This past weekend Puffco celebrated their 10 year anniversary, commemorating a decade evolving the hash consumption space. From humble beginnings to developing the industry-leading electronic rig experience, a lot has changed since 2013, not just for Puffco, but for the community at large.
You see, back in the day, hash culture was a much less vibrant and public community than it’s become today. Grown in the shadows out of fear of increased repercussions due to the manufactured and potent nature of the substance, when Puffco was founded as much of the game was about discretion as it was function. I remember back in the early days smoking on my Plus in concert halls, long before New York was accepting the community the way it does today. Those were the shatter days – we didn’t even know about rosin back then. We didn’t have vape carts, or distillate.
But today, there’s a plethora of options. From hash rosin to live resin, and everything in between, we’ve now grown so big that we’re creating our own factions within the community – from the rosin snobs to the BHO lifers. And through all that growth, Puffco has been by our side. Not just promoting the next wave, like Roger’s been pushing with piatella lately, but by evolving the technology to create the best possible experience for consumers with the least possible effort on their part.
The Evolution
Since releasing the Peak in 2018, Puffco has continually lowered the barrier to entry for this community to make it a more accessible space for us all. Bringing the actual cost down to a couple hundred bucks – from what used to require a several thousand dollar rig with many several hundred dollar attachments – Puffco has been a leader in not only spreading hash culture, but also all the adjacent affinities it touches.
You see, kids weren’t satisfied just getting the same Peak as everyone else. They needed to show off their individuality. And as such, custom glass toppers for Peaks began to pick up steam, and Puffco not only leaned in – they celebrated it. Not just releasing new colorways, but partnering with the best glass artists out there to create true functional art to accompany the community’s electronic bongs. What began as something you could only find at real industry sesh’s are now available in headshops across the country. And I’m not talking about just the Peaks, I’m talking about totally custom toppers too. I’ve watched careers pop off for glass artists specifically around the creative ideas they’ve created off the Puffco base.
But they kept pushing. Eventually introducing the Peak Pro, an evolved version of the Peak with further customizable app functionality. Then they shrunk it down and introduced the Proxy, which helped usher in the mainstream adoption of dry dabs, but more importantly made it even easier to dab on the go.
Hash culture officially jumped the shark. It’s now everywhere – across the globe – and I doubt many people would argue against the fact that much of that growth is largely thanks to the ease of function Puffco introduced to us all.
Today’s Game
During the first night of their 10-year celebration this weekend, Puffco announced the rebirth of its Peak Pro – a surprise to all of us attending – in an Apple-esque keynote presented by the brand’s founder, Roger Volodarsky, at an invitation-only event filled with hash makers, industry elite, and friends of the brand. Essentially bringing their flagship into the modern era, making the previously extra bells and whistles standard on their ‘New Peak Pro’, the announcement culminated with an Oprah-style moment where Roger had all of the attendees check under their chair to realize we had all been gifted updated units.
Now, I’m not going to front like this is an entirely new device. If you’ve used the Peak Pro the basic functionality is largely the same, with much deeper customization potential. The evolution of the device’s companion app has clearly been drilled down, allowing users to dial in the heat cycle as well as the level of vapor the unit produces. The most important developments, in my opinion, are that all the brand’s innovations of the past few years have now all been rolled into arguably their most popular product – one that launched prior to the development of the latest heating technology. This means you don’t need to buy a 3D chamber, or a ball cap anymore – the new units will arrive with everything ready to go.
Using the New Peak Pro
While the app is great, it’s not a huge selling point for me as other than customizing the lights I’m not so much of a snob that I have a specific temperature I’m trying to dab at – the standard settings have always been fine for me. That said, although the company swears the chamber is the same size, perhaps it’s the new ball cap but it simply feels bigger. And easier to clean. I don’t know if there’s a new coating in there but it almost feels hydrophobic now, making it far easier to clean. Although there wasn’t much changed structurally, the new grooved base is sleek and ergonomic, somehow seeming like an even more natural fit in your hand than it’s predecessor. Finally, the updated ball cap – now aptly dubbed the Joystick – really does make a big difference in the user’s experience. It doesn’t get sticky like the old version, and frankly it’s a lot of fun to use. It’s like they added a fidget spinner into the bowl.
I’ve raved about Puffco’s functionality before so I probably don’t have to tell you that in a world that’s becoming increasingly crowded with electronic smoking devices, Puffco is the market leader for a reason. Although heady boys will complain that nothing beats a rig and torch, it’s really hard to argue with the ease of use of Puffco’s products, and the difference in the smoke won’t be felt for 99% of consumers, so as I mentioned earlier, it’s not only one of the best options on the market, it’s also one of the cheaper high quality ones considering how many accessories you no longer need to buy just to get a good hash experience. And as far as good hash experiences go, at this point, Puffco is synonymous with those.
