Volcano Hybrid by Storz & Bickel

The new Hybrid Volcano design looks like an updated Digital. It features new touchscreen controls and the entire display is more refined. I think the design is gorgeous: the buttons and dials are gone, and a sleek touch interface has taken their place. The loading chamber has been improved and it now locks on top of the Volcano securely.

The Hybrid name applies to two new features. First, there is now a whip function that goes with the balloons. It is made of very dense material and somehow, magically, it doesn’t attract pet hair. The whip’s attachment allows it to rotate freely on top of your Volcano’s loading chamber when in use, so it’s perfect for passing around a group.

Secondly, the new Volcano is no longer limited to just convection heating, with a new ring in the centerpiece adding conduction to the loading chamber. Storz and Bickel is serious about its vaporizers, so I guarantee you the engineers put a lot of thought into this decision. The added conduction results in much faster heat-up and vapor production, and preheating can be done just by leaving the chamber on top of your Volcano (you don’t have to run air through it as is recommended in the manual).

The final major design upgrade is an excellent Bluetooth function. You can use your Volcano Hybrid with an app on your phone. It can turn your Volcano on and off from across the house, which is cool for sure, but it has many more capabilities than that. It can run workflows which program temperatures and times for filling up a balloon, giving you an unlimited number of ways to extract your vapor with custom settings. It’s been a long time since I’ve got an app with a vape that I’ve actually continued to use, but this one is handy well past its novelty phase. This technology is a full generation of advancement.

This is a desktop vaporizer, and the power cord is now detachable, making for a much more durable design. When ready to vape, press the heat button and your Volcano will start to warm up to the last temperature you had it set at.

The first thing you’ll notice is the lightning-fast heat up time. The Hybrid produces vapor in about 45 seconds, versus the comparatively glacial three to five minutes of the Digital Volcano (which also needs a couple more minutes to heat soak). The huge time saving alone makes the upgrade worth it for many Volcano users, and for me, it really changes how I’m able to use the device.

The chamber bowl is huge, fitting a half gram comfortably. I find it best to fill up at least halfway, and for smaller loads, use the chamber reducer or dosing capsules. The whip makes me cough at higher temps, but much less when I use fan assist, which was odd. As you can see in the video review, the ABV is just lightly browned after a few sessions, still having some green in it really.

Storz and Bickel did a great job with the app integration. It’s handy to be able to turn on and pre-warm your Volcano Hybrid from anywhere in the house, and filling a balloon before you leave the house is very convenient. Aside from that, you can also change the vibration, brightness, automatic shutoff time, and more. You can view usage and device statistics, such as temperature graphs and total run time, and if you’re really keen you can monitor how well it responds to your adjustments.

The other benefit of the app is the ability to create workflows. They enable you to program your Volcano to fill your balloon at any temp you like for different times with adjustments in between. It's nice to fill a balloon to 75% at 385°F, and then have your Volcano automatically turn up to 410°F for the last 25% so it extracts all that extra kick from your herb. I find about 30-35 seconds fills the balloon how I like it, so I have a few different workflows set around that. If you’re a nerd for custom settings then you’ll love experimenting with the workflow feature.

This is a catch-22 for the Volcano. It extracts tons of vapor from your material, but the chamber is so big it uses more material than other vaporizers. And the flavor from fresh bowls is so good I always want to pack a new bowl, even when I could still get less tasty vapor from the current bowl. The color of the ABV really speaks to the efficiency of the device. Even after numerous bags at 400°F, it isn’t even close to brown.

Passing around the whip for group sessions will get a lot of miles from a bowl, but I prefer the balloons myself. They’re so convenient for personal use around the house. The loading chamber is easy to clean with a quick wash in isopropyl alcohol, and the screens can be changed if needed. I recommend replacing the balloons when they get gummed up, taste off, or start to leak. They’re not super cheap, so don’t replace them more often than you need to.