This little guy is called the Astral made by the company Vapeur Labs, and it’s a good but inexpensive portable vaporizer for dry herbs.
Important Update: Vapeur Labs has unfortunately ceased operations as a company and their website & email are no longer functional. The company was unable to survive a barrage of litigation against them and will be unable to fulfill future orders or service existing customers. I deeply apologize for any inconvenience this causes.
Watch my video review above for a brief breakdown and demo session where I show vapor production (clouds).
Vapor quality and taste is average but I wouldn’t really consider that a negative at this price point, and it does have a really nice look & feel to it that is better than most.
Usage tips:
– Grind your herbs nice and fine and pack the oven full & tight to get the best performance and most vapor from this thing (like you see in my video).
– Start on the low heat setting, I’ve actually found that to provide the best balance of vapor production and smoothness and I rarely go to medium or high. What most people will do, which is totally cool, is vape half of their session on low heat and then bump it up to medium for the second half. I personally feel that the vapor starts to get a little hot and harsh feeling on the medium or high temps, so I like the experience better down on low.
Definitely check out my top picks for best portable vaporizer to see which models are currently my favorites.
Stay up!
-Bud
Shame they went out of business. I got one of these cause it was cheap. I have a pax 1, pax 2, arizer extreme q, MFLB, etc. the Astral has been very reliable, works great, good vapor. Never regretted the purchase. I was gonna buy one for a friend, but heyre nowhere to be found.
Hey guys if you’re having issues with your Astral please email me at bud@vapecritic.com, I may be able to help you get it fixed/replaced.
Hi, my astral vapprize stoped heating up it turns on the led indicators but it can be like that for hours and nothing happens
Have the same issue, I thought it was my mouthpiece at first but I’m not entirely sure I tried to contact Vapeur labs and the site is still down. It just really irks me seeing as how it comes with a 10 year warranty
I’d encourage you to retract your *updated* statement about great product. Mine has stopped working – It just keeps flashing like it’s heating up, but never heats up. Now I’m left with a broken product, and zero support. Buyer beware I guess.
**Update**
Their site seems to be back up, and their product on sale. I have attempted to contact them (3x’s) with regards to my unit – No response. I’d stay FAR away from these guys……
Hey Chris my bad for the delayed response, I’m gonna email you now to make this right!
Mine has stopped working, and their website is down!
What’s the vendor and discount code for this one?
Bud, thanks so much for being such an educational resource for a newbie. This unit is very intriguing to me. I really like the Pax like stealth aspect of it and the simplicity with no screens to be concerned with.
My main question is its ability to efficiently use small loads. I see where you lauded the Magic Flight Launch Box for its ability to make the most out of smaller loads. I will usually be solo and prefer to have small amounts at a time. Like for pain management rather than complete zonk out.
How do you think this unit would do with smaller loads and are there any others in the less expensive portable category where packing fully and tightly is not necessary to have an enjoyable experience. Making efficient use of and not wasting the product is a priority for me.
Thank You and Keep Up The Great Work.
After doing some quick learning on your site, I settled on this as my first portable. I have a DaBuhda I got locally used on cglist, but really need it be portable. I was almost sold on G pro or the local store showed me a pinnacle, but your review of this and it’s price sold me. I hope it works well for me. It was also $99 on their site plus your discount. And used your link. Thanks VpCr. I’ll
Have to add a review after some time.
Well now what a POS. brand new out of the box from vapeur and unit doesn’t even heat up. Just sits there with a pulsating led. Doesn’t even shut off. Now I’m out a $100 and have to wait to deal with customer service etc. not much better than the $20 eBay kind. Dupped. don’t BUY!
No way!!
It can take up to 90 seconds to heat up in case you’re not waiting long enough, the pulsing led while heating is correct.
To shut it off you have to hold the bottom button for about 3 seconds, a little longer than most other vapes.
If yours is actually defective they will replace it no problem but the defect rate is low, and if you need any help getting the best results from it let me know!
Sounds like yours arrived with a depleted battery. Let it charge overnight before you attempt to use it.
You’re talented! I like the shades and the swag. You have a good character here and could expand on this vibe. In any case, is this the best bang for your buck? How long does it last, only ten draws, battery life is how long? v/r.
If i pack the oven, then take just a couple of vapes, then turn it off, can I come back at take more vapes later? Not just for this rig, but herbal vapes in general? Thanks! Enjoy your reviews!
I received my astral two days ago.
It seems to be good but I find the instructions rather lacking.
How do you change the temperature?
