What are the best portable vaporizers available? We’ve reviewed some of our favorite portable vaporizers in a range of categories to make shopping our store easier. Whether you are a beginner or established vaper and regardless of your budget or vape material, we have a handheld vape pen for you.
These portable vaporizers can go anywhere you do and ensure you always have a healthy method to use your favorite vape material close at hand. The portability of these products comes from their low profile design, battery-powered heating elements, and limited smell since they don’t combust your material. That means you can vape when and where you want without disrupting those around you.
This complete guide will help you find your perfect portable vaporizer in the Medical Marijuana, Inc. store. Already know the basics about vaping and vape pens? Jump down to the end of this article to see our best portable vape reviews.
What is Vaping?
Vaping is a common alternative to smoking that has grown in popularity in recent years as more and more consumers begin to discover the many benefits of vaping.
Portable vaporizers like vape pens and other handheld vapes function by heating your vape material – such as dry flower, wax, oil, and eliquid – to their vaporization points, but below their combustion points, to produce a clean, flavorful vapor.
Since vapes don’t burn your vape material, vaping helps users avoid the toxins and carcinogens associated with smoking, reducing smoking’s negative health concerns. There is also no foul smoke smell to linger on clothing, hair, and furniture. Instead, portable vapes create a clean vapor with a mild scent that dissipates quickly.
Using a portable vaporizer is a fast and effective way to capture the benefits of your vape material. When you inhale vapor from your vape pen, the active ingredients in the vapor are absorbed directly through the lungs. This is the fastest and most effective way to consume botanical oils, extracts, and dry flower, with effects starting nearly instantaneously.
What Are the Parts of the Vape?
It doesn’t matter which portable vape you choose, it will have the same main parts as other vapes. We will reference these parts regularly in this guide to help you best choose the options you want in your vape.
- Battery or Power Source: All vaporizers will need a power source in order to work. Vapes turn this electrical power into heat in order to bring your vape material to its vaporization point. In portable vapes, these batteries are often quite small, allowing these personal vapes to fit easily into purses, bags, and pockets for quick use on the go.
- Atomizer or Heat Source: As we mentioned above, your portable vape will turn electrical power into heat. This is done by a heating source like an atomizer or coil. This heat is then applied to your vape material (dry herb, wax, oil, liquid, etc.) to heat it to its vaporization point, creating vapor you can inhale.
- Tank or Chamber: Your portable vape will also have a place for you to load your vape material to be vaped. This is often called a tank or chamber. In some cases, the tank is combined with the atomizer in a single unit. These are typically called cartridges. They are sometimes available prefilled with vape material and can be thrown away once the prefilled material is gone.
- Mouthpiece: This is the part of the vape that you will use to inhale the vapor. It will extend out from the vape so that you can put it to your lips and inhale.
Want to learn more about the parts of the vape?
How Do Portable Vapes Work?
Now that we know the parts of the vape, let’s look at how these parts come together to produce vapor. In handheld vape pens, these parts of the vape are quite small so they can easily be taken with you wherever you go.
As discussed above, portable vapes like vape pens use battery power to heat dry herb or botanical extracts in the form of wax, CBD vape oil, or liquid to their vaporization point, creating clean, flavorful vapor that users can inhale. To do this, all vape pens have three important parts: the battery, the atomizer, and the cartridge or tank.
First, we will look at the vaporizer battery. These come in a variety of shapes and sizes, from pencil thin, to short and boxy, and even fatter models that support hotter temperatures and a longer time between charges. The size and shape battery you choose is largely a personal preference based on your vaping style.
Batteries also come in a choice of voltages, and some even allow you to change the voltage (and the resulting heat produced) to fine tune your vaping experience to your own preferences.
Your battery will connect to the vape pen’s atomizer or heating element. The atomizer heats your vape material, whether it is dry flower, vape juice, or other botanical oil extracts to create vapor.
Some portable vape pens use conduction heat, which heats your oil or dry herb on a hot surface. Others make use of convection heating that moves heat evenly over vape material. Convection heating is most popular in vaping dry flower. These heating elements (often called atomizers) come in a variety of styles and materials, such as metal coils or ceramic surfaces.
Finally, vape pens have a section that holds your vape material. In some cases, especially in disposable vapes, this is called the cartridge or sometimes pod. Your vape cartridge will often also contain the atomizer as a single unit. While this is common in disposable vape cartridges, it is also possible to buy this style of cartridge in a refillable model. Other times, the atomizer will be a separate piece that attaches to the vape pen’s tank or chamber (the piece that holds your vape material).
