The Life Saber Vaporizer is the handheld vaporizer offering from industry veteran 7th Floor. Using the same heating element as its siblings the Silver Surfer Vaporizer and the Da Buddha Vaporizer, a new form factor takes the quality familiar experience to a new more hands on place.

Handheld, but not quite portable.

The LSV still needs to be plugged into an outlet to function, but as opposed to most plug in vaporizers, the LSV is held in your hands when used. Its just as easy to use the LSV while settled in bed for the evening as it is to use as a “desktop” vaporizer on a coffee table. The handheld aspect of the LSV makes it a fun and easy vaporizer to share with a group.

Its difficult to talk about the LSV and its unique features without bringing up the rest of the 7th Floor family. As mentioned earlier the LSV, SSV (Silver Surfer), and DBV (Da Buddha) all sharing a similar heating element and glass heater cover style. A ceramic rod heats the air passing over it, the hot air is then directed through the herbs that are sandwiched between the LSV and the transfer wand (mouthpiece).

The aluminum body of the LSV doesn’t get too hot to hold… most of the time. Since I own the tall version of the water pipe adapter (WPA), I run the LSV hotter (3 o’clock on the dial) when using them together to get an even cook throughout the herb. If I leave the LSV on this hotter setting for over thirty minutes, especially laying on its side, the aluminum housing will warm as heat builds up inside the unit and eventually become too hot to hold. When running the LSV at a lower temperature (closer to noon on the dial) I can place the unit down on its side without it ever getting too hot to handle.

LSV Disassembled

The LSV body is separated exposing the glass air path and ceramic heater. The end of the glass air path has a female 18mm ground glass connection inside, and a special rounded ground glass connection on the outside for use with the water pipe adapter.

Transfer Wand

Herbs are sandwiched between the Transfer Wand (mouthpiece) and the LSV body in the 18mm ground glass connection. Removable screens that are built into the both Transfer Wand and the LSV keep the herbs in place. When you begin to draw, the air comes in through the bottom of glass air path, passes by the ceramic heater, then travels through the herbs and into the Transfer Wand.

Warmup time to vaporizing temperatures is a few minutes, and because the LSV is an all convection vaporizer (herbs are heated with hot air, rather than placed in contact with a heater) the herbs don’t cook when you’re not drawing air through it. Standing the LSV upright (using a stand, or hanging it off a hook) may cause warm air to drift up into the herbs, so be careful leaving it on and upright.

Whats in the bag?

The LSV comes with a carrying case, transfer wand, extra screens, and poker tool.

To use the LSV with a water pipe, a ground glass WPA is available in both 14mm and 18mm. The image below demonstrates the rounded ground glass connection with the WPA on the right.

Stand

Custom stands are available for the LSV from vaporizer manufacturer Alan of Toasty Top. The first thing I did when I received my LSV is start looking for a stand solution. I wasn’t comfortable leaving a hot vaporizer laying sideways on a coffee table or couch. My solution to this was to use a shallow bowl from the kitchen and lay the LSV in it. While this worked, the LSV still built up some heat around the body, it was an awful looking solution, and I was constantly reminding people not to use that bowl for fruits… that last issue might be unique to me.

Enter the stand. Alan custom builds these LSV stands with all the proper cutouts to allow easy access to the LSV and cord. It holds the vaporizer straight up which reduces heat buildup, and gives you easy access to remove and replace the vaporizer from the stand without worrying about the cord.

If you’re interested in picking up a stand for the LSV shoot Alan an email.

How does it compare?

With the price tag coming in at just short of $200 the LSV is on the less expensive end of the desktop vaporizer spectrum. It can produce hits as thick and cloudy as needed (within reason) by adjusting the draw speed and temperature dial. The Life Saber is a solid choice for those who want the long power cord, handheld operation, and the peace of mind that they’re getting a solid vaporizer from a reputable manufacture.

The LSV is available for sale from VaporWarehouse with free shipping.

Where does it fall short?

The LSV needs a stand of some sort. Or a bowl… whatever. It needs something, and there isn’t a direct first party solution. I’m thankful for Alan making such wonderful stands, but factor that into the cost of the LSV.

Contact Alan for current pricing, at the time of this review a silver maple LSV stand cost $75.

There are always other options of storing a hot LSV, some folks hang a hot LSV off the edge of a table with a wire hanger fashioned into a hook to hold the LSV by the holes. I believe one person even hung their LSV from a nail or screw in the wall, not me. There are options, but I wasn’t able to really enjoy the LSV until I found one.