I click power 3X and it flashes green (lowest heat). I click power 3x more and it flashes purple with further clicks of power only flash purple. So I’m not seeing a middle heat setting?
Ordering from Vapeur you have one shipping option: USPS Priority mail at 9.95 (1-3 days). But mine took five shipping days as it didn’t get to USPS for three days.
USB-A end of charging cable came unsheathed very first time removing from USB charger port. Not a problem, too short to be useful anyway.
The finish is almost mid-grade. It has been painted to look anodized and while all the parts match in color that color is too reflective. The trim ring between the cap and body is cheap chrome plated plastic. I’ve wrapped mine in a clear frosted vinyl and it looks much better.
Heat dissipation is not great. It will get hot at the top after about 4 hits of 10 seconds.
Probably worth only $50, but the market demand allows suppliers to inflate prices on these Shenzen made objects.
My mistake on the temperature settings.
Once powered on you are at lowest setting (green). A triple click of power changes to medium (a yellow easy to confuse with green). Any additional triple clicks put you on high heat (purple). It will not cycle back to low until you turn it off and back on.
It does have a shake-to-display battery power feature that does not always function easily. But it does work, just a matter of getting shake in the right direction.
I emailed company about my confusion and they emailed back within a few hours that they are re-doing the instruction sheet to make it easier to understand.
Very satisfied.
I got mine 2 days ago. So far it’s been a good experience with a couple of issues.
I think the cap might get lost and once both the cap and the mouthpiece came off in my pocket. Not sure it’s a huge deal yet.
It’s also fairly easy to drop if you’re not careful.
I also am not sure about how long it takes the fully charge the unit or what actual temps low/med/high are. I know I can’t imagine vaping on the highest temp.
I can report that once charged to “blue” I used mine for almost 6 hours and the unit still turned blue when I shook it.
Vapor quality is good and air resistance is in fact above average.
if you had to choose between the Summit or the Astral which would you pick and why?
Hi Bud, thanks for all the great information! Can you tell us anything about the air/vapor path of the Astral? I vaporize for safety and health reasons, and I am hesitant to purchase any unit without knowing whether or not the inhaled air has passed over any internal electronics vs stainless steel, copper, glass etc. Thanks and bravo to Vapeur for providing what looks like a high quality unit at this price point!
Hey Bud, just wanted to say thanks for pointing me towards this unit. The Astral is truly surprisingly nice. I have been vaping for over a decade and have owned multiple vapor genies, multiple magic flights, multiple wisprs, the vapman, the Flowermax Vapormate v5.0 and more whose names I can’t recall. I have tended to spend moderately on vales, though my biggest purchase was the wispr back when that was almost 300!?
At any rate, bang for the buck this Astral destroys all of them. Performance, maintenance, pocketability, and aesthetics are all superior. I have always appreciated your opinion on these matters. Thanks again for your detailed and accurate reporting. Stay up!
Pdad
How do you determine if the Vape is truly a vape and not combusting?? Also does this vape have auto shutoff features similar to the pax2?
What is the battery life
What your pick between the Summit, Astral and Cloud V Diamond? Looking for portability and ease of use.
Summit or Astral are both good for the price, I would go with whichever style you like better.
Stay up!
Would you say this is better than the arizer air? Because it would have been nice to get something cheaper that still performs good.
Hmmmm I wouldn’t say it’s quite on the same level strictly in terms of performance, but I myself would want this one over the Air for portability.
Does the unit get really hot externally? That’s the biggest question with a lot of these portable vapes. My Goobof gets really hot, no real insulation. I know I need to grab the Pax 2 but I don’t want to spend that money. I like the design of this one plus the 10 year warranty. Can you give better info on the screen or lack there of?
Great question because you’re right, it’s an issue with alot of cheaper vapes. I actually haven’t had it get too hot on me through any of my testing, but I do typically vape a maximum of about 10 minutes per session with it.
The mouthpiece gets a little warm but not too hot and doesn’t burn your lips, but again this is on my recommended low heat setting when using for 10 mins for less.
If you vape back-to-back sessions that last longer than that or if you find that you like the medium or high temp settings then you may notice the mouthpiece getting rather warm after a few minutes, but the unit itself has stayed cool.
Here’s a close up pic of the “screen” in the mouthpiece:
Instead of using a typical mesh pipe screen with pores they used a different approach, it’s basically just a flat stainless steel cylinder with 2 small air holes, one on each side.
The flat part keeps your herb in place but lets the vapor pass around the edges to those air holes.
I like it because it keeps maintenance and cleaning easy and the airflow isn’t really that restricted, it has below-average draw resistance.