Once your vape pen parts are assembled and filled with your vape material, you are ready to get started. There are two ways vape pens are activated. Some pens are what is called “autodraw”. This means that all you need to do is take a draw or puff and the pen will heat up creating inhalable vapor. The other style is button activated, meaning you need to hold down a button to activate your pen’s heating element. In either case, you will inhale the vapor from the vape pen’s mouthpiece.
Although many beginners prefer autodraw because it removes a step and makes it easier to take quick puffs, it comes down to a matter of preference when choosing autodraw versus button-activated vapes. Autodraw pens also won’t be accidentally turned on when kept in a pocket or purse like a button-activated pen might.
Now that you know the basics and some important terms, it is time to start looking for your best portable vape. You can also learn more about how to use a vape on our Vaping 101 page.
What Do You Want to Vape?
To choose your best portable vape, first you’ll need to decide what you intend to vape. Vape material falls into one of three categories: dry herb, waxes and similar concentrates, and oils and liquids.
Are you interested in vaping dry herb with your vape? These vapes work by heating a chamber to bring the active compounds in your dry herb to their vaporization point without combusting the material.
Vaporizers have also become a popular way to use botanical extracts like wax, shatter, budder, crumble and more because they offer a portable way to use these concentrated products. Wax vapes use an exposed atomizer to flash vaporize your botanical concentrate, creating a pure vapor.
Some portable vape pens work best with thinner consistency oils and liquids, like the CBD Vape products from Dixie Botanicals®.
Finally, select portable vaporizers were designed to be compatible with more than one type of vape material. These vapes allow you to vape both dry herb and botanical extracts, seamlessly switching between the two. You can get the most out of your vape by choosing these versatile multi-use options.
Now that you know more about vapes, we will review the best portable vapes in each category.
Best Portable Dry Herb Vaporizers
Vaping dry herbs used to require a large, table-top dry herb vaporizers or a costly portable option that more often than not would singe or burn your dry herb, rather than vaporize it, creating unwanted smoke. Now, modern portable vaporizer pens have innovative features that give you more control over your vaporizing experience for lower prices than ever before.
KandyPens K-Vape Pro
Like all the portable vaporizers on this list, the K-Vape Pro from KandyPens has a slim design that will fit easily into most bags and purses, yet the large ceramic chamber can hold over a half gram of dry herb, limiting how often you need to clean out and reload your vape while on the go.
The K-Vape Pro also gives you precise control over your vaping with four temperature settings. With options for 350°F, 375°F, 400°F, 428°F, you can control the balance between flavor and the thickness of your vapor. With KandyPens’ True Convection Technology™, the dry herb chamber will heat to a perfect, even temperature, resulting in no combustion of your dry herbs and no smoke. At $99.97, the K-Vape has the lowest retail price of our portable dry herb vapes.
DaVinci IQ
Simplistic yet powerful, the IQ vaporizer from DaVinci boasts the latest in cutting edge smart technology and a minimalist design. This sleek portable vaporizer fits neatly into the palm of your hand for a discreet vaping experience. The IQ is designed for vaping botanical herbs and features DaVinci’s Smart Path Technology, allowing users to select between four precise temperature ranges for a personalized vaping experience, while its Boost & Standby mode is ideal for a quick puff on the fly.
Priced at $274.99, the DaVinci IQ is one of the higher end portable vaporizers available, but it offers innovative features like its bluetooth-enabled smartphone app allows for mobile device control of vaping sessions. The DaVinci IQ’s industry-exclusive all-ceramic zirconia vapor path is heat resistant, ensuring smooth, clean, and flavorful vapor production.
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Best Portable Extracts Vaporizers
You can also bring your herbal concentrates with you when you travel with these small vaporizers specially designed for extracts. Offering the same convenience of dry herb vape pens for herbal concentrates, these portable wax vaporizers provide an affordable option to start vaping concentrates.
KandyPens Gravity
It is easier than ever before to use your herbal concentrates when on the move with the KandyPens Gravity vape pen. The four temperature settings (300°, 350°, 390°, 430°F) let you decide how much heat to apply to your concentrates to affect flavor and thickness of the vapor.
Like all of KandyPens’ products, careful consideration go into the quality and design. The coilless heating chamber uses dual quartz rods and a ceramic dish for consistent, even heating of your herbal concentrate. At $129.95, the slim Gravity from KandyPens is an affordable way to use your favorite herbal concentrate away from home.
