Vaporizer type: Desktop
Heating type: Convection
Materials: Dry herb/concentrate
Best features: Best dual use vaporizer on the market, amazing vapour quality, massive hits, water pipe integration, incredibly strong effects
Worst features: Unit gets uncomfortably warm after a while, nails are impossible to get clean, could benefit from an upgraded interface
Watch Video Review Here:
Overview: The VapeXhale Cloud Evo is a tremendously effective desktop vaporizer. This is the only vaporizer that I’ve used that works as well with dry herb as it does with concentrate, and vice versa. The Perpetua-Heat system does an excellent job of maintaining temperature once it gets there, and delivers some exceptionally large hits. That all sounds pretty good - but I haven’t even got to the best part. This vaporizer is designed to be used with water pipes; either your own existing rig or their proprietary Hydratube system, which I highly recommend. Massive, smooth, water-cooled hits - sign me up.
How to use: This is a very straightforward vaporizer to use, it’s easy to get good hits time after time. Turn the unit on my flicking the switch, and you’ll see an LED light up the glass piece on the top of the unit. This can be hard to see in the light, I really with they included an LED indicator on the body as well. The light is red when it’s heating up, and goes to green when it’s arrived at temperature. If you leave it on for too long and the unit gets too hot, it has an auto heater shut off, though the LED will blink between red/green letting you know to turn the switch off. The adjust the temperature, simply rotate the dial to your desired position, left being cooler and right hotter. I keep my temperature between 12-3 o’clock, I get the best results at those settings.
To use it with dry herb first you’re going to fill an Herb Basket with medium to fine ground material. Fill the basket 1/3 - 2/3 of the way up, don’t pack it in there so it can dance around when you’re hitting it. Place the Herb Basket into the top of your Cloud Evo, and let it get to temperature for around 20 seconds. I find I get better results doing this compared to hitting it right away, but experiment on your own. Next place your Hydratube onto the top of the vaporizer, and start inhaling. I like to toke long and hard with this thing, the heater can match whatever you have in you and the toke will be super smooth. Towards the end of your hit lift the Hydratube up and take the shotgun, this will launch you into the next stratosphere on occasion. I usually load enough herb for 2 huge hits, then to empty it just shake it while it’s warm over your ABV container.
To use it with concentrate, place a small amount in a VapeXNail, they recommend around a grain of rice as a starting point, though I’ve used about half of that and got a great hit. Place the nail into the Cloud Evo, place your Hydratube on top, and wait around 10 seconds for it to get to temperature. Then you simply inhale, taking the shotgun towards the end of the hit. A little residue is usually left after your hit, so I put the nail back into the unit while it cools off to ‘burn’ that material right out of there.
Cleaning: The Cloud Evo itself won’t really require any maintenance aside from a quick wipe of the upper glass piece with a napkin/isopropyl combo. The clean the Herb Basket, simply shake in a bag of isopropyl and it’ll come sparkling clean. The VapeXNails will get stained, it’s pretty much impossible to avoid, but you can still get them pretty clean. Put the nail into the unit, and turn the heater to max. Leave this on for 15-20 minutes, then leave it in the unit to cool. This will take care of a lot of buildup, but after it’s cooled give it a shake/soak in isopropyl and salt. I’ve left this 48 hours and there was still a stain, but it didn’t affect taste/function. For that final step, I got a little pair of metal tweezers and scraped the sides while it was soaking in isopropyl. This worked very well, and got it almost totally clean.
Heat up time: The unit heats up in around 4 minutes, so about average for a desktop vaporizer. I recommend letting it heat up for around 10 minutes before you use it for optimal results. This longer heat soak just gives it a little extra oomph and pushes the experience over the edge.
Quality of vapour (taste, size of toke, harshness): I think this is the best unit to get a smoker to turn into a full time vaporizer. If you’re used to doing massive hits, filling your lungs with a huge bong hit, this unit can provide you with a similar sensation. I find I consistently get the biggest hits from the VapeXhale, one will do you for a while in almost all circumstances. However with these huge hits, they are incredibly smooth due to the water cooled vapour. The taste is very pure, you really taste the nuances of your material. The mind-boggling aspect is that the vapour quality is as good for dry herb and shatter, it really is! It’s very difficult for a device to do both materials well, but this one has it figured out.
Efficiency: For concentrate, the efficiency is amazing. You can put a little micro dab in there, and still get a nice satisfying hit. If you turn the temperature up to 3 o’clock and use a larger dab, you can blow out a tremendous cloud, from still not a lot of material. For dry herb it’s pretty good, but not amazing. I find that while I may still have some active ingredient left in my herb, the taste can get a little hot and crispy, which makes me just load a new bowl. The trick is to load the proper amount in the herb basket for one or two good hits, then change the bowl. I’ve got it figured out perfectly so the efficiency is actually better than when I first started using it.
Strength of effects: The VapeXhale Cloud Evo reigns supreme in my collection. I don’t have another vaporizer that hits me harder, especially with a single hit. It’s like doing three shots at once, while a Volcano is like drinking a beer. They can both get you to the same place, but one is a lot faster. The unit produces smooth, massive hoots that you take deep into your lungs, meaning the effects are top notch. If you’re looking for a heavy hitter, you found it.
Price: The Cloud Evo has come down a huge deal in price within the last few months, and they’ve been selling like hotcakes. You can now get a proper setup including a Hydratube for around $550CAD, which is a reasonable price considering the glass itself is worth a few hundred. Worth every penny, but use the coupon code SneakyPete to save 10%.
Love about it: Size and quality of tokes is unbelievable, heater can keep up with the most powerful of lungs, knockout strength, functions with dry herb and concentrate to a high degree, water cooled vapour is where it’s at
Not a fan of: Gets really warm when it’s been on for a while, interface could use a few LEDs for ease of use and aesthetics, VapeXNails will need to be replaced and are on the expensive side
Final thoughts: The VapeXhale is the desktop vaporizer that you’re looking for if you’re after strength, dual use capability, efficiency, and vapour quality (who isn’t??). I use it equally as often for dry herb as for shatter, and that is super rare when you have a lot of devices. The Hydratube integration will make you a spoiled vaper, it’s tough to have a ‘dry’ hit when you’ve been using this for a while. This is an investment piece, it will pay for itself in a reasonable amount of time, and you’ll enjoy every minute of the process. I highly recommend this vaporizer.
