Arizer Air SE Review – The Best Vaporizer Under $100

Airzer has been one of the pioneers in the herbal vaporizer space with their simple yet effective line up of vaporizers. The Arizer SOLO and Arizer Air provided a straight forward no frills experience that didn’t sacrifice on vapor quality while their desktop vaporizer, the Extreme Q, proved to be a great economic substitute to the coveted Volcano Vaporizer. 

While Airzer’s vaporizer lineup has evolved over the years, it has not been until recently that lack of innovation seems to be an issue facing the Canadian vaporizer manufacturer. 

Arizer’s latest releases – the Air MAX and Arizer XQ2 were not the runaway blockbusters the original Extreme Q and Arizer SOLO 2 / Air 2 Combo were. Shortly after release Arizer drastically cut prices on their Air MAX and XQ2 realizing they were not going to command margins of years past in a vaporizer market in decline.

Going the total opposite direction in what we now feel was a savvy move, Arizer released the Arizer Air SE. A bare bones budget portable vaporizer which still provides the Arizer quality we have come to know. The Arizer Air SE is more or less a revamp, or a re-release if you will,  of the original Arizer Air which was released in 2014. 

With the Arizer Air SE at $89.99 this is a much different strategy from pricing the Air MAX at a whopping $319.99. Here Arizer assessed the state of the vaporizer market and said fine, we will throw our hat in the ring and make a budget herb vaporizer. And let me tell you,  at this price point you will be hard pressed to find any portable herb vaporizer as good under $100.

The Arizer Air SE comes in what would certainly be considered minimalist. The quality of the packaging does not feel super refined or  luxury branded like you get with the Air MAX or XQ2. I am not sure I would use this to store my Arizer SE in if I had something like a case. The Glass tube is protected nicely with the PVC travel tube and a small piece of protective foam, but again I strongly recommend getting a case of some sorts if you want to take this thing out and about. Oddly enough with input costs going crazy, A nicer unboxing experience would translate to a more expensive Arizer Air SE and defeat the purpose. 

One thing which generally comes with all the Arizer portable vaporizers which has been left out is the small package of Lavender and the belt case. I know the Lavender is included to drive the point home these devices are not intended for cannabis use, but the belt case has always been funny to me. The only people I know who wear things attached to their belt are shop teachers from the 1980s. It always seemed like such an obsolete and dorky accessory to me. With the bare bones essentials coming in the new Arizer Air SE, you can really see how they are able to keep production costs down. 

The first thing you notice different about Arizer’s Air SE is the lesser grade finish of the outer shell. The more expensive Solo 2 and Air MAX have a sturdier alloy finish on the bodies. The SE is made out of a Polymer. The  translucent blue on the Air SE is very cool, allowing you to see the circuit board inside the device. This build does reduce the weight of the Arizer SE by nearly 15% of the original Arizer Air. However I also assume it is not as optimal for thermodynamics as the more sturdy alloys. 

As for the rest you get Arizer’s signature ceramic heating element, stainless steel chamber and borosilicate glass aroma tube. Your aroma tubes and other aftermarket water pipe adapters for the SE will function in any SOLO or Air model Arizer Vaporizer.

This is the height of the Arizer SE without any of the glass aroma tubes. With those you can nearly double the size of the device is using something like the Arizer SOLO 2 glass stem which is 3.5” (in.)

Essentially what you are after is the driving force behind the Arizer Vaporizer’s consistent and easy to use qualities. The simple and effective stainless steel chamber & glass vapor path which provide efficient and consistent hits throughout your session. You get this with the Arizer Air SE. 

The Arizer SE offers 5 preset temperature ranges from 356° F to 410° F

• Blue 356° F
• White 374° F
• Green 392° F
• Orange 401° F
• Red 410° F

You can change temperatures mid session but you are not getting anywhere near the customizations and controls you would get with a higher end portable Arizer vaporizer. The 5 preset temperatures are more than sufficient and with a high temperature of 410° F  there is no need to worry about a high volume of vapor production if you want that from time to time.

To charge or operate the unit upon arrival you will want to remove the battery protector. For instructions on how to do so please see our quick video below which shows where it sits atop the removeable battery.

Grinding up and loading your herbs in the bottom of the glass draw is straightforward across the board for all Arizer portable vaporizers. Even if you have never used one, your intuition will guide you. 

Place your herb into the top of the SE chamber and hold the temperature up and temperature down button in unison for 3 seconds to power the unit on. ( This is the same method to turn off your Arizer Air SE.)

The unit will beep letting you know it is powered on. It is important to note the unit will not begin to heat up until you choose a temperature. Even if you power off and then on again you will still need to use the temperature up or down to engage the heat and start your session. You can use the temperature up or down button to adjust.

One thing sort of tricky with the Arizer Air SE is that the temperature does not cycle through. So if you reach the highest level of red (410°F) you cannot press up and get brought back down to Blue (356°F). You need to use the down buttons. 

When the blue power light changes from flashing to solid then you have reached your temperature. 

The Arizer SE will reach 410° F in one minute. The blue power symbol will go from blinking blue to holding the light solid when the unit reaches your desired temperature.

While you can fit .2 grams in the SE stem we recommend going a tad lighter at about .15 grams. You can do as as little as .075 grams and get good micro dosing results. One benefit to the Arizer Air SE ( and all other Arizer portable vaporizers) is the glass aroma tubes are interchangeable between all portable models except the Argo. 

On a full .15 (g) pack you will get a solid 8 hits. While you can get up to 10 we recommend we mentioned the interchangeability of using the longer stems or water pipe adapters as the vapor can get harsh in the above 400 °F range when going for hit 8-10.

