Puffco Peak Pro Review | Still The Most Refined E-Rig in 2022
Puffco released the Puffco Peak Pro in early 2020. An electronic rig vaporizer for concentrates which makes doing high quality dabs a breeze. The Puffco Peak Pro is the second variation of the ever so popular Puffco Peak, released in 2018, which has seen countless imitators. The Peak Pro is not a huge departure from the original. We have seen this alot over the last two years with vaporizers like the Firefly 2+ and Crafty+, utilizing almost identical design from the previous model but sprinkling in some refinements to enhance and elevate your overall experience.
The Peak Pro comes in a rather large box, picture for reference. Inside you will find a well made magnetic case constructed out of automotive Styrofoam which protects the Pro and serves well for transporting over to a friends house to show off your new hot dab rig.
Build
The Puffco Peak Pro’s construction is far ahead of other E-Rig Dab Vapes, built with a sturdy Silicone base, a metal alloy strap which feeds across and down the backside’s USB-C port, a sensor embedded ceramic chamber and hand blown borosilicate glass. The Peak Pro feels like it costs. Here the $399 price tag fits the feel of the vaporizer and holding it side by side to a competitive e-rig, like the Carta V2, will bring to light the Peak Pro’s superior craftsmanship.
With it’s highly polished finish, the Peak Pro still follows the basic dab rig vaporizer design Puffco invented – heating concentrates in a chamber and inhaling through water filled glass.
The Ceramic Chamber is one of the most notable improvements for reliability.
The original Peak had issues with the atomizers burning out after a few months of rather normal use, with heavy hitters burning them out every couple of weeks if they went uncleaned. At $40 pop constantly having to pay for more atomizers not covered under warranty starts to add up.
The Peak Pro’s new ceramic heating element comes encompassed in one piece instead of 3 removable pieces. The overall build of the chamber makes for more dependable vaping without the need to worry about atomizer burn out or breaking the bottom ceramic (attached to the metal) when cleaning.
The downside to this is not being able to replace your old ceramic buckets with new ones or outfit them with 3rd party accessories like the Fadespace S Tier+ inserts which enhance your original Peak atomizer’s performance and longevity.
The Pro’s chamber is also designed to be 40% larger for those who want to fill it full and let it rip for multiple back to back hits with a group. This is not my cup of tea as it causes taste degradation and is a factor causing original Peak atomizers to burn out.
The Peak Pro is an amazing extractor. My small tiny dab gets me three good and tasty hits and I can always add more. All in all I would rather have a higher caliber heating element that will last without presenting issues, especially if I just shelled out $400.
As far as performance, this new chamber is outfitted with a built in sensor to stabilize temperature when you are pulling hard or have put in a good amount of concentrates. The new sensor makes adjustments with quicker feedback loops to keep you where you want to be throughout the session.
I did find the temperature to jump around some in the app and didn’t think anything of it. I don’t feel the sensor improvement moved the needle in terms of making my session that much better over the original Puffco Peak and the original was actually pretty consistent for me.
The Peak Pro Glass is a standard shape which has been elongated for greater water capacity and travel distance intended to provide smoother vapor. The glass is interchangeable between the Peak and Peak Pro which is nice, especially if you have 3rd party custom glass for the original. This means you can upgrade to the Peak Pro and still use your custom glass. With the improvements on the glass, when you inhale, the difference between the two is negligible.
The Base is what makes the vaporizer feel luxurious and high tech at the same time. This is where most of the exterior design work went. Add the lighting features which are multiplied by the water in your glass mouthpiece and it is a thing of beauty.
The Carb Cap snaps into the chamber lending itself to some functional improvement. It is a refinement that Puffco deserves accolades for as they didn’t just go with the cheap run of the mill glass carb caps which will break or fall off when on the go (or even during a session). The new oculus carb cap, as it’s dubbed, snaps in place so you don’t have to babysit it with your other hand while you draw.
Bluetooth App – Since the apps for herb & concentrate vaporizers have failed to evolve beyond temperature control and powering on and then were subsequently banned by Apple, I have been bearish on them and preferred vaporizers that skip the app altogether.
