Puffco Pivot Review

Overview

The Puffco Pivot, is probably the smallest concentrate vaporizer in the world that uses a 3D “temperature-controlled” chamber, and in this review, I'll share what I've learned during my 100 sessions with it. I'll also compare it to the Puffco Plus and the FocusV Aeris, which are the closest alternatives for that form factor. 

The Pivot retails for $130, and the best deal is vape-smart.com. They're not allowed to discount Puffco products, but they ship super quickly and offer free MJ terp pearls or Glob Mops with each order. Oh, and they're an authorized dealer, of course.

I also have coupon codes for FocusV, Dr. Dabber, Bomb, or almost any other vape out there. 

Design 

The Pivot itself has three main components- the battery, the mouthpiece, and the heating element, which can be separated from the mouthpiece by pushing it out from the bottom.

The mouthpiece has an air intake hole on the side, and air comes in, picks up vapor, and back up to the mouthpiece. There is no fancy cooling mechanism or vapor path; it just goes straight up. 

How do I know? Well, because I opened one up for a side view. The vapor goes up the chamber and right into the narrow channel to the sharp edge of the mouthpiece. 

3D “Temp controlled” chamber

The Pivot is Puffcos cheapest entry point to their “3D chamber with the real-time temperature control” system. Let's take a second to unpack what that means exactly. 

• “3D” means that the heating wire is embedded in the walls of the chamber, heating it from all sides and not just from the bottom.
• And “Real-time temp control” means that the temperature in the chamber is measured, controlled, and regulated.

In this case, the Pivot has four temp presets between 500-585°F, at least according to Puffco. In my independent testing, I measured them to be a lot lower- 450, 470, 490, 520, which is still a good range for 90% of people out there. 

But either way, as seen in the thermal camera, once the set temp has been reached, the Pivot holds that temp and doesn't go over. The chamber makes real-time adjustments to stay on the target temperature, or at least close to it. 

This not only ensures terpene preservation and ideal flavor, it also makes your concentrates last longer as they vaporize slowly instead of burning off quickly. But even more importantly, real-time temp control ensures predictable, repeatable, and consistent results. 

Pivot ecosystem & accessories 

The Pivot, like any other Puffco product, has a variety of optional accessories. Here are two accessories that are optional and two that are must-haves, in my opinion:

Optional: 

• Bubbler attachment: the $60 attachment comes with its own identical 3D chamber, replacing the default one. It includes 10mm and 14mm adapters that will work with any existing rig or water bubbler attachments. 
• Travel case: the $50 magnetic, smell-proof case has an aluminum exterior and a silicon insert with four compartments. It perfectly fits a hot knife, the Pivot, Glob Mops, a couple of jars, and any other essentials.

The two must-have accessories are the:

• Hot knife: which is a loading tool with a heated tip that can melt the concentrate on demand right to the center of the chamber. Avoid scraping the concentrate on the lip of the chamber. 
• And Glob Mops: after each session, you will have residue that has an amber color and needs to be mopped away.Leaving it there will cause it to stick to the chamber and reduce its longevity. 

Vape-Smart actually has a bundle with the Pivot and the hot knife, and you get the glob mops for free. See the bundle here. 

Usage & interface

To use the Pivot, open the mouthpiece and drop the concentrate in the center of the chamber, ideally using a hot knife. 

The Pivot has the same usage procedure as all Puffco vapes- hold to unlock [pause], one click to cycle through the four presets [pause], and double click to start heating up. Another double click will enter boost mode, which adds 15 seconds and increases the temp by 18°F. 

The Pivot communicates statuses with haptic feedback and the light bar on the front of the device. It shows the current temperature level, a heat-up progress bar, and three clicks will show the battery level. 

The light bar is very “elegant,” I guess is the word I'm looking for. Like, look at how the color flows through it when I change the temperature settings. Or how it pulses when it's heating up. 

Puffco Pivot vs. Aeris, Plus

Let's take a second and compare the Pivot to two alternatives- the Puffco Plus and the FocusV Aeris. 

Pivot vs. Plus– if you're between these two, your choice is easy: Pivot. Larger chamber, real-time temperature control, better vapor. The Plus sucks compared to the Pivot, and there is just no reason to buy it, in my opinion. For an extra $40, you upgrade the vapor quality by 3 levels. 

Pivot vs. Aeris– the choice here is not as clear-cut. The FocusV Aeris retails for $220, well actually $198 if you use my coupon below; it has a larger body, much larger chamber, more power, it's app-enabled, has firmware updates, and has a zirconia vapor path with a cooling mechanism. The mouthpiece is magnetic, and the vape is a lot thicker and heftier. It has a temperature-controlled chamber with a maximal temp of 600°F. The Aeris is definitely more “feature-rich” and has better specs, and I'll also give it a slight advantage when it comes to vapor quality. That said, the Pivot is a lot smaller and $90 cheaper. And again, links and coupons for these are below. 

What could have been better?

• First, the silicone of the mouthpiece gets dirty very quickly. It will need relatively frequent cleaning. It takes a second with an alcohol wipe, but still something to keep in mind. 
• Second, the vapor gets hot during back-to-back sessions, which is expected, as the heating chamber is very close to the mouthpiece. The whole top gets hot, and when the vapor path is hot, the vapor will be hot as well. Again, this is only an issue during long or multiple sessions. Also, if the Pivot is too hot, it’ll just refuse to turn on, and according to the manual, you should not activate it back-to-back more than four times. If you're a heavier user, consider an eRig. If you'd like to stay in the Puffco ecosystem- the Proxy, Peak, and Peak Pro will all produce better vapor, especially during longer sessions. But there are also great options from other manufacturers; here are some of the best eRigs of this year.  

What was better than expected?

1. The Pivot has excellent airflow with basically zero draw resistance. 
2. Good temperature control– I've used a thermal camera to check how well the Pivot “holds” the temperature during a session, and it does surprisingly well. The temperature steadily hovers around the set target. 
3. Vapor Quality– as short as the vapor path is, the vapor quality is better than I expected. It's not the best I have experienced, but it's the best I have ever experienced in this form factor of a small, pocketable concentrate vape. The Aeris is the only other competition out there.  

Bottom line

So, bottom line, is the Pivot worth $130? Hell yea. It's a premium, refined product from a leading manufacturer that is pushing boundaries. The technology has come such a long way in the last few years. Three years ago, it seemed like a dream to get this performance in this price and form factor.

The Pivot fills a gap in the Puffco lineup, and I think it's set to be the best dab pen in the “ultra-portable, temperature-controlled” category.