Once the gold standard for  portable dry herb vaporizers, PAX Labs is back with a new vaporizer in the PAX Flow — but will it help PAX return to their former glory ?

After riding high with the wildly popular PAX 2 and PAX 3, the company’s momentum took a hit coinciding with the overall decline in the cannabis vaporizer market.  The 2022 release of the PAX Mini and PAX Plus were largely viewed as downgrades –  removing alot of features such as precision temperature control and the ability to sync with the web app. The PAX Mini only had one temperature setting and a chamber half the size of every other PAX portable dry herb vaporizer ever released. The PAX Flow is basically what we basically anticipated the PAX 4 to be and a something we never thought we would see. Our PAX Flow review will cover the good, the bad and everything in between.

Price

We’re going to start out by saying this is the biggest headwind working against PAX. We generally don’t place the price as the first main point in our vaporizer reviews.  PAX commanded vast market share in their heydays. Legalization was not yet widespread and dabs (a growing substitute to herb) were just entering the scene.  E-rigs like the Puffco Peak Pro didn’t exist and alot of the cheaper portable herb vaporizer competition had not yet arrived.  The PAX portable vaporizer was the coolest thing around. Living in San Francisco back in the early 2010’s, PAX murals were painted all around the city and PAX threw some pretty cool parties. Co-workers all had JUUls and at concerts or clubs you weren’t with it if you didn’t have a PAX ERA battery with the  “proprietary” distillate cart.  PAX thinking they can command this premium today is hard to wrap your head around. This is a rather inflated price. I would think $250-$280 to be more appropriate in today’s market. You can get overall better herb vaporizers in the Tinymight 2 and Mighty+, even the Solo 3 offers better overall vapor versatility at only $275. We will surely see some price reductions here over the next few months. However if you don’t want to wait it out, you can get it for 15% off at To the Cloud Vapor Store using the link above. That is to not totally dismiss this $350 price. Inflation and tariffs have really done a number on the vaporizer market. If you adjust for inflation the PAX Flow is actually cheaper than the PAX 2 and PAX 3 were at release, but we are living in a different market. 

Packaging / Unboxing

The packaging is nice here. They have gone back to the Apple-esque design of times past where the packaging gives you that feel good brand new high end device. Even when I put it back in the packaging between sessions I am like man this has got some shelf appeal.  The PAX Plus and PAX Mini use very low grade cardboard and we have seen a lot of this across the board for all vapes  in lowering the quality of the packaging to save money on the overall product. 1) Not alot of customers really care about the packaging 2.) It can really save the manufacturer some money in the aspects of production, shipment and storage.  A neat thing PAX did here was produce the PAX Flow packaging partnering with Plastic Negative. Like a carbon offset for every purchase, the Plastic Negative organization claims they will remove twice as much plastic waste from the planet as the device uses. It is hard to gauge the legitimacy but nice to see their hearts in the right place. While the packaging and unboxing are quite nice, the packaging is not so much functional and putting it all back in place is kind of a pain. I would definitely look into an aftermarket case here for your PAX Flow.

Comes With

• PAX Flow Vaporizer 
• Flat Mouthpiece (on device) 
• Raised Mouthpiece 
• 3 x Oven Screens 
• PAX Multi Tool 
• Q Tips 
• USB – C Cable 
• User Guide

Nice to see PAX not input an oil canister or a pad for concentrates. These have never really worked as good as just getting something 10x cheaper intended for that purpose. Concentrates will really dirty up your herb vaporizer and cause them to degrade over time. The PAX 3 & Plus concentrate insert is actually pretty solid given the heating element is 100% sealed by stainless steel.  With the PAX Flow having convection heating oils can leak down into the coil and damage the function. The PAX Multi Tool is also a great added accessory for loading and cashing out your spent herb. I would have liked to see a small brush for the air path on the PAX Flow.

Build & Design

The form factor is largely the same as the previous releases, from the PAX 2 to the PAX Plus. This is not a bad thing. The PAX form factor has an amazingly intuitive design and why we continue to say the PAX is the best “truly portable herb vaporizer” on the market. There is no need to redesign the form when it works and we see this across the board with new upgrades with other vaporizers from Davinci to Storz & Bickel keeping the same winning shape.  The dimensions have increased a tad to make room for the larger battery and additional heater needed to provide convection and conduction heating and more robust vapor from previous PAX models. But the PAX Flow is still made of a durable aluminum alloy, stainless steel vapor path and a silicone mouthpiece.

