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Portland's top 'budtender' says this sleek device is the future of marijuana

pax 2
The Pax 2 vaporizer. Instagram screengrab

The future of marijuana isn't in bong rips or joint puffs. 

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It's in what aficionados call "microdosing." The best way to microdose is with a portable vaporizer, like the Pax 2.  

According to Jeremy Plumb, a lead "budtender" at Portland, Oregon's award-winning Farma marijuana dispensary, microdosing is the art of giving yourself the minimum amount of a substance needed to reach a desired effect. As with LSD, enthusiasts say that microdosing marijuana can turn it into a productivity booster.

"A single hit off of a pipe, maybe you're inhaling something equivalent to 20 milligrams of THC," says Plumb, who was recently named Portland's number one budtender by Willamette Week.

"If you were to take that same dose and take this lower temperature, and smaller volume, you’re going to be able to take that and divide it into ten increments," he tells Tech Insider.

This is a good thing, the argument goes, since you don't want to feel like you're going to melt into your couch whenever you inhale marijuana. With microdosing, it's easier to get benefits from the plant — without the stupor (or worse) that comes from over-doing it. 

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"It's the idea of the therapeutic window — what has the right amount for the condition and the person," he says. "If you’re dealing with pain and anxiety, very often, if you take too much, you can increase both of those things." 

The best in class for those small, portable vaporizers suited to microdosing is the Pax 2, which retails for $279.99. (Pax did a collaboration with the Weeknd to give you a clue as to its coolness level). 

"I never found anything as functional," Plumb says. "It has a 10 year warranty, it's designed by Apple designers, has three different temperature settings, a battery that lasts a long time, it's discrete. It's the best-built portable vaporizer — just a workhorse."

pax 2
The Pax 2 vaporizer in-store at Farma. Tech Insider / Drake Baer
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