Au Revoir Firefly | The Firefly 2+ Vaporizer Discontinued

It is with a heavy heart that we bid adieu to the Firefly 2+. The latest vaporizer to be discontinued. You probably couldn’t think of a more hard nosed industry to cut your teeth in 2024  than cannabis vaporizers, moreso herbal vaporizers. Firefly is the latest company to throw in the towel and call it quits with their highly regarded Firefly 2+ Vaporizer. However their path to failure isn’t typical and is a different story from alot of other vaporizers which went kaput for major design flaws. 

The Firefly 2+ was a highly regarded vaporizer; a favorite amongst growers and still considered the best vaporizer for flavor profiles. The Firefly 2+, next to the VapeXhale Cloud Evo (another great vaporizer whose parent company went under), was a vaporizer that was highly rated and loved by the cannabis community. Up until 2022 it was a best seller despite its $250 price tag.

The story of Firefly dates back to 2012.  Mark Williams and Sasha Robinson, both well to do tech bros who successfully exited the booming San Francisco tech scene had an idea for a cannabis vaporizer. With the idea for the original Firefly they segwayed right into another pumping market (at the time) of cannabis vaporizers. 

Just lovers of the plant, Williams and Robinson weren’t seeking to be the next PAX (the big thing at the time) but simply wanted to make a vaporizer better than the PAX. The original Firefly could have even been considered a side project that manifested into one of the most popular cannabis vaporizers of the late 2010s. The Firefly was the first on demand convection vaporizer for herbs. To this day on demand convection remains the secret recipe for the best tasting vapor. 

With the success of the original Firefly it became apparent  they were onto something and over the years they scaled this business releasing the Firefly 2 in 2016 and the Firefly 2+ in 2019, quickly exiting after being acquired by Slang Worldwide. 

With the original innovators and founders out, Firefly 2+ sales dwindled in the back half of 2022. With nothing new in the pipeline the Firefly 2+ lost its allure for more recent newer model vaporizers.

While there was a learning curve to the Firefly Vaporizer, once you nailed down your pack, heating settings and draw, it was mind blowing tasty vapor. Generally when a vaporizer is this well received and renowned sales continue on in perpetuity without much effort. Point in case being the Classic Volcano which has been flying out the door since the early 2000s. 

While times were good for the Firefly 2+ the marketing and innovation fell off once Slang Worldwide took over. After the Covid boom Firefly 2+ sales started showing signs of slowing with nothing new on the horizon. Counterpoint to my Classic Volcano statement above – even the Volcano has seen improvements over the years and different variations with the Digital and now Volcano Hybrid. Also with the Canopy acquisition of Storz & Bickel, Jürgen Bickel has remained on board and continued to oversee operations. 

In a one two punch the vaporizer market sort of inverted on itself. The vape boom was golden for a few players who had cornered a market and were able to sell devices produced at a very low cost for alot of money. Covid accelerated this with cheap money and a slew of competition pouring into the market. Ultimately when the smoke cleared production costs nearly doubled, the demand dropped off and  price wars ensued to make up for the sudden drop in demand. 

The Firefly 2+ being a quality vaporizer with high production costs had to compete with new budget vaporizers and falling prices across the board. Dropping their price to $149, the writing was on the wall that Firefly would likely soon be out of business. 

With falling sales and margins Firefly could not budget for sufficient customer support, marketing and other essential operations needed to sustain the business. In October 2024, The Firefly 2+ had been put on the chopping block.