After taking a little bit of a hiatus here on the blog to relax and enjoy the summer weather, I’m back with a brand new vaporizer review for readers here! This time I’m reviewing the latest addition to the Vaporgenie lineup, the Vaporgenie Volta. As a fan of the Vaporgenie Classic (it was my first herbal vaporizer!), I was excited to try the Volta. Unlike the rest of the Vaporgenie line, the Volta is powered by lithium ion phosphate batteries and resembles an MFLB in design.

After unboxing the Volta, the first thing I noticed was that it was quite solid and had a good build quality. The parts hold together well and I suspect that the Volta should be able to survive a few accidental drops without breaking. The majority of the unit is crafted from hard wood, and the rest is metal (with the exception of the trench cover and the mouthpiece). Compared to the Vaporgenie Classic, the Volta has a fairly large herb chamber and is one of the largest I’ve seen in a portable.The unit is quite small without the battery and is able to fit in my pocket quite easily (especially when the mouthpiece is removed). The batteries are fairly heavy however, so you may want to make additional arrangements if you’re carrying more than one battery. Unfortunately you cannot use the Volta while charging since the batteries must be removed from the unit to charge.

To use the Volta, you simply load the herb chamber with ground herb (don’t pack it tightly, the herb should sit fairly loosely), plug in the battery, and then push and hold down the switch to the right of the battery. Within a minute or so the metal inside the chamber will turn red hot and you’ll start to get vapor! I was quite impressed at how fast the unit heated up, as within thirty seconds the inside of the herb trench becomes way too hot to touch.

The Vaporgenie manufacturers claim that the LifePO batteries get between 25-35 puffs on a single charge, and in my experience that number was fairly accurate (long, slow draws give you less puffs). Unfortunately this isn’t as long as some as the other portables out there (such as the Ascent and the Firewood), so if you plan to use the Volta heavily I suggest you carry the extra battery that the Volta ships with around with you. The draw is fairly loose, so you shouldn’t have a problem getting some nice vapor hits with it.

Cleaning the Volta can be a little tricky, as the construction materials don’t lend themselves to cleaning with rubbing alcohol easily. I recommend cleaning out the trench after every use or two with a small brush and spray it with compressed air every now and then to clean out any herbs which have gotten stuck. Use a pipe cleaner to clean out the mouthpiece, and soak it occasionally in a solution of warm soapy water if hash begins to buildup. I’ll have a more extensive cleaning guide posted later on this month.

Overall, the Volta is a solid low-priced portable vaporizer (I would say a little better than the MFLB, but it is very similar). However, I wouldn’t rank it as being the best vape out there. The Vola’s relatively short battery life combined with having to carry heavy batteries hampers portability a little bit (since carrying the unit in a single pocket with extra batteries can weigh you down). However, I did like the large herbal trench and the unit produced quite a bit of vapor from every bowl.

Mr Vape's Score: