Best portable vaporizer for the slopes - Crafty (Storz & Bickel)

German engineering

I have a motto that has served me well through life. “If in doubt, buy the German one”. Germans don’t make rubbish, they strive to engineer the best - Mercedes, BMW, Porsche, Siemens the list of quality engineered products is long.

Storz & Bickel are the first company in the EU that produces certified medical grade vaporizers. The Germans take their products very seriously.

Best portable vape quality

Storz & Bickel have a reputation of providing the best vaping experiences in the business. Their pocket wonder the Crafty lives up to that reputation. It’s a little slower to heat than their larger offering - the Mighty - but plenty fast enough to take a crafty draw on the way up the mountain on a ski lift. The convection heating system serves up copious clouds of tasty vapour. 

One button operation

The Crafty only has one button. Load it up at base camp, set your favourite temperature (via an excellent App) and you are ready to draw with just one press.

You can also set a booster temperature that can be activated with the same button - in case you vape all the good stuff and want the high heat to finish the rest. The button is big enough that you can feel it through your gloves so you can operate it without freezing your digits off. This gorgeous button is reason enough to make this the best portable vaporizer for use with gloves. 

Haptic feedback

Haptic feedback means that the vape will give a buzz once it reaches your desired temperature. That means you don’t have to sit and stare at it for an indication it is ready to vape. Perfect for when you want to activate it in your pocket. Sit on your ski lift, press the button in your pocket, wait for it to vibrate then take a draw - no one will even notice.

Rugged plastic construction

The Crafty and its larger sibling the Mighty both come in a durable plastic body. They won’t look out of place alongside your power tools. The Crafty will withstand some serious knocks. 

Rounded corners

Speaking of serious knocks. If you take a tumble you don’t want to be impaled by something sharp in your pocket. The Crafty has smooth rounded corners and won’t rip your clothing or skin should you fall and plant your hip on an ice patch. For this reason, it’s the best portable vaporizer to fall onto for sure.

Textured surface

There are a lot of beautifully smooth portable vaporizers on the market. They easily slide in and out of your pocket when you are at a concert or cinema. When you are using your device suspended 5 metres in the air being smooth is not necessarily a nice to have. The Crafty’s vented surface gives you something to grip. It also means that it’s the best portable vaporizer should you drop it on a snowy slope - there is a good chance it will stay where it lands. Not so, for some of the slick competition. 

Preload the loading tool for laters

The Crafty uses the same loading tool that all Storz & Bickel devices use. You can fill it full of your favourite therapeutic herb (or concentrate) and reload as you need. It’ll give even the most hard core vaper more than they will need for a day on the mountain. If you need more than that then it’s probably safer you stay in the chalet.

USB charging

It helps to have a vape that charges via USB when travelling. Why’s that? There’s a good chance that most of your electronic devices use USB. In the unlikely event you forget a USB cable one of your companions probably packed theirs. Failing that, you can pick one up easily. The battery lasts for ages - so you may even survive a short trip without having to recharge at all.

The negatives 

To be fair, the Crafty is not 100% perfect. There are a few things you should be aware of before you purchase one.

First of all, this little beauty does not come cheap. Storz & Bickel operate in the top end of the market. All their vapes are the most expensive out there. The Crafty is their cheapest offering but it is still more than most. You pay for quality engineering.

Another thing that bugs me about the Crafty is the fact that it relies on the app (which is excellent by the way) to change the temperature. Depending on your use you may only have to do this once. In case you change your temperature often you should be aware that you’ll need to whip out your phone to do so. It was a bold move for Storz & Bickel to rely on an app like this - the flip side is - it simplifies use to one simple button press. For this reason, I see this as a secondary vaporizer and not a primary vape. Given the price - it may be out of reach for most people’s second portable vaporizer. If you are gonna buy only one portable vaporizer I would say go for the slightly more expensive Mighty - it gives you complete control over the temperature via the device itself.

Finally, to load effectively, you’ll need to use the loading tool that is shipped with your Crafty. This in itself is not a problem, but should you lose this tool you’ll need to load by hand until you get a replacement - which is possible but not as neat.