Yocan Evolve Plus XL
The Yocan Evolve Plus XL Vaporizer is a top performing portable pen-style wax vaporizer. It features a powerful quad coil atomizer. The extra surface area created by the Evolve Plus XL’s remarkable four heating rods ensures giant clouds that retain the flavor and smell of botanical waxes. The Evolve Plus XL by Yocan is priced at $59.99, combining innovation and value in a truly portable wax vape.
This portable vape has a magnetic connection between the atomizer tube and the base to make loading and cleaning a breeze, as well as a built-in wax container to hold additional botanical wax for future sessions. The Yocan Evolve Plus XL also has an adjustable airflow valve that helps personalize the potency, cloud size, and flavor to your individual preferences.
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Best Multi-Use Portable Vaporizers
Some vaping platforms, like the ones below, are designed to allow you to use both dry herb and herbal extracts, which can save you money by not needing to purchase more than one vaporizer. With a quick change of parts, these portable vaporizers allow you to seamlessly move between dry herb and concentrates with ease.
FireFly 2+
Should you buy a portable vaporizer for your dry herb? But then you need to leave your herbal concentrates at home. And vice versa, meaning you are always limited in your options… until now. The Firefly 2+ has been designed to vape both your dry herb and your favorite concentrates and moves seamlessly between vaping each one.
With a 3 second heat time, a Firefly vaporizer is ready to vape fast, so you won’t even need to slow down your day while waiting for your vape to warm up. The Firefly 2+’s durable magnesium alloy body and included spare battery mean this vape was made to be taken with you everywhere you go, while its smartphone connectivity allows you to customize your experience, including dynamic temperature settings and the brightness of its display. At $249.95, the Firefly 2+’s functionality comes with a price tag, but for those willing to invest in their portable vaporizer, its quality and customization are unrivaled.
KandyPens MIVA 2
Ideal for vapers seeking high performance on-the-go, the KandyPens MIVA 2 is a premium portable vaporizer that’s compatible with both botanical herbs and wax. The MIVA 2 features a unique hybrid ceramic conduction/convection oven and a powerful battery for rapid heating, while precision temperature control and an upgraded OLED display allows for personalized vapor production. Its large sized ceramic chamber produces full botanical clouds that travel through an extended borosilicate tube and out a glass stem mouthpiece for cool and flavorful draws.
Designed to give you full control over vapor production, the MIVA 2 offers precise temperature settings (350°F – 430°F). Its Smart Memory Technology remembers your last vaping temperature, streamlining your vaping sessions. Like all offerings from KandyPens, the MIVA 2 Vaporizer, which sells for $199.95, comes with an unprecedented lifetime warranty.
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Best Portable Vapes for Beginners
If you are just starting out using a vape pen, it may be helpful to know which vapes best fit your individual needs, including size, cost, user features, and type of vape material with which each vape pen is compatible.
There are many choices in vape pens on the market, and even just in the Medical Marijuana, Inc. store, there are dozens of vape pens to choose from. To help you narrow your search, here are the best starter vapes in each category.
Best Beginner Oil and Liquid Vape Pen: KandyPens Slim
The first choice for many consumers looking for a straight forward, ultraportable, and easy to use oil and eliquid vape pen, the KandyPens Slim is a common starter vape for beginners. The sleek battery is the same diameter as a standard ink pen. Buttonless autodraw activation makes use incredibly easy – just pull air in through the mouthpiece and inhale the vapor. There is no button to fumble with. KandyPens Slim uses the near industry standard 510 threading to connect to the included atomizer cartridge, which can be filled with your choice of vape oil or e-liquid. The KandyPens Slim will get you vaping for just $34.95.
Already own or planning to buy a prefilled cartridge? Then you can purchase just the KandyPens Slim battery. We also offer the KandyPen Slim bundled with the Dixie Botanicals® CBD Vape Cartridge, featuring 250 mg of CBD and flavored with natural terpenes. Get your Dixie Botanicals® vape cartridge and KandyPens Slim bundle.
Best Beginner Dry Herb Vape Pen: Pulsar APX
Dry herb vapes make it possible to consume the active ingredients in your favorite dry herbs without the dangers associated with smoking, the traditional method for using dry herbs. However, finding a truly portable dry herb vape that was capable of thoroughly vaporizing your dry flower without combusting used to be a challenge. Enter the APX from Pulsar.
The Pulsar APX combines the incredible portability of a small vape pen with the effectiveness of a much larger vaporizer. That is largely due to the vape pen’s design, which protects your dry flower from the heating coils and allows more thorough heating without burning. A choice in five optimized temperature settings allows you to customize your vaping experience, while single button functionality simplifies use. Get yours for $69.99.
