Welcome to our review of the Plenty Vaporizer by Storz and Bickel. This vape is the smaller, cheaper, but just as easy to use brother of the Volcano vaporizer, arguably the best vape on the market, which also happens to be made by Storz and Bickel.
The Plenty is not the biggest vaporizer out there, but it is by no means the smallest, coming in at a moderate fifteen and a half inches high, twenty two and a half inches long, and five and a half inches wide. The best object to compare it to is a piece of hardware equipment, like an electric drill, mostly due to the overall look of the unit (but it is also around the same size as a standard drill). While this unit may look odd to some, these looks do serve a purpose, which I will go into later in this review.
An interesting aspect of this vaporizer is that it can vaporize both herbs and oils. To do this, the Plenty comes with an “oil pad” (which is basically a chunk of steel wool) that you can place your concentrates on. I recommend you turn the Plenty to the highest heat setting for any concentrates to really get the most out of your material.
The Plenty utilizes conduction and convection to vape your herbs of choice as efficiently and fully as possible. Loading the chamber is very simple to do, and all you have to do to get vapor is turn on the temperature and draw.
How the Plenty Vaporizer Works
Loading the Plenty is a very simple process. You start by removing the coil and the orange piece it is attached to. This orange piece is the chamber, and you can access it by removing the coil section from the vaporizer itself. The chamber is fairly large, holding up to two grams of material if you really packed it in there. Unlike some other vapes, this unit features a shallow and wide chamber, allowing for more even vape than with units that have narrow and deep chambers, which lead to highly uneven vaporization.
If you are loading the chamber for a personal session, I recommend using the oil pad that comes with the unit as a spacer to hold the herbs tightly against in the chamber. If the chamber is not packed tightly, then your material will tend to fall to one side of the chamber and not vape efficiently (or at all). Placing the oil pad into the chamber with your herbs allows it to be tightly packed enough to not move around at all, leading to optimal vaporization.
As you are loading your herbs into the chamber, you should turn on the unit itself. To turn it on, you hit the orange switch on the side of the unit and press the auto-off release handle (it looks like the trigger on an electric drill). Then you select your temperature. The Plenty has seven heat settings, ranging from 266 degrees Fahrenheit to 394 degrees Fahrenheit. I personally have found that I get the best vapor at around the six and a half mark (roughly 380 degrees).
Heat up time is only around a minute, and once the unit reaches the temperature you want, you just attach the coil assembly and you are ready to vape.
A major bonus (and potential drawback depending on the person) with the Plenty is that it has a 90 second auto shutoff. You can get around this by hitting the auto shutoff switch when you take your draws (which you do when you hit the device anyways). This is good if you enjoy doing other things while you vape, because you know that you aren’t wasting material. But, for someone who isn’t used to having to push a button every time you take a hit, this can be a bit annoying. If you plan to use the Plenty as your go-to device, then you will get used to it very quickly. However, if you have multiple vaporizers (some of which will most likely be basically hand free), you will find this annoying at first. Once you taste the vapor this thing puts out though, you won’t mind pushing the button nearly as much.
As far as the weird look of the unit, I believe Storz and Bickel actually designed this vape with ease of use in mind. It is easy to load, silent, and each quirky feature serves its purpose. For example, the coil on the top of the unit acts as a cooling coil, cooling the vapor after it leaves the chamber on the way to your lungs. If you run your finger along the coil, it is hot near the chamber and cool when you get to the mouthpiece. I thought this was the coolest thing when I first got this vape, because I expected the coil to be a gimmick. Also, do not, and I repeat DO NOT change the coil in any way. It will not work as well and it could even break the vape, and you do not want to do that.
Another aspect that I found odd of the Plenty was the auto shutoff switch, which I originally thought was the power button. Thankfully I read the manual (available here), or I would have thought I had a defective unit. While personally am not a huge fan of this feature, it does make sense to have it as a part of the vaporizer. It allows you to get a better use of your herbs, and it makes the vaporizer more efficient.
Pros:
- Vapor Quality: the vapor I get from this unit is remarkable. It is rivaled only by the best vaporizers on the market in vapor quality.
- Durability: This unit is very durable, having no glass parts and being made of high quality materials.
- Chamber Size: the chamber of this unit is bigger than most, allowing very easy and uninterrupted group sessions.
Cons:
- Use: as stated previously, I am not a huge fan of having to press the button on this unit to keep it at the temperature I set. While the vape is easy to load and use, I (and others) found this aspect slightly annoying.
- Looks: most people don’t enjoy the look of the Plenty. While this weird design does serve a purpose, some people will not buy this unit simply because of the looks of it.
Where to Buy the Plenty Vaporizer?
The best place to buy this unit would be from Vapor Nation, and you can find it by clicking this link here. Their shipping is free, fast and discrete, they have some of the cheapest prices around, and they come with a three year warranty from Storz and Bickel. They also throw in a free grinder with your purchase.
Final Recommendation
If you are looking for a direct draw vape for under four hundred dollars, the Plenty will serve you well. It is the only vaporizer in its pricerange that can achieve the vapor quality that this unit does. At $349, you will simply not find a better vaporizer.
