The VaporDaddy Deluxe is a box style (whip) vaporizer, clearly inspired by the well-known VaporBrothers vaporizer. However, a number of unique features caught our interest. We decided to put this vape to the test to see how well it performs.
Looks
On the outside, the VaporDaddy Deluxe look like a ‘standard’ box vaporizer. The housing is made out of wood and it comes with a ceramic heating element (which is removable). A power on/off button and temperature dial are located on the front of the unit (just below the wand/whip). The VaporDaddy Deluxe is available in four different colours; Redwood (see our images), White, Cherry and Dark wood.
Ease of Use
Heating up takes just over 5 minutes, which is fairly common for these types of vaporizers. I did notice a bit of a plastic smell after heating it up for the first time, but after letting it run for some time (without herbs) this seemed to dissipate.
To fill the bowl (prior to heating it up), the wand must be taken out first. Two metal discs hold both ends in place, the herb goes in between. Provided you fill the disc to its maximum, the herb is pressed fairly tight in between the screens, allowing for even vaporization. However, when only a small amount of herb is inserted, this will easily ‘sink down’, potentially causing the lowest or middle part not to be vaporized very well. Once put back in place, all that’s needed is to wait for the vaporizer to heat up. The wand of the VaporDaddy Deluxe is hands-free, which means you don’t need to hold the wand in place during use.
The parts near the discs are enclosed with a rubber fitting, to make it easier to take out and to to prevent burning. However, on higher temperature settings the rubber parts still hold too much heat to handle. It only took me one try not to make this mistake again, heh.
Cleaning the various glass parts is quite easy, since all parts can be taken out separately. The manual provides good information on cleaning the unit, and with a bit of ISO alcohol and a towel all glass parts are cleaned within minutes. Cleaning the whip is slightly more tedious, but letting it soak with some sea salt in a plastic ziplock bag (while shaking now and then) did the trick.
In short, using the VaporDaddy Deluxe isn’t difficult, but there are a few things to bear in mind to prevent disappointment.
Vapor Quality
After the initial plastic smell and taste, I feared this would remain. However, the next runs the taste of the vapour was surprisingly pure. Vapour production is not too great, I’ll get to this later.
One thing that struck me in regards to the use, is the lack of accuracy of the temperature dial. At the lower settings (1 to 6), the vapour is very thin. When moving the temperature knob to 8 or 9, thicker, visible vapour is formed, but, much to my disappointment, combustion also occurred at these temperatures. There’s a very small gap between good vapour and temperatures that are clearly too hot.
Durability
Although the manufacturer originates from Canada, all VaporDaddy Vaporizers are made in China. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, I believe the choice of higher grade materials for some of the components would have been in place. For example, the power button and dial wheel feel quite flimsy. Other than this, the quality of most materials used in the VaporDaddy Deluxe seems decent. The ground glass connections fit well, and the glass parts seem of good quality.
There is a three year manufacturer warranty on the unit, but a money order of $34.95 must be sent (unless any defects occur within 30 days after the purchase) to cover handling and shipping.