The Puffco Peak Pro adding an app is where I change my tune. The Peak Pro app is damn near essential given I didn’t ever know if my original Peak was still on (leading to many a dead battery). The original Peak is a guessing game of button pressing time/ sequence and powering on and off. The app really alleviates all of this and let’s you tune in on a set temperature. Granted if you have an iPhone you will need to use a browser app which is covered further down in the review. However the app greatly enhances the user experience.
Puffco Peak Pro Specs
Weight | 11.8 Ounces |
Dimensions | 7" x 3" (inches) |
Temperature Range | 450 °F - 620 °F |
Charge Time | 2:30 |
Warranty | 1 year |
How to Use (Without App)
- Fully charge the vaporizer upon receipt
- Remove glass and fill just above the airholes (do not overfill)
- Place glass back on and align
- Unlock device by holding down home button 3 seconds
- Single click home button to toggle through temperature settings
- Load dab and place on oculus carb cap over chamber
- Double click to heat up
- When device vibrates and lights flash three times, inhale
- Wipe out chamber with Q-Tip when session is complete
Default Temperatures
- Blue – 490 °F
- Green – 510 °F
- Red – 530 °F
- White – 545 °F
Puffco Peak Pro Smartphone App
While Android users have a pretty straight forward manner to sync up the Puffco App, IOS users need to undergo some extra steps to get started which can be found in greater detail here.
- Download Path Browser in the Apple App Store
- Give Path Browser Bluetooth access
- Type in https://puffco.app into your path browser
From there you will be able to access all the app features you need but if you wish to create a Puffco app Icon you will need to add the Puffco.app page to your home screen (instructions in link above)
In the Puffco app you have a plethora of features which let you connect your device once in standby mode. You can then see your battery life, bowl temperature, daily dabs and total dabs.
Customize and Change Heat Profiles
Clicking the heat profiles tab lets you add and customize the following
- Temperature – 450 °F- 620 °F
- Session Length – 15 seconds to 2:00 minutes
- LED Color Display for your Session
Control Center
In the control center you can adjust your LED brightness, set boost, lantern, ready or stealth mode and my favorite turn the device totally off and know you are not wasting any more battery.
Boost Mode – After reaching temperature on your session you can click twice to extend the time of your session, increase the vaporizer’s temperature or both
Stealth Mode – clicking four times or hitting the light icon in the app turns off all LED lights so you can dab with discretion
Lantern Mode – Changes the way in which your LED patterns flow between Pulse, Wave and Disco
Ready Mode – For this you will need the Puffco Peak Pro Power Dock. This dock and setting will let you pick your Peak Pro up and hit it without needing to touch a single button.
Peak Pro App Pros/Cons
As you can see the app is quite handy compared to other cannabis vaporizer apps and given the the Peak Pro doesn’t have a built in user interface like the Mighty Vaporizer which removes all guess work, the app on the Peak Pro offers valuable information you would otherwise need to obtain by pushing a series of buttons to get rough estimates. For example on the original Puffco Peak , I would need to click the home button three times to get the battery life. This would also give me a generalization via a color of light displayed- low, medium, high. With the app it tells me in percentage numbers how much battery power is remaining.
Another cool thing about the built in software is that it is retroactive. I had done some dabs when I first got the device without syncing with the app. When I downloaded the app, the dabs I had done over the previous few days showed up as total dabs. A weird thing I have noticed is the daily dabs are counted as .1 .2 etc, instead of whole numbers (1,2,6) I was wondering if this was like Puffco’s way of saying I take weak hits. LOL
I wish the app didn’t need to be accessed through a web browser feature. I found myself navigating outside of the app simply because the user interface is different from a normal sanctioned app.
One feature lacking is the ability to turn the device on. You have to physically put the Peak Pro into standby mode before you can connect it with the app.
Despite any gripes, which are few, you see the Puffco Peak Pro allows for some pretty awesome customizations in your sessions. While I don’t personally use any of the modes I did customize the heat settings.
