Storz & Bickel Buyer’s Guide – Which Storz & Bickel Vaporizer is the Best? [2022 Update]

Buying a Storz & Bickel Vaporizer ? That’s a good choice. They are the highest quality  vaporizers on the market. Now you have to decide which Storz & Bickel Vaporizer is best for you. Our Storz & Bickel buyers guide has been updated to include the newest model S&B Vaporizers. 

You again find yourself flustered by more possible choices of which vaporizer in their lineup is going to suit you best. Saying you are going to go with a Storz & Bickel Vaporizer is like saying you are going to buy a Mercedes (well not quite but you get the idea). You now need to decide: SUV, Sedan, Coupe, other model, new or used.

When we first published this article in 2018 there were five Storz & Bickel Vaporizers currently being manufactured. The Classic Volcano, the Digital Volcano, Mighty, Crafty and Plenty.

In 2022 Storz & Bickel still only make six different models: The Classic Volcano, the Hybrid Volcano, Mighty, Mighty+ Crafty+ and Plenty. None of which are a huge departure from the original concepts of years past, but are improved with features as general technology advances. Whether you get a Storz & Bickel Vaporizer today or in the future, if you buy at To the Cloud Vapor Store,  you will be getting the current best on the market that will stand the test of time.

Of the 6 vaporizers manufactured by Storz & Bickel  you can find many similarities and the differences are very distinguishable between the models which are not more or less not the same. 

If that sounds confusing, what I am trying to say is you have two variations of their signature desktop vaporizer – the Volcano (Classic or Hybrid), and three variations of their portable vaporizers – the Crafty+ or the Mighty. Then there is the Plenty in a class by itself. So the initial decision to make is. Should I buy the Volcano Desktop, the Plenty , or go with one of their portable vaporizers? From here we can branch out.

The Classic Volcano is the very first vaporizer made by Storz & Bickel. Born in the basement of a German scientist in the late 90s, the Classic Volcano vaporizer has evolved to become the icon by which other vaporizers are judged.

Over the years it has by in large remained the same vaporizer it was in the early 2000’s when it entered the US market. It is a desktop vaporizer which plugs into an outlet and  vaporizes your plants by utilizing a fan to blow hot air through the herb (which sits in a chamber atop the heating unit) and into a bag. You then remove the bag and inhale the piney goodness that is Volcano Vapor.

While it is a beloved icon and highly recommended for individuals needing the best vaporizer for medical reasons it is not the easiest to fire up at a moment’s notice.

It is a desktop vaporizer –  akin to a bulky kitchen appliance. The Classic Volcano weighs 3.56 lbs  is 7” inches wide and 7.25” inches tall. It requires a power outlet and has a heat up time of roughly 4 minutes. The vapor bags are two feet tall and the fan can be noisy. The fan and the crinkling of the vapor bags when being filled will definitely require you to turn up the volume if you are trying to watch a movie.  I draw a parallel to cooking. I know the food processor is going to make way better Taziki sauce than just whipping it all together in a bowl. But with the food processor I am really going to have to put in the extra labor. If I come home from a hard day at work and want to vape ASAP, busting out the Volcano,  assembling and waiting can be a hassle.

Many Volcano owners choose to just set up the Volcano as a table piece. If you have more than one user at your residence or can just leave it out on the coffee table it minimizes the prep time. Besides that the Volcano Vaporizer is a great social vaporizer and is always in use and on display when company comes over to my place. the Volcano is  a party vape. Better yet there is now three color variations in which you can buy the Volcano Vaporizer: Classic Silver, Gold and Onyx.  It is nice to see Storz & Bickel add these custom colors after so many years of just bumping out the silver. 

If you are only going to be using at home and can assign the Volcano a dedicated space then I would have to say the Volcano vaporizer is the one.

While Storz & Bickel no longer make these, we still do carry second hand Digital Volcano Vaporizers. If you are interested in the digital model please read on, if not feel free to skip ahead to the Hybrid.

The Digital Volcano, unlike the Classic,  will automatically shut off after 30 minutes. I personally like this feature of the Digital Volcano as a safety precaution. There are those however which like to keep the Volcano going strong while guests are over or while they watch a movie so they can always go back and fill up another bag. The Classic will stay on as long as you leave it on. 

The obvious difference is that the Digital Volcano has a digital temperature read out, letting you know your exact temperature. The Classic has a +/-  5 degree margin of error which really does not equate to anything in regards to the quality of vapor. In my opinion I find this obvious difference negligible. The blindfold test is a measure I use to compare the vapor between two vaporizers. With the Digital Volcano the vapor is exactly the same as the Classic Volcano. I would not be able to tell the difference between the two in a blind taste test.