The ideal sessions with the Arizer SE are going to be solo by yourself and maybe with another person who just needs a hit bad. This is not one to impress your non vaping friends with or pass around in a giant school circle. Then again that is not really the purpose of an entry level vaporizer and no vaporizer under $100 fits that bill. 

With the Arizer Air SE conduction heating and the barrier of the glass between the majority of your herb, we have noticed that the best hits do not come until some ramp up time has passed allowing the heat transfer into the glass and then the herb. 

One thing I like about this is you can get some amazing flavor when drawing before your unit reaches temp. But on the other side it makes it a pain to fire up the Arizer SE for a quick hit. This is a session vaporizer, but it can microdose rather well. That microdose is going to be a 3 hit session – not a quick pick up and hit like you can do with an on demand convection vaporizer like the Firefly 2+.

The vapor quality on the Air SE is quality for the price. It is certainly alot better than what you get with the other budget vaporizers such as the POTV One, G Pen Dash or any of the XMAX portable vaporizers. The texture is lighter than the others mentioned above but also much smoother, flavorful and consistent. 

The vapor at the start of the session is very tasty and light. For the best vapor production the Arizer Air SE requires you to take long and light draws. This is fine and dandy in the confines of 5-6 draws but a negative about the Arizer Air SE (and all budget vapes) is that to get every last drop you need to inhale for a considerable amount of time and have the temperature relatively high. 

This is why we recommended picking up a larger glass stem as the vapor becomes hot and unpleasant to the senses when trying to take long hits or at the tail end of your session. 

 Even then you are not pumping out huge volume hits. If you do want to get large clouds we recommend picking up the Arizer SOLO 2 Glass as at 3.5” in height, this will let you draw for 5-6 seconds without the vapor getting unpleasantly hot. If you really want to get large hits overall then best to forego a budget unit and look into something like the Davinci IQC. 

Overall this harkens back to what you are paying. Most budget vaporizers are Chinese rebrands and thus why you see so many similarities in design in the sub $100 category. The Air SE is not one of those Chinese rebrands, likely why the vapor quality is the best in this budget category.

The Air SE charges with a micro USB cable. This is funny to see this come back after so many new vaporizers have made a big deal out of ditching their old micro USB charging for USB-C. Micro USB does charge slower but the saving grace on the Arizer SE is the removable battery and pass through charging (use while charging). The removable 18650 battery can be replaced with ease or charged externally for a quicker recharge. 

The unit will let you know the battery level upon powering on. 

• Red 10% and under 
• Orange 11% – 40% 
• White  41% – 70% 
• Green 71% – 100%

If you must charge the Arizer SE with the micro USB cable it can take longer than three hours to fully charge.

On a full charge you can expect about 7-8 10 minute sessions. This is pretty solid for a portable vaporizer that only has one battery. To preserve battery life and as a safety feature, the Arizer SE will power down automatically after 10 minutes. 

Also to be noted is you will easily finish your session before 10 minutes has passed.

The Arizer SE is very portable  but just because you can doesn’t mean you should. These glass aroma tubes on all Arizer portable vaporizers make them less than ideal to pocket. Especially if you are doing something like hiking or riding a bike. I do recall when I first got into the world of vaping I would bring herb vaporizers with me everywhere. One time on the BART train ended up breaking the glass stem off in my pocket on the original Arizer Air. Even during the SE review I broke the glass on the kitchen floor just loading it. 

The Arizer Air SE is perfect for the patio and the porch or walking the dog.

The lack of a digital readout does make it kind of a pain to understand. The general concept is still very easy, but knowing what level you are on or what stage your Air SE is in is presented to you through colors and light sequencing. A digital readout does help greatly, but again likely adds cost to producing a unit so we are seeing in real time as we do our Arizer Air SE review what manufacturing adjustments need to be made  to keep the SE under $100. 

Ultimately what may be some initial confusion is pretty simple. So even if you are fiddling with temperature, just start drawing once the blue light stops flashing and holds solid. 

A quick clean is going to be the same as a deep clean and there is not much to it. Most the herb and build up over time will be relegated to the glass stems. A quick soak in isopropyl alcohol and boil in hot water or throwing them into the silverware compartment of the dishwasher will do the trick. If you notice build up in your actual heating element some quick swipes with an Isopropyl alcohol soaked Q tip will be all you need. 

We initially passed on the on Arizer’s Air SE Vaporizer. There are not many distributors carrying it and the already low price doesn’t encourage many distributors to carry, retailers to sell or reviewers to cover. But being an Arizer Vaporizer we had to review it to give it our expert opinion. We feel it is a damn good vape relative to it costing less than a night out to dinner & drinks. If Arizer had tried to charge more I would not give it the glowing review I did as you can get much superior vapor in the Arizer SOLO 2 for $150. 

You will not find this quality vapor for $89 with any competitive vaporizer. I do not know why more people have not given the Arizer SE the recognition it deserves as currently the best herb vape not even under $100 but at $90. One thing we are seeing in the declining vaporizer market is retailers manufacturing and pushing their own in-house brands which are not that good but offer much better margins than carrying someone else’s brand. 

To not be totally jaded. It could also be the Air SE is a 2023 remake of the first generation Arizer Air and thus not much you can cover on it which has not been covered on the OG Air. The Arizer Air however was a highly regarded and coveted vaporizer in its time.  Even crazier to think it was selling for $259 when it was released in 2014 and nearly 10 years later when everything else in the world has nearly tripled in price you can scoop up an Arizer vaporizer for $90. 

If you are looking for a stocking stuffer this holiday season to gift someone the world of herb vaping or wanting to get a solid budget herb vaporizer for yourself,  the Arizer Air SE is the one.