Air Graft Grape Ape
Purchased on: July 3, 2024
Price: $40.49 for a 1g cart
Producer: Freedom Cannabis
Cultivar: Grape Ape
Brand: Air Graft
Vendor: Mendo Cannabis
Market: Medical
House Name: Grape Ape
I wouldn’t consider myself someone who typically enjoys vape cartridges, but I’m still curious about innovation in the product category. Mendo was having a sale at the time and this product comes with a battery. That’s why I decided to give this one a try.
What I'm Looking for in Vape Cart
I’m looking for something that’s immediately usable and reliably so. If a product clogs, that’s a dealbreaker for me. I’ve found 510 carts to be hit or miss, so I’m always on the lookout for new technology that might solve this problem.
With that in mind, here are my observations from using this product:
The Box
Comes with a battery and a USB-C charging cable (in yellow).
The Price
Purchased at Mendo for $44. The battery was included for free, supposedly a $30 value.
The Size and Form
The unit is small and slender. It fits discreetly in the palm of your hand, making it very covert. I also liked the form factor when you brought it to your lips. The unit is small and light. I'd say it felt akin to bringing a joint to your lips for a pull.
The Airflow
Airflow is good. Better than a 510 cart—I'd say up to 20% better. Probably better than PAX Era too.
How the cart looked when I opened it
QR Code
One of the advertised features is the QR code on the cartridge. When you scan it with your phone it brings you to a webpage that reports your cart has been authenticated and it gives you some information about the product.
The QR code on the product I purchased brought me to a different product altogether, not the one I bought. I emailed Mendo about it and they weren't too concerned about it. They told me if it tastes like grapes, it's fine. Not really a big deal but something to be aware of.
The Vibration
When you inhale, the unit vibrates in regular increments. I initially thought this was a bit of a gimmick, but I found myself using it right away, counting the number of vibrations during each inhalation.
The Taste
Tastes like grape Kool-Aid. The flavour is rich, entirely artificial, and tastes one dimensional, but it’s pleasing and kept me coming back. It's also really clean tasting, lacking the grimey taste that I note in some CO2 extractions.
I don’t get into the debate over botanical versus cannabis-derived terpenes. I believe that if you’re distilling a substance to molecular purity, it will taste the same regardless of the source. What I will say is that this didn’t have any of the characteristics of traditional cannabis concentrates like live resin—there were no cannabis flavours.
The Function
The function was really good at first. I didn’t use it often, but it was reliable when I wanted to. The battery life was excellent.
However, it started to clog about a third of the way through. I’d start to inhale, and the device would be clogged, but it would still vibrate, which was really annoying. Other times, it would just clog without vibrating and required a lot of suction to get it going.
After about a month, the cartridge became completely clogged. There’s probably some distillate left, but I can’t get the unit to unclog with reasonable suction.
The cart 1.5 months after purchase. Totally clogged with an estimated 25% of distillate left.
Clog Jockeying
At the time of writing this review it's 1.5 months after purchase and I'd estimate there's 25% of the original material left. The bulk is sitting ontop of the platform in the centre of the cart's internal chamber. The rest is trapped in the depressions at the edges of the platform, which lead to the heating elements. With a bit of heat the distillate should to run into the depressions.
The cartridge is plastic, so heating it with a lighter or anything that reaches those temperatures probably isn't a good idea. It's summer at the time of writing, so I just set the unit in the sun for 20 minutes. The distillate ran off the platform and the unit was unclogged.
The cart 1.5 months after purchase. Unclogged after 20 minutes in the sun.
Would I Buy It Again?
Most likely not, but I'd consider it alongside other 510 carts.
When it was functioning, Mendo had another sale, and I was planning on buying another one. I liked the form factor, ease of use, and I wanted to try another flavour. The taste was pleasing, and the device just worked when you needed it to.
After a month and a half with it, I’m not so sure. Some of the features I liked, such as the vibration, didn’t function consistently, and the Air Graft ended up being just as reliable as a 510 cartridge.
The issues that plague all carts also affected this one. Performance was good, even convincingly so at times. Still, my next purchase decision will likely be based on the type of extract in the cart and the price.