The most recently released Volcano Vaporizer is the Volcano Hybrid. It gives you luxury features that you would expect in the best vaporizer of 2020, but at a cost $699 – $220 more expensive than the Classic.

The Hybrid contains bluetooth compatibility. You can turn it on, change the temperature and many other neat features, all using your smartphone app or Storz & Bickel web app. 

Faster heat up time is another benefit you get over the Classic and Digital. The Hybrid heats up in between 90-120 seconds. 

The display and controls on the Hybrid Volcano also saw an upgrade from the Digital. The smooth touch display gives you total control over your Volcano with what feels like a swipe of a finger. 

The additional whip option on the Hybrid makes it possible to use it a few different ways. You can utilize the Hybrid in the conventional manner  – with a vapor bag, or you can use the whip. When using the whip you have the option to draw without the fan on, giving you a total convection experience, or turn the fan on and let the vapor come to you. The whip is by far my favorite feature on the new Hybrid Volcano. 

If you are still deciding between the Classic or Hybrid read our comparison here 

Personally I get the same vapor from all Volcano Vaporizer models. The Vapor is like a fine mist. It has good flavor and even better texture. It is not too heavy and the instantaneous effects will confound the first time user as to how something so seemingly simple yields such great results. Only at very high temperatures or with vapor that has sat in the bag for some time will you ever get choked up on vapor from a volcano bag. 

Another aspect to consider when purchasing the Volcano is the amount of herb needed to get a good session. The easy valve and hybrid filling chamber will need at least .25 to .3 grams of herb to provide optimal results. Storz & Bickel did design a chamber reducer that will let you session with only .1  to .15 grams, however you will only get one to two quality bags out of that little herb at 375 °F. Using the chamber reducers and micro-dosing with the Volcano Vaporizer kind of feels like Volcano Lite, not giving off the full vapor volume. 

This keeps with the theme of the Volcano Vaporizer being for someone who is only going to vape at home and vape a good amount when they do decide to do so.

The Plenty is another desktop vaporizer made by Storz & Bickel. It’s like a hybrid portable / desktop vaporizer , but for the fact that it must be plugged into an outlet makes it fall into the desktop category.

The Plenty is a fun one to pass around in small social settings and is completely capable of such with a 9 foot power chord, but not something you can as easily pass around at a party like a Volcano bag.

Being that the Plenty must be plugged in for use and also is not the smallest (13” inches tall with the whip attached and a 7” handle) It’s more of an economical substitute to the Volcano. If you want Storz & Bickel vapor quality but don’t want to spend $300+ the Plenty at $249 is a great option.

It’s easier to set up than the Volcano a tad less involved, but still not something you can put in your backpack and take to the lake.

Comparing The Plenty Vaporizer

I very much disagree  when I hear people call the Plenty a handheld Volcano. While it provides excellent quality vapor. The Vapor is not the same as the Volcano. There is no fan so you must draw through a whip to ingest your vapor.

Given the wide and shallow filling chamber of the Plenty you will go through herb faster with the Plenty than with any other of the Storz & Bickel vaporizers. Like the Easy Valve set up of the Volcano, best results are with at least .25 grams of herb, but you can always buy the Plenty Chamber reducer if you want to micro dose.

The Plenty is also the one I would recommend to a user who is strictly going to be using at home and probably not using alot with friends. The Plenty is easier to put away and take out and use than the Volcano. The unit itself (fully assembled) is about two pounds so there is no issue with operating with one hand.

The Plenty I have found also is the most like smoking. Given the no fan assist, low draw resistance and large surface area of where your herb hits heat you get the thickest and most robust vapor from the Plenty versus the rest of the Storz & Bickel lineup. So if you are new to vapor and prefer glass or rolling blunts , but are switching to the vape for health reasons – Pick up the Plenty.

We now enter the Crafty+ and the Mighty. Again these are not portable “Volcano Vaporizers” However I will say the vapor from both these portable vaporizers is more similar to the Volcano than the Plenty. People say they are portable Volcanoes for two reasons. 1.) They are made by the same company. 2.) The vapor is amazing and amazing vapor is rated with the Volcano as a benchmark.

The Mighty+ is the newest release which was not around when we initially wrote our Storz & Bickel’s buyers guide. While it is the best selling and shiniest new toy much of the improvements are with battery life and charging times. The vapor quality is the exact same as the Mighty.

