The Pax Era is a new take on the vape pen, it uses pre-filled pods that snap right into the Era and then you simply inhale, it heats up automatically and feels very futuristic. Here's my detailed review.

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    Recently, I took a trip down to Washington State to check out the Pax Era.  I snagged an indica pod and a sativa pod to really compare the two.  The Era is really a new take on a vape pen.  It uses pre-filled pods that snap right into the Era and then you simply inhale.  It heats up automatically and feels very futuristic.  As you can see in the video, the Era is really small, like the size of a hotel key.  This thing makes most other vape pens seem old school.  The Era really is a step above and an evolution in the vape pen.  There are some tradeoffs though and it won’t appeal to everybody.

    Inside the pod, there is a two-millimetre silica wick that is double ended for better saturation to get that last drop out of the pod.  It has nichrome heating wire surrounded by food-grade plastics and cotton to help with condensation.  The Era has an algorithm-controlled heater so it’s going to ramp up quickly to your desired temperature then it will enable variable wattage mode to maintain that temperature rather than just continuously heating up.  It is lightyears ahead of the technology in a lot of other vape pens because they just get hotter and hotter as the cycle goes.

THE PODS

    You can only buy the pods in legal States for now.  When you open the cartridge box you can see its very secure, kind of sealed like a pill bottle, so it’s not accidentally coming out of there.  I picked up some Acapulco Gold and some Strawberry Fields.  The THC percentage was really high, in the mid-80%s.  The pods are quite expensive compared to buying regular concentrate.  The average pod is 0.5 grams, which doesn’t seem like a lot but it’ll give good mileage. 

    There are tons of strains from different producers and the variety will vary regionally.  The nice thing about having it in pods is that there won’t be flavour transfer.  They’re also convenient.  The concentrate, wick and heater are all right here so when you’re done just throw it away, nothing to refill or anything like an e-cig mixture.

HOW TO USE

    Your Era will come in a slick little box that slides open.  You’ll also get a USB charging cable and a bizarre shaped instruction manual.  It’s tough to read but does give you all the information you need.  Mine was almost fully charged out of the box, but I’d advise you to just plug it into your computer for a little bit to get it up to 100%.  Now place your pod on the Era.  It can go on either way, unlike a USB cable it’ll work no matter which direction you align it.

    When you put a pod on the lights will travel down letting you know it’s properly inserted.  When you remove a pod the lights travel up.  Changing the temperature is very easy, just shake it to initiate the battery check mode then remove the pod.  It then cycles through the available temperatures and when it’s at the temp you want just put the pod back in place.  Simple, creative and effective.  It’s a great interface for not having any buttons.  Put your lips on it and inhale, nothing else to do.  You can do short puffs or long rips all the same.  When you’re done just toss it back in your pocket.  It won’t accidentally turn on or anything, it has to have air being drawn through it to activate the heater so it can’t unintentionally fire up.

    It also has a cool session odometer to keep track of how many hits you’ve had.  Not a super-useful feature for me but others may find it appealing.  The app is very easy to use, just shake your Era while you have the app open and it’ll do the handshake to pair up with your phone.  It’s an excellent way to handle that for a device with no buttons.  The app can do custom temperatures in single degree increments.  You can also change the colours on the Era just like you could on the Pax 3.

    There is really no maintenance whatsoever.  Pod goes empty, throw it away, clip on a new one.  That’s all there is to do with this piece.  It comes with a one year warranty, and as long as you don’t misuse the Era it should last you forever because all the vaporization processes happen within the pod which gets replaced every single time.  Like the Pax 3 just shake it to check the battery life.  How long your battery lasts will depend on your draw length, and the temperature you have selected of course.  I can get a hundred draws off this battery, which is insane. 

VAPOUR QUALITY

    I could not be more pleased in this category.  Very surprised and impressed by the taste the Era puts out.  The oil in the pods might be the best tasting oil I’ve ever tried.  The flavour from both pods was exceptional and you could discern the difference in tastes very clearly.  It’s also very smooth even through the largest rips.  Any coughing will be from potency and cloud size, not harshness.  I didn’t have any soreness of the throat at all. 

