Review of My PAX 3 After 6 Years of Vaping

There will be some crusty old stoners out there that scoff at anything other than a jankily rolled doobie, and that’s cool, but time has marched on. More options exist to help the uninitiated become um, “initiated”. 

Among the myriad of various options for getting THC and terpenes and cannabinoids, and flavonoids into your bloodstream are all kinds of vaporizer devices, both new and old, large and small, cheap and expensive, and ultimately, quality vs. crap. 

Pax Labs blew up in 2012 with their first PAX 1 model. 2012 was also the year that Colorado and Washington both became the first two states to legalize recreational cannabis use. 

America had been undermining the devil’s cabbage for decades prior, so the news of recreational legalization swept the country in a viral fashion, which made launching the PAX 1, alongside news of raising $46.7 million in “series C” funding like a tech startup, culminate in a perfect storm of PR. 

My Reasoning For Buying a Personal Vape

In perhaps the most cliché manner possible, I was first exposed to the PAX by a founder of a startup I was providing slave labor for at the time. He said it was like “the Apple of vaporizers,” which seemed to be an accurate statement given the product’s beautiful design, lack of competition, and Apple-esque price point. 

Fast-forward almost a decade, and I get a job offer near Portland. I finally feel confident enough to drop some coin to invest in my paraphernalia collection.

I’d smoked pre-rolls, but my tolerance was so virgin at the time that the pre-rolls always blasted me into space. I’m talking past the moon and into unknown universes.

It wasn’t always pleasant. The weed was too good. I was too weak. 

Edibles were a little better; at least I could cut them down and dose at 5mg, but 5mg hits a lot harder when your cannabinoid receptors have been deprived of exogenous stimulation for nearly 30 years.

The solution, in the end, was the PAX 3. I’m pretty sure my lovely wife bought it for me as a part gift and part future investment for herself, but shhhh.

I won’t lie; the cost was hard to swallow. But, one painful transaction later, I had a brand new Santa Cruz grinder and one unopened sexy green PAX 3. 

In summary, the reasoning behind buying a PAX included, listed in order of weight:

• I moved to Oregon and needed something to consume the ganja with
• I lived in an apartment, so avoiding the production of smoke was key
• Having held the anodized aluminum device, there was definitely a shiny object syndrome effect
• It had a 10-year warranty
• It was highly recommended by people who owned it
• It had an app that helped make figuring out heating temps a lot easier
• It was very compact and discreet for carrying around like an EDC
• It made fresh flower taste superb, something I’d come to realize more later on

4 Features I Love About My PAX 3 Vaporizer

I vaped exclusively with my PAX for about a year and a half, at which point I started mixing joints in (when on trips), and then live resin 510 cartridges entered my life.

At that point, things were probably split 40/40/20, being 40% PAX while at home, 40% vape pen when out and about because it was even smaller and more manageable, and then 20% joints and eddies for when I wanted to get super high. 

1. You Can Double Dip Your Flower 

One benefit of the PAX I discovered was that you can save the vaped flower material, commonly referred to as AVB (already vaped bud) or ABV (already been vaped).

Despite heating it to the point where it changes color and turns brown, I still got high AF off some brownies I made with oil infused with my ABV in my Crockpot for a few hours, effectively doubling the value of my dollar!

2. Low Temps Equal Big Flavor 

Revisiting the PAX, I’m always impressed with the flavor aspect. If I had to describe myself as one type of stoner, I would say I’m easily a flavor-chaser.

I don’t care how high I get, but I lose my shit when I get a uniquely tasty strain, tasty on my nose before lighting up and delicious in my mouth on the exhale. 

The PAX 3 delivers the best flavor I’ve ever had. I’ll never forget vaping Pruf Cultivar’s Key Lime Pie for the first time; the sheer flavor I hadn’t known existed prior.

Filling the oven with some freshly ground Prismatic Jack from Pilot Farms afterward was equally rewarding, imprinting even.

Compared to other refined methods of consumption, even my heirloom water pipe lit with a hemp wick doesn’t taste as good, although it’s a close 2nd.

