“I truly enjoy the Cloudious 9NX and how it can be used for both flower and wax! The unit is easy to use and so versatile and extremely well made. Although I appreciate that the bundle includes the Cloudious Atomic 9, I can't get much vape from the unit.”
“Their products seem and feel solid. I find that it does not produce much vapor whatsoever with the flower chamber. With the concentrates it is okay. The vapor production I find is poor with this device. This device is more of a gimmick. My opinion is it is certainly not worth the money.”
“The products were really great I used to smoke 5 or more joints a day now I hardly smoke at all because I mostly use the vape which gets me feeling nice with a lot less weed, their customer service is also amazing!!!”
“I'm giving myself the cloudious9 bong fir Christmas. I can't wait to try the dry herb and wax chambers. However. I did bust out the hand held dry herb vaporizer. Let me tell you it's a marvel, compared to others that I have tried. It heats up super fast. I love that it automatically shuts off.
I love my electric grinder. It's a breeze to use.
Sincerely
Kim Tiegol”
“TLDR; Buy it, but technically, I have yet to receive it and confirm everything below. I will update my rating accordingly once received.
Preface:
Ordered on October 2, (before Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Day of Reflection, a national day off, one week before Thanksgiving, another national holiday). It is currently October 18, and still have not received it. Economy international shipping was quoted at 6-10 business days, and plus with the holidays, this could be justified, but I will come back to ensure the review is as I expect it to be, with the necessary edits. A little let down that it has not yet arrived, but I blame the USPS as it is currently somewhere in LA, and it's trying to get to Vancouver. For context, it was shipped from San Francisco.
A meaty, honest review:
I previously owned the Hydrology 9 (Gen 1), about a year after they came out, and I absolutely loved it. It was accurately advertised. The flavour, coming from consuming joints, every type of pipe imaginable, and bongs do not compare to this. I have tried other dry herb vaporizers, such as the PAX2 and 3, Firefly2, DaVinci Iq, volcano, Mighty+, Arizer Solo2, and other vape pens. The flavour out of other dry herb vapes without the water filtration is still good, but the water filtration on the Hydrology 9 gives it a creamier, easier-to-handle, crisper flavour. It can still get you to cough should you haul on it long enough, however, the flavour is simply... better. Not as strong of a terpene profile from dabbing on a pen or a rig, but considering its using dry herb, it's rather impressive. Best used if you pick up AAA or higher quality bud, with the AAAA+ (super quads) delivering a next-dimension vaping experience compared to smoking (only a moderate increase in flavour from dry herb since you have much less of a chance to get that over-vaped flower taste. I have high hopes for the Hydrology 9 NX (Gen 2), seeing as extensive research concluded that it is mildly better due to dual-heat methods, rather than the conventional convection heating of the ceramic bowl.
The bowl is small but still packs a punch, and turning the heat up will only make that punch more brutal. You can still torch the bowl a bit, making cleaning a necessity, to extract more THC, but assuming you use at least 25%+ flower, you may not finish the bowl by yourself, unless you are really trying to blast yourself. Which, if you are using the dry herb atomizer, is the wrong intention. My opinion on the best way is on the lower ranges and then gradually increase the temperature until it starts to taste used up. Phenomenal flavour experience as such. Heating-wise, you get 5 on Gen 1 and 6 on Gen 2. The preset ranges for the herb were fine, though I expect the 6 to add that much better precision, which I felt slightly lacked on the Gen 1. I would prefer total control over the temperature down to a degree, but it does make it easy for first-time users. You are best served by having a grind that is consistent and well-ground, but not a fine grind. Having a fine grind had the once-in-a-blue-moon chance to clog it up a bit and make you clean it more often. Plus, better terps with coarser grinds, but the efficiency of extracting THC was not as good unless you torched it on high. Another issue on Gen 1 was that if someone coughed with their mouth still on the mouthpiece by accident, there was also a good chance to get water in your ceramic bowl, which wasn't the worst, because you could still just clean it out and give it a "self-clean" cycle, but inconvenient as it wasted bud and then your friends would be feeling sorry for themselves for being the party pooper. This has yet to be verified if this still happens on the Gen 2.
