Gear

It’s not hard to imagine why portable vaporizer pens have become such a popular option recently. Now that you can vaporize just about anything on the go, why wouldn’t you? Besides the health benefits of using a vaporizer over smoking (benefits which may be limited to avoiding bronchitis), vape pens are great because Weedists everywhere who have been hoping to smoke discreetly without an odor or other dead give-always finally have an answer!

Atmos Bullet

I’ve written about several portable vaporizer pens in the last year- some that I like and some others that were pretty disappointing. Many pens have similar problems with battery life (the small batteries often die within the first week) or cartridge issues (small wires that short out or wicks that don’t work like they’re supposed to), but the sheer variety of new models on the market is astounding.

After I found the O Pen Vape, I thought I wasn’t going to need another portable vaporizer pen. I still really like the O Pen Vape and think that the simple, bottomless battery and slim design makes for an excellent and reliable pen. However, the oil for the cartridges (either in a new tank or in syringes from Organa Labs) is mixed with a decent amount of propylene glycol, which makes the hash oil thin enough for the small cartridge to be able to use. Raw hash oil is typically too thick to burn right in a portable vaporizer pen, so it’s necessary to cut it with something. However, the chemical not only affects the taste of the oil, but it also may not be great for your health to consistently smoke it.

Since the O Pen does not have a chamber for raw herbs or concentrates, it is a limited option for anyone who wants to have a slim portable vaporizer pen but doesn’t want to smoke oil that has been mixed with other chemicals. There are several portable vaporizer pens that are able to vaporize raw bud and raw concentrate. The Atmos Raw is one of the most popular ones, but as I wrote about several months ago, is really one of those pens with a litany of problems. Atmos has a new model that definitely improves many of the problems with the Atoms Raw: the Atmos Bullet.

Like the Raw, the Bullet is capable of doing both raw flower and concentrates. However, one of the major downsides of the Bullet is that it’s either/or. The chamber has a small spring that damps down raw flower; this spring should be removed to do concentrates, because the residue will get the coil very sticky. Once the coil is removed, it cannot be put back in and will leave you with a pen that only does concentrates (not flower).

Take the spring out and you can't do bud...

Take the spring out and you can’t do bud…

As a big fan of dabbing concentrates, this worked fine for me. If you want to use the pen just for flower, however, I will say that I don’t think that the Atmos Bullet is nearly as good for flower. Because concentrates are so much higher in THC, they make for a better option because you can get more hits before you have to repack. If you want to smoke flower, you’ll only be able to load a small bowl’s worth of smoke in the small chamber (6-7 hits tops). If you have a higher tolerance, this will be frustrating for flowers because you’ll have to constantly ash and repack.

Bottom line: The Bullet has become my go-to pen for dabs on the go. I love dabbing earwax, shatter glass, and other “full melt concentrates”, but I don’t like the complicated process of having to use a torch, glass nail, and dome. The Bullet makes simple dabbing possible- just load your wax, moon rock, shatter, or budder in the chamber and you’re good to go. Just like with the Raw, there is still some waxy residue left over, but this can be burned off pretty easily.

I’ve been able to just take single chunks of wax and put them in the chamber to get awesome, very easy dabs. Because it is so thin and discreet, I’ve been able to take it just about everywhere; the locking mechanism (common on most pens) works great and I haven’t had any problems so far.

Easy to load wax to take for dabs on the go...

Easy to load wax to take for dabs on the go…

Also, the price is great. Retailing at only about $40, the pen is a great value.

One tip: As always, don’t overload the chamber. If you put too much material in the chamber, it will not allow for enough air to come through for you to get a good hit. Putting too much wax in the small chamber will also potentially break the chamber, as too much wax will get the chamber too sticky to function properly. Atmos luckily sells replacement chambers that retail for about $4; this low price is a smart move on Atmos’ part, as it means you don’t have to waste an entire pen just because one part doesn’t work correctly.

One more pro tip: Let the chamber heat up for a few seconds before taking your hit. Even though the chamber is small, it still needs a few seconds to heat up the wax or bud before you can get a good hit. If you wait for 5-10 seconds for the chamber to heat up, you won’t waste all your breath and can take an enormous, delicious vape hit of bud or wax.

The Atmos Bullet battery is also compatible with the O Pen Vape cartridges, so I now effectively have a backup battery should I need it.

Compatible with O Pen Vape cartridges!

Compatible with O Pen Vape cartridges!

Overall, the Atmos Bullet is a great portable vaporizer pen that improves many of the problems with the Atmos Raw. Those looking for a portable vaporizer pen for raw flowers should probably look elsewhere, but for concentrate lovers, this is a great option for a “dab pen”.