What to Know Before Buying the Proper Disposable (All-In-One) Vape Pens

Whether walking down the Venice Boardwalk, scooting along in traffic, or sitting outside your favorite coffee shop, it’s no longer strange to see and smell a large plume of flavorful cannabis vapor bellow out of someone’s mouth.

That’s because more and more people are embracing vaporizing, or vaping, as their preferred method of consuming cannabis.

Here, we suggest some all-in-one vape pen brands and helpful tips for finding the right one.

What’s Vaping?

Vaping is the process of heating cannabis flower or extracts to a temperature hot enough to cause it to vaporize without burning it. Water vaporizes at 212°F, so most agree that vaping between 350° and 400°F is best for cannabis.

How Do Vape Pens Work?

Essentially, what happens is the vape pen powers the heating chamber, which in turn provides the heat needed to warm up the oil or other cannabis concentrate, which produces the vapor that you smoke. Then, you pull the vapor through the mouthpiece and inhale.

It’s a pretty simple and straightforward process.

Why Do Some People Prefer Vaping?

Vaping has become the method of choice for many consumers due to its lower perceived health risk, numerous product choices, convenience, and discretion. And with both tabletop and portable solutions like single-use pens, vaping can be enjoyed discreetly on the go or at home with friends.

While further study is needed to understand if vaping is truly safer than smoking cannabis flower, it's easy to see why consumers would feel this way. Smoke of any kind, including cannabis, contains harmful toxins.

Vaping avoids many unwanted toxins.¹ That said, some vape products are manufactured using solvents like butane, which can be toxic if not properly filtered out, and consumers should only purchase vape products from licensed dispensaries and brands that are transparent about their testing procedures.²

What Are Vape Pens?

Vape pens are cannabis devices designed much like e-cigarettes, making them generally small, thin and discreet. They can cost as little as $15 or as much as $60 and require maintenance like recharging the battery and refilling the cartridge.

Many vape pens have a button that must be pushed while inhaling in order to activate the heat source. And most include a light that indicates when a dosage is complete.

A vape pen has five main parts, with many interchangeable from one device to the next. In order from bottom to top:

• battery,
• button,
• tank/cartridge,
• atomizer (heat source),
• mouthpiece.

A majority of pens currently on the market follow an industry standard known as 510 threading, which allows you to interchange almost any cartridge onto any battery.

If you’re thinking of experimenting with vaping, single-use vape pens offer a convenient and cost-effective alternative before you buy a potentially expensive pen that you don't know how to maintain, let alone if you’ll like it or not. All-in-one vapes are pre-loaded devices that require no maintenance, cost less, and must be recycled when empty at a hazardous waste facility.

How to Use a Vape Pen

Using your vape pen comes down to 5 simple steps.

1. Make sure your device is fully charged before you try to use it.
2. Read the owner’s manual to get a good sense of how to operate your device. Traditionally, buttons on vape pens serve three main functions: Powering the device on and off, pressing and holding to take a hit, and -- for some devices -- allowing you to change the temperature on the device.
3. (When necessary) Put the device together. Usually, this means assembling the mouthpiece, the battery, etc.
4. Attach the desired cartridge. Almost all cartridges nowadays come pre-packaged, pre-filled, and easily screw into the device to significantly minimize assembly time.
5. Once your pen is fully assembled and fully charged, and you are familiar with the device buttons, it’s time to enjoy!

Why Use a Disposable Vape Pen?

Disposable vapes are single-use vape pens that come packaged with a battery. They’re available at most dispensaries and cost around $15 to $60. Coming in a variety of brands and strain-specific flavors, all-in-one vape pens may sometimes be rechargeable, so you don’t have to worry about a dead battery and a half-full chamber of extract.

With single-use vape pens, there’s often no button required to activate the heat source. Just inhale and enjoy. One-time-use vape pens can be properly disposed of at your local recycling center or possibly dispensary.

Factors to Look for When Buying Disposable Vape Pens

Photo by Clear Cannabis on Unsplash

While there are several brands and flavors to choose from, finding the right one(s) can be overwhelming; so we’ve made it easier. Here are a few simple things to consider when shopping for single-use vapes to optimize your experience.

• Ask how many hits a new pen gets. Depending on the brand, oil, consistency, and whether it is a half-gram or full gram all-in-one, each pen should get you no less than 150 hits in a half-gram and upwards of 300 in a full-gram.

• Choose a brand that has your favorite strain(s). Several companies make strain-specific pens. If Sour Diesel is what you’d normally smoke, find a manufacturer that offers that strain.
• Do your research. Spend some time on message boards, do Google searches, and ask friends or family members which single-use vape pens they like most.

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When will I know my vape cartridge is empty?