Best Beginner Wax Extract Vape Pen: KandyPens Prism
If your preferred vape material is waxes and similar botanical extracts, then the KandyPens Prism is a strong choice. Ceramic Coilless and dual quarts rod atomizers provide even heat for full vaporization and prevent cold spots in the atomizer.
The KandyPens Prism has four preset heat settings, allowing you to tailor your vape session. Choose the lower setting for a more flavorful vape. Use the higher setting for bigger, fuller clouds of vape. This flexibility means that the Prism vape pen from KandyPens works for a wide range of vaping preferences. Despite this customization, the Prism has single button functionality, keeping the user experience as simple as possible. You can get your KandyPens Prism for $97.99.
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Best Inexpensive Portable Vapes
Vaporizers make it easier than ever before to enjoy your favorite dry herbs and botanical extracts, but higher end vapes with all the bells and whistles can often run into the hundreds of dollars, putting them out of reach for many budget conscious vapers.
If you are new to vaping and don’t want to invest too much in getting started or just want to vape without spending a lot of money, then we have you covered. Here are the best vapes under $50 in each of our vape categories: dry herb vapes, wax vapes, liquid/oil vapes.
Best Affordable Dry Herb Vape: Atmos Jump
When shopping for an affordable dry herb vape, you can’t go wrong with the Atmos Jump. Designed for simplicity, the Atmos Jump has a single optimized temperature for dry herb vaping, while single-button functionality makes it easy to control your vape session. The Jump’s super slim pen-style body allows you to take it anywhere.
The Atmos Jump’s coilless anodized heating chamber evenly vaporizes the active compounds in your dry herb without burning it. This Atmos vape’s removable mouthpiece makes it easy to load and empty its chamber. The Jump comes packaged with a USB charger, packing tool, and brush to keep your vape working its best. All this retails for just $49.99.
Different from the clunky, expensive dry herb vapes that dominate the market, the Atmos Jump combines affordability with portability, making it a versatile choice for any vaper.
Best Affordable Wax Vape: KandyPens K-Stick Supreme
If you are looking for an inexpensive vape for your botanical wax or similar extract, then the KandyPens K-Stick Supreme wax vape should be your first choice. The K-Stick Supreme features a single rod atomizer made of high quality quartz crystal with a titanium coil. It heats quickly and evenly upon activation, so you can enjoy fast puffs without slowing down.
About the size of an ink pen, the K-Stick Supreme slides easily into your front pocket, purse, or laptop bag, so you can take it with you and vape your botanical extracts on the go. Because, it uses standard 510 threading on its battery, it is easy to swap and replace parts.
Despite its affordable price, the K-Stick Supreme offers variable vape temps with three preset temperature options. This feature allows you to customize your vaping session, with lower temps providing more flavor, while higher temps create larger clouds of vapor and stronger effects. Even with these features, the K-Stick Supreme sells in our store for only $34.95.
Best Affordable Liquid/Oil Vape: HoneyStick Elf
Want to get the most bang for your buck? Then the tiny, but powerful HoneyStick Elf if perfect for you. The ultra small 3.7 volt battery has a single, optimized vaping temperature for vape liquids and oils. Autodraw activation makes vaping easier than ever. Simply inhale or “draw” from the mouthpiece, and the Elf vape will automatically activate, creating a smooth, full vapor.
Fitting in the palm of your hand, the Elf vaporizer from HoneyStick is one of the most discreet vapes on the market. The entire vape is around just 3 inches tall, so portability is also a consideration. The Elf is able to slide into pockets and purses that can’t hold larger vapes.
The Elf comes with a refillable vape cartridge to add your own favorite vape oils or liquids. However, the magnetic adaptor that holds the vape cartridge in place uses universal 510 thread, so it is easy to swap out for your favorite pre-filled vape cartridges. All you need to do is unscrew the circular magnet and attach it to any 510 threaded cartridge. The Elf let’s you get started vaping for just $34.99.
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Vaping 101
Ready to buy one of the best vaporizers on the market? Browse the Medical Marijuana, Inc. online store to shop for these portable vapes and other great vaporizer options.
You can also learn more about the benefits of vaping, cleaning your vape pen, and how to fill your vape pen on our Vaping 101 page.
The vape products and vaping advice featured in Medical Marijuana, Inc. posts are specifically for people looking to support their health with legal natural botanicals and are not created with nicotine or tobacco users in mind.
