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If plants can now send emails, should we be expecting more from our bongs, grinders, and joint rollers?
Marijuana gadgets have come a long way since you hollowed-out an apple for the first time to make a pipe on the go.
Many of these new cool weed gadgets can be linked up to your smart phone and remote-operated, some provide precision dosing, and many combine state-of-the-art design and materials with craftsmanship that (sorry) puts your old gravity bong to shame.
The Hitoki Trident: A luxury bong powered by lasers
Not since an airborne laser filled an entire house with popcorn in the final scene of Real Genius has this reviewer been this impressed by high-powered optics.
The Hitoki Trident is an elegant, state-of-the-art electronic smoking device that uses a laser – yes, a laser! – to heat up flower for perfectly smooth and surprisingly potent bong rips.
The makers of the Trident liken the technology to using sunlight and a magnifying glass to burn flowers with a concentrated beam of light. So think how the castaways in Lord of the Flies managed to start a fire, just a whole lot cooler.
The Trident comes in a sleek, black rectangular box that is akin to the presentation you’d expect from a very high end Japanese whiskey. Inside, the user will find a silicone hookah hose and an adjustable silicone mouthpiece. The Trident comes in three main pieces:
- removable top cylinder that contains the laser
- mid-section that includes the removable ceramic loading chamber
- acrylic water reservoir at the bottom
The top and mid-section fasten with a satisfying click, and the bottom screws in tight.
The device has three separate temperature settings and a single button to cycle through all of them. It can take a minute to get the hang of using the Trident, but there is definitely something uniquely fun about clicking the button and watching the blue laser zap the bud. And the hits? Quite strong but very, very smooth.
It should be noted, the Hitoki is expensive and arguably something of a luxury item. Think of it as the perfect thing to bring out at a small house party or a very special gift for the cannabis fan who thinks they have seen it all, or a friend who already has a working lightsaber and needs a bong to pair it with.
But beyond all that, the laser technology is also practical. It saves the user from inhaling any butane from a lighter, and perhaps more importantly, from having to find a lighter somehow, somewhere inside the house. You can also store a bowl in the loader for later use, and having a bong that you can actually screw the bong water in to avoid spillage is also a nice touch.
Finally, the Trident provides 280+ sessions per charge, and should last for 5,000 hours with proper care, according to the company.
The Nova: Combination decarboxylation and infusion machine
Ardent is a minority-run company headed by founder and president Shanel A. Lindsay, who can “hit a dab harder than any boy she’s ever met,” and has also invented a way to make edibles that much easier to whip up.
The Nova is an infusing machine that also decarboxylates weed, fully activating the THC and CBD. At the core of the Nova are dual sensors and a hi-tech thermal blanket which heats cannabis at precisely the right temperature without you having to worry about scorching the weed or filling your kitchen and living room with the smell of oven-roasted herb.
All you have to do is pour the weed into the Nova, close the lid and then press the button to get it started. It should take about an hour and a half to two hours for the herb to be ready, after which you can put the cannabis into a jar of the oil or butter of your choosing, and place it back into the machine and run the infusion cycle.
And really, if it impressed 2Chainz, that’s gotta say something.
The Tarik T-Rex Rosin Press
Concentrates are getting more popular by the day, and a growing number of people are looking for ways to make their own concentrates without buying any expensive equipment or destroying their hair straightener.
The Tarik + Rosin T-Rex Rosin Oil Heat Press is an extremely easy to use machine for extracting rosin from cannabis flower, and requires nothing more than simply placing your weed on some parchment paper and pressing down on the press for about 10 seconds.
It requires no solvents and no expertise, just a tiny bit of elbow grease — and some cannabis flower, obviously.
The DoobTool: The Swiss Army knife of cannabis
The Swiss Army probably drug tests recruits, but never fear, for less than $50 you can have an all-in-one cannabis case and extremely versatile tool that makes your average Swiss Army knife look like a spork.
The DoobTool comes with 10 different tools, including fold out scissors, a grinder, a dabbing tool, a double-sided poker, herbal brush, roach clip, hemp wick spool pins, and a packer for pipes, joints, vaporizers, and more. And even better, when you close the tool, it becomes its own self-contained smell-proof case.
And if you’re the type who usually rolls joints on your pants leg, you’ll be happy to know it has a built in tray that can catch your herb after you grind it.
DoobTool was created in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 2017, with the “active cannabis consumer in mind” and the goal of “breaking through the stoner stereotypes,” according to the company website.
Will the DoobTool make you feel like a survivalist? Maybe, but mainly it just means you should always have the right tools at your disposal.
Otto Smart Grinder & Rolling Machine
In 2019, Snoop Dogg revealed that he has his own on-staff blunt roller that he pays between $40,000 to $50,000 per year. Not to be outdone, rapper G Herbo has announced that he is looking for his own blunt roller — for $36,000 per year.
If that’s a bit outside of your budget, you can get what may be the next best thing with the OTTO Smart Grinder and Rolling Machine, which retails for $149.99 and will automatically grind up your weed and roll it into a perfect cone.
