Photo: Brent Rose/Gizmodo

I switched to edibles last year. It seemed like the healthiest way to go, especially with a nasty respiratory virus sweeping the globe, and I did not want to add any risk to my lungs. Edibles are kind of a commitment, though. They take a long time to kick in, and then they stay in your system a lot longer, too. Sometimes, you want to kick back get a little stoned right awayas you would with a post work glass of wineand know itll mostly wear off before bedtime. I still wanted to avoid smoke, though, which meant I would be searching for the perfect, convenient, smooth-hitting, portable vaporizer. And I found it.

DaVinci has been making really solid vaporizers for years, but its latest, the DaVinci IQC, strikes the perfect balance between quality and price. Coming in at $230, it is by no means the cheapest vaporizer out there, but it just works so well that it instantly became the top vaporizer I would recommend to friends.

A supremely well-designed portable weed vaporizer for flower or extract.

It tastes divine and produces very smooth, cool vapor. It heats up in 30 seconds, lasts a long time, is super easy to load, has a big bowl, charges via USB-C, works with flower and extracts, and easily fits in your pocket.

Expensive. It does get a bit warm in your hand, but not too bad. Would be cool if they implemented the dosage calculator found in IQ2, but it didnt work that well anyway.

A very quick vaporizer primer, for those who dont know: Vaporizing cannabis is not the same as smoking cannabis. The idea is that you have a device (a vaporizer) that heats your bud up to the point where all the good stuff (such as THC, CBD, and other cannabinoids) aerosolize so you can inhale them, but not so hot that the bud actually burns. This means you dont end up inhaling as many harsh carcinogens (though its certainly not 100-percent clean). Vaporizers hit smoother, are much easier on your throat and lungs, they taste a lot better, and typically produce a cleaner high.

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The ICQ can be used for both flower (a.k.a. ground-up bud) and extract (i.e. oils, shatter, and other concentrates). This makes it extremely versatile. For flower, the chamber can hold up to half a gram of herb, which is very generous and will likely last you several sessions. One thing that drives me crazy with virtually every portable vaporizer Ive used is that the bowls are frequently small and hard to load, which leads to spilling herb-crumbs everywhere. That is one of the many things that sets the IQC apart. The surface around the bowl gently slopes inward, so even if you miss the bowl itself its extremely easy to push the rest in with your finger. Its such a small thing, but it ends up making a huge difference. It also has a little stirring/scraping tool that hides away inside it, under the mouthpiece. Again, its a little detail, but its wonderfully convenient.

The rest of the design is rather immaculate, too. It might seem lazy to say that its as if Apple made it, but that feels weirdly accurate in this case. The IQC features clean, rounded lines that fit nicely in your palm. The exterior is made of brushed aluminum that feels silky smooth. The doors all snap shut with magnetic assistance. It has just three buttons and an easy-to-read display. It is, dare I say, elegant to look at?

Click through for more detail shots of the IQC.Photo: Brent Rose/Gizmodo

Photo: Brent Rose/Gizmodo

Photo: Brent Rose/Gizmodo

Photo: Brent Rose/Gizmodo

But the star of the show is the way it hits. The entire airpathfrom the oven to the mouthpieceis zirconia-coated ceramic, so no plastics or metals along the way. This means you dont get any flavors in there except for the weed youre puffing. Not only that, but its extremely easy to dial in your temperature. You can choose to use one of the four pre-programed Smart Paths that start at one temperature and automatically turn the heat up to get maximum extraction out of your bud, or if youre a geek like me you can put it in precision mode and dial in the temperature you want one degree at a time. Personally, I find that 392 degrees Fahrenheit is my favorite temp for most strains, but sometimes I like going a little higher, and sometimes Ill go a bit lower. Its also worth noting that if you dont like the pro-programmed Smart Path settings you can connect the IQC to your phone via Bluetooth and change those numbers.

The ICQ is DaVincis first vaporizer that charges via USB-C. That means you can charge it from zero to full in about two hours (though you can charge it enough for a single session much faster than that). It can also act as a portable power supply, should your phone die and you decide that reading Gizmodo is more important than getting stoned. While the 3,000 mAh battery should get you one to two hours of burn time (depending on your temperatures), its also removable and replaceable, so you could always bring extra batteries if youre going backpacking or something. Spare batteries will run you a very reasonable $13 a pop.

Speaking of accessories, you can get these little ceramic Dosage Pods from DaVinci. They look like little white, porcelain baskets and are designed for when youre on the go and dont want to worry about grinding your bud, emptying out your last bowl, and then reloading it. You can swap in one of these little pods that you filled at home and youre off to the races. Youll also need these pods if you want to vaporize some extract, in addition to DaVincis Extract Kit. Its basically a little ceramic disk and some small cotton pads to keep the oil from getting your vaporizer all goopy. Loading it up is a little bit of a process, but its not bad at all, and the vapor you get from extracts is very clean and nowhere near as lung-destroying as a dabbing rig.

Photo: Brent Rose/Gizmodo

The IQC also features a new Sharesafe Mouthpiece made of an FDA-approved antimicrobial polymer. Theoretically this means its less likely that youll spread cooties while sharing your vape. I did not have lab-testing equipment to test the validity of these claims, but I did share this vape with several friends and none of us got cooties (or covid), so maybe? One thing I can tell you, is that this mouthpiece stays slightly cooler on the lips than the metal mouthpiece on most other vapes, including those DaVinci makes.

It is worth mentioning the IQCs closest competitor is also made by DaVinci. The IQ2 came out before the IQC, and it costs $80 more. What do you get for that $80? Well, if you punch in the percentage of THC and CBD in the strain of weed youre vaping, the IQ2 can measure the size of the hits youre taking and estimate the dosage youre getting. Thats kinda cool, though I found it to be somewhat buggy when I tried it. It also has a dial at the bottom that allows you to control the airflow. Other than that, its effectively the same vaporizer as the IQC, except it lacks USB-C and the Sharesafe Mouthpiece. The IQ2 is excellent, but I think youre better off saving the $80 and getting the IQC.

Really, its hard to find something to dislike about the IQC. If anything, Id say I still think its slightly more expensive than it should be, especially considering you need to buy the Dosage Pods and Extract Kit if you want to vaporize some extract. If this thing came with those items, or if it didnt and it cost $200 instead, I would say everybody who smokes cannabis should buy this, because its healthier, it tastes better, and its just so convenient. At $230 it seems just a liiiittle steep and pushes it a bit close to enthusiast territory. That being said, if you dont mind spending that much, this is the best portable vaporizer Ive ever used. It disappears in your jean pocket, its easy to load, it holds a lot, it lasts a long time, it tastes delicious, and it gets you really high. What more do you need?

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If Apple Made a Weed Vaporizor, the DaVinci IQC Would Be It - Gizmodo