Being able to gradually increase the PAX vape’s oven temperature allows you to explore the terpene profile of any given flower, savoring its nuances in single-degree increments. 

3. Low Profile Consumption On-the-Go

Being unaware of exactly how strict my corporate apartment overlords were with smoking, I was hyper-cautious and thus hyper-paranoid when I first started vaping.

After running a few tests and after months had passed, I realized the PAX makes a great low-profile consumption device. 

Can you smell the weed in a PAX? Well, yes, if you’ve just packed some skunk and it’s in your pocket, the person sitting next to you on the bus will definitely be able to smell it. The oven is in no way airtight, as it requires air to pass through in order to function. 

The vapor that it produces, however, is beautifully aromatic. It will immediately dissipate in a surprisingly rapid manner, making it way more stealthy than smoking a joint, for example, where the smoke just seems to kind of linger and has that classic burnt smell. 

The secondhand smell from a PAX is more like a bathroom air freshener than a bong rip exhale. Upon the first pump, the scent is strong, but it quickly diffuses or evaporates (I’m not a scientist), and you’re back to square one, almost scent-free.

This makes it a great apartment tool or public space device where lighting a fatty isn’t worth the attention it would draw. 

4. Easy Cleaning & Maintenance

At first, cleaning out the little oven that heats the plant material seemed like a pain in the ass because you need alcohol, ear swabs, and pipe cleaners to be effective. The little grate that blocks the flower from entering the core of the device can also require a little soak in isopropyl once in a while. 

That said, now that I’ve owned a glass and ceramic water pipe for a while, the cleaning routine for the PAX seems quite simple. 

First, popping open the oven is super easy, and you don’t have to be delicate with the device compared to glass. Second, it’s far easier to remove the resinous vaped material from the stainless steel oven chamber than the gunk from inside the downstem or off the inside of a glass bong.

No, nothing will ever rival the elegant efficiency of a joint, but in the world of smoking apparatus, the PAX is pretty easy to get along with, relatively speaking. 

3 Things I Don’t Like About My PAX 3

The whole point of this website is to honestly and transparently communicate my experiences in a way that they may be of real practical value to someone else who is in their own stage of establishing a long-lasting relationship with cannabis. 

As such, I thought long and hard about some things that, after 4 years of use, may edge into the territory of “slightly annoying.”

To be clear, there is nothing about the device I hate. If I hated it, this review would not exist or be considerably negative. That said, nothing is perfect, and one day a PAX 4 will come out having addressed some user feedback of which I’m certain.

1. It’s Still a Battery-Powered Device

The PAX 3 has a built-in non-removable 3,500mAh Lithium-ion battery that is good for a stated “8-10” sessions. The charge time via the provided magnetic latching USB is 2.5 hours, and that’s reduced to 90 minutes if plugged into an AC outlet with their AC adapter. 

On the whole, especially as a beginner in the world of highly potent cannabis, I got 12-15 sessions out of one full oven. This is because:

• I was a new smoker with low tolerance, so that a few puffs would do it
• I buy really high-quality cannabis that’s fresh and covered with trichomes
• I would start low and work my way up temperature-wise
• I suspect PAX averages out no0bs vs pros and how big/hot they rip for their declared 8-10 sessions.

But like all things battery-powered (I’ll never forgive you, Apple, for killing the goddamn headphone jack that worked so well), it could always be better.

That isn’t so much a critique of PAX specifically as the lack of innovation in battery tech over the last decade, which is a bit concerning for a globe on the path to banning fossil fuels entirely. 

I’m hopeful that a newer battery tech will come along one day, making a PAX 4 or 5 or 10, however long it takes, good for a solid 40-50 rips. You could charge it once and bring it on an extended camping trip into the middle of nowhere, no worries. 

2. It’s Susceptible to App Store Overlord Fuckery

One of the coolest features of the PAX was the accompanying app that you could manage from your smartphone. The app was like a virtual assistant who guided green tokers through their journey of discovering the magical properties of the good plant. 

