when using fresher material that contains moisture (higher temp) or extra dry herbs (lower temp). Generally speaking, temperature levels 3 and 4 will consistently yield the best results for Sativas and temperature levels 5 and 6 for Indicas.
It sometimes may be easy to forget, but be sure to hold your Solo upside down while removing the glass stem to reload. Doing this when right side up may cause some material to fall onto the heating element and create residue or clog the small holes the air needs to pass through when using.
Although it is not a requirement to grind your herb finely, it will improve the performance and efficiency of your Solo vaporizer. Increased grinding means increased surface area of the cannabis, which allows more hot air to interact with and vaporize the cannabis (remember to hold it upside down when emptying).
Whenever possible try to let your Solo charge to full capacity in between use. A full battery will go much further than one that is periodically recharged for short periods of time. A battery charge might last 3-4 hours. The charger that comes with the Solo can’t charge while the Solo is in use, so plan accordingly. There are chargers sold separately that allowing charging during use, and there are also car charging adapters available.
Use an old school pipe cleaner to clean the Solo’s glass stems. Simply fold the pipe cleaner over on itself once to make it a bit thicker (more surface area) and insert. If done frequently you can almost completely avoid using any type of cleaner or solvent. Neglecting to clean your stems frequently will quickly result in slightly diminished performance due to clogging of the air holes. Soaking the stems overnight in rubbing alcohol then rinsing out with water is also very effective.
Be sure to turn off your Solo vaporizer right away if taking a break “mid-bowl”. Even though the Solo has an automatic shut-off safety feature, it will continue to vaporize some of your material and cause it to taste stale when you resume use. Despite what many self-professed “vaporizer experts” online may claim, no quality vaporizer will ever result in a “burnt popcorn” type taste when used correctly.
To disable the beeping noises on the Arizer Solo, hold the “up” button on the vaporizer until you hear it beep. This disables all further beeping from occurring.
After you turn your Solo back on, if you hold the “down” button for a second it will go to last temperature setting you used before turning it off.
Make sure you get any leftover material stuck to the bowl-end of the mouthpiece out of there so it doesn’t slowly build up and become a nuisance to clean later on. Also try to find something around the house, such as a toothpick, to poke the air holes in the bowl end of the mouthpiece. The last thing you need is those air holes getting clogged up.
Always take a look in the hole at the top of the Arizer Solo where the heating element is to make sure no material is in there. It doesn’t happen often but sometimes there will be a small amount of vaporized material in there. It is really easy to get out using either a small brush, your finger (if it is not heated up), or blowing in it.