Atmos vs G-Pen

Vaporizer pens are the new rage in personal smoking devices for cannabis smokers and cigarette smokers alike.  Vape pens can be used for both purposes simply by screwing on a new cartridge, filled with different material. These pens are benefiting all your extracts by utilizing them down to the last drop. There are so many shapes and sizes for different pens but the basics are pretty much standards; atomizers, heating coils, wick liquid chamber, wickless liquid chambers and USB rechargeable batteries.

Vaporizer pens are the new rage in personal smoking devices for cannabis smokers and cigarette smokers alike.  Vape pens can be used for both purposes simply by screwing on a new cartridge, filled with different material. These pens are benefiting all your extracts by utilizing them down to the last drop. There are so many shapes and sizes for different pens but the basics are pretty much standards; atomizers, heating coils, wick liquid chamber, wickless liquid chambers and USB rechargeable batteries.

The battery size varies depending on brand and length of the unit, usually the longer the pen the bigger the battery and the dry chamber heating area are. Most models have different changeable chambers, atomizers and batteries to accommodate any material you wish to smoke. These dry chambers are fitted with heating coils and are great for burning dry herb and your cannabis extracts like wax and shatter. The stickier material (like honey oil & butter) can clog up the heating coils and are best used by making it into liquid using a thinning agent (See recipe).

The liquid chambers use an atomizer to create the smoke and come with or without a wick. The ones that have a wick are more common for the propylene glycol or vegetable glycerin based juices. Wickless liquid chambers can allow you to add thicker oil. Cartridges can be purchased brand-new each time or refilled several times before having to be replaced completely. Same goes for the charger, atomizer and coil piece, they are all going to only last you so long depending on quality, durability and usage. 

 The first model to compare is Grenco’s Snoop Dogg G-Pen. It came looking slick, as anything bearing a rappers name would, wearing the design of a California street map on its soft neoprene side. This pen only comes with a dry/wax chamber and I could not find any OEM liquid atomizing chambers to try with it, although there are tons of compatible off brand ones that say they will fit this model. Inside the box was a corded USB and wall charger attachment, (2) extract jars, a metal credit card grinder and the pen. Out of the box I began by temperature testing the coils, I was not pleased with the meager warmth it produced initially but after it was used a few times it warmed up to an acceptable temperature and I was able to get some thick puffy clouds out of it. The button was metal and seemed to protrude from the side of the unit a bit more than the other styles but the battery was still going strong after 200+ tokes. Aesthetically pleasing as this Snoop Dogg model was, I was eager to get to the next pen.

A reverberated name in cannabis vape pens was Atmos brand, which comes in many different models. After comparing features I settled on two; the Rx Junior and the Optimus. The Atmos Junior comes with a dry/wax chamber, rubber changeable mouthpiece, USB stick charger and a packing tool. It’s more compact than the original Rx model and in turn has a slightly smaller battery, but I liked the length better for stealth hand holding and the battery lasted longer than expected, long surpassing 200 hits. I opted to purchase a 3 pack of liquid wick cartridge attachments, shying away from the wickless globe chambers only because they’re more cost effective to replace on a regular basis. This pen has a soft neoprene/rubber coating similar to the G-pen but the button is built into the rubber, the only protrusion is the brail of the ‘power’ symbol. First use showed ample heat radiating from the coils and burned dry herb like a champ. Second test was some crumbly wax which had great flavor and burned away down to nothing in the chamber. I even tested a piece of sticky butter in the dry chamber which burned up thick clouds of tasty smoke, left only slight residue on the coils. 

The Optimus model comes with a liquid chamber and is only a centimeter or so longer than the Rx Junior. It comes with a corded USB charger and a nice hard shell carrying case. I filled both this liquid wick chamber and the Rx liquid chamber attachments with the recipe made honey oil liquid. The hits were full bodied and plentiful. This was the selling point for me; it gave thick heady clouds and still tasted like the dabs with minimal affect to flavor from the carrier liquids. All 3 pens I tested came with a lock function it seems to be standard for all good pens; if you press the power button 5 times it locks the pen, this prevents it heating up accidentally in your pocket and wasting precious herb, extract or battery life. Pressing it 5 times again unlocks it.

The process is basically making E-cigarette juice but with the addition of honey oil:
What you will need: a batch of BHO or ISO honey oil (because it’s the strongest extract you can get from cannabis that has no solid pieces in it to clog up the wick) Simply take your honey oil and put it into a glass container and set it in a pan with water, (105-115 degrees Celsius max) a shot glass is the perfect size for single cartridge batches (approx 15ml). These extracts don’t have very long of a shelf life so use them within a two week period. A good option to begin the breakdown process is to use an alcohol product, but be careful because it may affect taste if you use too much or neglect to cook it off. Add a single tiny drop of ethanol or grain alcohol until you see it begin to break down (it usually only takes one drop). Immediately begin to add propylene glycol in single drops until you are happy with the consistency. My mixtures are coming out around 6-10 drops per gram of honey oil, making it thick like honey but malleable enough to not seize up the wick. If your chamber is wickless it’s less necessary to worry about the thickness. If you choose to add the vegetable glycerin, do it at the same time and at a ratio of 80/20: propylene glycol/vegetable glycerin. The final step is to add any flavors you might want in there, homemade or store bought. There are also neat online calculators and apps for your smart phone that can take the guess work out of this entire process, called E-Cig calculators.

Adding flavoring oil to your liquid can make for stealth public smoking masking the scent of the exhaled smoke just enough that the people around you will be none the wiser! Organic ones can be extracted easily; citrus oil, vanilla bean etc. or you can purchase ones used in candy making from companies like Lorann, that are propylene glycol based.

Out of the three I tried I am favoring the Atmos Rx Junior as the winner it has all the necessary features and is compact and powerful. Atmos has every accessory you can think of and chambers in every size and shape to fit your needs. Happy vaping!