Vapor Quality
The Vapor Quality is good for both sipping and taking down rather large dabs, but where the Peak Pro excels is delivering smooth and tasty hits. My ideal session would be throwing in a tiny little scoop and getting 3 rips over 45 seconds or so. Adjusting the temperature will give you that taste / cloud trade off but the Peak Pro does a great job of giving tasty and smooth vapor even at 620 °F. The Peak Pro is a level above in terms of the wide world of dab vapes. To be noted the same can be said about the original Puffco Peak. In a blind vape test, I was unable to tell the difference in the vapor quality between the Peak and Peak Pro. So if it’s the high end vapor you are after and could care less about an app or auto shutoff, you may want to check out the original Peak for $100 less. Both are the gold standard for smooth, tasty and easy dabs.
Battery Life
With the new auto shut off, the battery life is significantly improved . I cannot recall using my original Peak more than 5 sessions without needing to be recharged simply because the battery died from it just remaining on after a session.
On the Peak Pro I was able to get 40 sessions with a full charge and the unit charged back to 100% in about two to two and a half hours from dead to full. My 40 sessions were generally at lower temperatures or very short periods of time and the time and temperature variance will tax your Peak Pro battery life accordingly.
Cleaning
It is very important to wipe out your chamber after each session with a q-tip. This keeps the build up away and helps the longevity of your vaporizer. The Peak Pro’s glass gets easily dirty from the backsplash of the concentrates sucking up into your water and glass piece. Unfortunately the Peak Pro glass is a pain to clean. For the glass, we recommend an ISO soak, shake it around, rinse and run through the dishwasher. As far as the chamber, dropping it into 99% ISO with some sea salt and wiping it out will get it about as clean as it is going to get since you cannot swap out the ceramic bucket nor can you torch it clean. This was one of my biggest gripes given that on the Peak I could change out my bucket on the atomizer everytime I cleaned the thing and it looked brand spanking new.
Criticisms
Portability is one thing Peak users are split on. Yes, transporting isn’t that bad. You can empty it out and it comes with a nice case for travel. Yet if you want to session on the go, the commercials and marketing make it look alot easier (and cooler) than it really is. Maybe in my mid 30’s I don’t fit the demographic of who Puffco is targeting with the commercial of a skateboarder hitting the Pro as he cruises down the road. This thing is a hassle to use just walking down the street, as I found when trying to walk my dog and use at the same time. I would never take the Peak with me outside for a jaunt, much less a beach day with friends – there are pen vapes for that.
The Peak Pro Power Dock is sturdy and well made , but I feel it’s an over glorified wireless charger. It is nice to have for keeping your Peak Pro charged but you can accomplish the same by plugging the unit in via the USB-C. If you need charging on the go, there are plenty of other power banks of the same caliber which are well under $120.
The Peak Pro Power Dock also let’s you utilize ready mode. This is where you pick it up out the dock and it heats up without the press of a button. I appreciate the attempt at automating the Peak Pro , but for me not a feature that justifies dropping another $120 on top of my $400. Also a feature I would never use even if free.
The aspect I like most about the power dock was how it doubles as a stand and secures my Peak Pro for safe keeping and charges while doing so. The Peak Pro power dock is something I do not feel is essential at all to getting the most out of your Puffco Peak Pro Vaporizer. Even less so given the amazing battery life on the unit.
Summary
The Puffco Peak Pro is currently the best all around dab e-rig vaporizer we have tried and is a close second for vapor quality behind the Dr. Dabber Switch. It provides tasty and smooth dabs, is easy to take out on the patio or upstairs to the bedroom and has a plethora of new features which make dialing in your ideal session a breeze. While the vapor production and quality are on par with the original Puffco Peak, the Peak Pro’s new features make it worth spending the extra money.
I would equate the improvements to a Classic Volcano / Volcano Hybrid Vaporizer comparison. Both vaporizers are going to give you the same great vapor, but one has more refined features and makes your session easier while providing you, the user, with greater insight and information. Puffco is a leader in the concentrate vaporizer space and has refined their flagship product for 2020 and beyond much like Storz & Bickel has done in the herb vaporizer space. The Puffco Peak Pro is a culmination of countless hours of design and proves the company is never one to rest on it’s laurels.