This vaporizer arrived just as I was responding to a reader writing about my elongated novel, The Tiger’s Revenge. She’s a writing teacher who suggested starting over with a female narrator – just as an exercise. I was just making a rather basic point about why that was impossible when the Silver Surfer landed on my desk with a thump.
The tote looks like something that would dangle from a man’s shoulder in one of those Horrid Fashions of the Seventies slideshows. It’s quilted and made of poor suit material and looks like it could hold a severed head. Instead, it includes a well-designed desktop vaporizer.
The heavy-duty durability of the Silver Surfer is a big plus. The angled cylinder squats on a rubber base and won’t wander among the clutter of your desk. Inside the cylinder is the ceramic heating element; a glass lid fits on it. The “whip” is familiar to anyone who has used a home vape: a piece of clear plastic tube with a glass end that holds the good stuff and fits over the heating lid. The other end is a glass mouthpiece.
Superior design is about more than feel. I called my old, defunct desktop vape Old Yeller. Its wand fits over a metal cap on the heating element, meaning the heat flows over cheap metal, but the Silver Surfer is all clean ceramic. Old Yeller burned the dry weed a bit, but the Surfer’s better angle keeps the good stuff straight in the hot air stream.
The temperature control is a solid glass knob embedded with marble swirls; the on/off action has a satisfying click. The manual suggests starting at a low temperature and going up. I would suggest the opposite. Even at full throttle my cannabis didn’t smoke. If you prefer a strong draw, it should be hotter. A more relaxed draft will evaporate at a lower temperature. Getting used vegetable matter from the wand is easy with the pickaxe, which is as long and bad as the needle they used to stitch me up after the tiger found me.
At $270, the Silver Surfer is priced low as the manufacturer plans to introduce a new line on the 7th floor. This product has been road tested for several years. The only flaw is that the cumbersome manual puts style over readability with a maddening font on a dark background. Maybe this middle-aged novelist needs reading glasses, but isn’t it best to make life easy for stoners of all skill levels?
7th Floor offers more accessories than blurry-eyed Barbie ever dreamed: grinders, custom glass parts like wand tips, heating covers and knobs, even add-ons like vapor coolers. You can also order a head unit with the custom image of your favorite obscure stoner band.
As long as you’re careful with the glass parts, the Silver Surfer should provide years of fruitful vaporization – plenty of time to finish a novel.
THE VERDICT
Cool Factor: Moderate, but with unlimited potential if you want to spend on customization.
practical: It evaporates very well. The glass tips of the whip can break easily, but they are replaceable.
Affordability: $270 is reasonable for such a solid design, a price preferable to more expensive forced-air products like the Volcano with their creepy vape pocket balloons.
General: Solid, proven design and easy to use. No, thanks to the manual, which needs to be completely rewritten. (Editor’s Note: Mr. Balzac is available.)
Rating: 4.5/5
Available on the VapeWorld website.
Photo by Gabrielle Lurie