A nifty upgrade of the PAX Flow is the herb chamber which is no longer loaded from the front but from removing the magnetic top lid and placing your material  into the herb chamber. Oddly enough the chamber is a millimeter or two smaller (have no capability on hand to measure this for sure) to where the old PAX Budkups will not fit. The magnetic lid pops off with ease but is study and firm on the device at the same time. In traveling around with it I never had any concern about it coming off in my pocket. I actually kind of liked how easy this was and will be interested to see if this strong connection between the unit and top lid dissipates over time. This removing of the lid and placing your herb into the oven is very similar to the Firefly 2+. With Firefly going out of business and the IP being sold off it would be interesting to see if anyone will try and make a patent troll case for patent infringement.

They have moved the PAX Flow Chamber inwards and upwards. The chamber  can accommodate up to .3 grams but best results are with .15 – .2  as .3 can restrict the convection airflow a bit. The PAX Flow review by VICE states it can hold up to .5 grams which is way off. These reviews unfortunately are bought and paid for with the writer pumping out the entire piece in a few hours. Eyeing the PAX Plus to the PAX Flow you would not be able to tell the difference in size.  The PAX Flow is very well built & designed and overall an improvement in design from older PAX Vaporizers.

Function

The PAX Flow Vaporizer  upgraded how it heats. Using both convection and conduction provides a more even heating and will minimize the need to stir and repack mid session.  One of the issues with the front-loaded herb chamber of previous PAX models was that if you didn’t pack it full, the herb wouldn’t maintain proper contact with the oven walls — leading to uneven heating and reduced vapor production due to the conduction-based heating.  Even when packing full the volume would decrease over the session and require the user to stir and repack.  With the PAX Flow you are not only getting the hybrid (conduction/convection) heating but also the laws of gravity will keep the herb in optimal contact with the chamber during your session with the redesign.

As one can surmise from the name of the device (PAX Flow) and the removable lid showing the airpath,  we can see the Flow provides greater airflow than the semi restricted airpath of the PAX Mini and Plus. This  really helps with vapor production for those with weaker lungs.

Sessions

So the PAX Flow and PAX Vaporizers are quite nice for their intuitive design as it makes it easy to get going out of the box. It is basically load , turn on and enjoy. They do say to charge the device but lucky us, our PAX Flow arrived with 75% battery out of the box. Another neat little hack was just putting your ground herb on the airpath and pushing it into the chamber with ease to avoid spilling anything. You will want a little brush here as well to get every last spec of herb into the chamber neatly.

• Open oven: Press the circle on the oven door to pop it open.
• Load up: Place finely ground herb into the chamber and replace the lid.
• Power on: Hold the power button for 2 seconds.
• Watch the LEDs: Blinking petals will turn solid green when it’s ready.
• Enjoy: Once solid green, inhale smoothly and you’re good to go.

While a tad larger than previous PAX Models the PAX Flow offers some pretty good sessions which would allow you to share with a friend or two. I still say this is going to be a session vaporizer, meaning you will want to fire it up and take down the whole amount you packed in. It performs very well with even just a half pack and there is no need to re-stir and repack your herb mid session. The PAX Flow is just that, very flowy. It makes for a great portable vaporizer and is probably the best portable session vaporizer currently on the market but for one thing……. IT GETS SO HOT. I have yet to see a vaporizer that warms up to this level of heat. I am a chef by trade with very callused fingers and a high heat tolerance and this is too much for me. It being  summer and trying to use this thing outside I needed to use the PAX Flow Silicone Sleeve.  I would give this session so much higher grades if it weren’t for how hot it gets just holding it  that comes on within just one session. The PAX 2, 3 and Plus never did this to me, even after multiple sessions. The PAX Flow is ready to roll in about 30 seconds on average and with a full pack you can get up to 20 draws. This thing really can extract alot better than previous PAX models and would put it up there with the other heavyweight dry herb vaporizers in terms of getting every last drop out. But again, it gets hot. Another downside of the session is getting your vaped herb out. You need to dig it out with the PAX multi tool whereas you could just cash it out when the herb chamber was front loaded.

This is actually a big upgrade for the PAX Flow.  Previously you had to use PAX’s proprietary charging base to charge your PAX. You could not use just a standard cable of any assortment. so if you misplaced your charging base or were on the go and didn’t have it with you you had no ability to charge your dead Pax. This new ability to charge with a USB-C cable directly in the device will really enhance the portability aspect of the PAX Flow.