It’s billed by the company as “the world’s first smart milling machine,” which we think translates to “the world’s first weed grinder that will also roll your joint for you.”
All you need to do is put cannabis flower inside the grinder section of the device, plop a cone of whichever size you choose into the bottom container, and close it. The OTTO grinder is made with precision-engineered technology that automatically adjusts its speed and strength based on the texture and consistency of the herb you use — no matter how dry or sticky.
Should we fear our self-aware, automatic grinder/joint-roller overlords? Maybe, but the OTTO seems to have your best interests at heart.
KEEP: The smart, safe cannabis storage box
In November, 2019, the Canadian tech company KEEP labs was named a CES 2020 Innovation Awards Honoree for their contribution to society — making a box that will allow dads to smoke weed at home without their kids finding it.
KEEP Labs co-founder Philip Wilkins said that they “designed KEEP to discreetly blend into any home, allowing cannabis to be kept responsibly, not hidden.” Wilkins has stated that other storage options were “perpetuating the stoner stereotype,” as opposed to the “dads love to buy gadgets” stereotype.
The KEEP has an eye-catching, sleek design and streamlined form and functionality. With its own smartphone app, this Internet of Things stash box allows you to remotely monitor temperature and humidity, set reminders, and track your medicine, dosing, and every time you opened or closed your box — or when anybody else did.
The Syqe: Precision medical inhaler
“The world’s first programmable drug delivery inhalations platform” is a small, sleek device made by the Israeli pharma tech company Syqe that can deliver precise doses of cannabinoids down to 100 microgram increments.
The device uses a number of proprietary technologies, including its preloaded cartridges, vaporchips that meet uniform amount pharmaceutical standards, and the 100 microgram resolution metered-dose delivery.
And perhaps the most impressive aspect of the device is that its high-resolution, personalized dosing can be remotely operated by a presiding physician.
If it wasn’t obvious, the Syqe inhaler isn’t the sort of device you’ll find at your head shop next to the dab rigs and Polar Bear Snuff. The Syqe inhaler was developed in Israel through several clinical trials, which found that measured, uniform doses can be a safe and efficient way to treat chronic pain.
The Hydrology9 NX: A water vape?
Is it a bong? Is it a vaporizer? Is it….sorta both? The Hydrology9 NX is a modular water filtered vaporizer that can work for both concentrate and flower, and produces smooth, water-cooled pulls every time.
The Hydrology9 NX looks somewhat like the hilt of a lightsaber, but it’s arguably a lot more versatile and easier to clean. It comes with a switchable concentrate atomizer and flower heating chamber to easily adapt to whichever mood you’re in, and it also has an adjustable temperature dial with six settings.
The Hydrology9 NX has a USB charging port which also works as a dab tool holder, and the built-in valve in the mouthpiece means you can fill it with water and take it on the road with you and not worry about spills. Do not try this with your average bong.
But also, it just looks good, and is a definite conversation starter.
Automated, remote home cannabis grow systems
People looking to grow their own weed at home have more seed options than ever before, and all types of hi-tech grow options that make becoming a (very) small-scale cannabis farmer quite easy.
Many of these growboxes can be accessed and monitored remotely by way of mobile apps, which also provide tips and walk novice growers through the cannabis cultivation process step by step.
The Grobo for instance, is an automated grow box that the company states can get you from seed to harvest in three months, with less than 20 minutes of maintenance per week. The Grobo is a sleek, tall and thin white grow box that looks like a small single door closet (four feet tall, 14 inches wide and deep), though the premium version includes a glass front for easy viewing/admiring of your plant.
The Grobo comes fully-assembled, and includes eight-spectrum LEDs, a smell-reducing carbon filter, dual intake fans, and a steel lock to keep your kids, pets, or neighbors from getting in. The whole system is automated, from nutrient dosing to lighting, to pH balancing.
If you have no growing experience but do have a smartphone then consider LEAF, an automated IoT grow box for home growers. The grow box includes an HD camera so you can view your plant at any time by way of your smartphone, and show your colleagues at work who always bug you with pics of their kids.
The LEAF can be completely monitored and controlled by way of the mobile app, and comes with step-by-step video instructions to make things easier.
The box is just over 5 feet tall, 27 inches wide, and 25 inches deep. It comes with built-in sensors for pH, temperature, water level, air temperature, water temperature, and has a 200W lighting system and a carbon filter to help with the smell.
The BC Northern Lights grow box is billed by the company as “the ultimate indoor growing system,” and it has stacked up a bevy of industry awards to shore up that claim. The company offers a variety of grow boxes from the heftier “Bloombox” and “Producer” to the smaller scale “Roommate” model. BCNL also sells a box for drying harvested herb, and “the Nursery” — an industrial level clone management system with room for 288 clones.
But if the Roommate is more your size, you’ll be happy to know it can still handle up to four plants, with harvest cycles of 10 to 12 weeks. The grow box has automated lighting, watering, and CO2 management, as well as a carbon filter, hydro system, and a three year warranty.
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