WHAT IS THE DABBLER?

The Dabbler Vaporizer by VaporBrothers is billed as “no ordinary vape pen,” and in our testing we found that it out that it truly outperforms other similarly priced vaporizer pens that we’ve reviewed. If you’ve read our reviews of the O-Phos or AtmosRX Vaporizers, you’ll know that we enjoy these vapes primarily for their stealth, but we have routinely been left wanting a little more in terms of reliability and construction. Whether it’s the aforementioned vaporizers or even the vaunted G-Pen, the VaporBrothers Dabbler stands above the competition on those points as well as others.

COMPONENTS & CONSTRUCTION

We opened up the packaging to reveal a sleek, padded case with the company logo printed on it. The Dabbler case is about the size of an old school cigarette case and we found all of the necessary pieces inside: a battery emblazoned with VaporBrothers’ “Filigree” design (a cool Zebra-style print), mouthpiece, stainless steel heating chamber, USB charger plug, and a glass pick tool.

The battery came with a charge, but we decided to go ahead and attach the USB charger prior to our maiden voyage with the Dabbler. It only took 30 minutes to juice up the Dabbler with battery power initially, but subsequent charges took around an hour and a half when charging from a completely spent battery. Finally, we felt it worthwhile to note that the Mini USB Port is in extremely high demand these days. We’re not really sure why, but we get a lot of questions for vape pens that boast this particular feature. Maybe it’s because people are constantly losing their Blackberry-Android charger and want their vape to serve both purposes…Who knows? Regardless, we’re happy to say that the Dabbler is one that satisfies these queries.

When it comes to the composition of the heating element itself, VaporBrothers makes explicit what many lesser brands attempt to conceal: how the atomizer is made of. In this case it’s called Inconel Alloy Wire, and it’s integral to the reliable performance of the Dabbler. This high quality coil is an alloy combining Nickel and Chromium, making for an oxidation and corrosion-free heat process inside the waxy atomizer. Unlike a lot of the cheap knockoffs you’ll find for under $50 on eBay, this vape’s atomizer will remain inert even at full temperature (roughly 390° F) which means you aren’t getting any kind of chemical offshoots polluting your vapor when the dab heats up.

The only place we felt the kit was lacking was in the charger options. Other vaporizer pens include an adapter for AC wall outlets and we would love it if VaporBrothers would make this a standard component of the Dabbler Vaporizer kit. Most new cars have a USB adapter built-in, so the need for a dedicated ‘car charger’ are going the way of the dinosaur, but a home plug would be really handy, especially since direct AC power provides a faster charge in our experience.

DESIGN & AESTHETICS

VaporBrothers set the standard in terms of box vaporizers with their classic home unit; with this they were jumping into an already-saturated market, so there’s only so much innovation you can achieve in terms of “how unique does the pen look?” But they did a good job of putting their own stamps on the stock wax vape appearance.

While the black and silver finishes look pretty identical to other vapes in the same class such as the O-Phos and Pulsar 7, the “Filigree” design that we got (for only an extra $10) is completely unique to VaporBrothers and feels really good in the hand. It only weighs about half a pound, yet feels very sturdy and features just the right amount of classy branding. The word “Dabbler” is printed on the heating chamber and the VaporBros logo adorns the screw cap that cleverly adorns the base of the Dabbler battery, disguising the micro USB port.

HOW DOES IT PERFORM?

Constructing a dependable waxy atomizer is the classic challenge for everyone who attempts to create a great vape pen (i.e. the original Cloud Vaporizer). We’ve seen a bunch of devices that all have similar Chinese factory atomizers, and to be honest, they all kind of suck. We were elated to see that this atomizer features a tightly wound coil and high quality wick; upon deeper investigation, we discovered that the Dabbler is made in the USA (jaws on the floor, I know) and the quality of construction is evident in the wick, which we noticed stayed really sturdy even after multiple uses.

As with all vape pen atomizers, it’s best to try to avoid direct contact with the coil when using your vape tool to apply your material. This is obviously easier said than done; however we found that if you heat your vape tool with a torch or lighter, the dab will “drip” onto the heating element and you’ll get much better performance. While many competitors will leave a caked residue, the Dabbler is basically a self-cleaning vape which makes sustained maintenance a breeze. A normal toothpick or thin metallic vape tool is very effective at scraping out any pooled oil from the chamber.

The company boasts “Microprocessor control” which maintains the perfect temperature for taste and extended heater life. This isn’t something we could really investigate or observe in any way, except that we noticed the reliability of the device, and we continue to get really consistent hits with every fresh dab. This is a vape pen that has stayed in the regular rotation much longer than expected. One thing we’d love to see improved is the size of the wax chamber. We found that with each fresh dab, only the first 2-3 hits were super potent, with the next 3-5 tasting a little stale, necessitating a re-load. Maybe in future models, they could place the Inconel Alloy coil further down in the chamber so you’re able to load more material at a time.

It’s got an ergonomic mouthpiece and sturdy construction, in keeping with their commitment to superior construction and quality experience. The mouthpiece and heating chamber come pre-assembled so all you need to do initially is to screw that pre-assembled piece onto the charged battery, drip your dab onto the atomizer, then re-attach the mouthpiece and unlock the battery by clicking the button five times. You’ll see a little light flash letting you know that the vape is ready for use. Once that flashes you can hold down the battery for one second to caramelize the concentrate, then begin to breathe gently while holding the button for another 3-5 seconds. That will give you a sweet, heady lungful of tasty vapor which carries very little “weed” aroma upon exhale, making this a stealthy sidearm for any social situation.

GLASS COMPATIBILITY

One of the unexpected benefits of the Dabbler is that the mouthpiece can be taken off to make the pen compatible with a 14mm ground glass connection on either your bubbler or bong! VaporBrothers even makes glass pieces like bubblers and hydrators that users can buy to add the cooling effects of water filtration to the Dabbler’s otherwise sharp-tasting vapor clouds. It would be cool if future iterations actually came with a glass piece included at a slight discount, rather than buying the pieces separately.

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

Everything about the Dabbler screams class and convenience. From the appearance of the vape pen and storage case to the taste and potency of the dab hits, VaporBrothers has gone the distance to create a portable vaporizer that is fun and functional. They also offer a 1-Year Warranty on the battery, which is pretty rare for a pen vape. It retails at around $100 and for that we wish the chamber were a little bigger, so we could get a little more out of our concentrates, but on the whole the Dabbler is one of the most efficient wax vaporizers in our archive of vapes reviewed. It would be nice if a wall charger were included, but these are very minor gripes with a product that succeeds where many MANY similar wax vapes fall short.

The Vapor Brothers Dabbler is available for purchase from this trusted retailer.