Dosing Capsules Review | An Essential Storz & Bickel Accessory
When the Storz & Bickel dosing capsules were released it seemed like the German vaporizer manufacturer might just be trying to cash in on the vaporizer accessory wagon that has taken off on the heels of the popularity of Storz & Bickel’s Vaporizers. But after a few months of using the dosing capsules, they have proved almost essential in more ways than one.
The dosing capsules were originally marketed as pre-fill cartridges for the Mighty and Crafty. This would allow you to pre-pack your herb and toss the dosing capsules in your chamber when on the go.
It is a great idea, but then I thought what do you do with the metal capsules when you are done with your session? The thing is in a chamber at 350 °F plus. Even when it cools down, if I need to change it out rapidly I am going to burn myself. The second option is toss it out, but at 50 cents a pop that is pretty wasteful. Going back to issue one, I need to remove the dosing capsule, place it somewhere and wait for it to cool down, open it up and then remove all the herb to salvage the capsule.
So I tried it for myself. I did this on a bench and will say the hot capsule I ejected from my Mighty cooled down much faster than I anticipated. It was only about 30 seconds from when I removed it to when I was able to open it up and dump out my old herb. The herb came out with a quick finger flick and I was able to refill the same cartridge again.
Thankfully the Storz & Bickel Capsule Caddy can solve this issue. The Capsule Caddy is another accessory that will help with your “out and about” Crafty / Mighty sessions. This is just a keychain which you can store your prefilled dosing capsules in, but also solves the problem of having to store hot & used capsules. What I found worked best was pre-filling my capsules in the 8 piece cartridge. This cartridge is the same diameter as the Storz & Bickel grinder , but only half as thick. When I finish a session I throw the used capsule into the capsule caddy so I can clean it out and reload when I am home.
I have only done this once as the Crafty and Mighty are not my ideal portable vaporizers when on the run. I do have a lot of dosing capsules around and have found that they serve a better use for keeping my vaporizers clean and getting better results from my Volcano and Herbalizer when I only want to vape a small amount.
Keep Your Vaporizer Clean
The dosing capsules have really cut down on the amount of buildup that occurs in the chamber. It will prevent any staining of your chamber and really with no herbs in contact with the screens, cut down on the need to clean the screens as well.
Cleaning the Capsules Themselves
I have not used a singular dosing capsule enough over and over again to determine if it would get dirty after a certain amount of sessions with dry herb, but I can say the ones I have used repeated times, stay very clean by simply discarding the ABV (already been vaped) herb.
I have even started using the dosing capsules in the Mighty, Crafty and Herbalizer with no screens in place at all. It makes it so you don’t even need the chamber screens.
Concentrates
Concentrates are a different beast. I did one session with the Storz & Bickel Dosing Capsules using the concentrate pad and noticed build up in the capsule immediately after use.I highly recommend using the dosing capsules with concentrates. Concentrates will gunk up your vaporizer at a much faster rate than dry herb.
With the dosing capsules you need to buy smaller concentrate pads which fit in the capsule as the regular size Crafty & Mighty liquid pads are too large. One thing I did not like about the Storz & Bickel concentrate pads for the dosing capsules is that they fill the entire capsule. A simple hack for this is to use the concentrate pads for the Herbalizer or Firefly. They are the same diameter but about half the height. With this I can put herb in the bottom of my dosing capsule and throw a concentrate pad with some oils on top.
Chamber Reducer for the Easy Valve and Plenty
Another great benefit of the dosing capsule is the option to use them with the Easy Valve or Plenty chamber reducer accessory. The filling chamber of the easy valve and Plenty have drawn criticism for their size not accommodating someone who wants to only vape a small amount. The chamber reducer is a must have for individuals wishing to use the Plenty or Volcano with small amounts for personal use. The Easy Valve chamber for the Volcano and the Plenty chamber can hold .5 grams. Before the chamber reducer, trying to session with anything under .25 grams would be very difficult and the results would not be that great. With the chamber reducer one can easily get good vapor from as little as .1 grams of their blend.
Even better the Easy Valve Chamber Reducer does not require dosing capsules for use, as it’s dual bottom screen can accommodate herb placed in it as if it were just a smaller filling chamber. After using the chamber reducer with and without the dosing capsule I noticed I got better vapor without. This makes sense as the dosing capsules creates a semi barrier to the fan. Without the dosing capsules the fan’s hot air flow is in 100% contact with your herb.
On the Mighty and Crafty since you are drawing vapor manually the same does not apply and the vapor quality is the same with or without the dosing capsule.
Cleaning your Dosing Capsules
Cleaning the Dosing Capsules is rather easy as well. As mentioned I have not had to clean any of the capsules which I have only used for dry herb, but sandwiching the dry herb and the concentrates and concentrates by themselves led to the need for either cleaning or tossing the dirty capsules.
To clean was a rather simple process. Simply soak in 99% isopropyl alcohol with some rock salt for and hour.Take a q-tip and wipe out the inside and then toss them in some boiling water. Strain and dry and voila your dosing capsules are as good as new.
All in all I have ended up loving the dosing capsules. I never use my Mighty or Crafty without them and it allows me to keep the chambers of the Mighty and Crafty very clean, which is very important when sandwiching dry herb and concentrates together.
Also they allow me to use less herb for personal sessions with my Volcano or Herbalizer. This is another nifty little vape hack as the dosing capsules fit perfectly inside the Herbalizer filling chamber with no need for an adapter.