What is confusing about the Mighty+ (Plus) is Storz & Bickel continuing to manufacture and sell the Mighty alongside the Mighty+. When the Crafty+ was released , the original Crafty Vaporizer went bye bye. When the Volcano Hybrid came out, the Digital Volcano went away. So one would have assumed the same fate for the Mighty, which still could be in the cards. The sequence of releases here didn’t make much sense with the Crafty+ coming out in 2109 and the Mighty+ being unveiled in 2021 either.

Our opinion is the original Mighty and Mighty+ are about the same and the Mighty actually provides better value being $50 cheaper. You can check out our Mighty+ review here and  our other post about why we say the Mighty is still a great buy.

Going back to the blind vape test, both the Crafty+ , Mighty and Mighty+ will give you the same flavor, texture and overall quality. You will not be able to tell the difference from one to another. The vapor from these is a tad more misty than the Volcano and much more so than the Plenty. It feels smoother as every hit is fresh vs. inhaling vapor already created through, like you would with the Volcano. The cool and misty vaporizer is one of the largest surprises of this marvelous vaporizer duo given the heating element is not but an inch away from where you draw.

The Mighty and Crafty+ also are you best options for vaping small amounts of herb throughout the day. You don’t need to have the chamber but ¼ full and will get good, consistent and effective draws. Both deliver the vapor through a cooling unit and retractable mouthpiece. Making these two the easiest of the bunch to load and use. 

With both variations of the Storz & Bickel portables  there are no cords holding you back, but the flip side with batteries is you face the inevitable need to charge. Despite recent improvements with the 18650 internal batteries and firmware of the Crafty+ , the Mighty’s battery life still reigns king. This is a pain point with the Crafty+ as it is the more feasible portable of the two, but requires an app for full temperature control and only one battery instead of two. 

The price of the Crafty+ at $279 and the fact it is the smallest Storz & Bickel vaporizer make alot of speculating customers think it is the proper choice for them. The biggest issue we have is customers not having a smartphone. The Crafty+ works best with the app to adjust temperature and as well show you how much battery power you have left. If you don’t play around with apps or own a smartphone you need to rule the Crafty out and skip right to the Mighty. 

When I first started out with these two vaporizers (when the Crafty+ was just the Crafty) I thought the idea of the Mighty was ridiculous. The Mighty didn’t use an app. I thought apps were so cool. The Mighty was also too cumbersome. The more I brought the Crafty with me I realized having to use an app to adjust temperature was actually a pain and the novelty of the bluetooth feature wore off.

These vaporizers were released in 2014 and now in 2020 almost every new vaporizer has bluetooth synchronization. The Crafty original also had  a battery that died way too fast at a concert with repeated use. I concluded  the Crafty nor the Mighty are great, out in town vaping, portables. The best vaporizers which can be transported with ease are going to be super small. The Crafty+ and the Mighty  are great vaporizers for walking the dog or putting in your backpack and heading to the beach for the day, but not something like a vape pen or the AirVape X  which can easily be thrown in your pocket at a moment’s notice for a trip to the bar or a concert.

Once I stopped taking the Crafty with me I noticed I was using the Mighty much more. I can walk in the back yard with it, use it while I am watching TV and then bring it with me to throw the laundry in the dryer. 

Another added home benefit to the Mighty is I can use it while it is charging, whereas the Crafty+ I have to wait for it to charge before using again. Charge time on the Crafty+ is about an hour to full battery level. 

If you have decided that you probably want to go with the chordless Storz & Bickel vapes take into consideration the following.  

Does the battery life matter?  You get around an hour and a half  of use with the updated Crafty+ vaporizer so it is no slouch. But the battery life on the Mighty much better.

How price sensitive are you ? The $70 difference is quite a bit when you are considering the vapor quality is equal. If you are going to be using strictly at home and able and willing to charge when your battery is getting low, the Crafty+ is a no brainer. 

Smartphone or no Smartphone? The Mighty is an all in one vaporizer. You don’t have to fidget around with another piece of technology to operate it. Powering on, changing temperature –  all can be done with one hand. 

Is this going to be your only vaporizer ? I am lucky enough to have other options when my Crafty+ or Mighty needs charging. However if you find yourself often forgetting to charge devices and then needing to use them all the sudden, the Mighty can be used while charging. 

The Classic Volcano, Volcano Hybrid , Plenty , Crafty+ or Mighty all share one thing  –  Unparalleled vapor quality. From there it is deciding which Storz & Bickel Vaporizer is best for you –  which one suits your lifestyle and needs the most. 

We hope our Storz & Bickel buying guide has helped you in your search. If you wish to check out further in depth reviews of any of the Storz & Bickel models please see our blog.