    The size of the hits are incredible.  Keep in mind with this system there is a little bit of PG in the pods so you will see a degree of that in your exhale but it will be mainly vapour from the concentrate.  The Era can be a very heavy hitter, especially for such a small piece.

EFFICIENCY

    I haven’t had the pods long enough to really comment on this.  How long the pods last will, of course, depend on how heavily you use them, temp settings, draw length, etc.  I can say I’ve gotten more mileage than expected from 0.5 grams of concentrate, it just keeps hitting and hitting.

EFFECTS

    I cannot believe how hard this thing hits me.  I feel the effects immediately.  It’s like hitting a dab rig a lot more than a vape pen and the effects are instantaneous.  It doesn’t necessarily knock you out though, you can still just take tiny little puffs and get a very nice buzz.  If you want though, go higher temp and take a huge rip, the Era will get you where you want to be.

BUILD QUALITY

    Like all Pax products, the Era has top-notch build quality.  It’s an aluminium body and even the thin parts still feel solid and not like they’re going to bend.  Even after a few days use the connections weren’t sticky whatsoever so it’s a safe bet that’s a good seal where it connects to the pods.  Comforting to know there won’t be any leakage from this setup.  The Bluetooth and app integration have worked flawlessly and that’s really added a lot to the whole experience.

CONVENIENCE

    Some vapes out there are getting way too complicated.  It doesn’t get any simpler than the Pax Era and it is peak convenience, just load a pod and inhale.  Hard to get more convenient than that really.  Even that one extremely stupid friend that can barely tie their shoes will be able to use the Era.  When the pods are empty throw them away.  No cleaning or refilling to be done.  You get like-new performance every time because it’s a new pod every time.  The size, weight, and concealability all mean you can take this everywhere with you.  The Era is the ultimate stealth vaporizer.

PRICING

    The Era itself is cheap.  It’s only $20USD.  However, you can only use it with their proprietary pods, which are not cheap.  For many, this will be a deal breaker, and I understand that.  People will want to use their own material, or won’t want to pay $60 for 0.5mg of oil in a cute pod.  There’s really no way around that part of it, you can’t easily refill pods that I have seen.  The overall experience is well worth it to me and I would absolutely buy the pods again.

LOVES

    The Pax Era is incredibly small and light.  It feels like something from the future.  The flavour is absolutely to die for and each strain is immediately discernable from the others.  The effects hit me like a jackhammer.  Immediate head rush with no wait time or lag at all.  The convenience cannot be overstated.  I have never used a system that was more plug-and-play than this one with no explanation required at all.  You can pass this to a friend and just say “inhale on this end” and they’ll get vapour, it is ridiculously easy.

GRIPES

    There are shortcomings with the Era.  I don’t like that you have to buy proprietary pods at dispensaries.  You can’t get empty ones sent into less-than-legal states and fill it up on your own.  For now, there aren’t any third party options.  It only comes in on colour, it’d be good to see a red or a blue. 

FINAL THOUGHTS

    The Pax Era is a very compelling step in a new direction.  It’s a closed system and you’re not really seeing that in vaporizers.  You have to buy their expensive pods to use with their really inexpensive vaporizer, but it is what it is.  That aside, the experience the Pax Era provides is as simple and convenient as it gets.  There are no compromises in performance even in this tiny package and the flavour profiles you’ll get from your concentrates will be off the charts. 

    The effects are incredibly strong and onset is immediate.  It’ll be tough going back to Canada where we don’t have these.  I am a convert and I am loving this thing.  If you’re in a legal state with access to the Era and their pods I highly recommend you go out and try one soon.  It is worth the money that you’re paying for the experience!

~KIG, KIS~

 

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Comments

• Do you think the Pax Era will be available in Canada soon and if they looking to make a partnership with Canadian cannabis companies to offer the Pax Era pods?

• Do you think the Pax Era will be available in Canada soon and if they looking to make a partnership with Canadian cannabis companies to offer the Pax Era pods?

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