After over a decade of sales, the Vaporbrothers vaporizer has proven that a solid construction backed by a customer focused philosophy will outlast any market trend. Unfortunately, the utilitarian foundation that the Vaporbrothers vaporizer is built upon can make it difficult to spot this “diamond in the rough.”

As I’m sure others have done as well, I have overlooked the Vaporbrothers time and time again due to the widespread exposure of low quality knock-off vaporizers that have stolen its design. In this review we’ll explore if the Vaporbrothers vaporizer is a timeless classic or an outdated has-been.

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We’ve unboxed, now lets explore

First and foremost, our Vaporbrothers vaporizer came from VaporWarehouse. The reason I’m pointing this out is because the VaporWarehouse Vaporbrothers comes bundled with the Padded Storage and Carry Case for free, other distributors versions do not.

Vaporbrothers Vaporizer

When I first pulled the Vaporbrothers out of the padded case I was surprised by how small it was. The housing is a smooth wood that comes in either a light (natural) or dark (coffee) finish. The front of the Vaporbrothers is open at the top to expose the recessed heating connector, the lower section has a dial that functions as an on/off switch as well as the temperature selector. The left side of the vaporizer (if you’re looking at it from the front) has the Vaporbrothers logo etched in the bottom left-hand corner. If your Vaporbrothers doesn’t have the etched logo, chances are it isn’t a genuine Vaporbrothers product. The rear of the vaporizer has an opening for the non-detachable power cord. The underside is a clear plastic panel labeled with the necessary safety compliance information and serial number. Four rubber feet located on the bottom serve to lift the unit off the surface of the table and for better air circulation.

Whip/Wand

The EZ Change hands free whip for the Vaporbrothers is comprised of:

• Clear Glass Herb Chamber with ground glass connection
• Stainless Steel Screen (held between the Glass Herb Chamber and Ceramic Handle)
• White Silicone Grip which holds the Herb Chamber and Handle together
• White Ceramic Handle
• Clear Medical Grade Hose
• White Ceramic Mouthpiece

Ceramic Oil Diffuser

Not much I can say about this, the ceramic oil diffuser works well. Heed the warning located on the stem of the diffuser (which fits over the heating element), even on the lowest setting it becomes extremely hot and should not be touched. The bulb (front cup) portion of the diffuser stays cool enough to touch if you need to remove it while the Vaporbrothers is still operating.

Additional Accessories

Included with the above is:

• Bamboo pick for stirring the contents of the chamber
• Acrylic Grinder
• Extra screens
• Orange scented essential oil sample
• One random pack of Vaporbrother Organic Herbal Blend

My Experience

The Vaporbrothers is a solid desktop vaporizer. It feels well crafted and doesn’t have any wiggle or play that can normally be found in lower quality wooden vaporizers. It takes about five minutes for the vaporizer to reach its set temperature from a cold start, which is fairly quick by some tabletop standards.

I find it difficult to go into extreme detail about the operation and components of the Vaporbrothers because its design is centered around doing on thing, and it does it well. Instead, I’ll put my thoughts and experiences in an itemized list:

• I initially had concerns about herb falling into the heating element, this was not an issue because the heating element has a built in screen and the act of drawing air through the hose packs the herb together nice and snug. Vaporbrothers official statement on preserving the current angle of the heating element references reducing heat build-up in the wooden housing.

• My wife complains that the Vaporbrothers looks off-balance with the wand and hose attached to it. I agree that it doesn’t look as sturdy as I’d like with the length of the wand jutting off the heating element, but this hasn’t presented itself as an issue. My advice is to disconnect the wand from the heating element between draws and place it on the table. While this hasn’t happened to me, I suspect that a well placed accidental whack on the wand while attached to the heating assembly will either crack the heating assembly or send the Vaporbrothers flying.

• When in use, the clear bottom panel and heating assembly  glow a green/blue color. I expected this to annoy me, but the glow is an unobtrusive soft light that reminds me that the unit is turned on.

• The taste from the Vaporbrothers is clean, they attribute this to their “NATURAL MINERAL™ HEATER”. While the marketing buzzwords doesn’t mean much to me, the claim is that their ceramic heating element is taste and toxin free. I don’t feel any funky or questionable tastes or aftertastes if I draw through the hose with an empty chamber, the same cannot be said for other vaporizers I’ve used.

Why should you care?

While writing about my experiences, I began to question why someone reading the review would be interested in a vaporizer that can be summarized with the phrase “Works as advertised.” Other tabletop vaporizers on the market today feature bells and whistles, pulleys and levers, and every other fathomable promise under the sun. Why not really cash in and buy a vaporizer with an EZ Bake Oven built in?

Vaporbrothers (the company, not the vaporizer) has been around long enough to know what they can and cannot do well. They honed in on their strengths and produced a safe, high quality, inexpensive tabletop vaporizer that is covered by a  limited lifetime warranty. A warranty which is backed by a decade of sales and data, they aren’t relying on “holding their finger in the breeze”.

The Hands Free Vaporbrothers vaporizer starts at $183.99, you can pick up a cosmetically blemished (but still 100% functionally sound) Hands Free Vaporbrothers for $129.99 (blemish discounted unit doesn’t come with the free carry and storage case) from VaporWarehouse.

I’ll leave you with a quote from the Vaporbrothers website back in 2001:

“Vaporbrothers, Inc. is a small manufacturing start-up based in Venice, CA.  Inspiration for the product came from artist and tinkerer Robert Vaporman in the spring of 1999.  Inventor Linus took it from there and presented his prototypes to friends and extended family, receiving enough support to continue building.  Linus’ first run of vaporizers found almost instant favor among all types of people, including singers, artists, industry professionals, and normal people.  Dan Vapor joined Vapor Brothers in July 2000 as Chief Operating Officer and has facilitated the construction of 1000 vaporizers.  He brings to Vaporbrothers better building methods, new development, and quality control.

Our vaporizer will be mass produced someday, but will look very different than it does today.   We still hand build our vaporizers; hence the simple appearance and utilitarian nature.  We are only known by word of mouth and this website.”

The Vaporbrothers vaporizer looks the same today as it did when they launched their updated housing design in 2001. While the internal components have since been updated, the core premise remains the same.