Review of the Da Buddha vaporizer

[BuzzBob]

The DBV comes in a thickly padded bag with a faux hemp exterior. Seriously, this bag could double as a pillow, it's that thick. Inside the bag are the unit itself, the whip, and a very sharp pick. I pricked my finger pretty good, having forgotten it was an included accessory. The hose was coiled in a side pocket of the padded bag.

There's nothing to setting it up. The whip is not tapered, and the hose fits into the end of the whip, not over it. It does not come with a mouthpiece, but I won't be sharing it with strangers, so I didn't care. The unit itself is solid and heavy, a cylinder about 6" tall and 3.5" in diameter. There's a single control knob on the front with a positive "click" when you turn the unit on or off. After turning on, the knob goes from about 8 o'clock to 4 o'clock, so 12 o'clock is the middle position. There are no markings or settings. There's a small amber LED at the back, where the power cord enters the unit. The intensity of the light varies as you turn the knob up, but seems to serve no purpose. I was under the impression that the unit had some sort of auto shut-off. It does not, but it only draws 25W according to the label. The unit will get quite warm on the outside, almost hot, but it won't burn you if you pick it up with your bare hands.

I had been using a Vapor Genie for three months, so I wasn't new to vaporizing, but this was my first experience with a whip vaporizer. I cut the hose to only about 18" because the extra coils were cumbersome. Besides, the less air between me and my vapor, the better.

I like that the whip enters the unit horizontally instead of at an incline, so the herb doesn't fall so easily onto the heating element itself. But really, what's the technical obstacle to having the whip go UP into the unit, so no herb could possible fall out?

So, in summary, by all appearances the Da Buddha is solidly built. From the heft of the unit to the smooth turning knob and the clean heating element, everything about it looks to be high quality and good value.

I do have to remark on the low quality of the manual, however. It's just a one-sheet, poorly formatted and kind of faded xerox copy. These days, with the software and printers we have available so cheaply, there's really no excuse for a crappy manual. But this is a minor thing.

A bigger issue is how much heat I'm getting. I don't know if the unit is defective, but if I set it lower than about 1 o'clock, I'm just sucking air. At around 2 o'clock, I get the aromatic stuff, but for a real hit, I have to set it at 3 o'clock. I mean, it's sufficient, but I thought the unit would have more reserve power. What if I want to vaporize something else? I hear tobacco vaporizes at a much higher temperature than mariguana.

Comments, anybody?

BuzzBob Reviewed by BuzzBob on 01-13-2010. Review of the Da Buddha vaporizer The DBV comes in a thickly padded bag with a faux hemp exterior. Seriously, this bag could double as a pillow, it's that thick. Inside the bag are the unit itself, the whip, and a very sharp pick. I pricked my finger pretty good, having forgotten it was an included accessory. The hose was coiled in a side pocket of the padded bag. There's nothing to setting it up. The whip is not tapered, and the hose fits into the end of the whip, not over it. It does not come with a mouthpiece, but I won't Rating: 5

[AbrandnewL]

I previously owned a buddha and I experienced the same problem with the low heating. I actually emailed customer service about it and they said the reason the heat of the vaporizer at 12oclock may be equal to another vaporizer at 3oclock is because of the height of the ceramic heater. look at your buddha and see whether the ceramic stick is towards the top of the glass piece or lower down. The higher it is, the hotter it will get.:thumbsup:

[BuzzBob]

You're right about the height of the ceramic heater, which brings me to something I had not noticed. The entire glass part that surrounds the ceramic heater is removable, so if some herb falls inside, you can remove it to clean the burnt herb out.

And about the heat, I guess part of it is going from a bong to a vaporizer. You learn to breathe hard on a bong because you have to overcome the water's resistance, but with a vaporizer, you have to inhale very lightly.

[stuartambient]

You're right about the height of the ceramic heater, which brings me to something I had not noticed. The entire glass part that surrounds the ceramic heater is removable, so if some herb falls inside, you can remove it to clean the burnt herb out.

Just wait till it's cooled down

[MrMojoRisin7127]

The DBV comes in a thickly padded bag with a faux hemp exterior.

It does not come with a mouthpiece, but I won't be sharing it with strangers, so I didn't care.

But really, what's the technical obstacle to having the whip go UP into the unit, so no herb could possible fall out?

A bigger issue is how much heat I'm getting. I don't know if the unit is defective, but if I set it lower than about 1 o'clock, I'm just sucking air. At around 2 o'clock, I get the aromatic stuff, but for a real hit, I have to set it at 3 o'clock. I mean, it's sufficient, but I thought the unit would have more reserve power. What if I want to vaporize something else? I hear tobacco vaporizes at a much higher temperature than mariguana.

Comments, anybody?

Hi Bob, I'm a retailer of SSV's and DBV's so I'd like to try to clear some of these things up.

1.That is REAL hemp on the outside of the DBV bag. The inside is some kind of velvet stuff.

2.The DBV does in fact come with a glass mouthpiece, it should have been in one of the pockets inside the bag. It is very easy to miss because it can be jammed really far down into those pockets.

3.The SSV is (I believe) the only vaporizer on the market with a downward angle. The SSV and the DBV are both manufactured by the same company and I believe the downward angle on the SSV is just a way of getting people to buy the flagship model. If they didn't have a few things that made the SSV better, there would be no reason to pay the extra money because the DBV is such an amazing product.

4. I believe you are still breathing in too fast and that is why you must turn the temp up so high. I imagine you are breathing in extremely slow, but breathe as slow as you physically can. The thing I like to tell people, is to breathe in so slowly it doesn't even really feel like you're breathing in. I also had to operate my vape at higher temps before I mastered the whole airspeed thing. The SSV and DBV both take a bit of experience to master, but you'll get the thickest vapor hits possible from any vaporizer once you have perfected it's use.

Taylor
theviseonline.com

[MrMojoRisin7127]

I previously owned a buddha and I experienced the same problem with the low heating. I actually emailed customer service about it and they said the reason the heat of the vaporizer at 12oclock may be equal to another vaporizer at 3oclock is because of the height of the ceramic heater. look at your buddha and see whether the ceramic stick is towards the top of the glass piece or lower down. The higher it is, the hotter it will get.:thumbsup:

That is a great point you brought up! However, when you do this make sure you don't pull the heater up too far as this could damage the wiring on the inside of the unit. Also, make sure the heater element is NOT touching the glass!!

[BuzzBob]

Hi Bob, I'm a retailer of SSV's and DBV's so I'd like to try to clear some of these things up.

1.That is REAL hemp on the outside of the DBV bag. The inside is some kind of velvet stuff.

Oops, ok, sorry!

2.The DBV does in fact come with a glass mouthpiece, it should have been in one of the pockets inside the bag. It is very easy to miss because it can be jammed really far down into those pockets.

Yes, you are correct. I just found it a couple of days ago when I demonstrated the unit to a friend who is trying to quite cigarettes (but whom I don't think will succeed ).

Taylor
theviseonline.com

I agree with the rest of what you said. I've learned quite a lot in just the last few weeks!

[MrMojoRisin7127]

I agree with the rest of what you said. I've learned quite a lot in just the last few weeks!

And I'm sure you'll learn quite a bit more in the next few months. The DaBuddha is a fantastic vaporizer and it will last you many years into the future.

Have fun with your DBV!!

Taylor