It’s not the case that every device you own should be regularly replaced, but if you’re a cannabis flower and vaporizer user, Pax Flow is the best reason to upgrade we’ve seen in years. The Pax Flow ($350) is the vape company’s newly redesigned flagship—a significant redesign that claims to offer things like better battery life and heating times, but boasts something far more important: a noticeably improved smoking experience. To understand what’s going on, you’ll need to understand what’s going on inside the mostly unchanged, monolithic body design.
Most of Pax’s devices over the years have functioned the same way: weed goes in the bottom, smoke comes out the top. Pax created a chamber in the base of the device where a heating element could vaporize the terpenes and other desirable chemicals off of ground flower without combustion, making a less smelly, more enjoyable smoking experience by essentially deleting the smoke.
The vapor your beathed traveled the length of the device to your lips, cooling a bit as it did so, making for a pleasantly herbal smoking experience. There were two major problems with this. First, the tunnel through which that vapor had to travel needed to be narrow enough to keep random chunks of ground flower from getting sucked up and out. Second: that narrow chamber needed regular cleaning to prevent clogging. Pax Flow re-engineers the design a bit, placing the chamber on the side of the device and reserving the bottom for a charging port that attaches to a sturdier (USB-C) charging dock (sold separately, $30).
While the vapor does not feel particularly warmer or colder from previous devices, it flows more freely and, importantly, is worlds easier to clean. Specialty tools will still help in the process, but even the most neglected Pax Flow can be restored to factory with a few Q-tips and some alcohol. That one improvement alone addresses something like 80 percent of the complaints that I had about older devices. As someone who has seen plenty of pipes, bongs, and vapes collect dust on shelves because their owners are avoiding the tedious cleaning process, this is an incredible improvement.
There are less obvious improvements as well. The side chamber does feel more secure, and slightly easier to pack without making a substantial mess. Battery life generally feels good. The user experience is still very similar—anyone who has used a Pax device in the past should have little trouble puffing within seconds of opening the box. If you’ve been in this ecosystem, the learning curve is relatively minimal.
The biggest (and only) gripe I have with this new device is its slightly larger dimensions—while previous devices were not really pocket-friendly or discreet compared with today’s vape pens, this newest Pax is effectively a desk or coffee table model—unless you’ve got a day bag or a backpack to stash it in. It will not fit flatteringly into a pant or jacket pocket unless your tailoring is particularly loose and pleated.
That’s probably fine for most folks—edibles are far more discreet when discretion is required, anyway. And by not trying to crunch this device down to half its size, Pax has also managed to make it into something of a workhorse. Pax Flow works great for a circle pass or two per fill, and accessories like the water pipe adapter make it an excellent way to replace a bowl in a bong or gravity bong.
Pax has arguably been the Apple of vaporizers for most of the modern century, so it makes sense that the Pax ecosystem is one of the best things about their devices. If you’re grabbing a Flow, you may want to invest in some of the existing ways to enhance the experience—tools like Pax’s water pipe adapter ($15), stash tube ($15), and puck press ($20), all of which will make using the brand’s devices a little more convenient overall. While you don’t need to cop the latest iteration of the iPhone or Apple Watch, this is one of those rare upgrades where you’ll really feel the difference with every puff.
G. Clay Whittaker is a Maxim contributor covering lifestyle, whiskey, cannabis and travel. His work has also appeared in Bon Appetit, Men’s Journal, Cigar Aficionado, Playboy and Esquire. Subscribe to his newsletter Drinks & Stuff for cannabis-adjacent content, perspectives on drinks, and stuff.