It may seem like common sense, but the best way to know if your oil cartridge is empty is if it feels significantly lighter than full. You can also tell if you hold your cartridge up to the light, and it looks like all of the liquid was absorbed. Lastly, if you continue to vape from an empty cartridge, the aroma from the cannabis oil will be much weaker, and instead, you will experience more of a harsh, smoky scent.

What is it that I’m smoking inside of a vape pen?

This question largely depends on the type of vape pen that you’re using. The biggest difference between traditional vaporizers and vape pens is that most vape pens were strictly designed to handle solvent-based cannabis oil. But there are vape pens that are designed to vaporize cannabis flower, as well as dab pens (for dabbing on the go).

What’s better: vape pens or dab pens?

This is actually a very prevalent debate amongst the dabbing and vaping community. Many people chose dab pens over vape pens because they are typically designed to handle multiple types of concentrates and often “smoke smoother.” On the other hand, there are those who prefer vape pens because they are much easier to maintain, clean, and refill.

Are there different types of vape pens?

Yes, differentiators cannabis connoisseurs may wish to consider when choosing a pen include battery power, product design, unique features (like temperature control), rechargeability, and overall performance.

What kind of cannabis products can be smoked in a vape pen?

Vape pens can be filled with either distillate, live or cured resin and live rosin.

Do vape pens cause harm?

This is the million-dollar question. At the moment, there is not enough public research available that one can conclusively say how vape pens affect the human body.

With that being said though, it’s important to remember that inhaling any type of smoke -- even cannabis vapor -- is not considered to be good for you. When it comes down to it, you’re inhaling a vapor that may include unwanted chemicals, toxins, and carcinogens.

We strongly suggest that you take the time to understand any potential health risks associated with vaping before purchasing a vape pen. In addition to that, we also recommend that you use your vape pen to only smoke legal concentrates purchased from licensed dispensaries and brands.

Why is my vape pen not working?

If it appears your device isn’t working, there are a handful of things you should check before declaring it broken.

This may sound silly, but before assuming your device is damaged, make sure it's turned on.

Another factor that often snags people is the batteries. There are three main things to check when it comes to batteries, and you should use the process of elimination to determine which of the three main things is causing the problem.

1. First, make sure your battery is fully charged.
2. Second, you need to check if the battery cover is fully closed and in place. If the batteries are uneven, power may not be going to the device.
3. If neither of those two issues is causing the problem, try replacing the battery to see if it just got to the end of its lifespan.

If your device is turning on but is not dispensing any vapor, or if you're having trouble taking a hit, it may be because there is residue blocking the connection. You’ll want to check if any oil seeped out of the cartridge and obstructed the mouthpiece or the battery circuit.

There are some vape devices on the market that have something called “stealth mode.” This particular setting allows the device to work when the screen or light is off or unlit. To check if you accidentally turned this mode on, see if the device is heating and allows you to smoke. If so, then it may be a simple fix of toggling stealth mode off in the settings.

If you have checked these factors and still can't use your vape pen, your device may be faulty or damaged beyond repair. Do you remember if the device fell into or came in contact with an excessive amount of water? If so, there could be an interference with the internal connection, and the device could be permanently damaged.

Before throwing out your device, try contacting the dispensary where you purchased it. While refunds aren't common, you may be able to secure a replacement at a lower cost.

Best Brands of Cannabis Vape Pens

‍There are seemingly countless brands making one-time-use vape pens, and there’ll be plenty more to come. It’s really a matter of which brands your dispensary carries and how specific your tastes are.

We encourage you to try all the brands until you find the one (if any) that’s right for you; but to speed up that process, here are a few reputable all-in-one vape pens in various legal states you can start with.

California: Alien Labs, Arcata Fire, Connected Cannabis, Dosist, Rosin Tech

Colorado: Batch Extracts

Maryland: Hellavated, Fuzed, InHouse, Nature's Heritage, Strane Live

Massachusetts: InHouse, Nature's Heritage, Suncrafted

Oklahoma: Dime Industries, Just Hash, Rooted Zen, Sunday Extracts

Oregon: Buddies, Concrete Jungle Extracts, Sand Castle, PiffStixs

We highly recommend that you explore this space and find the vape pen, one-time use or refillable, that’s right for you.

Resources

1. Meehan-Atrash J, Rahman I. Cannabis Vaping: Existing and Emerging Modalities, Chemistry, and Pulmonary Toxicology. Chem Res Toxicol. 2021;34(10):2169-2179. doi:10.1021/acs.chemrestox.1c00290 ↩︎
2. Chadi N, Minato C, Stanwick R. Cannabis vaping: Understanding the health risks of a rapidly emerging trend. Paediatr Child Health. 2020;25(Suppl 1):S16-S20. doi:10.1093/pch/pxaa016 ↩︎

The information in this article and any included images or charts are for educational purposes only. This information is neither a substitute for, nor does it replace, professional legal advice or medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. If you have any concerns or questions about laws, regulations, or your health, you should always consult with an attorney, physician or other licensed professional.