But the lawyers (I’m guessing) at Apple with sticks up their asses used their monopoly power to pull the plug on that because heaven forbid we provide functionality for a cannabis brand if it hasn’t been legalized federally yet. 

I imagine one day, given the rate of state-level legalization, the app will return, and I’m excited for when it does because, as much as some activities have been over-tech-ified, having an intuitive app is an amazing help when it comes to understanding cannabis and fine-tuning heat temps. 

3. Corporate Profit-Driven Development 

Like all stars that burn super bright, they inevitably attract shit moths, and that seems to have happened to PAX when, in 2015, the company launched the Juul brand.

That’s right, the same company that created one of the best cannabis herb vaporizers also thought to themselves, heck, let’s try to get kids hooked on nicotine too because $$$. 

Of course, this is merely supposition, but seriously, cannabis is such a fantastic plant. While I enjoy a Nicaraguan maduro once and a while, tobacco can’t hold a light to cannabis, especially not in some manufactured nicotine-juice disposable e-vape form. 

Of course, it’s personal, and maybe you don’t care, but to me, the Juul is pretty much the antithesis of the original PAX in terms of the product it promotes and the people it promotes said product to. 

In 2017, Juul was spun out of Pax Labs (official company name of PAX), which I’m thankful for, as hopefully it keeps PAX on a more 420-focused trajectory vs stealing teenage allowances by promoting nicotine addictions. 

So, After 6 Years of Use, Do I Still Love It?

Admittedly, my PAX 3 has been collecting more dust 6 years later. This is through no fault of its own, as my methods of consumption have changed as my tolerance has developed and my interest in cannabis has expanded. 

First came the papers and the discovery of the joy of joints. Sure, smoke itself may not be for everyone. Still, if you’ve tried it before and weren’t a fan, I highly recommend giving it one more go, this time with premium, freshly ground flower rolled up in something equally premium, like OCB or Elements rice papers.

Then came the Heir water pipe investment, which became the go-to for a “let’s get high pretty quick with no fuss” option. 

All the while, my poor little PAX has been sitting on my coffee table, next to his old friend Santa Cruz shredder and next to my Elements and OCB papers, and my Re:Stash reusable flower jars, humbly wondering to itself, “What about me?” 

Writing this makes me want to use it more. I miss the pure, unadulterated flavor you get with a low-heat vape vs. burning the plant material in a joint or bowl. I miss taking a rip on my couch without worrying about stinking the place up. 

Dang, writing this makes me remember how much I love that thing and miss it. Currently, its primary duty is to stand by when my wife or I fly back from a long trip or when exploring more densely populated urban areas, where smoke would be a bit attention-grabbing.

Nothing beats a freshly packed citrus-oriented sativa out of a vaporizer after landing from a long, exhausting flight in economy class. Add a big bowl of Pho to that, and you’ll immediately recover from any lingering jetlag.

In the end, maybe having to recharge a device or clean a little oven isn’t for you, and that’s fine. My goal isn’t to sell you a product; it’s to sell you my own personal experience with explanations as to why I feel the way I do about it. 

On the whole, though, there is one type of smoker whom I absolutely recommend the PAX 3 to, and that’s someone who wants to learn and experience more about cannabis and who is just beginning their journey. 

Sure, you can jump into the deep and get a big ass bong and start burning forests’ worth of trees from day #1. More power to ya! 

But suppose you’re someone who is not a regular smoker or perhaps is completely turned off by any kind of smoke, but also curious about cannabis. In that case, a premium handheld flower vaporizer like the PAX is PERFECT.

A personal vaporizer like a PAX allows you to dip your toes in and slowly wade in as deep as you like, giving you time to acclimate and notice the subtle qualities of lightly heated flower. 

Suppose a bong is losing your virginity to an inattentive, selfishly plundering Chad. In that case, a PAX is a genuine first relationship, a true first love, and a great introduction to a whole world of pleasure that will likely be with you the rest of your life. 

Okay, it’s time to dust this thing off and give this ‘ol girl a charge. Flavor is on the menu tonight! 

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