Pubdate: Thu, 23 Apr 2015
Source: Westword (Denver, CO)
Column: Ask A Stoner
Copyright: 2015 Village Voice Media
Contact: http://www.westword.com/feedback/EmailAnEmployee?department=letters
Website: http://www.westword.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1616
Author: William Breathes

WHICH KIND OF VAPE PEN IS BEST?

Dear Stoner: I'm curious about buying a vape pen and wondering what 
brand or type you recommend and which is the most popular.

Tokin' Tom

Dear Tom: It depends on how you plan to use your vape pen. Are you a 
flower guy? Do you want to smoke oils? If so, do you want to load 
them yourself, or do you want something more "plug and play"? Some 
like the ease and function of the pre-loaded vape pens and refills 
like O. pen, while others want to load oils and waxes into the pens 
themselves. Others just want to be able to vape buds. The O.pen 
Vape-style pens are great for stealth usage, as the vapor exhaled 
doesn't have much of a smell, and the cartridges look like the ones 
that tobacco users puff on. They're also relatively cheap ($15 for 
the pen and around $30 for a cartridge), but they aren't favored by 
connoisseurs because they tend to be made with lower-quality oils 
that don't have much flavor. O.pen will be releasing a new line of 
cartridges soon that it says have a much greater flavor profile, 
thanks to new extraction methods that preserve the flavor-containing 
oils and terpenes.

Our preference is for the Cloud-style pens that let us load pea-sized 
chunks of hash wax or shatter. They're available through different 
companies, but almost all of them look like oval-shaped USB drives or 
tubes of lipstick. I've had one for about three years, and though 
I've had to replace the heat element a few times at $15 a pop, it's 
been really good to me. The benefit is that I can put in 
high-potency, high-flavor oils and change out strains as I see fit. 
The downside is that the "vapor" exhaled is actually more like smoke, 
and that and the smell make it less discreet.

Cloud also makes a pen dubbed the Phantom for vaping flowers, and for 
the size and function, it's among the tops we've tried. We've also 
recently been suggesting the PAX 2 vaporizer, though you'd better 
have a thick wallet, as a new one will run you around $250.

Dear Stoner: What type of insurance coverage is needed on an MMJ 
dispensary? Also, what type of coverage does a grower need?

JP

Dear JP: We did some digging and were somewhat surprised to find that 
there are no state laws requiring marijuana dispensaries or grows to 
be insured. That doesn't mean there aren't insurers out there, 
though. Companies like Cannasure and Greenpoint offer general 
business insurance for dispensaries and landlords, as well as crop 
insurance for growers that covers everything from theft to hail 
damage to flooding. It seems like a good investment if you've got 
several million dollars' worth of finicky greenery flowering under your roof.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom