CCELL is a company best known for revolutionizing the vape industry with their patented porous ceramic heating elements that are uniquely designed for high viscosity oils. Well, CCELL is about to revolutionize the industry again with their Dart & Uno pod vaporizers, and I was lucky enough to be asked to review them.
The Dart & Uno are CCELL’s first pod vaporizers and are two of the simplest, yet most elegant and affordable vaporizers I’ve had the pleasure to use.
The Uno is 3 7/8″ long with the mouthpiece attached by about 3/4″ wide and about 3/8″ thick. It resembles a cigarette lighter, only taller and thinner, with a polished aluminum finish that is available in multiple colors. Without the mouthpiece & pod attached, the unit weighs 16.6 g. The Uno has a 350mAh battery.
The Dart is 3 3/8″ long, with the mouthpiece attached, by about 1″ wide and about 3/8″ thick. It has a sleek, bullet shape that looks like a cross between a stealth submarine and a USB flash drive. At 46.1 g, without the mouthpiece & pod installed, it’s much heftier than the Uno and feels very solid and comfortable in the hand or pocket with its rounded and tapered edges. The Dart has a 480mAh battery.
Both models are great for travel and stealth, but, to be honest, I’ve really fallen in love with the Dart and it’s now become my go-to vaporizer even around the house.
Both the Dart and the Uno posses similar features starting with a battery pack that’s integrated directly into the body of the vaporizer. Instead of a traditional tank, they use interchangeable pods that can be filled with a wide variety of e-juice, concentrates, and distillates.
There are no buttons, switches or digital readouts – just a micro USB port for charging, and a battery status light that lights up when plugged in to charge, goes out when fully charged, and will blink 10 times to warn of the battery running low.
And, the devices are air activated so, once charged, without needing to turn anything on, you just put a pre-filled pod in the mouthpiece, snap it onto the body, and inhale. The battery status light will also light up on inhale to let you know it’s on & working.
It really doesn’t get any easier than that.
CCELL’s core technology is their patented ceramic coils that each have thousands of tiny pores designed to absorb and vaporize thicker oils, concentrates and distillates much more efficiently than wick-based devices. Because this ceramic more evenly distributes heat, it provides a purer taste and better vaporization without burning the oil. CCELL claims 25% more vapor production compared to other brands on the market.
While a 480mAh battery may seem small, it’s more than enough for a full day of vaping, (CCELL estimates about 200 puffs per charge), especially when vaping extracts; and it charges quickly using a standard micro USB cable, so it can be charged with most any phone charger, USB port on a computer, or backup battery pack.
The pods fill easily with their wide opening but only hold 0.5 ml of liquid, which could be a negative for those looking to use these vaporizers for e-juice. For concentrates & distillates it’s more than enough. Additionally, the pod design gives the ability to pre-fill multiple pods so, if the tank runs out, you can just snap on a new, full pod.
The pods are held in place using magnets which, at first, may sound like it could be a little flimsy, but I assure you they are not. I tried shaking the Dart as hard as I could and, due to the inset design of the mouthpiece, it doesn’t even rattle. Yet, with a gentle tug, the mouthpiece and pod can be easily removed.
Once a pod is installed in the mouthpiece, it cannot be removed and refilled, and will need to be replaced. There are third party companies selling pre-filled Dart compatible pods with oil made from strains such as Dark Blue Cheese, Sour Tangie, Space Princess and Happy Orange Gorilla, or you can purchase empty pods and fill them with your favorite e-juices, concentrates, and distillates.
The included charging cord is also very short at less than 6″, but it goes perfectly with the portability of the units since the vaporizer and power cord can both be stuck in a pants pocket or small purse and you’d barely notice they were there.
Here’s why the Dart has now become my go-to vape.
For a few years, now, I’ve been making my own vape juice from RSO. The best method I had found used two parts wax liquidizer to one part RSO, then I’d add some terpenes for flavor. The 2:1 ratio of wax liquidizer to RSO was needed to get the RSO to a consistency where it could be vaped in a standard vape pen.
However, I was asked to test the CCELL pens and I wanted to really put them to the test. So, since CCELL’s claim to fame is the ability to vape higher viscosity oils, and as I happened to have some freshly made RSO on-hand, what better way?
I put some RSO in a small jar in a hot water bath, added a small amount of terpenes and just enough of the wax liquidizer to be able to suck it back up, (with a lot of effort), into a syringe with a blunt needle tip. It was no more than 20% wax liquidizer instead of the usual 200%.
I filled a pod, inserted it into a mouthpiece, popped it on the Dart and took a slow draw followed by an exhale of a very respectable cloud of smoke.
The first thing I noticed was that, without needing to press some button five times consecutively within 3 seconds and wait for the unit to heat up, or even turn anything on, for that matter, as soon as I started drawing on the Dart it started providing vapor. It’s essentially always on and always ready.
Not having to turn it on also means not having to turn it off. When vaping extracts you might take a puff or two then not take the next for another hour or more. Not having to turn the vape on and off to take one or two puffs is very nice, especially when you thought you only needed one and then, a minute later, decided you needed another.
Elderly patients and patients with conditions such as Parkinson’s Disease, Arthritis, Gout, etc. will greatly appreciate not having to fiddle with buttons to medicate.
The taste was notably better than my current, (now previous), vape pen, and the increase in potency from not having to dilute the RSO as much was obvious.
I also like the fact that, with the pod design and smaller tanks, it makes it easy to get a several different types of terpenes to mix with the RSO in several different pods. Then I can just pop pods on and off depending on what terpene profile I may want at any given moment.
I don’t, by any means, consider myself an expert in vaporizer technology, but I do know what I like and the Dart is just a nice, solid unit that delivers a great vaping experience in a small, portable, versatile and easy-to-use package: I would highly recommend the Dart or Uno to anyone seeking a good vape for concentrates, extracts & distillates.
The Dart
The Uno
420 Magazine Review by: Mr. Krip
For More Information: CCELL Revolutionary Ceramic Heating Elements
