Hey guys, welcome to Pete’s Pick, the series where I you give you the criteria and a comparison of two different devices so that you can decide which one will be the better choice for you. But I will also let you know which one of the two is my favourite and that is going to be Pete’s Pick.
Today we’ll be comparing two units that I absolutely love, the Vapbong and the Ditanium. If you’re looking for more information on either of these devices, we have a full individual review on each of them, so check that out if you want to find out more, let’s get into the comparison.
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Design/size/weight
The Vapbong is a truly unique vaporizer, made even more unique by the fact that each one of these is handmade and one of a kind. They have a huge variety of looks available, but even if you choose the same model as someone else, it will not be identical as an artisan and will create their specific piece by hand.
It is a super large and very heavy device, as it is constructed from ceramic. The walls of the Vapbong are super thick which contribute to the weight, but this is also going to get even heavier as you fill the Vapbong with water. The crazy thing about this device is that it is both a bong and vaporizer all in one. So, you don’t run this one through a water piece, it is the water piece, as well as being a vaporizer.
It has a removable ball section which is essentially the bowl and is going to hold your flower, and it also includes a matching loading dish which you can load the ball with, it’s a simple accessory but it really helps to load it. The Vapbong stands about 11” tall and weighs in at an insane 1.6 kg dry, so it is by far the biggest vaporizer in my collection, and probably yours too.
The Ditanium has a square body made from bamboo and it stands about 6” tall. It’s quite a bit lighter, weighing in at a more modest 540g. It sits on little plastic feet and has a light underneath it that illuminates when the device is turned on. This makes it look cool when it is sitting on a reflective surface, but also visually allows you to see when the device is warm, so you don’t accidentally touch a hot device. The Ditanium makes it harder to burn yourself in general though, as the heating element is recessed within the wood structure. The heating element doesn’t sit outside the wood structure at all, so even if this is to fall over, the heating element will not touch the ground which is a great safety feature.
It utilizes a glass handpiece that contains a screen, attached to a good length whip, terminating in a titanium mouthpiece that also works with a 14 mm female joint, making it ideal for water piece usage. On top of the heating element, you will notice a quartz insert, and this is for concentrate usage, meaning the Ditanium is designed as both a dry herb and as a concentrate vaporizer, you can purchase this one to use standalone for either substance.
Heat up time
The Vapbong is controlled by a digital controller with a dial, and it can be a little bit touchy. To dial-in a very specific voltage, which will equate to your desired temperature, will take a very precise adjustment. But once you have your desired temperature set, you really shouldn’t have to touch this again as you can just plug and unplug it to turn it off and on, rather than using the dial. I like to use mine at around 10.7-10.8, and I would give it a good 15 minutes to fully heat soak and be ready to use. It will get warmer faster than that, and I have tried and done a reasonably successful hit after about five minutes, but this has a large ceramic ball which will provide the heating, and this simply takes time to get to temperature fully and completely.
Unlike many devices, they say directly on the website that the Vapbong is safe for 24/7 operation, meaning you can plug this thing in, get to your temperature, and then just leave it turned on forever. It doesn’t draw very much power at all, and this provides for extremely convenient usage.
The Ditanium heats up a little bit quicker, you only need to give it around 5-10 minutes for a full heat soak, and then it will be ready to produce ideal results. As this one is a dual use system with a quartz nail at the top for concentrate, I find that the quartz dish will be ready before the five-minute time. If you put your finger on there after you turn it on, you will find that it starts getting warm quite quickly, and in general you can probably rip a concentrate dab after about a minute or two if you are in a hurry. You adjust your temperature with a dial on the front, and I usually use a slightly higher temperature for concentrate than I do for flower, but it is not a crazy difference, and doing concentrate on my flower temperature or vice versa works just fine.
The Ditanium is also designed for all day use, meaning you can turn this one on in the morning, although I would recommend turning this one off at night, as they don’t explicitly talk about leaving it on 24/7. The best way to use either one of these, or anything with a plug, is with a smart plug. In my Vape station, my desktop vaporizer turns on at 10 in the morning, and then it turns off at 10 at night. This is the best way to set up your desktop vape, and smart plugs are cheap these days.
Vaporization method
The engine of the Vapbong is this large ceramic ball that is fixed to the unit and does not get removed from the device, whereas the other ball where you put your flower in, comes on and off. The device is beautiful in its simplicity, and essentially there is a metal wire that is going to heat up inside of the ball, and it heats up this entire structure, giving you a tremendous heat reservoir, which will instantly wash over your flower, giving you the amazing results this one is known for. You get pure convection vaporization with Vapbong, and you don’t always see full convection devices that deliver the thick milky clouds that you get from this device.
