The Special-K vaporizer from KandyPens triggers a myriad of subconscious whispers. Your brain immediately recognizes the terminology and wants to know more. Is this the delicious cereal but without the chocolate bits because that kind of contradicts the healthy nature of it? Or is it the popular party drug that is associated with the worst opioid epidemic this country has ever seen? It is neither of those things. Rather, it is a pen-shaped vaporizer that handles both liquids and oils and hearkens back to a day (sometime in the mid-to-late 1980s) where our egos were directly attached to the size and style of our pens. Literal pens.
This vaporizer says I might be smoking a vape on this public bus but the pen is so fancy that all you can do is bask in its glorious glow of gloriousness. This is a vape that your grandfather wants to use to puff on while he signs checks and reads the letters he wrote the woman who was almost your grandmother. This is a vaporizer that says yes, this entire blue blazer I'm wearing effectively only exists to house this vaporizer. The Special-K is the vape that you buy when you don't want to spend too much, but you want to look like you did. It's the vape you smoke when you're test driving a Lexus convertible you can't afford.
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The thing is, the Special-K is a pretty solid vaporizer. Unlike some vapes that prioritize style over function, Kandypens has a pretty solid product line that utilizes the technology available to create not only compact and well functioning vaporizers, but ones that do hold a bit of style. Because we all know vaping isn't just about kicking or continuing an addiction. We know it's just as much about the social aesthetic as it is about weaning off cigarettes.
The Special-K is a one-button use vape with three temperature settings. It uses 510 threaded refillable liquid tanks, so you can put different ones on there if you so choose. It also charges through the included 510 threaded USB charger, which annoys me (because you can't just use any micro-USB cable, you have to use this charger) but acceptable in this case because of the size of the vape. I can't really see a place where it would allow for a USB charging port. This does allow for a 650 mAh battery, so you'll get a few days use out of one charge. It also comes with a carrying case you'll never use. Who uses carrying cases that aren't pockets?
The refillable faux gold/glass are slim but hold the standard 1ML of whatever nicotine or cannabis oil liquid you choose to fill it with. You can unscrew the lid to pretend like you are some future man vaping out of a pen, or unscrew the middle piece to just leave the liquid tank and the battery if you just want to vape without trying to layer on some sort of hipster street cred. Frankly, vaping with the middle section screwed on made me feel like I was wearing a mouth cardigan. Some users might complain about only having the three temperature settings, but those people probably spend more on vaporizers and are sure to tell everyone about it.
At this point in the vaporizer universe, it's difficult to really find a vape that isn't like every single other vape. That is not to say that the Special-K is terribly unique or one of a kind. It's not. Rather, it highlights the need for vape manufacturers to start thinking a bit more creatively by appealing to our deep psychological attachment to things that look like pens (especially if our fathers were engineers and always had a pocket protector full of pens and pen-like objects). The key here is also creating a vaporizer that satisfies the functionality required by vape users. The Special-K satisfies this need. It's simple to fill, control and use and looks like a lot more than it costs.
The Kandypens Special-K vaporizer retails for $79.95 from Kandypens and comes in black or white. A review unit was provided by the manufacturer.