Temperature Range & Settings

PAX has done away with the Bluetooth integration and precise temperature control deducing it down to 5 customized heat settings which in fairness is one more than you really need. 95% of customers out there don’t need these app integration features  or precise temperature control. Bong Mode is sort of a pain to get to. You have to cycle through the available temperature cycles twice. It will almost become too hot to handle if trying to not use with the PAX Flow Water Pipe Attachment. 

Vapor Quality

So this makes me retract my statement a tad on the price of the device. The PAX Flow delivers some top notch vapor way above any vaporizer you will find  under $200 (except the OG YLLVAPE Angus). In reviewing and testing out the vaporizers I liked to do the blind fold test to see if I can tell the difference between say the PAX 2 to the PAX 3, the Crafty to the Crafty+, etc. Most the time you cannot. If you would to have blind folded me and told me this vapor was from a PAX device of past I would have said you’re high. Another positive feature of the PAX Flow’s vapor quality is that it maintains consistency in quality  nearly throughout the session. Your 7th draw is just as flavorful and textured as your 1st. With alot of other herb vaporizers the vapor becomes pretty bad once you get past hits 5-6 with that burnt pop corn flavor and harsh texture.  The PAX Flow keeps it smooth and keeps it consistent. This is no doubt the best vapor from any PAX Vaporizer on the market. It is a top 5 contender in the dry herb space. The vapor is silky and smooth and easy to obtain. There is no wizardry in dialing it in. Where it is lacking a bit is in the body of the vapor. If you want large clouds then you need to really slow up your inhale and select one of the higher temperature settings. The vapor is very pleasant and hits that one note super well. If you want some easy to obtain light and flavorful vapor then the PAX Flow would be a great device for you.  If you want large clouds then the Tinymight 2 or Davinci IQ3 would be better vaporizers for you.

Portability

Despite the PAX Flow’s larger size compared to its predecessors it still is the go to portable herb vaporizer on the market. The PAX Flow is about 33% larger than the PAX 3 and PAX Plus. It can still be thrown into the pocket with ease and there is not much to worry about given the PAX Flow does not have any fragile inputs like glass you get with the Arizer Solo 3.  It will be interesting to see how the newly release Veazy Vaporizer from Storz & Bickel compares to the PAX Flow in terms of size as that could prove to be a serious contender for portability.

PAX Flow Specs

Dimensions	4.25" x 1.35" x 1.2" (in.)
Weight	4.8 (oz.)

Battery Life & Charging

The PAX Flow has an internal 9V DC 3000mA battery with 2000 mAH. That is a good amount of power and likely one of the reasons the PAX Flow gets super hot in the hand. It is nice to see that the PAX Flow no longer requires the proprietary charging dock and now just has a USB-C charging port. This is a huge upgrade for the PAX Flow and let’s you charge on the go with ease which was one of the catch 22s  of the previous PAX models. You have this great portable vaporizer but when it runs out of battery you also needed the special charging dock that you could not locate out and about. Now you can just find a USB-C Cable and be good. The PAX Flow charges too 100% in nearly 45 minutes. The flip side of this is that you only get about 5-6 sessions on a single charge. The PAX Flow also does not support Pass through charging but given its design is not a vaporizer you really want to be using plugged in anyways and if you just charge it for 15 minutes you can get up to 40% charged pretty quickly.

Warranty

The PAX Flow warranty is 3 years with an extra year upon registration, making it a total of four years which is really solid but has some complaining given PAX used to offer a 10 year warranty. It makes sense 10 years creates a bit too much of a liability for the company and most the time a new vaporizer comes out 3-5 years later while the previous model goes out of production. The PAX Flow warranty cannot be transferred so if buying a used PAX Flow do keep that in mind. If you buy your PAX Flow from To the Cloud Vapor Store you will not only get the 4 year warranty but also a 60 day trial period and lifetime trade ins.

What is crazy about the PAX Flow is how great the improvements are but then having to juxtapose that against the negatives. Normally when I come up with criticisms I am doing so to be fair and unbiased in our vaporizer reviews. With the PAX Flow though the negatives are pretty large infractions – The price, how hot it gets and the poor battery life. Yet if you are someone who wants an easy to use portable vaporizer and you want the top tier vapor in something you can easily take on the go then we have to say go with the Flow.