The cord that comes out of the Vapbong itself is not removable, rather you plug this cord into the power system to heat the device up. I wish this cord could also be removed from the device, but it’s a permanently attached piece, so it will always be hanging a bit of a tail.
When you are using concentrate, the Ditanium features a quartz nail on top, and you can either drop your concentrate down into the dish, or you can touch it on the protruding centre section, and it will just melt down. The vapour is going to get sucked in the titanium structure, and then that is going to feed out into the glass handpiece and ultimately through the whip. This means that if you want, you can load the glass handpiece with flower while you are doing a dab, giving you dual use at the same time. I find this gives me the strongest possible effects, it is different than just doing a dab, and it is also different than putting a little concentrate in with your flower.
The Ditanium also gives you convection vaporization, meaning that you are going to get super strong effects as well as great flavour. The glass handpiece does get warm so you could argue there is a little bit of conduction going on, however I don’t think it’s going to get warm enough to provide any notable heating or vaporization, so I consider this a convection device.
Ease of use
When you first get a Vapbong, it’s going to take a little bit to figure it out. As you can’t see through this water piece, you must do some experimentation to get the proper water level. Also, as it doesn’t really have a temperature gauge, you also must do some testing to find the voltage level that you like. The device doesn’t have any lights or indicators to let you know when it is at temperature, so out of the gate it may be slightly confusing.
However, once you get it set up, this is an extremely easy device to use. The loading system with the included tray is ingenious and highly effective, and it’s just as easy to unload it when you’re done. To stir your bowl, simply give it a shake and then position the flower so it settles on the metal screen. The airflow is wide open, and the heat reserve is tremendous, so you can rip this one as hard or as soft as you want, and it just starts instantly spitting out vapour as soon as you inhale.
The Ditanium can also take a little bit of figuring out for your first few sessions as well, and some people struggle with the glass handpiece and how it sits on the unit. It is possible to manipulate the whip and accidentally pull the glass handpiece off which can make a mess if it spills your load. When you do have it all figured out, though, the Ditanium is an extremely easy device to use. The primary maintenance that needs to be done is on the glass handpiece, and that just needs to be soaked in isopropyl alcohol. You may want to replace the whip from time to time as it’s hard to clean whips, but other than that you are not doing much to maintain this. Also, I would do a burn off session from time to time if you use a lot of concentrate to prevent build-up from excessive dab load size.
The handpiece is easy to load, and this one does well with fast hits, but I find it works even better with a slow and steady inhale. It’s a very approachable system for concentrate use, the quartz nail is easy to access and easy to use, and you won’t find too many devices that offer a true dual use function, even at the same time, that are this straightforward.
Extraction (taste, smoothness, size, effects)
The extraction on the Vapbong is fantastic. Being a pure convection device, you are going to get the best flavour possible, and the Vapbong delivers flavour in abundance. If you are a flavour purist, you might want to use this one dry, and the thick ceramic walls will help to absorb some of the heat, but even when using water, the flavour is excellent.
The size of hits that you can get are astounding, if I am looking to do a highlight reel toke shot, I am going to reach for my Vapbong or my Tinymight as they both pump it out notably. The effects are as strong as can be, anytime you have a convection device that spit out huge clouds, you know you are in for intense effects as well.
When you put an adequate amount of water in here, the bong aspect does a fantastic job at filtering and cooling down your hit. For the size and strength of the hits you blow out with the Vapbong, it is remarkably smooth, where you would think it would leave you gasping on the ground while you recover, but it’s quite the opposite.
The Ditanium does an excellent job with either concentrate or dry herb extraction. The concentrate flavour using the quartz nail is pure and lively, and even though I thought that it would, I don’t find that the flavour gets diminished by the whip at all. I would recommend running concentrate through water as it can be a bit harsh dry, but that’s up to you.
The flower extraction on the Ditanium is fantastic, the convection heating gives you amazing flavour, and you can get massive lung busting hits on this one. I also really like the glass handpiece, as you can visually see the vaporization process taking place, which is not only fun, but it also gives you feedback on the temperature you were using the device at, as well as your inhalation speed. The flavour on the flower is fantastic, and with that added whip length it really does smooth the flower down quite a bit when you are using it dry. I really feel this one is designed to be used through water though and using it like that it is as smooth as can be.