Battery life felt short on the Gen 1 as you could only get up to, about 15 sessions before it died. But Cloudious is advertising 60-120 sessions on the gen 2, so this will make a marked increase in usability. This is still curious as to why, as Gen 2 has 100 mAh less than the total 2000 mAh in the Gen 1, but perhaps better battery tech, or more efficient heating. This will still have to be verified through dependent testing. Gen 2 has a replaceable battery, which is great, but looks like you have to buy them through them which I think is a step in the wrong direction. I have yet to verify if I can take apart the battery with my tools and replace the 18650 battery that is likely inside or not. Considering their Gen 1 battery was not replaceable, you could expect to depreciate the device over 2 years, but the Gen 2 might have a significantly longer operating life due to the replaceable battery. I should also note that I ended up having battery issues with the Gen 1 about a year or two into using it. I had contacted Cloudious about the issue and they had sent me a new battery without charge. As such, their customer support is quick, professional, and caring.
The addition of the concentrates atomizer and the fact that they are switchable enthrals me to no end and will have to be verified upon arrival through dependent testing as well.
On the note of the switchable atomizers, it makes the device slightly less sleek than the Gen 1, although as a practical person, I welcome the thought. It does, on the other hand, make portability a prospect I would assume to be more difficult than the original, which was not portable if you had water in it, as it would more often than not spill. This could have been due to issues with the silicon rings, as I did clean it fairly often and the rings could have been worn, and Cloudious sent me new replacement parts for free as well. This reduced the spilling a bit, but I noted you generally just could not have it flat or at 270 degrees of angle. Upside down was fine as it had this neat little ball that would roll to the top. An improvement would be to have a stronger magnet on the cap for the mouthpiece because this would mean that would likely solve the spilling issue. I am hoping to see this change for the Gen 2.
Stealthy-ness is excellent if you get the leather case. It blends it with other objects and plainly looks like a cool coffee thermos. I have had it on top of restaurant tables at elegant establishments with no adverse opinions or looks. Outside of the case makes it less stealthy, since it basically looks like a nuclear fuel cell, especially powered on with the lights or heating up. It will generally bring attention and curiosity if you bring this out. Luckily, as you are explaining in as much detail as I am about how much you love this water vape/bong contraption, you can lull them into hypnosis with the party mode for lights. I expect the same or better on the Gen 2. Size-wise, it's not a pocket vape, it's more the size of a 500ml/17oz Swell bottle in height, and if it was just the bottle's neck all the way down. Feels a bit hefty as is, and has a nice touch to it with the aluminum - very Apple product feel.
Gen 1 was pretty easy to use intuitively, but still, you should do your device justice and read the instructions before you recycle them as this is how you can maximize the device. Giving instruction run-downs on Gen 1 was sometimes like setting ground rules with friends (as this was a popular friend-group smoking device), so I hope it is even easier with Gen 2.
The Gen 2 is 50$ more expensive than the Gen 1, but seeing as you get added functionality for atomizers, temperature, session quantity (allegedly), and heating tech, I gladly paid for it. As a Canadian, the exchange rate was a bit of an anticipated sucker punch, but I have seen no other one here, so I suppose that's the price for having a unique device and the expensive price of breathing above the 49th parallel.
Final Thoughts:
Overall, I think you should still buy the device because if Gen 1 was already what felt like a steal for 250, Gen 2 is only going to promise and deliver so much more. I still expect it to have its convenience quirks, but flavour for flower, and the added ability to do dabs, which I expect to be better than a dab pen, but not as good as a dab vaporizer or dab rig, this is hands down one of the best in class vapes to purchase.
This concludes my lengthy review. I have conducted this review independently, with due care, objectively, and with competence yet to be confirmed, solely because Gen 1 impressed me so much as an early adopter in the market. I hope Cloudious makes a Gen 3 with AI or some crazy other new tech and I will likely buy it once it is available and the Gen 2 ceases to operate.”
