SORRY, MOM. I took a hit from a Pax Era Pro in your living room. And while scaling ski lifts, lying in parks, and sitting around friends’ fire pits. In the Before Times, I recall hitting it at various music venues in the Portland metro area. In the past 14 months since it launched, this tiny vape pen has transformed where and when I ingest marijuana in the way the iPod changed how I consumed music. All of a sudden, it doesn’t matter where you are or when you feel like a toke. In a world where we feel icky sharing mouthpieces, I have taken the little fella everywhere, and loved every moment. Whether conquering a hiking trail or grilling on your friends' lawns, it's the perfect BYO cannabis accessory, and since it's still Pax's flagship oil vape, and 4/20/2021, here's my long-term review. If you've seen a Juul (the popular e-cigarette brand that was spun off from Pax Labs in 2017), you've basically seen an Era Pro. It's an unassuming metal rectangle with rounded edges. The device’s most identifying feature is four LEDs that form the company’s logo on the side, but it otherwise reminds me of the small plastic cases that mechanical pencil lead comes in. You can get an Era Pro in many different colors, but mine is a rather bland red.

PHOTOGRAPH: PAX

As with most other modern cartridge-based vaporizers, the cartridges themselves double as the mouthpiece, so you’ll never have to clean one. In fact, the self-contained nature of the system means no more sticky fingers between bowls or gross residue in the kitchen sink, if you also hate that gunky mess. The only physical interface you really have is the USB-C port on the bottom, which quick-charges the pen at what is best described as lightning speed; a single half-hour trip to my wall charger and it will last me nearly an entire half-gram cartridge. (A bit longer and you'll have enough charge for a full cartridge, or about 300 to 500 puffs.) For any other controls, you're supposed to use the Android app or desktop app. (Sorry, iPhone owners. You must use a web app due to an Apple-wide ban on vaping apps.) If you’re new to the world of "potent potables," there are a couple types. There are portable vaporizers that take actual ground cannabis flower, but we won't be talking about them here. Instead we'll focus on oil vapes, which contain cannabis extract. At first, vaping cannabis oil might feel sketchy. You're not wrong to feel that way, either. Illicit vaporizer cartridges were linked to thousands of cases of lung disease, and up to 68 deaths by the CDC. Any grower, legal or otherwise, can technically buy those round, 510-threaded oil cartridges that most manufacturers use that attach to countless different battery packs, but Pax pods are different. The pods and their filling equipment are proprietary products made by the company and then sold exclusively through vetted oil manufacturers.

If you’re unfamiliar with the jargon, “cart” is short for a cartridge, or more specifically, a vape cartridge. Carts are prefilled containers that hold a combination of hemp-extracted cannabinoids in a liquid form. These cartridges are interchangeable and work with 510-thread vape pens that vaporize the liquid inside to allow you to smoke it. The carts contain a proprietary blend of Delta 8 hemp extract and terpenes for smell and flavor. This blend brings you all the benefits of Delta 8 in vape form.