Efficiency
The Vapbong does a fantastic job at extracting the active material from your flower, but I wouldn’t put efficiency at the top of its list of strong points. You need to put a decent amount of material in the bowl so that you can get proper vaporization. If you try to only use a small amount, too much air will pass by the flower, and your lungs only have so much capacity, leading to an ineffective hit.
If you do want to temperature ramp you can certainly get some dark ABV, but I find the controls to be somewhat inaccurate, so I try to adjust the dial as little as possible.
When you are having a session with your Vapbong, I would recommend giving the ball a shake between each hit, as you get far better efficiency when you do stir this one. I would also recommend using your finger to scrape the powdery bits that will get stuck on the ball as you shake it, because the heat is directed where the metal screen is, so anything on the sides won’t get touched by the heat.
The Ditanium does an excellent job in terms of efficiency. I like to do small dabs and I feel that is what the quartz nail is designed for, if you put way too much material it will not vaporize properly, and it will also cause build-up to occur much faster. Smaller dabs work amazing in this system though, and you get a ton of mileage from your concentrate when you do that. The flower efficiency is great with the Ditanium, you don’t need nearly as much material to get a proper hit, but you do want to try to have the screen covered.
It’s easy to stir, just put the glass handpiece upright and tap the side, and it will mix it all up. I like to get a little tool in there and tamp it down gently on the screen, as this will give you the best efficiency and enable you to use a smaller load size. If you’d like to change out your bowl more often to get those fresh hits, the Ditanium is going to do a much better job with its smaller minimum load needed compared to the Vapbong.
With the clear glass handpiece, it is also very easy to see when your material stops producing vapor, and it’s also way easier to turn this thing up to temperature ramp your bowl as the temperature dial is not so sensitive.
Favourite things
I love the unique design of the Vapbong. I don’t recall another vaporizer (that I enjoyed) that mixes both the vaporizer and the bong in one. It’s a cool design that really simplifies the process and makes it easy to run this immensely powerful vaporizer through water. The look is also totally different than other devices. Looks are always subjective, and some people just aren’t going to like this, but to me it is a real conversation piece that everyone who sees it asks about, and some of the insane styles they have on these are remarkable. Finally, the vapour output is absolutely insane, the free airflow makes it easy to have a huge hit in only a matter of seconds, and the cloud production is admirable.
I love the dual use aspect of the Ditanium. This one is a viable device as a standalone concentrate unit, or as a standalone flower unit. But the fact that you can do both at the same time, or easily switch between one and the other without needing to modify anything, really enhance the functionality of this one. The unique build makes this a safer choice than an open, exposed e-nail. Even if you knock this upside down, it’s still not going to come in contact with whatever it lands on which is a great peace of mind. Finally, it produces a ton of super high-quality vapour with ease. There’s a reason that this one often finds its way into my desktop set up, it is an exceptionally convenient vape if you like to hit your devices through water.
Pete’s Pick
This was a really tough choice for me, as I would hate to give up either one of these devices. I have owned both for several years, and they still find their way into my desktop rotation on the regular. However, this show is about picking a favourite, so if I am forced to choose between these two devices, in this instance Pete’s Pick goes to the Ditanium.
The Ditanium doesn’t leave a lot to be desired in terms of the vapour production or quality, and it integrates exceptionally easily with your favourite water piece. The dual use functionality isn’t a gimmick or an afterthought, this one was designed from the ground up to be a great concentrate and a great dry herb device. I really like the glass handpiece that allows you to see the vapour production happen in real time, which is not something you see too often with devices. It’s easy to stir and clean, and the on-demand nature and minimum bowl size make this a clear winner for me.
As much as I love my Vapbong, I would really prefer to be able to see inside of the unit so I could see the vapour production taking place, assess how dirty it is, and to see my water level. It is also a very expensive device, and if you happen to break the ball that you load your flower in or the loading dish, you are pretty much out of luck as they don’t sell replacements that will match your original.
This is a tough choice for me. I would give up a lot of devices before I gave up my Vapbong, but the Ditanium sneaks out the win in this episode of Pete’s pick.
I hope you enjoyed this episode of Pete’s pick, let me know what is your pick between the two devices down in the comments, and check out vapenorth.ca and sneakypetestore.com where you can find all of the different products and accessories you see me using in my videos.
Thanks so much for watching guys I really appreciate it.
KIG KIS
