The cannabis extract market is one of the fastest-growing sectors of the industry. And with more and more weed enthusiasts flocking to the hobby and the culture of dabbing, more and more companies are bringing their own products to market to meet the demand.
Yet most of these products aren’t nearly as innovative as they claim to be.
But the Puffco Proxy is one such product that is truly changing the game in terms of dabbing and mobile rigs, as it is the first ever truly modular vaporizer ever to be invented.
Puffco was kind enough to send us a review unit of the Proxy, which I had the opportuntiy to review and get familiar with over the 2022 holiday season. I discovered that there was a lot to love about this humble-looking Sherlock pipe and also a couple things I wasn’t that crazy about. So let’s find out all that I discovered (plus a little extra) in this ultimate review.
Learn More About This Product On Puffco’s Website Here
What Is The Puffco Proxy?
The Puffco Proxy is the first modular vaporizer and dab rig to hit the market in history, which is wild to think about. It’s a premium-tier vape, which allows for the luxury of handling all types of extracts; including wax, dabs, shatter and even crumble.
It features a classic Sherlock design that’s more reminiscent of old tobacco pipes that are laying around your grandparent’s house than a conventional dab rig of today. And while the Puffco Proxy has a ton of say about its aesthetic, what’s truly innovative is its modular nature (which we’ll discuss here shortly).
All in all, the Puffco Proxy is a lightweight, stylish, and forward-thinking rig that checks a lot of boxes. So let’s dive into the details…
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What I Thought Was Dope About The Puffco Proxy
I was sent the Puffco Proxy before the holidays hit, and I spent the holiday season getting familiar with this device and all that it can do. After spending a fair amount of time using the Puffco Proxy, I found there was a lot to like about this sleek and humble device.
And while we could write a laundry list of benefits and features that this little rig enables, here are my three favorite things that stuck out to me.
It’s Modular!
I had previously mentioned this but let’s take a moment to dive more into the fact that the Proxy is legit the first-ever modular vape rig. But what’s that even mean?!
The vape contains two essential components: the base and the glass. The base is where the magic happens and the glass section is essentially the mouthpiece of the rig.
What makes the piece modular is that the base is the most essential part of the whole operation, but the glass can be swapped out and replaced with any number of compatible bodies. What’s cool about this is that, while Puffco makes a handful of their own customized bases, there is an entire maker community online that actively makes add-ons and pieces to help pimp out your Puffco rig.
And while there isn’t a multitude of options for the Proxy specifically just yet, if the brand loyalty the community has towards Puffco’s previous models has any way to foretell what’s on the horizon for the Proxy, then the future looks bright for high-quality, and incredibly unique glass mouthpieces for this device.
This naturally leads to my second favorite thing about this piece (and the company that makes it).
Its Community
Once I got familiar with Puffco and did some research into the company and its customers, I almost instantly felt like I was a part of this secret community. Well, okay that might be a bit dramatic, but after doing research on the company and the communities formed around it, I soon discovered Puffco and its range of other products have a devoted following online. There are a couple of different ways you can instantly interact with Puffco’s loyal following.
The first is through their Reddit community, that I was legit shocked to discover has almost 35k memebers. There is constant discussion about their products, lifestyle, third-party add-ons and more. I’ve reviewed a handful of other cannabis pieces and products in my time, and this is the first I’ve ever seen such an active bundle of people interacting and discussing a brand.
The next is through the maker community online; which can be found on either Etsy or Ebay. The modular nature of the rig means that there are all sorts of amazing customizable glass pieces you can snag for the base, which allows you to get the exact vibe and aesthetic you want from your piece while supporting the wider community.
This was super fun to see, and I was completely naive of the communities around Puffco until I got my hands on one of their products for myself and did some digging of my own, and I was instantly loving it.
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Its Vapor Quality
While I know this is likely the most important feature you’ve come to this article to discover, I wanted to save it until last just to ensure that you saw some of the smaller and unsung features of the Proxy. But now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk about the impeccable quality of vapor that the Puffco Proxy exudes.
What I love most about the Proxy is that it has a wider mouthpiece, which allows for the often-hot vapor to cool before inhaling it. In many other budget rigs, the pipes are narrow and short, meaning you are inhaling vapor at an incredibly high temperature which gets uncomfortable during longer sessions.
What’s even better is the fact that the Puffco allows for quality hits without having to learn the complex art of dabbing. When I was first getting into dabs, there seemed to be so many things to keep track of and manage just to get a solid toke. And while Puffco didn’t invent the wheel in regards to dabbing, they certainly are ushering in a new and user-friendly era of the dab, allowing you to get full and quality dabs from the moment you upbox the Proxy.
Here’s What I Didn’t Like
But I would be lying if I were to tell you that this rig was completely without faults. And why this small and minor greivance might be easily disregarded by some, I know others may take it to heart enough to warrent its inclusion in this review.
Its Battery Life
The smaller body on the base of the Proxy means that the battery also must be smaller. As such, the battery life on this device only lasts 4-6 sessions before it dies and must be recharged – which in turn takes about an hour to chrage from empty to full.
And while this won’t likely be an issue to those toking up on their couch at home where chargers are abound, if you’re wanting to bring this dab rig out to a music festival or something, you might be left with a dead device before the day is half over.
Luckily though, the device does take USB-C which means you can get juiced fairly quickly in case your Proxy needs just a slight pick-me-up.
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Should You Snag This Vape?
Overall, I was quite impressed by this device. Having not known much about the Puffco brand before this vape hit my doorstep, it was fun to dive into the community and brand that Puffco has been building for themselves over the past few years.
But is this modular vape right for you?
Well, it’s certainly not the cheapest rig you can find. With a price tag at the time of writing this article just shy of $300, there are many other devices and products that money could get invested in. But if you are looking to make a serious investment into your extract hobby, there is likely to be no better and comparible product than the Puffco Proxy.
And with a steady and constant string of official add-ons and third-party additions, the Proxy is sure to grow with you, your lifestyle, and aesthetic for years to come.
Learn More About This Product On Puffco’s Website Here
Will Vance is a professional music producer who has been involved in the industry for the better part of a decade and has been the managing editor at Magnetic Magazine since mid-2022. In that time period, he has published thousands of articles on music production, industry think pieces and educational articles about the music industry. Over the last decade as a professional music producer, Will Vance has also ran multiple successful and highly respected record labels in the industry, including Where The Heart Is Records as well as having launched a new label with a focus on community through Magnetic Magazine. When not running these labels or producing his own music, Vance is likely writing for other top industry sites like Waves or the Hyperbits Masterclass or working on his upcoming book on mindfulness in music production. On the rare chance he's not thinking about music production, he's probably running a game of Dungeons and Dragons with his friends which he has been the dungeon master for for many years.
